174 Fun Facts About Broadway

Who composed the music and wrote the lyrics for the hit Broadway musical 'Wicked'?

Stephen Schwartz first heard of the novel on a snorkelling trip in Hawaii, when a friend mentioned what she was reading; he decided on the spot it was for him and set his lawyer chasing the rights.

Which character in 'Hamilton' sings the jaunty breakup song 'You'll Be Back'?

King George III sings 'You'll Be Back' as a jilted lover; the show's writer got the title from Hugh Laurie, who ad-libbed the line over a drink on hearing the idea of a breakup letter to the colonies.

Who was the original Elphaba when 'Wicked' opened on Broadway?

Idina Menzel won the 2004 Tony as Elphaba; an onstage fall injured a rib a day before her farewell, yet she came back at that last show to play the final scene and take her bow.

At which Broadway theatre did 'Hamilton' open in 2015?

The Richard Rodgers Theatre became the scene of 'Ham4Ham': before the ticket lottery drawings, cast members and guests gave short free shows on the pavement for the crowds who came to enter.

In which Broadway theatre did 'Wicked' open in October 2003?

The Gershwin Theatre is Broadway's biggest house, with about 1,900 seats, which helped Wicked become the first show to gross more than $5 million in a single week, at Christmas 2024.

Who wrote the script, music and lyrics of 'Hamilton'?

Lin-Manuel Miranda got the idea on a Mexican holiday from his earlier hit 'In the Heights' and first performed a number from the show at the White House in 2009.

The score of 'Hamilton' blends Broadway show tunes with what other main genre?

Hip-Hop and R&B drive the score because its creator saw a rapper's story in Alexander Hamilton: a Caribbean orphan who rose on the strength of his writing, and who reminded him of Tupac Shakur.

Which hit Broadway musical was co-written by 'South Park' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone?

The Book of Mormon sends two young missionaries to Uganda; the real church answered the satire by buying ads in the show's programmes with lines such as 'The book is always better.'

In 'Wicked', Elphaba grows up to become which character from 'The Wizard of Oz'?

The Wicked Witch of the West starts out in Wicked as a bright, green-skinned student; she is branded 'wicked' only after she defies the Wizard and his corrupt rule.

The musical 'Hamilton' was inspired by a 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton written by which author?

Ron Chernow's biography was an impulse buy that the show's creator began reading on holiday in Mexico; Chernow met him soon after and signed on as the production's historical consultant.

On which day do most Broadway shows traditionally give no performance?

Monday is Broadway's usual day off. Until 1940 it was Sunday that stayed empty, in deference to the Sabbath; then the actors' union voted to allow Sunday shows.

What is the theatrical term for a new production of a previously produced Broadway play or musical?

A revival can outrun the original many times over: two of the ten longest-running productions in Broadway history are revivals rather than first stagings.

Which free program, known for its yellow banner, is handed to audiences at Broadway theatres?

Playbill began in 1884 as the program for a single New York theatre; these days its yellow banner turns into a rainbow once a year for Pride Month.

In which Andrew Lloyd Webber musical does Grizabella sing 'Memory'?

Cats gave 'Memory' to Elaine Paige only because Judi Dench, first cast as Grizabella in London, tore her Achilles tendon in rehearsal and had to pull out shortly before the first preview.

Which musical follows a red-haired orphan and her dog Sandy during the Great Depression?

Annie's first lead, Kristen Vigard, was replaced during the tryout because she came across as too sweet for a street-smart orphan; Andrea McArdle, who had been playing another orphan, took over.

Who composed the iconic music for the Broadway musical 'West Side Story'?

Leonard Bernstein and his partners first planned the show as a feud between a Jewish family and a Catholic one at Easter and Passover, before switching the story to rival street gangs.

Which Disney musical is known for its puppets and masks bringing African animals to life on stage?

The Lion King never hides its workings: director Julie Taymor's masks and puppets show the human performer and the animal at the same time, and she counts on the audience to fill in the blanks.

Which musical about an 1899 strike against the New York publisher Pulitzer features the song 'Seize the Day'?

Newsies began as a 1992 Disney film that flopped at the box office; the stage version, booked for a limited 2012 Broadway run, stayed for more than 1,000 performances.

Which American playwright authored the classic drama 'Death of a Salesman'?

Arthur Miller wrote the play in a small studio he had built for himself in Connecticut, getting the whole first act down in less than a day; it went on to win the 1949 Pulitzer Prize.

What is the name for a bulb left burning alone on an otherwise dark stage when a theatre is empty?

A ghost light's practical job is to stop the first person in from stepping off the stage into the orchestra pit; theatre lore adds that it is there for the resident ghosts, to please them or to keep them away.

Which 42nd Street theatre, once home to Ziegfeld's revues, did Disney restore in the 1990s?

The New Amsterdam Theatre opened in 1903 and had sunk to a run-down cinema showing kung fu films by the early 1980s; Disney's restoration brought live theatre back in 1997.

Who choreographed the original Broadway production of 'Hamilton'?

Andy Blankenbuehler was no gamble: he had already won a Tony choreographing 'In the Heights', and Hamilton reunited that show's writer, director and orchestrator with him.

Which square sits at the heart of Manhattan's Theater District?

