Calendar: January
compiled by John Kenrick
(Copyright 2000, Revised 2003)

 

1

2
  • Burlesque fan dancer Sally Rand born (1903)
  • Actress/dancer Vera Zorina born (1917)
  • Songwriter Roger Miller born (1936)
  • Fig Leaves Are Falling opened on Broadway (1969)

3
  • Musician/comedian Victor Borge born (1909)
  • Rodgers& Hart's She's My Baby starring
    Bea Lillie opened on Broadway (1928)
  • Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock opened on Broadway (1938)
  • Revival of Pal Joey starring Vivienne Segal opened on Broadway (1952)

4
  • Merry Widow co-librettist Victor Leon born (1858)
  • Actor/singer Sterling Holloway born (1905)
  • The Shubert-produced Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 opened on Broadway (1934)
  • Actor/singer Patrick Cassidy born (1962)
  • Home Sweet Homer starring Yul Brynner opened on Broadway (1976)

5
  • Songwriter/performer Jack Norworth born (1879)
  • Gilbert & Sullivan's Princess Ida opened in London (1884)
  • The Wiz opened on Broadway (1975)
  • Revival of Show Boat opened on Broadway (1946)

6
  • Actor/librettist Henry E. Dixey born (1859)
  • Singer/actress Bonnie Franklin born (1944)
  • Lionel Bart's Oliver opened on Broadway (1963)

7
  • Big Boy starring Al Jolson opened on Broadway (1925)
  • Actor/singer/dancer Harvey Evans born (1941)
  • Cole Porter's Something For the Boys opened on Broadway (1943)
  • Shenandoah starring John Cullum opened on Broadway (1975)
  • Revival of The King & I starring Yul Brynner opened on Broadway (1985)

8
  • Stripper/actress Gypsy Rose Lee (Hovick) born (1911)
  • Actor/singer/director Jose Ferrer born (1912)
  • Actor/singer/director Stanley Prager born (1917)
  • Actor Ron Moody born (1924)
  • Actor/singer Elvis Presley born (1935)
  • Company opened in London (1972)
  • Revival of The Pirates of Penzance moved to Broadway (1981)
  • Children of Eden opened in London (1991)

9
  • British singer Gracie Fields born (1898)
  • Choreographer George Balanchine born (1904)
  • Actor/singer Eric Berry born (1913)
  • Stripper/actress Gypsy Rose Lee born (1914)
  • Andre Charlot's Revue of 1924 opened on Broadway (1924)
  • Kurt Weill's Street Scene opened on Broadway (1947)
  • Actor/singer J. K. Simmons born (1955)

10

11
  • D'Oyly Carte comedienne/soprano Jessie Bond born (1853)
  • Composer Mary Rodgers born (1931)
  • Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures opened on Broadway (1976)
  • Jerry Herman's The Grand Tour opened on Broadway (1979)
  • James Joyce's The Dead opened on Broadway (2000)

12
  • Actress/celebrity Texas Guinan born (1884)
  • Actress/comedian Patsy Kelly born (1910)
  • Actor/singer/dancer Andre De Shields born (1946)
  • Showgirlstarring Carol Channing opened on Broadway (1961)

13
  • Mulligan Guards Ball opened on Broadway - Harrigan & Hart's first full-length musical (1879)
  • Singer/actress Sophie Tucker born (1884)
  • Dancer/actress/singer Gwen Verdon born (1926)
  • Actor/singer/director Charles Nelson Reilly born (1931)
  • Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1940 opened on Broadway (1940)
  • Your Own Thing opened Off-Broadway (1968)
  • Revival of The Most Happy Fella opened on Broadway (1992)

14
  • Designer/photographer Cecil Beaton born (1904)
  • George & Ira Gershwin's Strike Up the Band opened on Broadway (1930)
  • British director Trevor Nunn born (1940)
  • Sandy Wilson's The Boyfriend opened in London (1954)
  • Fosse opened on Broadway (1999)

15
  • D'Oyly Carte baritone Rutland Barrington born (1853)
  • Actor/composer Ivor Novello born (1893)
  • Producer/director Cy Fuer born (1911)
  • Actress/singer/comedian Andrea Martin born (1947)
  • Revue Make Mine Manhattan opened on Broadway (1948)
  • Ari opened on Broadway (1971)
  • Forbidden Broadway opens Off-Broadway (1982)

