On this day in 2002, the Broadway production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast played its 3,225th performance, making it the tenth longest running show in Broadway history. The show surpassed Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse's musical Life with Father to earn the distinction.

On this day in 1999, Richard Chamberlain and Laura Benanti joined the cast of the Broadway revival of The Sound of Music as the new Captain Von Trapp and Maria Rainer, succeeding Michael Siberry and Rebecca Luker in the roles. The two continued in the roles through the production's closing on June 20. 1999, after 533 performances.

On Sunday, March 9, 2008, In The Heights officially opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theater. With music and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize winner, Lin-Manuel Miranda, a book by Quiara Alegra Hudes, and conceived by Miranda, In The Heights was directed and choreographed by Tony Award winners Thomas Kail and Andy Blankenbuehler.

stufffOn this day in 2015, Academy Award winner Helen Mirren returned to Broadway with a stunning portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan's The Audience, directed by two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Daldry. The production nabbed two Tony Awards, one for Mirren in the Leading Actress in a Play category and the other for Featured Actor in a Play, taken home by Richard McCabe for his portrayal of Harold Wilson.

Welcome to BWW's ON THIS DAY Series celebrating theatrical birthdays, openings and special events that took place on this day in theatre history!

Hello and welcome to BWW's ON THIS DAY Series! Please read along as, each day, we celebrate birthdays, shows' openings and all kinds of theatrical events that have happened on this date.

Sixty-three years ago, the musical 'Carnival in Flanders' opened on Broadway, at New York's New Century Theatre. With music and lyrics by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke, and with Preston Sturges's book, based on French comedy film 'La Kermesse Heroique'.

Today was the birthday of Albert Bassermann, a German who actor who had an unusually prolific stage and then screen career - the the extent that he is now considered the first German actor to achieve such crossover.

Hello and welcome to BWW's ON THIS DAY Series! Please read along as, each day, we celebrate birthdays, shows' openings and all kinds of theatrical events that have happened on this date.

Hello and welcome to BWW's ON THIS DAY Series! Please read along as, each day, we celebrate birthdays, shows' openings and all kinds of theatrical events that have happened on this date.

On 4 September 1991, New York City Opera opened their production of "The Most Happy Fella", a relatively little-known musical by Frank Loesser, whose more famed work includes Guys and Dolls.

Today is the fictional birthday of Parisian waitress, Amelie Poulain, and director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Amelie captured hearts in Jeunet's 2001 film, which was nominated for five Academy awards.

On 31 August 1918, Alan Jay Lerner was born - and he went on to become one of the most popular lyricist and librettists in musical theatre's history. A native New-Yorker, Lerner studied at the Juilliard School before being mentored by both Oscar Hammerstein and Lorenz Hart. His first big hit was Brigadoon, written with Frederick Lowe, and it is for his collaborations with Lowe that he is best-known - especially for My Fair Lady.

Happy Birthday, Lea Michele! Best known to theatre audiences for her role as 'Wendla' in the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Spring Awakening, Michele was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her performance. She also starred in the Broadway productions of Les Miserables, Ragtime and Fiddler on the Roof. For her work on GLEE, Michele was honored with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Actress - Comedy or Musical and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Today in 1977, Chicago closed at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers Theatre), where it ran for 936 performances. Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago, with music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Chicago's 1996 Broadway revival holds the record for the longest-running musical revival on Broadway and is its fourth longest-running show.

Today in 2012, Sister Act closed at the Broadway Theatre, where it ran for 561 performances. Sister Act is a musical written by Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner with additional book material by Douglas Carter Beane, with lyrics by Glenn Slater and music by Alan Menken. It is based on the hit 1992 film comedy of the same name. Patina Miller, who originated the role of Deloris in the West End production, reprised the role on Broadway, making her Broadway debut. The original cast featured Victoria Clark (Mother Superior),Fred Applegate (Monsignor), Sarah Bolt (Sister Mary Patrick), Chester Gregory (Eddie), Kingsley Leggs (Curtis), Marla Mindelle (Sister Mary Robert) and Audrie Neenan (Sister Mary Lazarus).

Today in 1980, 42nd Street opened at the Wintergarden Theatre, where it ran for 3486 performances. 42nd Street is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin, and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production, directed by an ailing Gower Champion and orchestrated by Philip J. Lang, won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit. Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes and the subsequent 1933 film adaptation, it focuses on the efforts of famed dictatorial Great White Way director Julian Marsh to mount a successful stage production of a musical extravaganza at the height of the Great Depression.

Today in 1980, the second Broadway revival of Oklahoma! closed at the Palace Theatre, where it ran for 293 performances. Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance with farm girl Laurey Williams. The original Broadway production opened on March 31, 1943.

Happy Birthday, Andrew Rannells! Rannells played Bob Gaudio in the First National Tour of Jersey Boys. In January 2009, he reprised the role of Gaudio in the musical's Broadway production. Rannells originated the role of Elder Price in The Book of Mormon, a musical written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez. For his performance, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. His last performance was June 10, 2012. He will soon play Bryan Buckley in Ryan Murphy's new television series The New Normal on NBC.

Happy Birthday, James Corden! In 2004, Corden played the role of Timms in the original London stage production of Alan Bennett's play The History Boys, as well as in the Broadway, and Sydney productions. In 2011 he attracted international attention as the lead in the award-winning comedy play One Man, Two Guvnors, which transferred from the National Theatre to the West End and then to Broadway, and was also cinecast worldwide via National Theatre Live. For his ongoing Broadway run of the play, Corden won the 2012 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

Today in 1983, La Cage Aux Folles opened at the Palace Theatre, where it ran for 1761 performances. With a book by Harvey Fierstein and lyrics and music by Jerry Herman, it is based on the 1973 French play of the same name by Jean Poiret. The original 1983 Broadway production received nine nominations for Tony Awards and won six, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book. The success of the musical spawned a West End production and several international runs. The 2004 Broadway revival won the Tony Award for Best Revival, the 2008 London revival garnered the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. The 2010 Broadway revival was nominated for eleven Tony Awards, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. La Cage aux Folles is the only musical which has won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical twice and the only show that has won a Best Production Tony Award (Best Musical or Best Revival of a Musical) for each of its Broadway productions.

Today in 2007, the second Broadway revival of Grease opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it ran for 554 performances. Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School (loosely based on William Howard Taft School), follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love, cars, and drive-ins.

Today in 1981, the second Broadway revival of My Fair Lady opened at the Uris Theatre (now the George Gershwin Theatre), where it ran for 120 performances. My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so that she may pass as a well born lady. The musical's 1956 Broadway production was a hit, setting what was then the record for the longest run of any major musical theatre production in history. It was followed by a hit London production, a popular film version, and numerous revivals.

Today in 2002, Hairspray opened at the Neil Simon Theatre, where it ran for 2642 performances. Hairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. In 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, plump teenager Tracy Turnblad's dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance program. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight. She then launches a campaign to integrate the show. Hairspray is a social commentary on the injustices of parts of American society in the 1960s.

Happy Birthday, Cristin Milioti! Milioti currently stars in the Tony-Award winning musical ONCE. Her other Broadway credits include The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Coram Boy. Off-Broadway credits include Once, The Little Foxes, Stunning (Lucille Lortel nom.), That Face, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Retributionists, Crooked.