Times Square, where Broadway crosses Seventh Avenue, was Longacre Square until 1904, when it was renamed for The New York Times, then building its new headquarters tower there.

Which musical won a record 12 Tony Awards in 2001?

The Producers won 12 Tonys from 15 nominations, taking every category it was up for: its only losses were cast members beaten by their own co-stars. The old record was Hello, Dolly!'s 10.

Which show became Disney's first Broadway musical when it opened in 1994?

Beauty and the Beast went to Broadway after New York Times critic Frank Rich wrote that the 1991 film had the year's best Broadway musical score; the stage version ran for 13 years.

In which part of New York City are most Broadway theaters located?

Midtown Manhattan only became the theatre capital in the early 1900s: New York's playhouses had clustered much further downtown and moved north as the city grew.

Which American composer wrote the scores for 'Annie Get Your Gun' and 'Call Me Madam'?

Irving Berlin got Annie Get Your Gun only because Jerome Kern, hired to compose it, died suddenly in 1945; Berlin's score went on to include 'There's No Business Like Show Business'.

Which Broadway theater, on the third floor of One Astor Plaza, became the home of 'The Lion King' in 2006?

The Minskoff Theatre took over The Lion King in 2006, more than eight years into its run, because Disney wanted the show's original home for its new musical, Mary Poppins.

In which month is the Tony Awards ceremony usually held?

June is the Tonys' usual slot, on a Sunday night; the pandemic made 2021 a rare exception, when a ceremony first planned for June 2020 finally took place on September 26.

Which musical intertwines the stories of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and Little Red Riding Hood?

Into the Woods, by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, grants every character's wish and then turns to the consequences, which come back to haunt them with disastrous results.

Which London district, home to about 40 theatres, is Britain's counterpart to Broadway?

The West End's Mousetrap, the world's longest-running show, opened in 1952; the pandemic shut it in March 2020, and it reopened 14 months later.

Which musical, running since 1996, overtook 'Cats' in 2014 as Broadway's second-longest-running show?

Chicago's current staging has run more than ten times as long as the 1975 original, which closed after 936 performances; it passed the 7,485 of Cats in November 2014.

The first Tony Awards were presented in 1947 at which New York hotel?

The Waldorf-Astoria hosted the first Tonys on Easter Sunday 1947, before any medallion existed: winners went home with a scroll plus a keepsake such as a compact or a money clip.

Which writer supplied the spoken script for the Broadway musical 'Wicked'?

Winnie Holzman, creator of TV's 'My So-Called Life', spent about a year working out the plot outline with the composer before the real writing began.

Which Broadway house, open since 1903, is New York's oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre?

The Lyceum Theatre was built by producer Daniel Frohman with an apartment upstairs; legend has it he signalled through a small door overlooking the stage whenever his actress wife was overacting.

What is Broadway's nickname 'The Great White Way' generally said to describe?

Its blaze of electric lights: Broadway was among the first American streets lit by electricity, and by the early 1900s newspapers had taken up the name for its glowing marquees and billboards.

What patchwork garment is presented on a Broadway opening night to the chorus member with the most Broadway credits?

The Legacy Robe, called the Gypsy Robe from 1950 until Actors' Equity renamed it in 2018, collects a memento from every show it visits before it is retired.

Which Tennessee Williams play pits Blanche DuBois against Stanley Kowalski?

A Streetcar Named Desire opened in 1947 with Marlon Brando as Stanley; Jessica Tandy won a Tony as Blanche, yet she alone of the four leads was replaced for the film, by Vivien Leigh.

In Broadway theatre, what does the term "dark night" refer to?

No performance is scheduled on a dark night, the one sure rest in a week that usually packs in eight shows, so cast and crew treat it as their weekend.

Which iconic Manhattan venue has most frequently hosted the annual Tony Awards ceremony?

Radio City Music Hall became the Tonys' regular home in 1997, when the ceremony left Broadway's own theatres for the first time in three decades and moved into a hall of nearly 6,000 seats.

What are a Broadway show's public performances before its official opening, or press night, called?

Previews are public performances that precede the official opening, known as the press night, letting the team refine the show from audience reactions.

Which long-running musical set in 19th-century France features Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert?

Les Misérables began in French, as a 1980 concept album and a short run in a Paris sports arena; producer Cameron Mackintosh then had it reworked in English for its 1985 London opening.

Who famously conceived, choreographed, and directed the original Broadway production of 'A Chorus Line'?

Michael Bennett built A Chorus Line out of tape recordings: in 1974 he joined sessions where Broadway dancers talked about their own lives, and their stories became the show.

What is the full name of the award the American Theatre Wing presents for excellence on Broadway?

The Antoinette Perry Award honours the actress and director who led the American Theatre Wing through the Second World War; she died in 1946, and the prize launched the next year took her nickname, Tony.

Which Pulitzer-winning August Wilson play, set in 1950s Pittsburgh, centers on Troy Maxson?

Fences turns on Troy's old grievance: a star of the Negro leagues before baseball's colour bar fell, he never reached the majors, and now he blocks his son's shot at a football scholarship.

Which pop star wrote the music for the 1994 film songs that anchor 'The Lion King' on Broadway?

Elton John got the job only after lyricist Tim Rice's first choice, ABBA, fell through; the songs the two wrote for the film went on to anchor the stage show.

