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.

Today in 1997, the first Broadway revival of 1776 opened at Criterion Center Stage Right, where it ran for 333 performances. 1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was made into a film of the same name in 1972.

Today in 1986, Me and My Girl opened at the Marquis Theatre, where it ran for 1420 performances. Me and My Girl is a musical with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay. It takes place in the late 1930s in Hampshire, Mayfair, and Lambeth. The musical had a successful original run on the West End in 1937 and very successful revivals in both London and New York in the 1980s.

Today in 1989, the first Broadway revival of Shenandoah opened at the Virginia Theatre (now the August Wilson Theatre), where it ran for 32 performances. Shenandoah is a musical that was written in 1975 with music by Gary Geld, lyrics by Peter Udell, and a book by Udell, Philip Rose and James Lee Barrett, based on Barrett's original screenplay for the 1965 film Shenandoah. The musical first opened at the Goodspeed Opera House in 1974 and then transferred to Broadway, opening on January 7, 1975. It ran on Broadway for a total of 1,050 performances, closing August 7, 1977. The production was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and won two, one for Best Actor in a Musical (John Cullum) and the other for Best Book of a Musical.

Happy Birthday Rachel York! York has appeared on Broadway as Fantine in Les Miserables; Norma in Victor/Victoria (Drama Desk Award) with Julie Andrews; Marguerite in The Scarlet Pimpernel; Miss Fancy in Sly Fox with Richard Dreyfuss; and Christine Colgate in Dirty Rotten Scoundrelswith Jonathan Pryce. She appeared off-Broadway opposite Julie Andrews in Stephen Sondheim's Putting It Together and in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Dessa Rose. Most recently, Rachel was seen in The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman and created the role of Cruella de Vil in The 101 Dalmatians Musical directed by Jerry Zaks.

Today in 1995, the first Broadway revival of Damn Yankees closed at the Marquis Theatre, where it ran for 533 performances. Damn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball.

Today in 1974, A Little Night Music closed at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran for 601 performances. A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Since its original 1973 Broadway production, the musical has enjoyed professional productions in the West End, by opera companies, in a 2009 Broadway revival, and elsewhere, and it is a popular choice for regional groups. It was adapted for film in 1977, with Harold Prince directing and Elizabeth Taylor, Len Cariou, Lesley-Anne Down and Diana Rigg starring.

Today in 1965, Oliver! opened at the Martin Beck Theatre, where it ran for 64 performances. Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. It premiered in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, a successful Broadway production in 1963 and further tours and revivals. It was made into a musical film in 1968. Major London revivals played from 1994-1998 and again from 2009-2011.

Happy Birthday, Sam Mendes! Sam Mendes is best known for whis work as the artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, and his direction of the film American Beauty and the Broadway production of Cabaret on Broadway starring Alan Cumming. His production of Oliver! became the longest running show ever to play at the London Palladium. Additional stage credits includeTennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, Stephen Sondheim's Company (which had the first ever African American 'Bobby'), Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus and his farewell duo of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night, which transferred to the Brooklyn Academy Of Music and Gypsy on Broadway starring Bernadette Peters.

Today in 2008, A Catered Affair closed at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. John Doyle directed the production, which starred Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat.

Today in 1975, A Chrous Line opened at the Shubert THeatre, where it ran for 6137 performances. A Chorus Line is a musical about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The book was authored by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, lyrics were written by Edward Kleban, and music was composed by Marvin Hamlisch. With nineteen main characters, it is set on the bare stage of a Broadway theatre during an audition for a musical. The show provides a glimpse into the personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe the events that have shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers. The original Broadway production received 12 Tony Award nominations and winning nine of them, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Happy Birthday Daniel Radcliffe! Radcliffe is best known for playing the title role in all eight of the blockbuster Harry Potter films. In 2008, he made his Broadway debut to much acclaim in EQUUS. Radcliffe won BroadwayWorld.com 's 2009 Theatre Fans' Choice Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his role in EQUUS. He returned to Broadway in March 2011 with HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, and was succeeded by Darren Criss, and later Nick Jonas.

Happy Birthday Alan Menken! For Disney, Menken has scored The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas, each of which won him two Academy Awards. He also composed the scores for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Enchanted, and Tangled. Menken has collaborated on several occasions with lyricists includingHoward Ashman,Tim RiceandStephen Schwartz. On Broadway, Menken has composed for The Little Mermaid, Little Shop of Horrors, King David, Beauty and the Beast and, now, Sister Act.

Today in 1976, Guys and Dolls opened at the Broadway Theatre, where it ran for 239 performances. 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 has had several Broadway revivals as well as West End productions.

