- Performances: 1,291
- Genre / Theater: Comedy, Gaiety Theatre
- Open / Close: August 26, 1918 – August 27, 1921
- Fun (?) Fact: Frank Bacon, star and co-playwright, took ill during the show’s national tour, causing it to be suspended. His last show was on November 11, 1922, he suffered a heart attack a week later and died on November 19th.
One hundred years ago today, on March 17th, 1920, a self-described “live wire American comedy” called “Lightnin’” became the longest running Broadway show of all time, it’s 658th performance overtaking the musical “A Trip to Chinatown.” The production would go on to be the first Broadway production ever to log over 1,000 performances, closing on August 27, 1921 with a total of 1,291.
According to the Wikipedia entry on the show, President Warren Harding honored the show’s closing with disconcertingly jingoistic praise, extolling the virtues of “an American play of the very highest type, by an American author, presented by American actors.” The show focuses on a seedy Nevada hotel that Californians escape to for quickie divorces so the presidential endorsement seems ironically appropo.
The show ran at the Gaiety Theatre, owned by Broadway royalty George M. Cohan who was known as “the man that owned Broadway.” In the 1930s, the actual Gypsy Rose Lee would often perform there. While the musical “Gypsy” is an often-revived favorite, it never had a production with more than 702 performances on Broadway, so you won’t see it on this list.
If you want to enjoy “Lightin'” today, you can either read the book adaptation (yes, they did those back in the day) or check out the silent movie version. (There was a 1930 movie that starred Will Rodgers but I haven’t been able to find a version online that didn’t make me scared of viruses…).
This post honors a landmark in Broadway chart history. The site’s first official post covering production #121 on the list of longest running shows, the musical “Newsies,” will be posted on Friday, March 20th.