List Of The Longest-running Broadway Shows on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
This is a list of
This is a list of shows that have held the record for being the longest-running show (including straight plays and musicals) on "The World’s Longest-Running Musical Started Small – and Stayed Small"
''Time'' magazine M denotes a
''Playbill'' article, "Long Runs on Broadway"Internet Broadway Database
In the Long Run: A Cultural History of Broadway's Hit Plays
'. New York and London: Routledge, 2019. * Sheward, David. ''It's a Hit!: The Back Stage Book of Longest-Running Broadway Shows, 1884 to the Present''. New York: Back Stage Books, 1994 Broadway theatre Longest-running Broadway shows Longest running Broadway
This is a list of Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
shows with 1,000 or more performances, sorted by number of performances. Eight shows currently running on Broadway have at least 1,000 performances: ''The Phantom of the Opera
''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierr ...
'', the 1996 revival of ''Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
'', ''The Lion King
''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance, it ...
'', ''Wicked
Wicked may refer to:
Books
* Wicked, a minor character in the ''X-Men'' universe
* '' Wicked'', a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name
* ''Wicked'', the fifth novel in Sara Shepard's ''Pretty Little Liars'' s ...
'', ''The Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude dat ...
'', ''Aladdin
Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...
'', ''Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
'', and ''Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
''Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'' is a play written by Jack Thorne from an original story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Thorne. Previews of the play began at the Palace Theatre, London, on 7 June 2016 as a two-part play, and it prem ...
''.
List
Unless otherwise noted, the run count listed is for the original Broadway production of the show. M denotes amusical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
, P denotes a straight play
A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between characters and intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright.
Plays are performed at a variety of levels, fr ...
, R denotes revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own duri ...
, D denotes a dance show, and S denotes a special show or event. Totals current through December 25, 2022.
Timeline of longest-running Broadway shows
This is a list of shows that have held the record for being the longest-running show (including straight plays and musicals) on Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
since 1853. A few probable longest-running plays prior to 1853 are also listed.
Not included below is the 1976 revival of the revue ''Oh! Calcutta!
''Oh! Calcutta!'' is an avant-garde, risque theatrical revue created by British drama critic Kenneth Tynan. The show, consisting of sketches on sex-related topics, debuted Off-Broadway in 1969 and then in the West End in 1970. It ran in London ...
'', which briefly overtook ''A Chorus Line
''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante.
Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is centered on seventeen Broadway dancers ...
'' as the Broadway show which had played the most performances, even though ''A Chorus Line'' had opened more than a year earlier and was still playing. ''Oh! Calcutta!'' achieved this distinction by playing more than the standard eight performances per week. ''A Chorus Line'' retook the record for most performances after ''Oh! Calcutta!'' closed.
The longest running off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
musical to date is ''The Fantasticks
''The Fantasticks'' is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the 1894 play ''The Romancers'' (''Les Romanesques'') by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neigh ...
'', which starred Jerry Orbach
Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor and singer, described at the time of his death as "one of the last'' bona fide'' leading men of the Broadway musical and global celebrity on television" and a " ...
. When it closed on January 13, 2002, it had run for 42 years and 17,162 performances, making it the world's longest-running musical. The current longest-running musical on Broadway is ''The Phantom of the Opera
''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierr ...
'', which opened in 1988 and played its 10,000th performance in 2012.''Time'' magazine M denotes a
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
and P denotes a straight play
A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between characters and intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright.
Plays are performed at a variety of levels, fr ...
.
See also
*Long-running musical theatre productions 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 ...
*List of the longest-running West End shows
This is a list of the longest-running shows (3,000 performances or more) in the West End, a well known professional theatre district in London. Nine currently running shows (two plays, seven musicals) have more than 3,000 performances: ''The Mo ...
*List of the shortest-running Broadway shows
This is a list of Broadway shows with 20 or fewer regular performances. The list only includes shows that had open-ended runs or limited runs that ended earlier than planned. The shows must have officially opened on Broadway, and thus productions t ...
References
Notes {{reflist, 1=20emExternal links
''Playbill'' article, "Long Runs on Broadway"
Further reading
* Laufe, Abe. ''Anatomy of a Hit: Long-Run Plays on Broadway from 1900 to the Present Day''. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1966. * Schildcrout, Jordan.In the Long Run: A Cultural History of Broadway's Hit Plays
'. New York and London: Routledge, 2019. * Sheward, David. ''It's a Hit!: The Back Stage Book of Longest-Running Broadway Shows, 1884 to the Present''. New York: Back Stage Books, 1994 Broadway theatre Longest-running Broadway shows Longest running Broadway