By Anne Bradley
and Robert Viagas, Christopher Reichheld and Sam Maher
11 Dec 2010
1911 The solemnly titled Through Death Valley; Or, the Mormon Peril opens at the Shakespeare theatre in London's Clapham district. Jack Fortescue stars in this Joseph Le Brandt drama.
1919 Joe Masteroff, who wrote the libretto for Cabaret and She Loves Me, is born in Philadelphia, PA.
1943 The New York City Center of Music and Drama opens tonight with a concert by the New York Philharmonic.
1947 Paul and Grace Hartman's Angel in the Wings hovers at the Coronet Theatre in New York. Elaine Stritch sings "Bongo, Bongo, Bongo, I don't want to leave the Congo" and she doesn't -- the show runs for over a year.
1958 Christopher Plummer plays the devil in Elia Kazan's highly stylized carnival-setting adaptation of the Bible story of Job, which opens tonight at the ANTA Theatre. Titled J.B. Archibald MacLeish's drama features Pat Hingle as the man whose faith in God gets the ultimate test. It runs 364 performances and wins both the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony Award as Best Play.
1983 Noises Off, a new comedy by Michael Frayn involving a theatre company touring with a sex farce entitled "Nothing On," opens at the Brooks Atkinson tonight. It stars Dorothy Loudon, Brian Murray and Victor Garber. The show will be revived on Broadway, again at the Brooks Atkinson, in a 2001 production starring Patti LuPone and Peter Gallagher.
1989 Cy Coleman, David Zippel, and Larry Gelbart's new musical, City of Angels, opens tonight at the Virginia Theatre. Directed by Michael Blakemore, the movie spoof has elaborate sets thanks to virtuoso Robin Wagner. Cast members included Randy Graff, James Naughton (Y2K), Rachel York (The Scarlet Pimpernel), and Gregg Edelman. The show will run 878 performances and win the Tony Award as Best Musical of 1990.
2003 Secrets and lies about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy are examined in Keith Reddin's Frame 312, which opens at the Atlantic Theater Company Off-Broadway.
2005 Living legend Chita Rivera performs a stage autobiography in Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, directed by Graciela Daniele and featuring a script by Terrence McNally and some new songs by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, along with familiar tunes from her many hits over the previous five decades. The show will run 72 performances at the Schoenfeld Theatre.
More of Today's Birthdays: Eddie Dowling 1895. Rita Moreno 1931. Mos Def 1973.
