About Us
Cast & Crew
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Years ago, while teaching college courses in the History of American Musical Theatre, my research exposed numerous instances of innovation in the art form (“this was the first time…”) as theatrical technologies, along with musical styles and forms, evolved. I began to “collect” such phrases, which later included people, theatrical venues and other occasional oddities, into the collection and organized the data chronologically. |
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At this site, we focus on historical firsts. Innovation creates history, and this is a collection of innovative events, decisions and inventions. Among other things, the collection includes initial appearances of popular shows, songs and performers. Here, you’ll find descriptions of theatrical firsts in America from 1665 to 2000. Each “historical first” appears in bold type. |
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Generally, the New York opening is considered the finished form of any work (even if subsequent changes occur during the New York run). For the sake of maintaining some historical perspective, this site covers events through the 1999-2000 season. |
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Ongoing additions to the site include textual entries and pictures of people and theatrical venues. One project will soon offer links to audio files of songs in the public domain; other improvements may occur as they are invented or suggested. |
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We owe much to those who have assisted in the development and presentation of this material. Please see our “Cast & Crew” page. To everyone who appears there, I offer my deepest thanks. |
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Perhaps you will find something here that will initiate your own research. You might want to have an item considered for inclusion at the site (if so, please contact me). You might wish to correct an error that you find here (if so, by all means contact me). You may even find items that will pique your curiosity and motivate you to seek answers. We hope that this site will bring you closer to the theatrical art form that has proven time and again to be our most beloved: the musical. |
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Wayne Hamilton, MFA 2009 |
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Thank you for visiting FirstOnStage.com, a web site that was literally decades in the making. We hope you find the information here useful in your classes, in your research or in exercising your intellectual curiosity. If so, we hope you’ll make a donation to help support FirstOnStage. This information comes to you quickly and easily without the cost of expensive textbooks or hours of searching for the proverbial needle in the digital haystack. Your gift will enable site developers to provide ongoing enhancements, including additional textual content, pictures and audio files. PayPal will safely and securely process the transaction. Thanks for your interest and your generous support! |
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000079866 |
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The world premiere of Annie took place in August of 1976 at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, where it ran for 13 weeks. Later, the show moved to a successful month-long run in the house of its Broadway co-producer, Washington, DC's Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Broadway opening occurred in April of 1977. Young Andrea McArdle, not yet thirteen, played the title role in her Broadway debut. She introduced the song that went on to be a hit: "Tomorrow." The book was by Thomas Meehan, the music by Charles Strouse and the lyrics by Martin Charnin, whose idea for the musical was its genesis point. Charnin also directed the show, Peter Gennaro choreographed and Mike Nichols was one of the producers. This was not great musical theatre, but it was the best that Broadway could offer, coming at the end of one of its most dismal seasons. But it was family entertainment, and middle-class parents brought their children, so Annie became a hit. It won the Tony award, the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Critics Circle awards for Best Musical. Annie also won four additional Tonys. As with all long runs, replacement players come and go. One of the replacements during the run of Annie was twelve-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker in her Broadway debut. Parker went on to fame in film and especially in television, as well as future starring roles in two additional Broadway musical productions. She is married to film and stage actor Matthew Broderick. Annie actually had a sequel called Annie Warbucks, created by almost the same team that brought the original to the stage. The only missing player was Mike Nichols. Unfortunately, the sequel did not do as well as its predecessor. In fact, it holds a rather dubious distinction in the annals of musical theatre: it flopped more times than any other musical. In the initial attempt to bring the show to Broadway, it closed during tryouts. After major surgery, it was remounted as a road show, but closed again. Finally, it was re-worked again for an Off-Broadway run that began in May of 1993, when it failed a third time.
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The world premiere of Annie took place in August of 1976 at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, where it ran for 13 weeks. Later, the show moved to a successful month-long run in the house of its Broadway co-producer, Washington, DC's Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Broadway opening occurred in April of 1977. Young Andrea McArdle, not yet thirteen, played the title role in her Broadway debut. She introduced the song that went on to be a hit: "Tomorrow." The book was by Thomas Meehan, the music by Charles Strouse and the lyrics by Martin Charnin, whose idea for the musical was its genesis point. Charnin also directed the show, Peter Gennaro choreographed and Mike Nichols was one of the producers. This was not great musical theatre, but it was the best that Broadway could offer, coming at the end of one of its most dismal seasons. But it was family entertainment, and middle-class parents brought their children, so Annie became a hit. It won the Tony award, the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Critics Circle awards for Best Musical. Annie also won four additional Tonys. As with all long runs, replacement players come and go. One of the replacements during the run of Annie was twelve-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker in her Broadway debut. Parker went on to fame in film and especially in television, as well as future starring roles in two additional Broadway musical productions. She is married to film and stage actor Matthew Broderick. Annie actually had a sequel called Annie Warbucks, created by almost the same team that brought the original to the stage. The only missing player was Mike Nichols. Unfortunately, the sequel did not do as well as its predecessor. In fact, it holds a rather dubious distinction in the annals of musical theatre: it flopped more times than any other musical. In the initial attempt to bring the show to Broadway, it closed during tryouts. After major surgery, it was remounted as a road show, but closed again. Finally, it was re-worked again for an Off-Broadway run that began in May of 1993, when it failed a third time.