Today in Theatre History: MAY 31

By Ernio Hernandez
May 31, 2009

1946 Orson Welles circumnavigated the stage in Around The World , a musical he adapted from the Jules Verne novel, “Around the World in Eighty Days,” Cole Porter provided the music and lyrics for the production, mounted at the Adelphi Theatre.

1978 Waiting for Godot is produced at the Leperq Space of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Walter D. Asmus directs Samuel Beckett’s own English version of his play. Austin Pendelton (Oh Dad, Poor Dad..., The Diary of Anne Frank) assumes the role of Estragon for this BAM Theater Company production.

1979 Liv Ullmann won't be forgotten as she headlines at the Majestic Theatre in I Remember Mama. The Richard Rodgers-Martin Charnin musical with book by Thomas Meehan is directed by Cy Feuer. It will play 40 previews and 108 performances before closing Sep. 2.

1984 John Malkovich and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago bring Lanford Wilson's Balm in Gilead to New York City at the Circle Repertory. Terry Kinney, Tanya Berezin, Gary Sinise and Glenne Headly star in the play set in a Broadway coffee shop under the direction of Malkovich.

1998 Natalie Portman, making her stage debut as the star of the Broadway revival of The Diary of Anne Frank, leaves the production at the Music Box Theatre to return to her movie career and be immortalized as Princess Leia's mother in the Star Wars "prequel" films. Natalie Paulding replaces her as Anne.

2002 Performances begin in London for Bombay Dreams, the musical set in the world of Indian cinema. The composer is A.R. Rahman and the producer is Andrew Lloyd Webber.

2003 The Light in the Piazza,, a new musical by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel, makes its world premiere at Seattle's Intiman Theatre. It will open on Broadway in spring 2005 and win Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Actress in a Musical.