Who became, in 2014, the first performer to win six competitive Tony Awards?

Audra McDonald's sixth came for playing Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill; because it was entered as a play, she became the only performer to win in all four acting categories.

Which West 44th Street restaurant papers its walls with more than a thousand caricatures of Broadway stars?

Sardi's founder Vincent Sardi Sr. paid Russian refugee artist Alex Gard in free meals for the first drawings; the walls now hold more than a thousand.

The musical 'Wicked' is based on a 1995 novel by which author?

Gregory Maguire retold L. Frank Baum's children's classic from the witch's side, and built her first name, Elphaba, out of Baum's initials: L-F-B.

What is the term for a financial backer who invests in a Broadway production?

Angel is the theatre's informal word for a backer who puts money into a show; the 'angel investors' who fund start-ups are said to have borrowed the name from Broadway.

Which director-choreographer won the Tony for directing 'The Producers' and also created 'Contact'?

Susan Stroman was hired only to choreograph The Producers, alongside her husband Mike Ockrent as director; after his death in 1999 she agreed to take on both jobs.

At which school do Elphaba and Glinda first meet in 'Wicked'?

Shiz University throws the two together as unwilling roommates who loathe each other on sight, a feud they sing about in 'What Is This Feeling?' before it turns into friendship.

Which August Wilson play about a disputed family heirloom won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama?

The Piano Lesson grew out of a Romare Bearden picture of the same name; in the play a brother wants to sell the family piano, carved with their enslaved ancestors' faces, and his sister refuses.

Which musical opens its second act with the song 'Seasons of Love'?

Rent opens its second act with the whole cast in a line singing 'Seasons of Love'; its composer died hours before the first preview, which became a sing-through in his memory.

Which Leonard Bernstein musical follows three sailors on 24 hours of shore leave in New York?

On the Town grew out of Fancy Free, a ballet about three sailors on leave that Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins had premiered earlier in 1944; its designer suggested a full-length show.

Which 1939 comedy about a blustering stockbroker's household still held Broadway's long-run record for non-musical plays in 2026?

Life with Father ran 3,224 performances from 1939 to 1947; co-author Howard Lindsay played the father himself, opposite his real wife, Dorothy Stickney.

Jonathan Larson's rock musical 'Rent' is loosely based on which Puccini opera?

Rent moves Puccini's La bohème from 1830s Paris to New York's East Village: Mimi, Roger (the opera's Rodolfo) and Mark (Marcello) live under the shadow of AIDS instead of tuberculosis.

Which biblical figure is the hero of the Lloyd Webber musical that began as a 15-minute school cantata in 1968?

Joseph, he of the Technicolor dreamcoat, was first sung by the choir of a London boys' school; Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice kept expanding the piece until it filled an evening and reached Broadway in 1982.

At which Lower Manhattan venue did Hamilton premiere off-Broadway in February 2015?

The Public Theater had already sent Hair and A Chorus Line uptown to Broadway; three-quarters of A Chorus Line's profits flowed back to the company that had developed it.

Which Broadway house, opened in 1924 as the Martin Beck, was renamed in 2003 for a caricaturist?

The Martin Beck became the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in honour of the artist who drew Broadway's stars for decades and hid his daughter's name, NINA, in the lines of most of his drawings.

Which 1964 show was the first Broadway musical to run more than 3,000 performances?

Fiddler on the Roof and Hello, Dolly! both opened in 1964 and chased the same record: Dolly became Broadway's longest-running musical in 1970, only for Fiddler to pass it and reach 3,242 performances.

Which classic American play features Martha and George over a single tumultuous evening?

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won the 1963 Tony for Best Play, but the Pulitzer board overruled its own drama jury over the play's profanity and sexual themes and gave no drama prize that year.

Which piece of scenery provides the climax of Act One in The Phantom of the Opera?

The chandelier, part of Maria Björnson's Tony-winning set, flickers to life and rises to the ceiling during the overture, then crashes to the stage at the end of Act One after the Phantom swears revenge.

Which rival gangs fight for turf in West Side Story?

The Jets and the Sharks, a white gang and a Puerto Rican one, battle over the streets of Manhattan's Upper West Side; the rumble that ends Act One leaves both gangs' leaders, Riff and Bernardo, dead.

Which Anaïs Mitchell musical, retelling the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, won the 2019 Best Musical Tony?

Hadestown started as a 2006 stage show that toured Vermont, became a 2010 concept album, and reached Broadway in 2019, where it won 8 Tonys, including Best Musical.

Which 1970 musical centers on bachelor Bobby's 35th birthday?

Company is told in vignettes around Bobby's married friends; Marianne Elliott's staging, which reached Broadway in 2021, turned him into a woman, Bobbie, played there by Katrina Lenk.

In Broadway theatre, what does the term 'the house' refer to?

'The house' is the audience seating area; house left and house right are given from the audience's view, the reverse of stage left and right, and the house manager runs front-of-house.

Which jukebox musical tells the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons?

Jersey Boys is told in four 'seasons', each narrated by a different member of the group, who gives his own version of the band's rise and break-up; it won the 2006 Tony for Best Musical.

Which director of Evita also staged the original Phantom of the Opera?

