Unless otherwise noted, the run count listed is for the original Broadway production of the show. M denotes a musical, P denotes a straight play, R denotes revue, D denotes a dance show, and S denotes a special show or event. Totals current through September 15, 2024.
Timeline of longest-running Broadway shows
The Black Crook, which ran from 1866 to 1868, was the first Broadway show to run for over one year.[127]
This is a list of shows that have held the record for being the longest-running show (including straight plays and musicals) on Broadway 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!, which briefly overtook A Chorus Line 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.[128]A Chorus Line retook the record for most performances after Oh! Calcutta! closed.
The longest running off-Broadway musical to date is The Fantasticks, which starred Jerry Orbach. 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, which opened in 1988 and played its final performance in 2023.[129]
^ a bSteyn, Mark. Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now, p. 3 (1997)
^Rich, Frank (August 8, 1989). "Critic's Notebook; The Asterisks of 'Oh! Calcutta!'". The New York Times. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
^"The World’s Longest-Running Musical Started Small – and Stayed Small", Time magazine
^(January 6, 2006). ‘Phantom’ set to outlive ‘Cats’, Associated Press
^(June 19, 1997). With 6,138 Lives, 'Cats' Sets Broadway Mark, The New York Times
^Rothstein, Mervyn (April 30, 1990). After 15 Years (15!), 'A Chorus Line' Ends, The New York Times
^(December 8, 1979). 'Grease' hits top of Broadway list, Associated Press
^(June 19, 1972). Fiddler on the Roof longest running show, Ottawa Citizen (Associated Press)
^(July 21, 1971). 'Fiddler on the Roof' longest run musical on Broadway, Associated Press
^(June 13, 1947). 'Life With Father' - A Broadway Record, The Milwaukee Journal
^(November 18, 1939). If Any Record Is Left, Play Breaks It Tonight, Milwaukee Journal (reporting that on November 18, 1939, Tobacco Road had 2,533rd performance, beating 2,532 mark that was being used as record for Abie's Irish Rose, though it had been discovered that number included over 200 non-Broadway performances, so that record had been made 5 months prior)
^(May 24, 1925). 'Abie's Irish Rose' Makes Record Run. Its 1,292d Performance, One More Than "Lightnin'," Is America's Highest Score, The New York Times
^(March 18, 1920). Lightnin' Breaks Record. Reaches 658th Performance, Eclipsing Long Run of Hoyt Farce, The New York Times
^(May 1920). [1], Munsey's Magazine, p. 730 (" 'Lightnin' has now broken the record of 'A Trip to Chinatown' for the longest consecutive New York run ...")
^Theatre Week (1990) (noting that at start of World War I, A Trip To Chinatown still held the record, which was beat by Lightnin after the war)
^(July 1893). The Stage, Munsey's Magazine (reporting that A Trip to Chinatown had 604th performance on June 22, 1893)
^(November 22, 1885). The Stage and Box Office, The New York Times (reporting that with 35 more performances, Adonis will bypass Hazel Kirke run of 486 performances)
^The Oxford Companion to American Theatre, p. 298 (Hazel Kirke at 486 performances was longest run of its time of any nonmusical play)
^Hazel Kirke: 250th performance programme (1880)
^The Cambridge History of American Theatre, Vol. II, p. 239 (1999)
^(August 5, 1867). Black Crook advertisement, New York Tribune, p. 7 col. 3 (advertisement for 326th performance of The Black Crook on August 5, 1867; no recognition at this time that it was likely the longest)
^Some Long Theatrical Runs, The World Almanac and Encyclopedia 1903, p. 269 (1902)
^(November 17, 1853). Uncle Tom's Cabin, The New York Times (notes that 116 performances had been held to that point)
^(February 23, 1854). Uncle Tom's Cabin, The New York Times (reported that 230th performance would be that evening)
^(June 19, 1854). Uncle Tom's Cabin (advertisement), The New York Times (announcing revival of play "as performed at the National Theatre 325 consecutive times")
^The Drunkard as a Drama of the Temperance Movement, p. 3 (1995)
^Culture, Genre, and Literary Vocation: Selected Essays on American Literature, p. 108 (2001)
^The Cambridge Guide To Theatre, p. 76 (1995)
^Ireland, Joseph, Records of the New York stage, from 1750 to 1860, pp. 417, 438
^Granqvist, Raoul. Imitation as Resistance: Appropriations of English Literature in Nineteenth Century America, p. 170 (stating that Mazeppa ran at the Bowery Theatre for 48 consecutive nights)
^(August 31, 1833). Amusements, New York Evening Post, p. 3, col. 5 (advertisement stating that evening will be 35th presentation of Mazeppa)
^(September 9, 1833). Amusements, p. 3, col. 5 (announcing that Mazeppa will be performed that night "For the Benefit of Mr. Gale", appears to have been final consecutive performance)
^ a b cShank, Theodore J. (1959). "Theatre for the Majority: Its Influence on a Nineteenth Century American Theatre". Educational Theatre Journal. 11 (3): 188–199. doi:10.2307/3204801. JSTOR 3204801. See p. 196, noting that Mazeppa had 43 performances; Elephant of Siam and the Water Witch in 1831 had 18 each.
External links
Playbill article, "Long Runs on Broadway"
Internet Broadway Database
List of plays that have achieved runs of over 400 performances on Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Toronto, Melbourne, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin
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
