A handy diagram and map printed in the Philadelphia Inquirer in June of 1952, showing everyone where the new Playhouse in the Park would be.

The first show at the theater was Goodbye, My Fancy, which had been a hit for the actor Conrad Nagle on Broadway three years previously.

#phillytheatre #phillyhistory #theaterhistory #philadelphia

May 2005: Mary Martello was rolling out the pies as Mrs. Lovett in the Arden Theatre's production of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." For her work she would later receive Best Actress in a Musical at Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards.

(Top left, as Mama Rose in "Gypsy" - Arden Theatre, 2017. Bottom left, as Gertrude in "Hamlet" with Geoff Sobelle - Lantern Theater, 2009. Right, as Mrs. Lovett in "Sweeney Todd" with Thom Sesma. )

#phillytheatre #phillyhistory #theaterhistory

1941 Newspaper ads by Philadelphia electric and heating oil companies, in connection with the Walnut Street Theatre's hit production of the play "Life With Father."

Dads from the 1880s would probably be a lot less grumpy if their cooks had electric stoves and their basements had modern oil furnaces.

The show, starring Louis Calhern and Lillian Gish, ran in Philadelphia from March 3rd to May 30th, 1941.

#FathersDay2023 #phillytheatre #theaterhistory #theatrehistory #walnutstreettheatre

A preview soundbite of our next episode!

Full episode of "Theatre of the Living Arts: A Beginning" will be available starting Monday May 29th!

Look for us, wherever you get your podcasts!

www.aithpodcasts.com

#theatrehistory #theaterhistory #phillyhistory #phillytheatre

April 22, 1923: The company of the Moscow Art Theatre, led by the director Constantin Stanislavsky, arrives in Philadelphia and a photo of them standing together in the old Broad Street Station is printed in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Producer Morris Gest, who was also in the photo, had brought the company to America, booked them into the Lyric Theatre at the corner of Broad and Cherry Streets north of City Hall.

#theatrehistory #theaterhistory #phillytheatre #stanislavsky #moscowarttheatre

In honor of the 125th anniversary of the great man's birth, here is a photo of Paul Robeson as Othello and Uta Hagen as Desdemona, from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct 3, 1943.

Our episode about Paul Robeson in Philadelphia, which we released last summer, is one of our most popular ever!
https://www.aithpodcast.com/the-paul-robeson-house/

#paulrobeson #othello #paulrobesonbirthday #utahagen #phillytheatre #theatrehistory #theaterhistory #shakespeare

February 12, 1861: James Murdoch was appearing in “Hamlet” at the Walnut Street Theatre.

Murdoch, though this poster from the collection of The Library of Congress does not mention it, was a native Philadelphian, born in 1811. We discuss him in our Episode #33 - "Life & Death in the Theater: More 19th Century Stories."

#19thCentury #phillyhistory #phillytheatre #theatrehistory #hamlet

https://www.aithpodcast.com/life-death-in-the-theater-more-19th-century-stories/

"Hammerstein's Opera House, Part Two" tells the story of Oscar Hammerstein's first season in Philadelphia, and how his production of Richard Strauss' "Salome" roiled - and tempted - the Quaker City.

This video gives you a quick sample - but you can use the link below to listen to the whole episode, on whatever podcasting platform you like to get your pods on!

linktr.ee/aithpodcast

#theatrehistory #theaterhistory #operahistory #salome #phillyhistory #phillytheatre #historypodcast

February 8, 2001: Oni Faida Lampley's one-woman show "The Dark Kalamazoo" opens at the Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia.

Based on her own experiences from her youth, when Lampley was the only African-American woman with a group of white students from Kalamazoo College, she was nicknamed "The Dark Kalamazoo" by the people of Sierra Leone.
#theaterhistory #theatrehistory #strongblackwoman #phillytheatre #blacktheatrehistory

NEW EPISODE! "Hammerstein's Opera House, Part One" is no available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or whatever app you use to get your pods on!

Our subject is the impresario Oscar Hammerstein, and how the "Opera War" with his rival, the Metropolitan Opera Company, spread all the way to Philadelphia.

#theaterhistory #theatrehistory #operahistory #operawars #OscarHammerstein #phillytheatre #podcasts #phillyhistory #themetphilly #themetphiladelphhia

RT @tinseltine
My Barrymore Nominator role took me to @LanternTheater last night for THE ROYAL - I'd never heard of Jack Johnson, first Black Heavyweight Champion of the World (1908). Thank you for shining a light on this very early Civil Rights Activist.

#phillytheatre #phillytheater