DYK list

Portal:Theatre/DYK/1

...that Beijing opera (pictured) did not actually originate in Beijing, but instead the provinces of Anhui and Hubei?
... that D'Oyly Carte Opera Company star Donald Adams could only perform in his own Gilbert and Sullivan for All theatre group on his nights off?
...that the Spiral Q Puppet Theater in Philadelphia uses puppetry, street theatre and pageantry to promote social and political change?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/2

...that English opera singer and actress Florence Perry (pictured) was best known for her performances with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the late 19th century?
...that the Cockpit Theatre was the first theatre in London's Drury Lane?
...that although the Park Theatre was considered the highest-class playhouse in New York City, Edgar Allan Poe criticized it for being infested by rats?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/3

...that in the Japanese theatrical art known as Taishū engeki (pictured), it is not uncommon for fans to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of yen on gifts for the performers?
...that Norway's first regional theatre, the Hålogaland Teater, used to be housed in a disused margarine factory in the Arctic Circle town of Tromsø?
... that Thomas Middleton's 1624 play A Game at Chess was considered so scandalous that the Globe Theatre was closed and the actors and author were put on trial?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/4

...that the Egyptian Theater (pictured) in DeKalb, Illinois is purportedly haunted by ghosts?
...that Takemoto Gidayū's contributions to the form of bunraku (Japanese puppet theatre) were so influential that all chanters (narrators) in bunraku are now called gidayū?
... that The Voice of the Turtle, the ninth longest-running play in Broadway history, derives its name from a verse in the Bible’s Song of Solomon?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/5

...that when the English actress Lucia Elizabeth Vestris (pictured) took over the Olympic Theatre in 1830, she became the first ever female actor-manager in the history of London theatre?
...that Ichikawa Danjūrō V, one of the most famous and successful Kabuki actors, was briefly forced out of the theater after being accused of misappropriating funds?
...that the 2005 docudrama The Burnt Theatre is set in Cambodia's Suramet National Theatre, which was destroyed by a fire in 1994?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/6

...that scholars of Japanese theatre have been able to identify the subjects of many yakusha-e (ukiyo-e actor prints, pictured) down to not only the kabuki actors, roles, and the play depicted, but even the theater and month in which it was performed?
...that in 1960 the American Ballet Theatre became the first American ballet company to perform in the Soviet Union?
...that script breakdowns are the intermediate step between script and production in theater, film, television and comic books?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/7

...that John Dryden (pictured) created the genre of heroic drama as a way of reconciling plays with epic poetry?
...that misdirected letters are a common plot twist in the 19th century genre of theatre called the well-made play?
...that children's book The Gruffalo was made into a play; it played the National Theatre and New York City's Broadway?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/8

...that Catherine the Great wrote several comedies and an opera libretto for the productions of the Hermitage Theatre (pictured) in Saint Petersburg?
...that the Neo-Renaissance architectural style encompasses such dissimilar structures as the Opera Garnier and Hôtel de Ville in Paris, the National Theatre in Prague, the Reichstag in Berlin, Mentmore Towers near London, Vladimir Palace in Saint Petersburg, and the Boston Public Library?
...that Ivan Shuvalov, who was a favourite of Empress Elizabeth, 27 years his senior, used his influence at court to establish the first permanent theatre, university, and academy of arts in Russia?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/9

...that the BBC recorded live performances of Hancock's Half Hour, The Goon Show and Steptoe and Son at the Playhouse Theatre (pictured) in London?
...that in 1661, Lisle's Tennis Court in Lincoln's Inn Fields, London became the first public theatre in England to feature moveable scenery on sliding wings?
...that the Cockpit-in-Court theatre in the Palace of Whitehall was used to stage court masques for the Stuart Kings of England, but was originally built by Henry VIII as a venue for cockfighting?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/10

...that one of the first churches in Vilnius, the Orthodox Cathedral of the Theotokos (pictured), was once used by the local university as an anatomical theatre?
...that Burning Bright by John Steinbeck was an attempt at a new form of literature, the "play-novelette"— but both the play and novel were savaged by the critics and Steinbeck never wrote for the theatre again?
...that Gibbon's Tennis Court, a Tudor-style real tennis court converted into a theatre in 1660, was home to one of the earliest appearances by a professional actress in England?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/11