16
  • Actress/singer Irene Bordoni born (1895)
  • Actress/singer Ethel Merman born (1909)
  • Actress/singer/dancer/choreographer Debbie Allen born (1950)
  • Actress/singer Liz Larsen born (1959)
  • Conquering Hero opened on Broadway (1961)
  • Jerry Herman's Hello Dolly! starring Carol Channing opened on Broadway (1964)

17
  • Actress/singer Eartha Kitt born (1927)
  • Alive and Kicking opened on Broadway (1950)

18

19

20
  • George & Ira Gershwin's Pardon My English opened on Broadway (1933)
  • Dance Me a Songopened on Broadway (1950)
  • Tim Rice's Blondel opened in London (1984)

21
  • The Wizard of Oz starring Montgomery & Stone opened on Broadway (1903)
  • Nelly Bly opened on Broadway (1946)
  • Long-running revival of Sweethearts opened on Broadway (1947)
  • Actor/singer Robby Benson born (1956)
  • Actor/singer Davis Gaines born (1959)
  • Revival of Little Me opened on Broadway (1982)

22
  • Gilbert & Sullivan's Ruddigore premiered in London (1887)
  • Actor/singer Lee Dixon born (1914)
  • Producer/designer Lemuel Ayers born (1915)
  • Orchestrator/arranger Sid Ramin born (1919)
  • Producer Emmanuel "Manny" Azenburg born (1934)
  • All For Love opened on Broadway (1949)
  • Jacques Brel is Alive and Well opened Off-Broadway (1968)
  • Celebration opened on Broadway (1969)

23

24

25
  • Director/actor/librettist George Abbott born (1887)
  • Actress/singer Florence Mills born (1895)
  • Actress/singer Paula Laurence born (1916)
  • Actor/singer Dean Jones born (1931)
  • Jonathan Larson dies hours after final Off-Broadway rehearsal of Rent (1996)

26
  • Vaudeville theatre owner B.F. Keith born (1846)
  • Composer James Van Heusen born (1913)
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway (1988)
  • Black & Blue opened on Broadway (1989)
  • Jonathan Larson's Rent opened Off-Broadway (1996)

27
  • Composer Will Marion Cook born (1869)
  • Composer Jerome Kern born (1884)
  • Lyricist/librettist Buddy DeSylva born (1895)
  • Lyricist Harry Ruby born (1895)
  • Actress/singer Benay Venuta born (1911)
  • Actress/singer Doretta Morrow born (1928)
  • Romberg's Up In Central Park opened on Broadway (1945)
  • Plain and Fancy opened on Broadway (1955)
  • A Family Affair opened on Broadway (1962)
  • Actor/singer Alan Cumming born (1965)
  • Styne & Harburg's Darling of the Day opened on Broadway (1968)
  • Lorelei starring Carol Channing opened on Broadway (1974)
  • Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat opened on Broadway (1982)

28
  • Lyricist/librettist Dorothy Donnelly born (1880)
  • Film director Ernst Lubitsch born (1892)
  • Choreographer Robert Alton born (1897)
  • Cole Porter's Mexican Hayride opened on Broadway (1944)
  • Revival of The Five O'Clock Girl opened on Broadway (1981)
  • Sarafina opened on Broadway (1988)

29
  • Actor/comedian W. C. Fields born (1880)
  • Ziegfeld showgirl Mary Eaton born (1901)
  • Composer/lyricist Leslie Bricusse born (1931)
  • Look Ma, I'm Dancin' starring Nancy Walker opened on Broadway (1948)
  • Cy Coleman's Sweet Charity starring
  • Gwen Verdon opened on Broadway (1966)
  • Paul Simon's The Capeman opened on Broadway (1998)

30
  • British actor Seymour Hicks born (1871)
  • Lyricist Joe Darion born (1911)
  • Actor/singer David Wayne born (1914)
  • Composer/producer Mitch Leigh born (1928)
  • Producer/director Hal Prince born (1928)
  • Actress/singer Tammy Grimes born (1934)
  • The Shubert-produced Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 opened on Broadway (1936)

31
  • Actor/singer/dancer Jerry Cohan born (1848)
  • Actor/singer Eddie Cantor born (1892)
  • Actress/singer Carol Channing born (1921)
  • Singer/actor Mario Lanza born (1921)
  • Musical Harrigan and Hart opened on Broadway (1985)