This is a selected list of the longest-running musical theatre productions in history divided into two sections. The first section lists all Broadway and West End productions of musicals that have exceeded 2,500 performances, in order of greatest number of performances in either market. The second section lists, in alphabetical order, musicals that have broken historical long run records for musical theatre on Broadway, in the West End or Off-Broadway, since 1866, in alphabetical order.
James Sidney Jones, usually credited as Sidney Jones, was an English conductor and composer, who was most famous for composing the musical scores for a series of musical comedy hits in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. Jones's most famous musical was The Geisha, but several of his pieces were among the most popular shows of the era, enjoying long runs, international tours and revivals.
Félix Marie Henri Tilkin, better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian-born composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language, who made his career in London and later New York. He composed some forty musical comedies and operettas.
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager and producer of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond.
Niblo's Garden was a theater on Broadway and Crosby Street, near Prince Street, in SoHo, Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1823 as "Columbia Garden" which in 1828 gained the name of the Sans Souci and was later the property of the coffeehouse proprietor and caterer William Niblo. The large theater that evolved in several stages, occupying more and more of the pleasure ground, was twice burned and rebuilt. On September 12, 1866, Niblo's saw the premiere of The Black Crook, considered to be the first piece of musical theater that conforms to the modern notion of a "book musical".
George Grossmith Jr. was an English actor, theatre producer and manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies. Grossmith was also an important innovator in bringing "cabaret" and "revues" to the London stage. Born in London, he took his first role on the musical stage at the age of 18 in Haste to the Wedding (1892), a West End collaboration between his famous songwriter and actor father and W. S. Gilbert.
In Town is a musical comedy written by Adrian Ross and James T. Tanner, with music by F. Osmond Carr and lyrics by Ross. The plot of In Town, though thin, is a smart tale of backstage and society intrigue. One of the popular songs from the show was "The Man About Town".
Kurt-Friedrich Gänzl is a New Zealand writer, historian and former casting director and singer best known for his books about musical theatre.
Faust up to Date is a musical burlesque with a libretto was written by G. R. Sims and Henry Pettitt, and a score written by Meyer Lutz. Set in Nuremberg, it is a spoof of Gounod's opera, Faust, which had first been performed in London in 1864. The burlesque followed on from an earlier Lutz musical, Mephistopheles, or Faust and Marguerite.
Pauline Markham was an Anglo-American dancer and contralto singer active on burlesque and vaudeville stages during the latter decades of the 19th century. She began by performing juvenile roles in Manchester, made her debut on the London stage at 20 and a year later New York as a member of the British Blondes which introduced Victorian burlesque to America, where for a few years she would find phenomenal success before her career settled into a long steady decline.
Emily Soldene was an English singer, actress, director, theatre manager, novelist and journalist of the late Victorian era and the Edwardian period. She was one of the most famous singers of comic opera in the late nineteenth century, as well as an important director of theatre companies and later a celebrated gossip columnist.
Lydia Thompson, was an English dancer, comedian, actor and theatrical producer.
Adonis is a musical burlesque in two acts with both book and lyrics by William Gill that is a spoof of the Pygmalion myth. Set in Greece, the musical tells the story of a gorgeous male statue of the mythological figure Adonis that comes to life and finds human ways so unpleasant that he chooses to turn back into stone – after spoofing several famous personalities. Originally envisioned as a starring vehicle for the actor Henry E. Dixey in the role of the Adonis, the play parodies the Pygmalion tale through a gender reversal in which the statue come-to-life is not female but male. In so doing the story is no longer one of the sexual objectification of a woman, but instead places a man as the embodied object of sexual desire.
Millie Cavendish, previously credited as Mrs Lawrence, was a British singer and actress, best remembered for performing You Naughty, Naughty Men in the role of Carline in the musical The Black Crook, which debuted in New York in September 1866. The song's music was by George Bickwell, with lyrics by Theodore Kennick. Though Cavendish's role in the piece was minor, and the song had no relation to the play's plot, her performance was a highlight. It was also an early example of sex exploitation, as music writer David Ewen has noted: "When Milly Cavendish stepped lightly in front of the footlights, wagged a provocative finger at the men in her audience, and sang in her high-pitched baby voice, 'You Naughty, Naughty Men' … the American musical theater and the American popular song both started their long and active careers in sex exploitation."
Edgar McPhail Smith was an American writer and lyricist for musicals in the early decades of the 20th century. He contributed to some 150 Broadway musicals. Weber and Fields starred in many of his works.
Monte Cristo Jr. was a Victorian burlesque with a libretto written by Richard Henry, a pseudonym for the writers Richard Butler and Henry Chance Newton. The score was composed by Meyer Lutz, Ivan Caryll, Hamilton Clarke, Tito Mattei, G. W. Hunt and Henry J. Leslie. The ballet and incidental dances were arranged by John D'Auban, and the theatre's musical director, Meyer Lutz, conducted. The play's doggerel verse was loosely based on The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
The Forty Thieves, subtitled Striking Oil in Family Jars, is an 1869 Victorian burlesque that Lydia Thompson's company debuted at Niblo's Garden in New York City on February 1, 1869. It ran for 136 performances.
The Sultan of Mocha is a three act comic opera of 1874 with a libretto by Albert Jarrett and a score by Alfred Cellier. It was first produced at the Prince's Theatre, Manchester in 1874 and revived in London in 1876 and 1887 and in New York in 1880, among others.
Alice Oates was an actress, theatre manager and pioneer of American musical theatre who took opéra bouffe in English to all corners of America. She produced the first performance of a work by Gilbert and Sullivan in America with her unauthorised Trial by Jury in 1875, the first American production of The Sultan of Mocha (1878) and an early performance of H.M.S. Pinafore (1878).
Jarrett & Palmer was an American theatrical production partnership, prominent and influential in the 1860s and 1870s.
