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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 6th through July 12th.

[0:16] Mark Peikert: A young Hollywood hopeful is forced to watch her own career fizzle, as her boyfriend's blossoms, in Lou Brown's musical Yoko Boy. Lois January and Buddy Epson star in the new show, opening July 6, 1939 at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway.

[0:41] Mark Peikert: Directed by John Doyle, the production stars Michael Gibson and David Badella as brothers Addison and Wilson Meisner.

[0:51] Mark Peikert: After two years of playing downtown at the Village Gate Theater, Earl Wilson Jr.'s musical Let My People Come makes the move uptown to Broadway's Moresco on July 7, 1976. The show, which is abandoned by its author because he doesn't agree with the way it is being staged, never has an official opening, essentially playing preview performances for its entire 106 performance run.

[1:38] Mark Peikert: Twenty years after he was crowned King Arthur to Julie Andrews' Guinevere, Richard Burton takes on the role once more in a revival of Camelot. Opening July 8th, 1980, the Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Lowe musical co-stars Christine Ebersall as the Guinevere to Burton's King.

[1:57] Mark Peikert: A stage adaptation of the film musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers opens in 1982 to withering reviews on Broadway. The cast pickets the New York Times, but to no avail. The production closes after just five performances.

[2:14] Mark Peikert: Harlem Song, George C. Wolfe's 2002 review tracing the social and musical history of New York's Harlem neighborhood, opens at the legendary Apollo Theater.

[2:26] Mark Peikert: Silence, the musical, Hunter Bell, John Kaplan, and Al Kaplan's parody of the movie The Silence of the Lambs, opens July 9, 2011 at Off Broadway's Theater 80. Christopher Catelli directs and choreographs the musical, starring Brent Barrett as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and Jen Harris as Clarice Starling.

[2:47] Mark Peikert: On July 10, 1994, Roundabout Theatre Company presents Henrik Ibsen's Head of Gabbler at the Criterion Center. Kelly McGillis stars as the title character in a cast that also features Patricia Connolly and Laura Linney. The production, directed by Sarah Pia Anderson, plays 33 performances.

[3:08] Mark Peikert: Xanadu, the musical based on the 1980 film of the same name, opens on Broadway in 2007 at the Helen Hayes. Carrie Butler stars as Kira, opposite Cheyenne Jackson as Sunny, in a cast that also includes Tony Roberts, Jackie Hoffman, and Mary Testa.

[3:24] Mark Peikert: The production originally starred James Carpanello as Sonny, but he was replaced by Jackson after injuring his foot during previews. Xanadu runs for a total of 512 performances.

[3:38] Mark Peikert: Following his acclaimed production of Gypsy, which transferred to Broadway, City Center's Encore's Summer Stars series returns in 2008 for a second season with Damn Yankees. The baseball-themed musical stars Jane Krakowski as Lola, Sean Hayes as Mr. Applegate, and Cheyenne Jackson as Joe Hardy.

[3:59] Mark Peikert: In 2013, Mark Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock inaugurates New York City Center's new Encore's Off Center series, a concert production series celebrating off-Broadway musicals. Directed by Sam Gold, the cast includes Raúl Esparza, Danny Burstein, Judy Kuhn, Divine Joy Randolph, and Anika Noni Rose.

[4:21] Mark Peikert: Heads turn, July 11, 2012 at the Geffen Playhouse, as a stage adaptation of The Exorcist opens. John Doyle directs the production, which stars Brooke Shields as the mother of a girl possessed by the devil, and Richard Chamberlain as the priest, called in to perform the exorcism.

[4:53] Mark Peikert: The production transfers to Broadway the following year and wins the Tony Award for Best Play.

[5:11] Mark Peikert: In 2001, the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of George Bernard Shaw's classic Major Barbara opens on Broadway at the American Airlines. Cherry Jones stars as the Good Salvation Army major who must fight against her heritage as the daughter of a joyfully wicked and maddeningly articulate Victorian industrialist.

[5:33] Mark Peikert: As part of its world tour, Phaedra returns to Broadway in 2012 for a month-long run at the Al Hirschfeld.

[5:42] Mark Peikert: In 2016, the musical Motown returns to Broadway at the Nederlander. The production was originally seen on Broadway in 2013, where it ran at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater for 738 performances.

[5:57] Mark Peikert: And in 2018, Second Stage Theater celebrates the official opening of Mary Page Marlowe. The new play by Tony-winning playwright and actor Tracy Letts pieces together a portrait of a woman from eleven key moments in her life, told out of chronological order and portrayed by six different actors.

[6:19] Mark Peikert: And for more great podcasts, visit BroadwayPodcastNetwork.com.