Theatre Register
Barnum: a New Musical

Barnum

Shows · Barnum

to 1880, when the showman joins James A. Bailey (William C. Witter) in creating “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Along the way, we are treated to such legendary sucker-bait attractions as Joice Heth (Terri White), George Washington’s alleged 160-year-old nurse, the midget Tom Thumb (Leonard John Crofoot), Jumbo the elephant, the Swedish Nightingale Jenny Lind (Marianne Tatum), and — finally — the three-ring circus.

Opened
1980
Performances
854
Type
Musical
Era
Megamusical
Music: Cy ColemanLyrics: Michael StewartBook: Mark Bramble

Productions3 on Broadway

1980 St. James Theatre Original. April 30, 1980 · Joe Layton 854 performances
1981 Transfer Theatre not recorded.
1986 Victoria Palace Theatre Transfer.

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. West End runs are not yet held.

Licensing 2 entries

US Concord Theatricals Tams-Witmark available
UK Concord Theatricals Tams-Witmark available

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature25 passages

On April 30, 1980, the hit musical Barnum arrived and won a Tony Award for its star, Jim Dale, as well as for its sets (David Mitchell) and costumes (Theoni V. book:at-this-theatre-100-years-of-broadway-shows-stories-and-botto-louis-viagas-rober#p281

Aldredge). The fanciful musical about the mighty circus impresario P.T. Barnum ran for 854 performances. book:at-this-theatre-100-years-of-broadway-shows-stories-and-botto-louis-viagas-rober#p282

Michael Stewart, with 1980 hits Barnum and 42nd Street running, was especially skeptical about exposing the half-baked sequel to the harsh glare of Broadway; but Lee Adams had been undergoing a dry spell since Applause in 1970 (a dry spell that continues to this day), book:more-opening-nights-on-broadway-a-critical-quotebook-of-compiled-by-steven-suski#p131

Stewart, with 1980 hits Barnum and 42nd Street running, was especially skeptical about exposing the half-baked sequel to the harsh glare of Broadway; but Lee Adams had been undergoing a dry spell since Applause in 1970 (a dry spell that continues to this day), book:more-opening-nights-on-broadway-steven-suskin#p130

Even if based on literary texts, concept musicals were not really conceived in the spirit of textual adaptations at all. Many looked directly to diverse forms of musical theater presentation, often for the purpose of exploring the very meanings through which they had been culturally constructed as "shows"-that is, as f… book:showtime-a-history-of-the-broadway-musical-theatre-larry-stempel#p561

Barnum 1980, La Cage Aux Folies 1984) garnered from 11 nominations. book:the-broadway-design-roster-designers-and-their-credits-owen-bobbi-bibliographies#p25

Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

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