1939 Life With Father is the family comedy based on Clarence Day’s stories that was written by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, which opens tonight at the Empire Theatre. The cast includes Lindsay himself taking over a role that was turned down by Alfred Lunt. He appears on stage with his offstage wife, Dorothy Stickney. Mr. Lindsay had hoped that the play would run for at least six months. He got his wish; the play ran for over eight years, setting a new record for a nonmusical play, racking up 3,224 performances.
1973 Boom Boom Room by David Rabe opens tonight at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, marking the first time that Joseph Papp has a show at Lincoln Center. The show has Madeleine Kahn starring as a middle aged woman realizing that her adult life is, in reality, not that much better than her abusive childhood. Charles Durning and Robert Loggia co star in this show that won mixed reviews and a short run of only 37 performances.
1979 A Romantic Comedy opens tonight at the Barrymore Theatre with stars Mia Farrow and Anthony Perkins. The Bernard Slade play will get mixed reviews and win 396 performances.
1990 Six Degrees of Separation opens tonight at Lincoln Center after a successful Off Broadway run. Directed by Jerry Zaks and starring Stockard Channing, Courtney B. Vance and John Cunningham, the show about a black imposter posing as a college friend of a white family's son will run for 155 performances at its new home.
--By Sam Maher and Steve Luber