Hal Prince began as George Abbott's assistant and produced hits such as The Pajama Game before he ever directed one; he won directing Tonys for both Evita and this show.

What is the term for a Broadway performer prepared to step into multiple roles at short notice?

A swing understudies several chorus or dance roles at once; when an understudy steps up to a lead for the night, the swing fills the gap that understudy leaves in the ensemble.

Which rock star's solo show was the first to reopen on Broadway in 2021 after the pandemic shutdown?

Bruce Springsteen brought Springsteen on Broadway back in summer 2021 to an audience that had to prove it was vaccinated, the first full-length show since the shutdown of March 12, 2020.

Which 1866 production is often called the first work to fit the modern idea of a musical?

The Black Crook opened at Niblo's Garden in September 1866, grafting a stranded French ballet troupe onto a melodrama, and ran a then-record 474 performances.

Which awards did The Village Voice found in 1956 for Off-Broadway theatre?

The Obie Awards were started by Village Voice critic Jerry Tallmer for Off-Broadway work alone; Off-Off-Broadway shows became eligible in 1964, and unlike the Tonys the Obies have few fixed categories and no announced nominees.

Cats is based on a 1939 poetry collection by which writer?

T. S. Eliot wrote the poems in the 1930s in letters to his godchildren; because the show sets his verse to music, he won the 1983 Tony for Best Book of a Musical 18 years after his death.

Evita tells the story of the second wife of which president?

Juan Perón of Argentina married actress Eva Duarte in 1945; Evita reached listeners first as a 1976 concept album, and 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' topped the UK chart before any stage production opened.

Which was the first musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein?

Oklahoma! opened in 1943 with no stars and low expectations, then ran for 2,212 performances and did not close for five years.

Whose book of wartime stories became the musical South Pacific?

James Michener drew Tales of the South Pacific from what he saw as a Navy officer posted to the New Hebrides in World War II; the 1949 musical wove several of its stories together.

Which actor played the King in The King and I 4,625 times on stage?

Yul Brynner shaved his head for the 1951 premiere and kept the look for life; his 4,625th and final performance as the King came in 1985, less than four months before his death.

My Fair Lady is based on which George Bernard Shaw play?

Pygmalion had no musical while Shaw lived: stung by The Chocolate Soldier, an operetta made from another of his plays, he refused permission, and Lerner and Loewe began only after his death in 1950.

Hello, Dolly! is based on a farce by which playwright?

Thornton Wilder's farce flopped in 1938 as The Merchant of Yonkers, closing after 39 performances; he reworked it as The Matchmaker in 1954, and that version became Hello, Dolly! ten years later.

Guys and Dolls is based on short stories by which writer?

Damon Runyon's stories 'The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown' and 'Blood Pressure' supplied the plot; Frank Loesser's songs were finished first, and Abe Burrows then wrote a new script built to lead into each one.

Cabaret is ultimately based on which Christopher Isherwood novel?

Goodbye to Berlin drew on Isherwood's own time in the city: Sally Bowles was modelled on Jean Ross, a British nightclub singer he shared lodgings with in 1931; the play I Am a Camera and then Cabaret followed.

Which 1968 'tribal love-rock musical' produced the hit song 'Aquarius'?

Hair startled Broadway in April 1968 with a full rock score and a dimly lit nude scene; a year later the 5th Dimension's medley of Galt MacDermot's songs for it spent six weeks at No. 1.

Dreamgirls is particularly based on the career of which girl group?

Dreamgirls' Dreams echo The Supremes, with Effie White's ouster mirroring Florence Ballard's; Jennifer Holliday starred when it opened at the Imperial Theatre in December 1981.

Which songwriting duo wrote Little Shop of Horrors before their Disney work?

Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's Off-Broadway hit led Disney to offer them a choice of projects; they picked The Little Mermaid, and Ashman died in 1991, months before their next film reached cinemas.

Which songwriting duo wrote the music and lyrics for Dear Evan Hansen?

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul took the idea from Pasek's own high school, where a fellow student's death inspired the story; the show won six Tonys in 2017, including Best Musical.

Come From Away is set in which Newfoundland town after the September 11 attacks?

Gander's airport took in 38 diverted airliners carrying about 6,600 passengers and crew on September 11, 2001, and the town housed and fed them for days; Come From Away opened on Broadway in 2017.

Which of Henry VIII's wives sings the first solo in the musical Six?

Catherine of Aragon, Henry's first wife and his queen for almost 24 years, leads off the solos with 'No Way'; Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss wrote Six as Cambridge students for the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe, turning the queens into a pop group.

Who wrote the music and lyrics for Kinky Boots?

Cyndi Lauper had never written a Broadway score; this one, for a story drawn from a real Northamptonshire shoe factory that turned to making women's-style boots for men, made her the first woman to win the Best Score Tony alone.

Which puppet musical won Best Musical, Book and Score at the 2004 Tonys?

Avenue Q spoofs Sesame Street with puppets tackling adult themes; after six years on Broadway it moved back Off-Broadway in 2009 and played there until 2019.

Which 2006 rock musical about teenagers is based on Frank Wedekind's 1891 play?

Spring Awakening comes from a play frank enough about teenage sexuality to be banned or censored many times since its first staging in 1906; the musical won 8 Tonys, including Best Musical.

