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[0:05] Mark Peikert: Good morning, theater lover, and happy summer.

[0:09] Mark Peikert: I'm Mark Peikert, editor-in-chief of Playbill, and you are listening to Today in Theatre History for the week of July 27th through August 2nd.

[0:20] Mark Peikert: July 27, 1982, Little Shop of Horrors begins what will ultimately be a 2,209 performance run at Off-Broadway's Orpheum Theater.

[0:30] Mark Peikert: The Alan Menken and Howard Ashman musical stars Lee Wilkoff and Ellen Greene, and the 1986 film version of the musical, directed by Frank Oz, stars Rick Moranis with Greene reprising her stage role as Audrey.

[0:46] Mark Peikert: In 2000, Nathan Lane stars as Sheridan Whiteside and Gene Smart stars as Lorraine Sheldon in a revival of the Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman play, The Man Who Came to Dinner, opening at the Roundabout Theater Company's new Broadway house, the American Airlines Theater.

[1:03] Mark Peikert: July 28, 1920, two of Broadway's greatest songwriting talents make their mainstream debuts.

[1:08] Mark Peikert: Lyricist Lorenz Hart, age 25, and composer Richard Rodgers, age 18, open their first musical, Poor Little Ritz Girl, at the Central Theater.

[1:21] Mark Peikert: An Evening with Jerry Herman opens at Broadway's Booth Theater in 1998, featuring the composer himself, along with Florence Lacey and Leroy Reams.

[1:38] Mark Peikert: The cast of the play, about four generations of African-American women, features Regina Taylor, Irma P. Hall, and Lynn Thigpen.

[1:45] Mark Peikert: Mary McClinton directs the Off-Broadway production.

[1:50] Mark Peikert: Ghosts of the McCarthy era and playwright Arthur Miller's doomed marriage to a certain blonde movie star haunt a major revival of Miller's After the Fall at Roundabout Theatre Company.

[2:01] Mark Peikert: Opening July 29, 2004, the production stars Peter Krause, Carla Gugino, and Jessica Hecht, directed by Michael Mayer, who wove together the best from various versions of Miller's script.

[2:15] Mark Peikert: Will Chase, Adam Heller, Amy Spanger, and Kelly Sullivan are among the troopers in the world premiere stage musical Robin and the Seven Hoods, a new musical, opening July 30, 2010 at the Old Globe in San Diego.

[2:28] Mark Peikert: Inspired by the Frank Sinatra movie of the same name, the production is directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw.

[2:36] Mark Peikert: Marcus Gardley's The House That Will Not Stand opens in 2018 at New York Theatre Workshop.

[2:42] Mark Peikert: Directed by Liliana Blaine Cruz and inspired by Lorca's The House of Bernardo Alba, the play follows a widow and her three eligible daughters, all free women of color, on the eve of Louisiana being passed over to the United States.

[2:57] Mark Peikert: Judy Garland is at home at the Palace starting July 31, 1967, for a four-week engagement at the famed theater.

[3:05] Mark Peikert: During the performance, Garland introduces her proteges, Joey and Lorna Luft.

[3:13] Mark Peikert: Talk about a writer's revenge.

[3:15] Mark Peikert: Joseph Bush, who adapted Desad Illustrated at Off-Broadway's Bowery Theater, wreaks havoc on the set in 1969, spreading white paint all over it.

[3:25] Mark Peikert: His reason?

[3:26] Mark Peikert: A nude scene he doesn't approve of has been added.

[3:32] Mark Peikert: Brenda Braxton, Clevon Derrick, Reginald VelJohnson, and Lynn Thigpen are among the denizens of Wonderland in But Never Jam Today, Bynetta Carroll's all-Black adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic Alice in Wonderland, at the Long Anchor Theater, opening today in 1979.

[3:50] Mark Peikert: A revised version of the musical revue What's a Nice Country Like You Doing in a State Like This opens in 1985 at Off-Broadway's Actors' Playhouse.

[4:00] Mark Peikert: Missy Valdino, Jane Brucker, Steve Mulch, Hugh Pinero, and Rob Resnick sing music by Gary Hoffman and lyrics by Ira Gassman.

[4:11] Mark Peikert: A musical in which puppets are the main characters.

[4:14] Mark Peikert: It may sound crazy, but the PG-13-rated musical Avenue Q opens at the Golden Gate Theatre in 2003, confounding skeptics with an eyebrow-raising run that brings it the 2004 Tony Award as Best Musical.

[4:28] Mark Peikert: It stays on Broadway for 2,534 performances.

[4:35] Mark Peikert: A Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's record-breaking musical Cats opens in 2016 at the Neil Simon.

[4:41] Mark Peikert: Chart-topping British pop star Leona Lewis plays the role of Grizabella the Glamour Cat, the role originally created in London by Elaine Paige and subsequently on Broadway by Betty Buckley.

[4:55] Mark Peikert: August 1, 1921, is opening night of the popular farce Getting Gertie's Garter, about a young man who gives a woman a jeweled garter, then schemes to get it back before his fiancée finds out.

[5:10] Mark Peikert: Joda Petro and Jimmy Roberts team up to bring I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change to Off-Broadway in 1996.

[5:17] Mark Peikert: The show that explores the entire spectrum of male-female relationships, from dating to in-laws, ultimately closes on July 27, 2008, after 5,003 performances.

[5:31] Mark Peikert: After a hiatus of several weeks, Tony-winning theater favorites Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch reopen the acclaimed Tony-nominated revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music at the Walter Kerr Theatre in 2010.

[5:45] Mark Peikert: Peters and Stritch succeed Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury, respectively, in the roles of actress Desiree Armfeldt and her worldly wise mother, Madame Armfeldt.

[5:58] Mark Peikert: Bring It On, the pop-fueled musical inspired by the popular film franchise about rival cheerleading teams, opens on Broadway at the St. James Theater in 2012.

[6:05] Mark Peikert: The show has a book by Jeff Whitty, music by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and lyrics by Amanda Green and Miranda.

[6:14] Mark Peikert: Directed and choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler, the cast includes 30 actors making their Broadway debuts, including Taylor Louderman, Adrian Warren, and Ariana DeBose.

[6:27] Mark Peikert: On August 2nd, 1944, Mae West adds to the wartime summer heat with her body comedy Catherine Was Great.

[6:34] Mark Peikert: She also stars in the play opposite Gene Barry, which runs 191 performances.

[6:58] Mark Peikert: In 2009, Dance Review Burn the Floor, boasting an eclectic mix of champion dancers, opens on Broadway at The Longacre.

[7:10] Mark Peikert: And in 2014, Chita Rivera stars in a new staging of the Kander and Ebb musical The Visit, based on the 1956 play about a scorned woman who returns to her impoverished town seeking the ultimate revenge.

[7:22] Mark Peikert: John Doyle directs the streamlined 95-minute version of the musical at the Williamstown Theater Festival, which transfers to Broadway the following year.

[7:32] Mark Peikert: For more theater history, visit Playbill.com.

[7:35] Mark Peikert: And for more great podcasts, visit BroadwayPodcastNetwork.com.