1930 In today's Variety, a review of a new vaudeville show at the Eighty-Sixth Street Theatre singles out a newcomer from the world of cabaret. Reads the review: "She is a good looking girl with a fair enough voice that might carry much further with special stuff. This is her first stage appearance. She's out of cabaret so probably has plenty to learn." Her name is Ethel Merman.
1964 Leo Genn is the odd juror out as Reginald Rose's hit play 12 Angry Men makes its London debut at the Queen's Theatre. British audiences do not take to the play as well as American audiences did, and the Margaret Webster-directed production closes after only 99 performances.
1995 Ferenc Molnár's The Play's the Thing sees the Broadway stage again, courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company. Adapted by P.G. Wodehouse, the play features Joe Grifasi, Peter Frechette, Jay Goede, Paul Benedict, J. Smith-Cameron, Jeff Weiss, and Keith Reddin. The Gloria Muzio-helmed production plays 45 performances at the Criterion Center.
2011 Silence! The Musical—Hunter Bell, Jon Kaplan, and Al Kaplan's parody of the movie The Silence of the Lambs—opens at Off-Broadway's Theater 80. Christopher Gattelli directs and choreographs the musical starring Brent Barrett as Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Jenn Harris as Clarice Starling.
2016 Three of the original stars of Hamilton play their final performance in the blockbuster musical: Lin-Manuel Miranda (Alexander Hamilton), Phillipa Soo (Eliza Hamilton), and Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr). Miranda and Odom Jr. had won Tonys a month prior.
Today's Birthdays: Dudley Digges (1879–1947). Roxy Rothafel (1882–1936). Brian Dennehy (1938–2020). Timothy Nolen (b. 1941). Lisa Banes (b. 1955). Mia Dillon (b. 1955). Jimmy Smits (b. 1955). Tom Hanks (b. 1956). Quentin Earl Darrington (b. 1978). Brandon Uranowitz (b. 1986). Jeremy Pope (b. 1992).
