1949: THE VERY FIRST TONY AWARD WENT TO:

                            "KISS ME KATE"

1077 PERFORMANCES  
    12/30/48 TILL 7/28/51
 REVIVAL 2008 WON TONY FOR BEST  REVIVAL

The play is structured as a play within a play where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's, The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang. After a serious equestrian accident which left him mostly crippled, this was a come-back musical for Cole Porter.  It proved to be his biggest hit and the only one of his shows to run for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway.

                      "I HATE MEN"     "WUNDERBAR"   "TOO DARN HOT"
                         "BRUSH UP YOUR SHAKESPEARE"
                       "ALWAYS TRUE TO YOU IN MY FASHION"



  

1950:
               
             "SOUTH PACIFIC"
     
   1,920 PERFORMANCES 
      4/7/ 49  TILL  1/16/54 
          2008  REVIVAL  WON  TONY AWARD

 "SOUTH PACIFIC"  is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book,  Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its stories into a single plotline about an American nurse at a U.S. Naval base, during World War II, who falls in love with an expatriate French plantation owner with a dark past. The issue of racial prejudice is sensitively and candidly explored in several plot threads, including the struggle of the lead character to accept the mixed-race children of her lover. SOUTH PACIFIC is considered to be one of the greatest Broadway musicals.

The  musical premiered in 1949 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950. The Broadway production won ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Libretto, and it is the only musical production ever to have won all four Tony Awards for acting. The show was a critical and box office hit and has since enjoyed many successful revivals and tours, also spawning a 1958 film and other adaptations. The 2008 Broadway revival was a strong success, winning seven Tonys including for Best Musical Revival.
 
        (from the original cast)

"SOME ENCHANTED EVENING"        "HONEY BUN"

                       REVIVAL

  1951: 
  "GUYS AND DOLLS"

 1200 performances 
  11/24/50 till 11/28/53
Has had 5 successful Broadway Revivals

Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon,  and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably "Pick the Winner". Premiering on Broadway in 1950, the original production ran for 1200 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical premiered on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatreon November 24, 1950. It was directed by George S. Kaufman, with dances and musical numbers by Michael Kidd, scenic and lighting design by Jo Mielziner, costumes by Alvin Colt, and orchestrations by George Bassman and Ted Royal. It starred Robert Alda, Sam Levene, Isabel Bigley, and Vivian Blaine. The musical ran for 1,200 performances, winning five 1951 Tony Awards, including the award for Best Musical. Decca Records issued the original cast recording on 78 rpm records, which was later expanded and re-issued on LP, and then transferred to CD in the 1980s.
The musical has had several Broadway revivals as well as West End productions. It is generally considered to be one of the greatest of all Broadway musicals.   A 1955 film adaptation starred Vivian Blaine (from the original cast) along with Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons, and Marlon Brando (in an actual singing role!)

Below: Vivian Blaine who created the part of Adelaide on Broadway
 (and the movie) performs her show-stopping song

VIVIAN AGAIN, THIS TIME FROM THE POPULAR MOVIE
OF THE SHOW WITH THE KIT KAT GIRLS SINGING
                 "TAKE BACK YOUR MINK"


 BELOW, THE OPENING NUMBER OF THE SHOW

"LUCK BE A LADY TONIGHT"   "SIT DOWN, YOU'RE ROCKING THE BOAT" 
        "IF I WERE A BELL"  "MARRY THE MAN TODAY"   "SUE ME"
                        "A BUSHEL AND A PECK"

1952 BEGINS ON THE NEXT SUBPAGE