Fun Home is adapted from a 2006 graphic memoir by whom?

Alison Bechdel's title is her family's nickname for the funeral home her closeted father ran; Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron's adaptation made them the first all-woman team to win the Tony for Best Score.

Hairspray is set in 1962 in which city?

Baltimore's real Buddy Deane Show, the model for the story's TV dance party, never got the musical's happy ending: it left the air in 1964 amid a dispute over integrating its dancers.

Next to Normal centres on a mother struggling with what illness?

Bipolar disorder shapes Diana Goodman's story, which began in 1998 as a ten-minute workshop sketch about electroshock therapy called Feeling Electric; the full musical won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

What killed Jonathan Larson the night before the first public performance of his musical Rent?

An aortic dissection killed Jonathan Larson, 35, early on January 25, 1996, hours after Rent's final dress rehearsal; it is believed to have resulted from undiagnosed Marfan syndrome.

Whose painting 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' inspired a 1984 Broadway musical?

Georges Seurat worked on the canvas from 1884 to 1886; in Sunday in the Park with George, the first act ends with the characters arranged into his finished painting, and the second opens with them complaining of being stuck in it.

Bye Bye Birdie's story was influenced by which singer being drafted in 1957?

Elvis Presley's 1957 draft notice inspired Bye Bye Birdie (1960), whose rock star Conrad Birdie is a play on Conway Twitty; Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera led the original cast.

Kiss Me, Kate involves a production of which Shakespeare play?

The Taming of the Shrew is there because producer Saint Subber is said to have watched married stars Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne feud backstage in a 1935 production; the result was Cole Porter's biggest hit.

Which pair of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals were honoured by the Pulitzer board?

Oklahoma! and South Pacific: the first received a special Pulitzer citation in 1944, a year when the board gave no drama prize at all, and the second won the drama prize itself in 1950.

Which Broadway belter originated Rose in Gypsy in 1959?

Ethel Merman, a secretary who sang in nightclubs on the side, reached her peak as Rose, yet lost that season's Tony to Mary Martin in The Sound of Music.

Carol Channing originated the lead in Hello, Dolly! and which 1949 musical?

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes made Carol Channing a star as Lorelei Lee, the first to sing 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend'; Hollywood then gave both her signature roles to others, Marilyn Monroe and Barbra Streisand.

Angela Lansbury won a Tony as Mrs. Lovett in which 1979 musical?

Sweeney Todd cast Lansbury as the pie-shop owner who bakes the barber's victims into meat pies; she needed coaxing, pointing out that the show was 'not called Nellie Lovett', and then won her fourth Tony.

Nathan Lane won a Tony for playing which role in The Producers?

Max Bialystock schemes to get rich by staging a sure-fire flop; Zero Mostel created him on film, and Nathan Lane had already won a Tony in another Mostel part, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Which 1972 show earned Bob Fosse Tonys for both choreography and direction?

Pippin brought Bob Fosse his only Tony for direction in 1973, the year his Cabaret beat The Godfather's Francis Ford Coppola to the directing Oscar.

Harvey Fierstein won a Best Actor Tony for playing which Hairspray role?

Harvey Fierstein won the 2003 Tony for Best Actor in a Musical as Edna Turnblad, a role played by a man since Divine in the 1988 film; he had earlier won Best Play and Best Actor for Torch Song Trilogy.

Which composer was left out when his 1931 musical Of Thee I Sing won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama?

George Gershwin wrote the score, but the first Pulitzer given to a musical went only to its writers: George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind for the script and his brother Ira for the lyrics.

Which 1983 Jerry Herman musical was the first Broadway hit centred on a gay couple?

La Cage aux Folles follows Georges, who runs a Saint-Tropez drag club, and Albin, his partner and star; its first-act finale, 'I Am What I Am', became a gay anthem, and the show won six Tonys, including Best Musical.

The Palace Theatre, opened in 1913, was the flagship venue of what kind of entertainment?

The Palace Theatre was vaudeville's top booking from 1913 as the flagship of the Keith-Albee circuit, and 'playing the Palace' meant a performer had arrived; it turned to films in the early 1930s.

Which Broadway ticket seller has the Theatre Development Fund run since 1973?

TKTS was set up in Duffy Square so that anyone, not only the fund's members, could buy seats at 20 to 50 per cent off; a rebuilt booth tucked under a flight of glass steps opened in 2008.

Which Parisian music hall inspired Florenz Ziegfeld's annual revues from 1907?

The Folies Bergère was the model for the Ziegfeld Follies, reportedly at the urging of Anna Held, the European star Ziegfeld had brought to Broadway; the lavish revues ran from 1907 to 1931.

The Tony Awards are presented jointly by the American Theatre Wing and which organisation?

The Broadway League, the industry's trade association, was invited in by the American Theatre Wing in 1967, in time for the ceremony's first broadcast on network television.

Spamalot was 'lovingly ripped off' from which Monty Python film?

Monty Python and the Holy Grail gave Eric Idle both the plot and the title, which blends Camelot with a line from the film about eating 'ham and jam and Spam a lot'; the show won the 2005 Tony for Best Musical.

Who mentored the young Stephen Sondheim?

Oscar Hammerstein II, a neighbour in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, told the 15-year-old that his first musical was the worst thing he had ever read, then spent the rest of the day showing him why.

