About Us
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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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000078882 |
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In March of 1956, Sammy Davis Jr. had his Broadway debut in Mr. Wonderful. Davis (1925 - 1990) had been performing since age five, had never had a formal education and was already a star of the nightclub circuit. The title tune was one of the hits that came from the show; the other was "Too Close For Comfort." The songs were written by Jerry Bock, George Weiss and Larry Holofcener. During the nearly 400-performance run of the show, actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932 - 2011) appeared for the first time on Broadway as a replacement player. The second act of Mr. Wonderful primarily re-hashes material that Davis, his father and his uncle had been using onstage for decades. In 1964, Davis performed the title role in the musical version of Clifford Odets' play, Golden Boy and was nominated for a Best Actor Tony Award. Davis was one of the original members of the infamous Rat Pack (which included actors and nightclub performers Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin), who led extremely loose lives. The group made a series of movies that traded on the players' names (not the quality of the stories) to sell tickets. In addition to being one of the best tap dancers of his era, Davis also perfected the art of the fast draw, a skill he developed playing gunslingers in movie Westerns. Three debuts took place in October of 1962 during a month-long run of a revue called Eddie Fisher at the Winter Garden. The first act featured dancer/choreographer Juliet Prowse (1936 - 1996) and comedian/activist Dick Gregory in their first Broadway show; they did their turns in the first half of the evening, while Fisher (1928 - 2010) held forth alone in the second half of the show. Of the three, only Fisher appeared in a subsequent musical or revue on Broadway. Fisher, the father of Star Wars film actress Carrie Fisher, was married three times, to Connie Stevens, Debbie Reynolds (Carrie's mom) and Elizabeth Taylor (1932 - 2011).
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In March of 1956, Sammy Davis Jr. had his Broadway debut in Mr. Wonderful. Davis (1925 - 1990) had been performing since age five, had never had a formal education and was already a star of the nightclub circuit. The title tune was one of the hits that came from the show; the other was "Too Close For Comfort." The songs were written by Jerry Bock, George Weiss and Larry Holofcener. During the nearly 400-performance run of the show, actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932 - 2011) appeared for the first time on Broadway as a replacement player. The second act of Mr. Wonderful primarily re-hashes material that Davis, his father and his uncle had been using onstage for decades. In 1964, Davis performed the title role in the musical version of Clifford Odets' play, Golden Boy and was nominated for a Best Actor Tony Award. Davis was one of the original members of the infamous Rat Pack (which included actors and nightclub performers Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin), who led extremely loose lives. The group made a series of movies that traded on the players' names (not the quality of the stories) to sell tickets. In addition to being one of the best tap dancers of his era, Davis also perfected the art of the fast draw, a skill he developed playing gunslingers in movie Westerns.