The Longest Running Plays on Broadway

It wouldn’t seem like Broadway and Hollywood have all that much to do with each other on the surface of things, but of course there have been ties for decades. Plays and musicals turned into movies and vice versa, and then there are the actors and actresses who star in both film and on the stage.

The last really long running play on Broadway

On the one hand it can be argued that big name Hollywood stars help Broadway by attracting attention and ticket buyers. On the other hand, you just won’t see really long running popular plays any more. We aren’t talking about musicals, whose existence is on an entirely different plane, but dramatic and comedic plays.

Mark Shenton of The Stage writes:

“One of the biggest changes to the commercial theatrical landscape – on both sides of the Atlantic – over the past decade or so is that sightings of big star names turning out to do plays has gone up; but the runs they are prepared to commit to has gone down. Time was that a producer would require a minimum commitment from his star of six months, and perhaps a year; now, the 13-week run is the norm.

This has partly been fuelled by the studio theatre culture: if big stars, from Nicole Kidman and Gywneth Paltrow to Jude Law, Rachel Weisz and Ewan McGregor, crave a return to the stage, they can give themselves a fix at a place like the Donmar or Almeida, but without interrupting their movie careers for too long.”

No play on Broadway has had the kind of long running success that musicals have attained — after all, The Phantom of the Opera has been running since 1988 — but many plays had runs of over 1,000 performances back in the day. In some cases, way, way back in the day. The following is a list of the longest running plays on Broadway, the years they ran and the number of performances (data from Wikipedia).

Life with Father | 1939-1947 | 3,224
Tobacco Road | 1933-1941 | 3,182
Abie’s Irish Rose | 1922-1927 | 2,327
Gemini | 1977-1981 | 1,819
Deathtrap | 1978-1982 | 1,793
Harvey | 1944-1949 | 1,775
Born Yesterday | 1946-1949 | 1,642
Mary, Mary | 1961-1964 | 1,572
The Voice of the Turtle | 1943-1948 | 1,557
Barefoot in the Park | 1963-1967 | 1,530
Same Time, Next Year | 1975-1978 | 1,543
Arsenic and Old Lace | 1941-1944 | 1,444
Brighton Beach Memoirs | 1983-1986 | 1,299
Angel Street | 1941-1944 | | 1,295
Lightnin’ | 1918-1921 1,291
Cactus Flower | 1965-1968 | 1,234
Sleuth | 1970-1973 | 1,222
Torch Song Trilogy | 1982-1985 | 1,222
Equus | 1974-1977 | 1,209
Amadeus | 1980-1983 | 1,181
Mister Roberts | 1948-1951 | 1,157
The Seven Year Itch | 1952-1955 | 1,141
Butterflies Are Free | 1969-1972 | 1,128
Plaza Suite | 1968-1970 | 1,097
The Teahouse of the August Moon | 1953-1956 | 1,027

FTC Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above might be “affiliate links," meaning if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. We may have also received a free copy of the book, CD or DVD or product that's being reviewed. Finally, promoters may have have given the writer free admission to the play, concert or other event that was previewed or reviewed (duh!).

Categories: National Theater