By David Gewirtzman
and Anne Bradley, Ernio Hernandez
12 May 2013
1906 Gerald Du Maurier begins a signature performance as Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman. The story of the gentleman thief turned into a play by author E.W. Hornung and Eugene Presbrey will run 351 performances at London's Comedy Theatre.
1925 A Bit o' Love gets a bit of time. This John Galsworthy drama lasts just four performances at the 48th Street Theatre on Broadway. O. P. Heggie plays a minister who remains married to his wife just to protect her true love's identity.
1930 The New Yorker Theatre on West 54th Street in New York opens with a production of Henrik Ibsen's The Vikings. Later it will become Studio 54 which, in 1998, will return to the Broadway fold with a revival of Cabaret. It's now owned and operated by Roundabout Theatre Company.
1988 Stephen King's novel gets turned into a musical as Carrie opens on Broadway tonight at the Virginia Theatre. The Michael Gore-Dean Pitchford show stars Betty Buckley, Charlotte d'Amboise and Linzi Hateley as blood-doused Carrie. Despite running 5 performances, the musical gains a cult following, and is revived Off-Broadway in 2012.
1999 The wedded Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, who've appeared in dozens of plays together, return to Off-Broadway and star in Tennessee Williams Remembered, featuring their own reminiscences of the playwright and scenes from the late dramatist's works. Wallach, who won a Tony for his role in the original production of The Rose Tattoo, made his stage debut and met Jackson in an Off-Broadway production of #Tennessee Williams' This Property Is Condemned.
2012 The world premiere of Hands on a Hardbody — Doug Wright, Amanda Green and Trey Anastasio's musical based on the documentary feature film about a Texas endurance competition — opens at the La Jolla Playhouse. Directed by Neil Pepe, the production stars Keith Carradine, Hunter Foster and Keala Settle. Hands on a Hardbody transfers to Broadway in 2013, but lasts only 28 performances.
Today's Birthdays: Boris Tomashefsky 1858. Al Shean 1868. Edith Oland 1870. Wilfred Hyde White 1903. Katharine Hepburn 1907. Lindsay Crouse 1948. Gabriel Byrne 1950. Erin Dilly 1972.
