YEAR | DATE | EVENT |
|---|
1988 |
| | January 26 | Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera opens at the Majestic, starring Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman |
1987 |
| | March 12 | Les Miserables opens at the Broadway, Authors Alain Boublil, Jean-Marc Natel, Claude-Michel Schonberg |
1982 |
| | October 7 | Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber opens at the Winter Garden, Betty Buckley sings "Memory" |
| | July 2 | Little Shop of Horrors opens at the Orpheum |
1979 |
| | September 25 | Evita by Andrew LLoyd Webber and Tim Rice opens at the Broadway Theatre starring Bob Gunton, Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin. Goes on to become one of the most remounted musicals of all time. |
| | March 1 | Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street opens at the Uris. Authors Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, stars Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury |
1978 |
| | June 19 | The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas opens at the 46th St. Theatre |
1977 |
| | April 21 | Annie opens at the Alvin Theatre, authors Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin |
1975 |
| | July 25 | A Chorus Line opens at the Shubert, authors James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, Marin Hamlisch, Edward Kleban, conceived and directed by Michael Bennett |
| | June 3 | Chicago opens at the 46th St. authors Bob Fosse, Fred Ebb, John Kander. Based on a 1926 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins |
1973 |
| | March 18 | Seesaw opens at the Uris, authors Michael Bennett, Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields. Based on Two for the Seesaw which starred Henry Fonda and Anne Bancroft in 1958 |
| | February 25 | A Little Night Music opens at the Shubert, authors Ingmar Bergman, Hugh Wheeler, Stephen Sondheim |
1972 |
| | October 23 | Pippin opens at the Imperial, authors Roger O. Hirson, Stephen Schwartz, directed by Bob Fosse |
| | February 4 | Grease opens at the Eden and runs 3,388 performances |
1964 |
| | September 22 | Fiddler on the Roof opens at the Imperial, authors Joseph Stein, Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Bock |
1960 |
| | May 3 | The Fantasticks opens at the Sullivan Street Playhouse (off-broadway). Initially close to loosing its 16,000 investment, it goes on to run for more than 30 years. |
1959 |
| | May 21 | Gypsy opens at the Broadway Theatre, Authors Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, starring Ethel Merman, Jack Klugman, Sandra Church |
| | May 11 | Gypsy opens at the Broadway, authors Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, Jule Styne |
1957 |
| | December 19 | The Music Man opens at the Majestic, by Meredith Willson |
| | September 26 | West Side Story opens at the Winter Garden, authors Jerome Roggins, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein |
1956 |
| | March 15 | My Fair Lady opens, starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison, Authors Alan Lerner and Frederick Loewe, based on the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion |
1951 |
| | March 29 | The King and I opens at the St. James, Authors Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, based on a novel by Margaret Langdon |
1950 |
| | November 24 | Guys and Dolls opens at the 46th St. Authors Abe Burrows, Jo Swerling, Frank Loesser |
1949 |
| | April 7 | South Pacific opens at the Majestic, Authors Joshua Logan, Oscar Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers |
1948 |
| | December 30 | Kiss Me, Kate opens at the New Century, Authors Cole Porter, Bella and Samuel Spewack |
| | March 6 | Stephen Schwartz born in NYC |
1947 |
| | March 13 | Brigadoon opens at the Ziegfeld, Authors Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe |
1945 |
| | April 19 | Carousel opens at the Majestic, Authors Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, based on the 1921 play by Ferenc Molnar |
1943 |
| | March 31 | Oklahoma! opens at the St James, Authors Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein |
1941 |
| | April 8 | Michael Bennett born in Buffalo, NY |
1940 |
| | December 25 | Pal Joey opens at the Barrymore, starring Gene Kelly, Authors Richard Rodgers, John O'Hara, Lorenz Hart |
1939 |
| | February 28 | Tommy Tune born in Wichita Falls, TX |
1938 |