Fiddler on the Roof is based on stories about Tevye the Dairyman by which author?

Sholem Aleichem is a pen name taken from a Hebrew greeting meaning 'peace be upon you'; the show's title was suggested by Marc Chagall's paintings of fiddlers, which also inspired the original set.

Mamma Mia! takes place on an island in which country?

Greece is the setting despite the Italian title: the fictional island is called Kalokairi, the Greek word for summer, where a bride invites three men from her mother's past to learn which is her father.

Who created the title role in The Phantom of the Opera in London in 1986?

Michael Crawford, until then best known for the sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, created the Phantom in London in 1986 and repeated it on Broadway, winning the 1988 Tony; Sarah Brightman, then Lloyd Webber's wife, was Christine.

Which con man promises River City a boys' band in 'The Music Man'?

Harold Hill, the fast-talking salesman of The Music Man (1957), sells River City, Iowa on a boys' band; Robert Preston originated the role and won the 1958 Tony, and the show beat West Side Story for Best Musical.

Who won the 2016 Best Actor Tony as Hamilton's Aaron Burr?

Leslie Odom Jr. beat the show's own creator and title star, nominated in the same category; Hamilton went into the night with a record 16 nominations and went home with 11 awards.

Which character in the musical Chicago, tried for shooting her lover, was based on real 1924 defendant Beulah Annan?

Roxie Hart came from Beulah Annan, whose trial reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins covered for the Chicago Tribune before turning it into her 1926 play; Velma Kelly was drawn from another acquitted defendant, Belva Gaertner.

Hugh Jackman won his Tony in The Boy from Oz as which Australian songwriter, once Liza Minnelli's husband?

Peter Allen was performing in Hong Kong in 1964 when Judy Garland's husband spotted his act; he became her opening act, and later co-wrote the Oscar-winning 'Arthur's Theme'.

Who composed the music for A Chorus Line, the 1975 musical about dancers at an audition?

Marvin Hamlisch, who had just won three Oscars in one night, set to music stories that real Broadway dancers told in taped workshop sessions; the score includes 'What I Did for Love' and 'One'.

A 2024 lawsuit claimed the Broadway play Stereophonic copied a memoir about recording which band's album?

Fleetwood Mac's Rumours sessions are the subject of Making Rumours, by the album's engineer Ken Caillat; the suit was settled out of court months after Stereophonic broke the record for a play with 13 Tony nominations.

Which firm, founded by three Syracuse brothers, owned 17 Broadway theatres in 2025?

The Shubert Organization began with Sam, Lee and Jacob Shubert in Syracuse; from 1900 they took on the Theatrical Syndicate, broke its monopoly on bookings, and went on to build the largest theatre empire in the country.

Which jukebox musical, based on a 2001 Baz Luhrmann film, won 10 Tonys including Best Musical?

Moulin Rouge! tried out at Boston's Emerson Colonial Theatre in 2018; its score mixes the film's songs with pop hits written in the 17 years after it, and it won 10 of its 14 Tony nominations.

Which Broadway musical did South Park's creators write with Robert Lopez, winning nine Tony Awards in 2011?

The Book of Mormon follows two young missionaries posted to a remote Ugandan village. Trey Parker and Matt Stone had already given the faith comic treatment in a 2003 South Park episode.

Which actress originated Eliza Doolittle in Broadway's My Fair Lady but lost the film role to Audrey Hepburn?

Julie Andrews had never made a film, and Warner Bros. wanted a screen name. She made her debut in Mary Poppins instead and won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Which Stephen King novel became a notorious 1988 Broadway musical that closed after only five regular performances?

Carrie cost $8 million, making it one of the most expensive failures Broadway had seen. A 1991 history of flop musicals took its title from the wreck: Not Since Carrie.

Which comic-book hero starred in a $75 million Broadway musical with songs by Bono and the Edge of U2?

Spider-Man flew over the audience in Turn Off the Dark, which played a record 182 performances before its official opening. Several actors were injured performing stunts along the way.

The jukebox musical Mamma Mia! is built on songs that Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus wrote for which pop group?

ABBA never appear in the story: playwright Catherine Johnson wove the hits into a new plot about a bride-to-be on a Greek island trying to work out which of three men is her father.

Which Shakespeare tragedy do superstitious actors avoid naming inside a theatre, using a nickname instead?

Macbeth is said to carry a curse, so actors call it 'the Scottish play' and speak the title only when the script calls for it. Rituals to undo a slip include turning three times and spitting over the left shoulder.

Which notorious 1970s Manhattan disco was rebuilt as a Broadway theatre by the Roundabout Theatre Company in 1998?

Studio 54 opened in 1927 as the Gallo Opera House, so the return to live theatre was a homecoming. Roundabout renovated it to house its production of Cabaret, which stayed until 2004.

Which 1960 Broadway musical became a nickname for John F. Kennedy's presidency after his widow quoted its lyrics?

Camelot's cast recording was the president's favourite bedtime listening, his widow told Life magazine in December 1963. His favourite lines came in the final number: 'one brief, shining moment'.

Which habit is bad luck backstage in a theatre because sailors hired as stagehands once cued scene changes with it?

