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[0:05] Mark Peikert: Good morning, theater lover. I'm Mark Peikert, editor-in-chief of Playbill, and you are listening to Today in Theatre History for the week of July 13th through July 19th.

[0:17] Mark Peikert: On July 13, 1977, a massive power failure blacks out New York City around 9:30 p.m., halting the second acts of many Broadway shows.

[0:29] Mark Peikert: In 2010, Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl open in a West End production of Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue at the Vaudeville Theater.

[0:38] Mark Peikert: Directed by Terry Johnson, the black comedy depicts a New York couple enduring the trials and tribulations of city life.

[0:48] Mark Peikert: The hippies from the National Tour of Hair turn their psychedelic bus around in 2011 for a special engagement on Broadway, the St. James.

[0:57] Mark Peikert: The 10-week run is a summer stop on the musical's U.S. Tour, which launched in the fall of 2010.

[1:05] Mark Peikert: A woman is mistaken for a divorce correspondent as Leon de Costa's play The Blonde Sinner opens July 14, 1926 at the Court Theater.

[1:15] Mark Peikert: The Blonde Sinner, taking place at a Long Island summer manor, is described as a play with musical specialties.

[1:23] Mark Peikert: Among those specialties, several dances, including a Charleston.

[1:30] Mark Peikert: James Stewart returned to his Broadway roots in 1947 as he temporarily replaced Frank Fay in Harvey.

[1:37] Mark Peikert: Three years later, Stewart stars in a film adaptation of the play, earning an Academy Award nomination.

[1:47] Mark Peikert: Though it has been more abundant for several years, vaudeville is officially declared dead on July 15, 1937, as Variety merges its vaudeville and nightclubs sections for the first time ever.

[1:59] Mark Peikert: The entertainment newspaper explains that the vaudeville department has lately been particularly difficult to fill up.

[2:08] Mark Peikert: Irving Berlin tries to recreate the success of Annie Get Your Gun by reassembling the creative team for a musical about the sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty.

[2:17] Mark Peikert: Despite direction by Moss Hart and choreography by Jerome Robbins, Miss Liberty opens in 1949 and runs a disappointing 308 performances.

[2:28] Mark Peikert: Nathan Lane makes his Broadway debut in 1982, opposite George C. Scott, in a revival of Noel Coward's Present Laughter.

[2:36] Mark Peikert: Also in the cast are future stars Christine Lahti, Kate Burton, and Dana Ivy.

[2:54] Mark Peikert: Lippe revises his musical for the occasion, including adding a new song for Foster called A Happy Ending.

[3:03] Mark Peikert: The Rolling Stone, a new play by Chris Urch, officially opens at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse in 2019.

[3:11] Mark Peikert: The family drama, set in Uganda, finds a gay man and his church pastor brother clashing over the sexuality he is forced to hide under the country's extreme laws.

[3:25] Mark Peikert: Robert De Niro and Ralph Macchio star in Cuba and His Teddy Bear, opening July 16, 1986 at the Longacre on Broadway.

[3:32] Mark Peikert: The play tells of a macho drug dealer and his struggle to keep his son out of the business.

[3:38] Mark Peikert: It plays 53 performances.

[3:43] Mark Peikert: Tom Ziegler's Grace and Glory opens in 1996 at Off-Broadway's Lower Pells Theater.

[3:48] Mark Peikert: Estelle Parsons and Lucy Arnaz play an elderly terminally ill cancer patient and an educated hospice volunteer.

[3:58] Mark Peikert: A musical version of the play Vanities, featuring a score by David Kirshenbaum, opens Off-Broadway in 2009 at Second Stage Theater.

[4:06] Mark Peikert: Lauren Kennedy, Sarah Stiles, and Annalise Vanderpool star.

[4:13] Mark Peikert: Dogfight, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Peter Duchan's musical based on the 1991 film about a young waitress pursued by a fresh-faced Vietnam-bound soldier, opens in 2012 at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theater.

[4:27] Mark Peikert: Directed by Joe Mantello, the production stars Lindsay Mendez and Derek Klena.

[4:35] Mark Peikert: Amazing Grace, Christopher Smith's musical based on the life of Amazing Grace songwriter John Newton, opens in 2015 on Broadway at the Nederlander.

[4:48] Mark Peikert: Title of Show, the musical that would rather be Nine People's Favorite Thing than 100 People's Ninth Favorite Thing, opens July 17, 2008 at the Lyceum.

[4:58] Mark Peikert: Originally produced in 2006 at the Vineyard Theater, the entire original cast, including co-creators Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell, as well as co-stars Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff, make the leap to the Broadway stage with the show.

[5:15] Mark Peikert: The New York premiere of James Graham and Josie Rourke's Privacy opens July 18, 2016 Off-Broadway at The Public.

[5:22] Mark Peikert: Daniel Radcliffe stars in the boundary-pushing work, inspired by a post-Edward Snowden view on privacy and technology.

[5:32] Mark Peikert: Dolores Gray and Bert Lahr lead a cast of 75 in the revue Two on the Isle, opening July 19, 1951 on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger.

[5:42] Mark Peikert: Abe Burrows directs the show with sketches and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Jule Styne.

[5:52] Mark Peikert: David Wayne, Constance Towers, and Barbara Cook are on board the Cotton Blossom in a 1966 revival of Show Boat, which runs 63 performances.

[6:04] Mark Peikert: Got a dime.

[6:06] Mark Peikert: The John Houseman Theater becomes the Broadway Jukebox in 1990 as Ed Linderman's musical revue opens Off-Broadway.

[6:14] Mark Peikert: The show is new every night as audience members pick 30 songs to be performed from a collection of 90 Broadway show tunes from relatively obscure musicals.

[6:24] Mark Peikert: Among the impromptu players, Beth Leavel.

[6:30] Mark Peikert: And finally, in 2010, husband and wife actors Jason Danieley and Marin Mazzie join the cast of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Next to Normal at the Booth Theater.

[6:40] Mark Peikert: They succeed Tony Winner Alice Ripley and Brian d'Arcy James, respectively, as Diana and Dan Goodman.

[6:48] Mark Peikert: For more theater history, visit Playbill.com. And for more great podcasts, visit BroadwayPodcastNetwork.com.