...that schools of traditional Japanese arts such as Go, calligraphy, tea ceremony, Noh theatre and martial arts are based on a hereditary system of grand masters called Iemoto? (pictured: Sen no Rikyū, founder of 3 schools of arts)
...that during the 1950s, when the Soviet training model barred students from participation in professional theatre, Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts maintained its close ties with it?
...that Jatindramohan Tagore, a theatre enthusiast, music and art-lover, and philanthropist, was the first Indian to be a member of the Royal Photographic Society in 1898?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/12

...that Mary Saunderson (pictured) played several female Shakespearean characters previously portrayed only by men, including Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Ophelia in Hamlet?
...that Louise Pitre, a Tony Award-nominated musical theatre actress, was turned down after auditioning for the role of Josephine in the London musical Napoleon?
...that Belarus Free Theatre is an underground theatre project created to oppose Belarusian government pressure and censorship?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/13

...that the audience of the Dorset Garden Theatre (pictured) in Restoration London found it fashionable and convenient to arrive by boat, thereby avoiding the crime-ridden area of Alsatia?
...that Takemoto Gidayū's contributions to the form of bunraku (Japanese puppet theatre) were so influential that all chanters (narrators) in bunraku are now called gidayū?
...that, before building the landmark Gandy Bridge, George Gandy was known for building a large successful theatre, originally derided as "Gandy's White Elephant"?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/14

...that the St. James Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand (pictured), was nearly demolished in the 1980s and is said to be haunted by numerous ghosts?
...that actor Loren Dean won a Theatre World Award in 1989 for his Off-Broadway debut in the play Amulets Against the Dragon Forces?
...that the hunchbacked marionette Karagiozis uses mischievous and crude ways to find money and feed his family in the traditional Greek theatre of shadows?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/15

...that John T. Ford (pictured) was the only American theatre manager to pay Gilbert and Sullivan royalties for H.M.S. Pinafore during its initial U.S. run?
...that in order to accommodate the rock musical Dude, the The Broadway Theatre in Manhattan was turned into an arena filled with ramps, runways, catwalks, columns, trapezes, and trapdoors at a cost of $800,000?
...that despite being involved in high school theatre, Darla Vandenbossche only decided to pursue acting when she reached the age of 36?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/16

...that the Chatham Garden Theatre in New York City (pictured) went from haven for prostitution to Presbyterian chapel in the span of one year?
... that Ted Mack auditioned contestants for the Original Amateur Hour in the 400-seat theatre at Irvington, New York's village hall?
... that Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù, founded in 1720, was the first modern opera theatre in Greece?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/17

...that Ronald Reagan announced his engagement to his first wife, Jane Wyman, at the Chicago Theatre (pictured)?
... that Herman Farr, an African American clergyman from Shreveport, Louisiana, single-handedly desegregated the historic Strand Theatre during the heyday of the civil rights movement?
... that John Boylan, who won an acting award in the play On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco, eventually died of lung cancer?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/18

...that Russian actor Yevgeny Samoylov (pictured), known for his work with Vsevolod Meyerhold and Alexander Dovzhenko in the 1930s, celebrated his 90th birthday in 2002 acting on the stage of the Maly Theatre?
...that Hall of Fame jockey Tod Sloan was the "Yankee Doodle" in the George M. Cohan Broadway musical Little Johnny Jones and the basis for Ernest Hemingway's short story "My Old Man"?
... that according to Aristophanes of Byzantium, Euripides' lost play Antigone differed from Sophocles' famous play Antigone in three key respects, including that Antigone married Haemon?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/19

...that Danny Kaye, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Abbott and Costello and Sammy Davis Jr. are among the performers to have graced the stage of the Howard Theatre (pictured) in Washington, D.C.?
...that the rise of ticket prices in the new Covent Garden Theatre led to the so-called Old Price Riots, which lasted for more than two months in 1809?
...that by 1608, performances of William Shakespeare's plays had become popular enough that his playing company was able to act indoors, in the Blackfriars Theatre?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/20

...that the Bowery Theatre in New York City (pictured) was burnt down five times in 17 years?
...that Nellie Farren was best known for her roles as the "principal boy" in burlesques at the Gaiety Theatre in London?
... that Beerbohm, a cat owned by the Gielgud Theatre, became famous for entering actors' dressing rooms, attacking props, and wandering across the stage during performances?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/21