Whistling was the code that riggers, many hired from ships in port, used to signal scenery moves. An actor who whistled could bring a backdrop down at the wrong time and injure someone.

Which animated film became Disney's first Broadway musical in 1994, three years after its cinema release?

Beauty and the Beast reached the stage after critics hailed the film as one of the finest musicals in years, nudging Disney chief Michael Eisner towards Broadway. It ran for thirteen years.

Which Texan star created the Broadway roles of Peter Pan, Nellie Forbush and Maria in The Sound of Music?

Mary Martin was a muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, creating the leads in two of their shows. Her son found fame on television: Larry Hagman, the scheming J.R. Ewing of Dallas.

Which singer became a Broadway star in 1964 playing comedian Fanny Brice in the musical Funny Girl?

Barbra Streisand was hired on the spot by producer Ray Stark, Brice's son-in-law, over his wife's objections. Composer Jule Styne had remembered her from I Can Get It for You Wholesale.

Which Miss Saigon star, the singing voice of Disney's Jasmine and Mulan, was the first Asian actress to win a Tony?

Lea Salonga originated Kim in London in 1989 and brought the role to Broadway two years later, winning the 1991 Tony. She had made her professional stage debut in the Philippines at age seven.

Which musical about Rydell High's class of 1959 held Broadway's long-run record when it closed in 1980?

Grease reached 3,388 performances, a mark that A Chorus Line passed three years later. The title comes from the greasers, a working-class youth subculture of the 1950s.

Which Shakespeare play did Jerome Robbins propose resetting in modern Manhattan, giving Broadway West Side Story?

Romeo and Juliet was first reworked as East Side Story, with a Catholic family feuding with a Jewish one at Easter and Passover. The feud later became two street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks.

Which modern country is the setting of The King and I, where a British governess teaches the royal children?

Thailand, then called Siam, had a king who really did employ a governess: Mongkut hired Anna Leonowens, whose memoirs lie behind the story. He kept his country independent partly by familiarising his heirs with Western ways.

Which magazine, founded in 1884, is printed for each Broadway production and handed out at the door as a programme?

Playbill began when Frank Vance Strauss set up a company to print theatre programmes in New York. Most copies are made for one particular production and given away, not sold.

Which talk-show host, Oscar-nominated for the 1985 film of The Color Purple, went on to produce its Broadway musical?

Oprah Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg's film as Sofia, two decades before the stage version opened in 2005. She produced it with Quincy Jones, another veteran of the film.

Which singer-songwriter's rise to her album Tapestry is the story of the Broadway jukebox musical Beautiful?

Carole King attended a performance in April 2014 and joined the cast on stage at the curtain call to sing 'You've Got a Friend'. The plot follows her years writing hits with Gerry Goffin.

Which 2005 Best Musical winner was billed as 'lovingly ripped off' from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

Spamalot has music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle, the Python who also wrote its book and lyrics. It earned 14 Tony nominations for its irreverent parody of Arthurian legend.

Which George Gershwin stage work, set in the Charleston tenement of Catfish Row, introduced the song 'Summertime'?

Porgy and Bess was researched on the spot: Gershwin visited Charleston with DuBose Heyward, the local author who wrote the libretto and most of the lyrics. It reached Broadway in 1935 after a Boston tryout.

Which Andrew Lloyd Webber musical put its Broadway cast on roller skates?

Starlight Express begins with a boy falling asleep over his toy trains, which come to life for race night. Its hero is Rusty, an obsolete steam engine up against diesel and electric rivals.

Which Neil Simon comedy, a 1965 Broadway hit, makes neat freak Felix Ungar share a flat with slob Oscar Madison?

The Odd Couple starred Art Carney and Walter Matthau in its first production. Simon reworked it in 1985 for a pair of female roommates, renamed Florence Ungar and Olive Madison.

Which Lorraine Hansberry drama was the first play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway?

A Raisin in the Sun was also the first Broadway play with a Black director, Lloyd Richards. Its title comes from the Langston Hughes poem 'Harlem', also known as 'A Dream Deferred'.

Which Saturday Night Live writer adapted her own 2004 film screenplay into the Broadway musical Mean Girls?

Tina Fey wrote the book of the musical and kept the songs in the family: her husband, Jeff Richmond, composed the music, with lyrics by Nell Benjamin.

Which pop singer-songwriter wrote the score of the Broadway musical Waitress and later played its heroine, Jenna?

Sara Bareilles was part of a Broadway first: women filled all four top creative spots on the production, with Jessie Nelson writing the book and Diane Paulus directing.

Which actor played Che opposite Patti LuPone in Broadway's Evita before becoming Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride?

Mandy Patinkin won the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the 1979 production. Madonna's 1996 film gave the part to Antonio Banderas.

Which actor won both a Tony and an Oscar for playing the Emcee in Cabaret on stage and screen?

Joel Grey added a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for the same sinister master of ceremonies. Screen fame runs in the family: his daughter Jennifer Grey starred in Dirty Dancing.

Which actor won the 2016 Tony for Best Actor in a Musical for playing Aaron Burr in Hamilton?

Leslie Odom Jr. backed out of a leading television role to play Burr in the early workshops. The gamble also brought him a Grammy for the cast album in the same year as his Tony.

