1952 Gertrude Lawrence dies. She was starring as Anna in The King and I at the St. James with Yul Brynner. One of her last requests was that Brynner, her leading man in the show, be upgraded in the posters and Playbills from below to above-the-title billing, sharing star billing with whomever would play Anna in other performances.

1955 Paul Muni’s left eye is removed because of a tumor. He leaves Inherit the Wind and will be replaced by Melvyn Douglas.

1979 A revival of the musical Peter Pan opens at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, with Sandy Duncan as Peter and George Rose as Captain Hook. It runs 554 performances, more than three times as long as the original. Future years will see more Pan revivals, with Cathy Rigby.

1985 Andre Gregory, Arthur Rubin, Barbara Cook, George Hearn, Mandy Patinkin, Lee Remick, Jim Walton, Howard McGillin, Daisy Prince, Liz Callaway, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Liliane Montevecchi, Elaine Stritch, Phyllis Newman, Carol Burnett, Licia Albanese and Erie Mills convene upon the stage at Avery Fisher Hall to perform a concert version of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. Originally produced on Broadway in 1971, the musical will later receive full Broadway revivals in 2001 and 2011.

2000 Actor Ralph Fiennes, who played Hamlet on Broadway in 1995 in The Almeida Theatre Company production at the Belasco Theatre returns to New York City in two other Shakespearean roles. The British actor alternates in the leads in The Almeida Theatre Company productions of Richard II and Coriolanus at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Jonathan Kent, who helmed Fiennes in Hamlet, takes on directorial duties once more for this production.

Today's Birthdays: James K. Hackett 1869. Otto Kruger 1895. Billy Rose 1899. Jo Anne Worley 1937. Swoosie Kurtz 1944. Jane Curtin 1947. Rosie Perez 1964. Anika Noni Rose 1972.