It's
time for another edition of the Tuesday Timeline, and this week, we're going
to be looking at a topic that is very close to the theatre scene.
And
admittedly, my knowledge of the theatre scene is quite limited. I've only ever seen one production of "The
Phantom of the Opera". And that
was in May of 1995.
But,
when you live four hours away from Toronto (the place where I saw Phantom of
the Opera) and about nine hours from New York City (the place where Broadway
comes to life almost every night), it makes it hard to enjoy the theatre
scene. And, high school productions of
"As You Like It" and "Bye Bye Birdie" just don't have that
same effect - although both of the plays that I watched in high school were
acted quite well.
Anyway,
today's Timeline is all about Broadway musicals. But before we get started with that, we have some other events to
look at first. Shall we have a look at
some of the things that happened on April 21?
753 BC - The date that Romulus founds the city of Rome
1509 - Henry VIII ascends the throne of England
1918 - "The Red Baron" is shot down and killed
over Vaux-sur-Somme, France during World War I
1934 - "The Surgeon's Photograph" (which
showed a photo of the legendary Loch Ness Monster) is published in "The
Daily Mail" (the photo was declared a fake sixty-five years later, in
1999)
1952 - In the United States, Secretary's Day is first
observed
1962 - The Seattle World's Fair - the first World's Fair
to be held in the United States since World War II - opens
1970 - Elton John makes his solo debut as a performer
when he opens for T.Rex at a gig in London
1982 - Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes
the first pitcher to record 300 saves
1989 - Over a hundred thousand students gather in
China's Tianamen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang
2003 - EMI and Universal Music sue Napster for copyright
violations
2012 - Two trains collide head on with each other in
Amsterdam, injuring at least 116 people
And,
well...that's it. Apparently, April 21 was
one of those days in which not a whole lot happened.
So,
let's have a look at celebrity birthdays, shall we?
The
following people are turning one whole year older today; Queen Elizabeth II, Elaine May, Angela Mortimer, Charles Grodin, James Dobson, Iggy Pop, Patti LuPone, Tony Danza, Steve Vickers, James Morrison, Andie MacDowell, Robert Smith, Cathy Cavadini, Roy Dupuis, John Cameron Mitchell, Robin Meade, Toby Stephens, Nicole Sullivan, Eric Mabius, Jamie Sale, James McAvoy, Tony Romo, Brianne Davis, Terrence J, Shayna Fox, Robbie Amell, Christoph Sanders, and Princess Isabella of Denmark.
How
cool that we start the celebrity birthday segment with a royal and end it off
with a royal? (Well, okay, I find it
neat.)
And
today's date for the Tuesday Timeline is also a neat one.
We're
going back in time thirty-eight years in the past to April 21, 1977.
And
for what it's worth, a lot happened on this date. We said farewell to Gummo Marx, who died on this date. We said hello to Canadian figure skater
Jamie Sale, who was born on this date.
And Frank Sinatra and Friends first aired on ABC with special guests
Natalie Cole and John Denver.
But
it was also a big day in the world of Broadway, as it was on this date that a
famous musical first debuted. It was a
musical that ran for nearly six years in its original run on Broadway, and won
a total of seven Tony Awards during the show's first year.
And
the Broadway show even spawned a hit movie!
No...not
this version. I don't even want to talk
about the 2014 version of this movie, which in my opinion should have never
been made. And it's nothing to do with
the actress who played Annie - I think that Quvenzhane Wallis did a fine job as
Annie. My issue was with the changes
that this version made to the plot.
No,
I'm talking about the more superior 1982 version of "Annie", which starred Aileen Quinn.
That version was always one of my favourites.
And
of course, the movie was based from the Broadway musical of the same name which
debuted - you guessed it - thirty-eight years ago today!
Of
course, anyone who has seen the show "Annie" probably can tell you
where the idea originally came from.
Years ago, there was a comic strip called "Little Orphan
Annie", created by Harold Gray.
Beginning in 1924, the comic strip detailed the life of a little curly
haired girl named Annie who along with her dog Sandy struggle to make it in a
world of cruelty and coldness - likely spawned by the fact that she was an
orphan who lived in an orphanage run by a cruel woman who hated kids (the comic
strip gave her the name of Miss Asthma, but in the Broadway play and movie, she
is known as Miss Hannigan). It wasn't
until she crossed paths with the wealthy, but kind Daddy Warbucks that Annie
begins to find her place in the world.
So,
how did "Annie" go from a comic strip to a Broadway musical?
Well,
the story actually begins in 1976. The
production was jointly produced by Charles Strouse (music), Martin Charnin
(lyrics), and Thomas Meehan. It held
its unofficial debut in August 1976 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East
Haddam, Connecticut under the direction of Michael P. Price. And originally, the actress who starred as
the title role was Kristen Vigard.
Vigard lasted a few days in the role, but producers didn't quite feel as
though she didn't quite fit the part.
See, Annie was supposed to be this gritty orphan who had a "Hard
Knock Life", but Vigard proved to be a little bit too sweet. She was kept on as understudy, but the main
role then went to Andrea McArdle, who would eventually play the role for
another year. But don't feel too bad
for Vigard - she landed a role on "Guiding Light" just a few years
later.
TRIVIA: Andrea
McArdle would play another role in the musical as an adult. She played the role of Miss Hannigan for a
couple of performances of the play in 2010.
It
wouldn't be until April 21, 1977 that the play made its official debut on
Broadway. It opened up at the Alvin
Theatre in New York (which has since been renamed The Neil Simon Theatre), and
featured the cast of McArdle, Reid Shelton as Daddy Warbucks, Dorothy Loudon as
Miss Hannigan, and Sandy Faison as Grace Farrell. The show closed in January 1983.
At the time, it was the longest running musical to feature at the Alvin
Theatre/Neil Simon Theatre until 2009 when "Hairspray" broke the
record.
Since
then, the show has been periodically revived in several places around the world
such as New York, London, and Sydney.
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