| | October 19 | Knickerbocker Holiday opens at the Barrymore with Walter Huston singing 'September Song', Authors Maxwell Anderson and Kurt Weill |
1935 |
| | October 10 | Porgy and Bess opens at the Alvin. Authors DuBose Heyward, George and Ira Gershwin |
1934 |
| | November 21 | Anything Goes opens at the Alvin, starring Ethel Merman and with some of Cole Porter's most famous songs |
1933 |
| | July 10 | Jerry Herman born in NYC |
| | January 23 | Chita Rivera born in Washington, DC |
1931 |
| | December 26 | Of Thee I Sing opens at the Music Box. Authors Morrie Ryskind, George S. Kaufman, Ira and George Gershwin |
1930 |
| | March 22 | Stephen Sondheim born |
| | January 14 | Strike Up The Band opens at the Times Square. Authors George S. Kaufman, George and Ira Gershwin |
1929 |
| | July 14 | Cy Coleman born in New York |
1928 |
| | November 23 | Jerry Bock born in Connecticut |
| | June 7 | Charles Strouse born in New York |
| | January 20 | Harold Prince born in New York. |
1927 |
| | December 27 | Show Boat, an American masterpiece, opens at the Ziegfeld. Authors Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, based on the Edna Ferber novel |
| | June 23 | Robert (Bob) Fosse born in Chicago |
1926 |
| | November 30 | The Desert Song opens at the Casino. Authors Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein, Sigmund Romberg |
| | January 13 | Gwyneth (Gwen) Verdon born in California |
1925 |
| | October 16 | Angela Lansbury born in London. Her first musical role is in Anyone Can Whistle in 1964. |
| | September 16 | No, No, Nanette opens at the Globe after a year run in Chicago. Songs included standards 'I want to be happy' and 'Tea for Two' |
| | May 17 | The Garrick Gaieties opens as a small-scale review to become a major hit, thanks in part to the first pairing of Rodgers and Hart |
1924 |
| | December 2 | Sigmund Romberg's The Student Prince opens at the Jolson. |
| | December 1 | Lady Be Good opens at the Liberty. Authored by the Gershwin siblings, it starred the Astaire siblings, Adele and Fred |
| | September 2 | Rose-Marie opens at the Imperial, the biggest grosser for twenty years. Authors Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein, Rudolf Friml |
| | May 19 | I'll Say She Is! opens at the Casino and introduces the Marx Brothers to the general public. |
| | April 30 | Sheldon Harnick born in Chicago |
1921 |
| | January 31 | Carol Channing born in Seattle |
1920 |
| | December 21 | Sally opens at the New Amsterdam, produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, a Jerome Kern score, Victor Herbert ballet music |
| | October 18 | Mary opens at the Knickerbocker, one of many George M. Cohan's many hit shows |
1918 |
| | October 11 | Jerome Robbins born in New York |
| | August 31 | Alan Jay Lerner born in New York |
| | August 25 | Leonard Bernstein born in Massachusetts |
1913 |
| | December 1 | Mary Martin born in Texas |
1911 |
| | November 27 | David Merrick born in St. Louis |
1910 |
| | November 7 | Naughty Marietta opens, including Victor Herbert's song 'Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life' as the finale. |
| | June 29 | Frank Loesser born in New York |
1908 |
| | May 27 | Harold Rome born in Connecticut |
| | January 16 | Ethel Merman born in New York |
1905 |
| | December 31 | Jule Styne born in London, raised in Chicago |
| | February 15 | Harold Arlen born in New York |
1904 |
| | October 24 | Moss Hart born in New York |
| | June 10 | Frederick Loewe born in Berlin, a child prodigy on the piano |
1902 |
| | June 28 | Richard Rodgers born in New York |
1900 |
| | March 2 | Kurt Weill born in Germany |
1899 |
| | May 10 | Fred Astaire born in Omaha. His sister, Adele, the headliner of their duo, was born the previous year. |
1898 |
| | September 26 | George Gershwin born in Brooklyn |
1896 |
| | December 6 | Ira Gershwin born in NYC |
1895 |
| | August 13 | Bert Lahr born in NYC |
| | July 12 | Oscar Hammerstein II born in New York. Arguably the 'father' of the American Musical as we know it. |
| | May 2 | Lorenz Hart born in NYC |
1891 |
| | October 29 | Fanny Brice born in NYC |
| | June 9 | Cole Porter born in Indiana |
1889 |
| | November 16 | George S. Kaufman born in Pittsburgh |
1888 |
| | May 11 | Irving Berlin born in Russia |
1887 |
| | July 29 | Sigmund Romberg born in what is now Hungary |
1879 |
| | December 7 | Rudolph Friml born in Prague |
1878 |
| | July 4 | George M. Cohan born in Rhode Island |
1867 |
| | March 1 | Florenz Ziegfeld born in Chicago |
