1876 Birthday of Broadway comedian Victor Moore, who stars or costars in the original casts of many musical comedies, notably Of Thee I Sing, Anything Goes, Louisiana Purchase, Leave It to Me!, and Oh, Kay!
1925 Birthday of costume designer Patricia Zipprodt, who creates the clothes for many Broadway classics, including Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, 1776, Pippin, Chicago, Sunday in the Park With George, and Into the Woods.
1930 Tom Powers stars as a King who threatens to abdicate and upset The Apple Cart. George Bernard Shaw penned the comedy, which runs for 11 weeks at the Martin Beck and Alvin Theatres in New York. The cast includes Claude Rains and Morris Carnovsky. Philip Moeller provides the direction.
1934 Sidney Howard's adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' novel Dodsworth runs at the Shubert for 315 performances. Walter Huston stars with Fay Bainter and Nan Sunderland.
1955 Ninotchka slips into Silk Stockings at the Imperial Theatre. The transformation into a musical is the handiwork of Cole Porter, George S. Kaufman, Leueen MacGrath, and Abe Burrows. Hildegarde Neff and Don Ameche star. Cy Feuer stages the show, which runs for 478 performances.
1956 Hugh Griffith and Beatrix Lehmann tread through The Waltz of the Toreadors at London's Arts Theatre. Peter Hall directs Lucienne Hill's translation of the Jean Anouilh comedy.
1980 Brian Clark's Whose Life is it Anyway?, which played the Trafalgar Theatre (now the Nederlander) in 1979, returns to Broadway in a revised production at the Royale Theatre. While Tom Conti starred as "Ken" Harrison in the original, the new production changes the role to "Claire" Harrison and stars Mary Tyler Moore.
1999 Director Michael Greif's production of Paul Scott Goodman's Bright Lights, Big City opens Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, where Greif directed Rent in 1996. The musical is based on the Jay McInerney novel about a writer who hedonistically plows through New York City high life in 1984. Patrick Wilson makes his New York debut in the lead role.
2012 Howard Kissel, a critic who covered New York's theatre scene for nearly four decades, dies at age 69. For half of his long career, Kissel's primary perch was The Daily News, where he worked for 20 years, primarily as the chief theatre critic. He also served as chairman of both the New York Film Critics Circle and the New York Drama Critics Circle, sat on the drama jury for the Pulitzer Prize, and wrote The Abominable Showman, a biography of producer David Merrick.
2014 The world premiere of David Henry Hwang's Kung Fu, which follows international icon Bruce Lee's journey from troubled Hong Kong youth to martial arts legend, opens Off-Broadway at the the Pershing Square Signature Center's Irene Diamond Stage. Cole Horibe stars in the production that blends dance, Chinese opera, martial arts, and drama.
More of Today's Birthdays: James W. Wallack, Jr. (1818-1873). Abe Vigoda (1921-2016). Richard B. Shull (1929-1999). Joan Diener (1930-2006). Michel Legrand (1932-2019). Shawn Elliott (1937-2016). James Farentino (1938-2012). Marshall W. Mason (b. 1940). Jenny O'Hara (b. 1942). Barry Bostwick (b. 1945). Debra Jo Rupp (b. 1951). Rupert Holmes (b. 1947). Paul Gallo (b. 1953). Kristin Davis (b. 1965).
