32 Random Bits of Trivia About Broadway and Other Theatrical Performances That Deserve A Standing Ovation and A Bouquet of Roses

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32 Random Bits of Trivia About Broadway and Other Theatrical Performances That Deserve A Standing Ovation and A Bouquet of Roses
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After taking in this amazing list, the standing ovation you’ll give at your desk, or on the subway, or wherever you happen to be right now will be purely involuntary. It won’t be an obligatory one where everyone around you stands up, and you don’t want to be the only person left sitting. Nope. The enjoyment levels in your brain will subconsciously pop that butt out of that seat. 

If you’re not sitting, expect to jump higher than you’ve ever jumped before. There’s just something about great theater that gets those legs moving.

Broadway Outside of NYC

MOST BROADWAY SHOWS PREMIERE OUTSIDE NYC CRACKED Virtually all plays and musicals undergo tryouts around the country before they hit the Great White Way, usually in Washington DC or Boston.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

SPIDER-MAN FELL HARD WHEN НЕ WENT BROADWAY CRACKED Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark' S top-level crew and complicated stunts gave it a $75 million budget, five times costlier than any show at the time - it lost $60 million of that.

Theater Rows

BROADWAY THEATERS LEAVE OFF SOME ROWS CRACKED Most theaters have lettered rows, but not Row I or О, since they're too easy to mistake for Row 1 and 0 - especially in the dark during a performance.

The New York Drama Critics’ Circle

CRITICS USED TO HAVE HUGE POWER OVER PLAYS N в CRACKED The New York Drama Critics' Circle was founded with only 14 members, and only 6 or 7 would see any given play, meaning each review meant a lot more.

Antoinette ‘Tony’ Perry

THE TONY AWARDS ARE NAMED FOR A WOMAN THE AMERICAN THEATRE WING PRESENTS TO CRACKED Antoinette Tony Perry was an actress who co-founded the American Theatre Wing, the group that gives out the Tonys every year.

Tony Award Winners

TONY WINNERS NEEDED TO WAIT FOR A TROPHY THE AMERICAN THEATRE WING PRESENTS YOUR TONY ١٢ AN ANTOINETTE PERRY AWARD 1946-47 GRAGKED For the first two years the Tony Awards were given out, men who won got an engraved tie clip, and women got an engraved makeup mirror-what a memento!

Broadway and COVID

THE SHOW MUST GO ON... OR IT DID, PRE-2020 WEST K 50 SIDE lood FOO WHAT STORY WEST ESTAURANT WEST MNSKOF TH SIDE SIDE STORY STORY PA MA ou SUS GOTE C BILL BOARD MAP TAI SIDE -S-SHOUTOUT VIR MAF E STORY ett JU FUCRAF LTD GRAGKED Before the pandemic closed theaters for a year and a half, the only times Broadway had shut down for more than four days was for strikes and labor disputes.

Futureclown

PERFORMANCE ART FUTURECLOWN. THE REENACTMENT OF RAND PAUL'S 13-HOUR FILIBUSTER. When artist Rachel Mason heard Paul's filibuster over the news, she decided that it would make for a great performance art piece, so she dressed as a freaky-looking clown and lip-synched the entire thing to the original audio. CRACKED.COM

Good Will Hunting

Matt Damon wrote the first act of Good Will Hunting for a playwriting class. CRACKED.COM After being assigned to create the first act of a play, Matt Damon turned in the 40 page script and said, Look, I might have failed your class, but it is the first act of something longer.

Love! Valour! Compassion!

CRACKED The Longest Laugh Nathan Lane Ever Got Was For His Bare Butt It happene during the 1995 run of Terrence McNally's Broadway play Love! Valour! Compassion!

Source

Macaulay Culkin

Macaulay Culkin had 6 years of acting experience before he was in Home Alone Culkin made his stage debut at age 4 Manhattan's Symphony Space in a play called Bach Babies. CRACKED.COM

Batman, The Musical

Warner Bros. wanted a Batman musical. In the late '90s, Warner Bros. approached songwriter Jim Steinman to create, of all things, an official Batman musical for Broadway. It was never produced, but some of the songs (sung by Batman, Joker, and Catwoman) can be heard on YouTube, while another song ended up in a Meat Loaf album. CRACKED.COM

Source

Ford’s Theater

Ford's Theater refuses to perform the play which Abraham Lincoln was watching when he was assassinated. GRACKED COM The theater says: What would a full-scale reenact- ment of a night that ended in violence do for even someone who hadn't experienced gun violence - much less some- one who had.

Fords

A Leap for Freedom

The first Black play about slavery CRACKED.COM In 1858 abolitionist William Wells Brown published the first play by a Black playwright to tackle the subject of American slavery, The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom. Born into slavery, after numerous unsuccessful attempts, Brown finally fled to freedom in 1834. Although the play wasn't staged during his lifetime, Brown performed dramatic readings at antislavery meetings.

The Dracula Puppet Musical

Jason Segel wrote a DRACULA PUPPET MUSICAL in real life. In his early twenties, Segel wrote songs for the super serious musical. WHEN НЕ PLAYED SOME OF THE SONGS TO JUDD APATOW, НЕ WAS TOLD TO NEVER EVER PLAY IT FOR ANOTHER HUMAN BEING AGAIN. BEHIND THE SCENES I FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL CRACKED.COM

NPR

The Shubert Brothers

ONE RICH FAMILY CREATED ALL OF BROADWAY THEATER CRACKED The Shubert brothers bought most of the theaters on Broadway when they were cheap, SO the modern theater scene grew from their monopoly.

Source: PBS

Princess Diana at the Royal Opera House

Princess Diana actually performed Uptown Girl at the Royal Opera House. It was a total surprise and shock for Prince Charles on The Crown - and it was something the show didn't have to make up at all. CRACKED.COM

Ethel Waters

She toured with her lover CRACKED.COM In 1928, Ethel Waters took her romantic partner, dancer Ethel Williams, on tour with her. Although Waters was married (and divorced) thrice in her life, her most significant relationship was with Williams. Throughout the 1910S and '20s, they were known as the two Ethels and lived together in Harlem amidst a bustling Black creative community.

The Peanut Gallery

The term Peanut Gallery came from Vaudeville days. CRACKED.COM The audience in the cheapest and rowdiest seats in the theater of- ten ate peanuts and sometimes threw them at the performers.

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