Which Pitch Perfect actor won the 2017 Tony for creating the title role in Dear Evan Hansen?

Ben Platt was 23, which made him the youngest solo winner of the leading-actor Tony at the time. He had started early, touring in Caroline, or Change at the age of 11.

Which gambler in Guys and Dolls accepts a bet that he can take a missionary to dinner in Havana?

Sky Masterson is a notoriously lucky gambler willing to bet on virtually anything, which is why broke Nathan Detroit proposes a $1,000 wager he thinks he cannot lose. Marlon Brando played Sky in the 1955 film.

Which 1959 Broadway musical, drawn from a striptease artist's memoirs, centres on her domineering stage mother, Rose?

Gypsy is named after Gypsy Rose Lee, but it made her mother a byword for the ultimate show business parent. Producer David Merrick sought the rights after reading one chapter in Harper's Magazine.

Which 1966 Broadway musical won Angela Lansbury her first Tony Award, as an eccentric bohemian aunt?

Mame is based on Patrick Dennis's 1955 novel Auntie Mame, whose heroine holds that life is a banquet. The musical was originally titled My Best Girl.

Which Edna Ferber novel became a landmark 1927 Jerome Kern musical featuring the song 'Ol' Man River'?

Show Boat follows the performers, stagehands and dock workers of the Cotton Blossom across 40 years. Its themes of racial prejudice and tragic love were far from the light fare of its day.

Which Cole Porter musical follows nightclub singer Reno Sweeney aboard an ocean liner bound for London?

Anything Goes got its shipboard setting from producer Vinton Freedley, who was living on a boat at the time, having left the United States to avoid his creditors.

Which 1965 musical stages Don Quixote's story as a play performed by Cervantes and fellow prisoners of the Inquisition?

Man of La Mancha grew out of a 1959 television play, I, Don Quixote, by the same writer, Dale Wasserman. Its principal song, 'The Impossible Dream', became a standard.

Which rock opera first appeared as a 1970 concept album, with Deep Purple's Ian Gillan singing the lead?

Jesus Christ Superstar went to vinyl because its young composers could not get backing for a stage production. The album's immediate success carried the piece to Broadway in 1971.

Which songwriting duo wrote the musical Cabaret and the Frank Sinatra signature song 'New York, New York'?

Kander and Ebb wrote the song for a Martin Scorsese film, one of several movies they scored. They are also tied to Liza Minnelli, who made her Broadway debut in their Flora the Red Menace.

Which comic actor, blacklisted in the 1950s, created the role of Tevye on Broadway in 1964?

Zero Mostel won three Tony Awards in all. The first came for the play Rhinoceros, in which his onstage transformation from man to rhinoceros became a thing of legend.

Which playwright of Long Day's Journey into Night won four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and the 1936 Nobel Prize?

Eugene O'Neill had the manuscript sealed in his publisher's vault with orders not to publish it until 25 years after his death. It appeared in 1956 and won his last Pulitzer posthumously.

Which labor union, founded in 1913, represents the performers and stage managers in Broadway shows?

Actors' Equity Association, usually just called Equity, negotiates wages and conditions for live theatre. Its members went on strike in 1919 to win recognition as a labor union.

Which dancer created the role of Anita in Broadway's original West Side Story, four years before the film?

Chita Rivera had made her Broadway debut as a dancer in Guys and Dolls. In 2002 she became the first Latina to receive a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom followed in 2009.

A show-stopping song late in a Broadway musical's second act is named after which hour of the evening?

Eleven o'clock was roughly when the big number arrived in the days when musicals started at 8:30 p.m. A 1930s revue played on that start time with its title, Life Begins at 8:40.

Which actress, often called the First Lady of American Theatre, gives her name to Broadway's smallest playhouse?

Helen Hayes was the first woman to complete the EGOT, winning an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. She was also the first performer to take acting's Triple Crown.

Which woman's name is on the Lincoln Center venue that is the only Broadway theater outside the Theater District?

Vivian Beaumont Allen, an heiress and actress, gave $3 million towards its construction in 1958 but died before it was finished. Eero Saarinen was the architect.

Which German term names the rehearsal where a Broadway musical's singers first sing with the full orchestra?

Sitzprobe means 'seated rehearsal': nobody acts or moves about, so all attention goes to fitting the voices and the orchestra together. It is often the first time the two groups meet.

Which 1980 Broadway tap musical's opening night ended with producer David Merrick announcing its director's death?

42nd Street had just earned a lengthy standing ovation when Merrick told the audience that Gower Champion had died that day. Some laughed at first, taking it for one of his publicity stunts.

Which Iowa-born composer wrote book, music and lyrics for The Music Man, inspired by his Mason City boyhood?

Meredith Willson was a flute and piccolo virtuoso who played in John Philip Sousa's band before he turned to writing. He also composed 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas'.

Which 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical moved the Hungarian play Liliom from Budapest to the Maine coast?

Carousel was Richard Rodgers's own favourite of all his musicals. In 1999 Time magazine went further and named it the best musical of the 20th century.

Which actress began as the understudy in Thoroughly Modern Millie's tryout and won a 2002 Tony in the title role?

Sutton Foster took over as Millie Dilmount with only nine days to go before audiences arrived at La Jolla Playhouse. She had left another show's cast to join the ensemble.