If you charted the course of American musicals, a major stop on this extraordinary journey would be The Shubert Theater in New Haven. The Shubert was considered Broadway's try-out house, a stop where our local audiences determined whether New York producers had a hit or a disaster on their hands. How did this happen? Who got the nod and who earned thumbs down?
Tune in to our mini-musical telling the Shubert's history through music and stories collected 25 years ago by WNPR's Diane Orson and Faith Middleton. Their Peabody award-winning documentary features locals who sat in the audience, as well as performers who walked across the theater's stage.
If you listen, you'll learn what happened when "My Fair Lady" opened at the Shubert, causing near panic at intermission when dazzled theater-goers battled at the box office to get tickets to the next performance. You'll hear why the theater almost closed twice, even as Katharine Hepburn was about to step across its stage. But more than plain spoken words, you'll hear the music that stopped hearts and embedded itself in our cultural memory, never to be forgotten, not even now as The Shubert celebrates 100 years of ongoing creative expression.
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GUESTS:
- Evelyn Dermer - Theatergoer and Shubert Board Member from Woodbridge, Conn.
- Walter MoConnery - Unpaid Shubert Historian
- Robert Dodds - Theater-goer from Woodbridge, Conn.
- Louis Hemingway - Theater-goer from Hamden, Conn.
- Charles Nelson Reilly - Actor/Director
- Jenny Noons - Wife of Shubert investor
- Joan Kunsch - Choreographer
- Alwin Nikolais - Dancer/Choreographer
- Edith Goodmaster - Private secretary to Maurice H. Bailey
- Anna Mae Sarossi - Four generations of family worked at the Shubert
Lori Mack contributed to this show.