...that a church of the Order of the Holy Ghost once stood at the site of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre (pictured) in Kraków?
...that the Folly Theatre, which specialised in burlesque and opéra bouffe, was originally the residence for Catholic priests of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in London?
...that Prabhat Kalavidaru, a theatre group based in Bangalore has performed the fairytale, Cinderella over 1000 times since 1977 and that few artists have acted in each of those performances?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/22

...that Elizabeth Taylor made her London stage debut in 1982 at the Victoria Palace Theatre (pictured) in a revival of Lillian Hellman's play The Little Foxes?
...that Marguerite Clark left school at age 16, debuted on Broadway a year later, and then quickly became one of the major stage and film stars of the first two decades of the 20th century?
...that Conor McPherson's The Weir was performed on Broadway in 1998, less than a year after its original opening at The Royal Court Theatre in London?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/23

...that musical theatre star Phyllis Dare (pictured) published her autobiography in 1907, but continued to perform in Edwardian musical comedy and on stage until 1951?
...that the play Charlie Victor Romeo has a script consisting of the almost-verbatim cockpit voice recorder transcripts from six real-life air disasters?
... that Nevada City's Nevada Theatre is the oldest existing theater building in California?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/24

...that chorus girls (pictured) in shows produced by George Edwardes at the Gaiety Theatre were so popular that the restaurant where they dined became the centre of nightlife in London during the Victorian era?
...that Gubbi Veeranna's theatre company was the first one in the state of Karnataka, India to employ female artists to portray female characters on the stage?
...that Jacobean play The Atheist's Tragedy is the only dramatic work recognized by the consensus of modern scholarship as the undisputed work of Cyril Tourneur?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/25

...that Lionel Monckton (pictured), the most popular musical theatre composer of the Edwardian period, after dropping into obscurity by the end of the 20th century, recently has had two albums of his music released?
...that Georgian theatre director Kote Marjanishvili's use of puppetry in his adaptation of Oedipus Rex was inspired by a similar set-up in Edward Gordon Craig's 1911 adaptation of Hamlet?
...that Dennis Letts, who began acting at the age of fifty, made his Broadway debut in December 2007 in August: Osage County, which was written by his son, Tracy Letts?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/26

... that the Harris Theater (pictured) is the first new performing arts venue built in downtown Chicago since 1929?
...that in 1877 the 4,000-seat Queen's Theatre staged a spectacular and expensive production of The Last Days of Pompeii that flopped: the earth did not quake, the volcano did not erupt, and acrobats fell onto the cast?
...that Acorn Antiques: The Musical was directed by Trevor Nunn and opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket with a three month sell-out run?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/27

...that the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie (pictured) is the oldest continuously operating theater in New York State?
...that Elvira Popescu, an actress, theatre director, and recipient of the Légion d'honneur, was one of four women who inspired Henri Matisse's painting La Blouse Roumaine?
...that the modern meaning of "ballad", a slow, sentimental tune or love song, often written in a fairly standardized form, came about from Tin Pan Alley and Broadway composers?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/28

...that Academy Award-winning American singer Barbra Streisand (pictured) filled in a tooth gap with Aspergum when she started out in theater?
...that the 1983 rock and roll comedy film Get Crazy was a tribute to the famed Fillmore East theater, where film director Allan Arkush once worked as an usher?
...that Nikita Balieff, a vaudeville performer, writer, impresario, and director, named his theater "Chauve-Souris" (bat) after a bat flew up out of the basement door and landed on his hat?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/29

...that according to the Marlovian theory of Shakespeare authorship, works attributed to William Shakespeare were actually written by playwright Christopher Marlowe (pictured), who faked his own death in 1593 to continue writing under a Shakespeare pseudonym?
..that Heroes actor David Anders was recognized with a Back Stage West Garland Award along with the ensemble cast of The Diary of Anne Frank, for their 2001 production?
...that A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant had its name changed due to threats of litigation from the Church of Scientology?

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Portal:Theatre/DYK/30

... that Walter Emden designed London theatres and music halls in the late 19th century, including the Palace Theatre, the Duke of York's, the Garrick (pictured) and the Royal Court?
... that Zac Efron and Claire Danes claim they saw a ghostlike figure while filming Me and Orson Welles at Gaiety Theatre on the Isle of Man?
... that Tunisian writer, actor, and director of theatre Mohamed Driss paid tribute to the historian Ibn Khaldoun by writing an opera in his honor?

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