Today in 2008, Passing Strange closed at the Belasco Theatre, where it ran for 165 performances. Passing Strange is a rock musical about a young African American's artistic journey of self-discovery in Europe, drawing on heavy elements of existentialism, metafictional comedy, and the Kunstlerroman. The musical's lyrics and book are by Stew with music and orchestrations by Heidi Rodewald and Stew. It was created in collaboration with director Annie Dorsen. The musical was developed at the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab in 2004 and 2005, one of the only works there ever to be invited back for a second round of development. It had productions in Berkeley, California and Off-Broadway before opening on Broadway in 2008, garnering strong reviews and several awards. Spike Lee filmed the musical on Broadway as a documentary, premiering the film in 2009.

Today in 2004, Assassins opened at Studio 54, where it ran for 101 performances. Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted (successfully or otherwise) to assassinate Presidents of the United States. The music varies to reflect the popular music of the eras depicted.The musical first opened Off-Broadway in 1990, and the 2004 Broadway production won five Tony Awards.

Today in 2008, [title of show] opened at the Lyceum Theatre, where it ran for 102 performances. [title of show] is a one-act musical, with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and a book by Hunter Bell. The show chronicles its own creation as an entry in the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and follows the struggles of the author and composer/lyricist and their two actress friends during the initial brief (three-week) creative period, along with subsequent events leading up to the show's production. Writer/stars Bowen and Bell, as well as director Michael Berresse all won Obie Awards for their work on the off-Broadway production, and Bell was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.

Happy Birthday Tony Kushner! Kushner's best known work is Angels in America, a seven-hour epic about the AIDS epidemic in Reagan-era New York, which was later adapted into a miniseries for which Kushner wrote the screenplay. His other plays include Hydriotaphia, Slavs!: Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness, A Bright Room Called Day, Homebody/Kabul, and the book for the musical Caroline, or Change. His new translation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children was performed at the Delacorte Theater in the summer of 2006 starring Meryl Streep and directed by George C. Wolfe. Kushner has also adapted Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan, Corneille's The Illusion, and S. Ansky's play The Dybbuk.

Happy Birthday Laura Benanti! Benanti recently starred as Candela in 2010's Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown and in the title role of the Patti LuPone revival of Gypsy in 2008, for which she was honored with the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Drama League nomination. She previously starred in the Encores! production. Broadway: The Sound of Music (Maria, opposite Richard Chamberlain), Swing! (Tony nomination: Best Featured Actress), Into The Woods (Cinderella; Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, LA Ovation and Tony nominations), Nine (Claudia, opposite Antonio Banderas; Outer Critics Circle, Drama Leauge nominations), The Wedding Singer (Julia Sullivan) and much more.

Happy Birthday Arthur Laurents! Laurents' first play, Home of the Brave, opened on Broadway in 1945, followed by many others. He wrote his first musical, West Side Story, in 1957, followed by Gypsy and others. His first screenplay was The Snake Pit in 1948, followed by others including Rope, Anastasia, The Way We Were and The Turning Point. His own play, Invitation to a March in 1960, was the first of several he directed. I Can Get It for You Wholesale in 1961 was the first musical he directed, followed by others including La Cage aux Folles and Gypsy with Angela Lansbury, then Tyne Daly and most recently, Patti LuPone. He pased away in May 2011.

Today in 2011, the return engagement of the second Broadway revival of HAIR opened at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 67 performances. Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. Hair tells the story of the 'tribe', a group of politically active, long-haired hippies of the 'Age of Aquarius' living a bohemian life in New York City and fighting against conscription into the Vietnam War.

Happy Birthday Cheyenne Jackson! Jackson has been featured in Broadway shows including XANADU, FINIAN'S RAINBOW, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, and AIDA. His first Broadway leading role in ALL SHOOK UP earned him a Theatre World Award for 'Outstanding Broadway Debut.' He's been seen in such television shows such as 30 ROCK, GLEE, UGLY BETTY, and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM.

Happy Birthday Yul Brynner! His best-known role remains that of King Mongkut of Siam in the Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical The King and I which he played 4,525 times on stage over the span of his career. He appeared in the original production and later touring productions as well as a 1977 Broadway revival, London Production in 1979 and another Broadway revival in 1985. He also appeared in the film version for which he won an Academy Award as Best Actor and in a short-lived TV version (Anna and the King) on CBS in 1972. Brynner is one of only nine people who have won both a Tony Award and an Academy Award for the same role.

Today in 2007, Xanadu opened at the Helen Hayes Theatre, where it ran for 512 performances. Xanadu is a musical comedy with a book by Douglas Carter Beane and music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, based on the 1980 cult classic film of the same name. The story of the musical focuses on a Greek muse, Clio, who descends from Mt. Olympus to Venice Beach, California, in 1980 on a quest to inspire a struggling artist, Sonny, to achieve the greatest creation of his life - a roller disco. It earned an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Best Book. It was also nominated for Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Book.

Today in 1981, the second Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof opened at the New York State Theatre, where it ran for 53 performances. Featuring music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, the story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his family and Jewish religious traditions while outside influences encroach upon their lives. The original Broadway production of the show, which opened in 1964, had the first musical theatre run in history to surpass 3,000 performances. It spawned four Broadway revivals, a successful 1971 film adaptation, and the show has enjoyed enduring international popularity.