Inspired by Verdi’s classic opera, Aida opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre March 23, 2000. The musical, with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by David Henry Hwang, Linda Woolverton, and Robert Falls, played 30 previews and 1,852 performances before closing on September 5, 2004. The musical garnered five Tony nominations and won four, including Best Actress in a Musical for Heather Headley.

Following a Denver tryout, Disney’s Frozen opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre March 22, 2018. The musical, directed by Michael Grandage with choreography by Rob Ashford, played 26 previews and 822 performances before closing March 11, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The production earned three Tony Award nominations including Best musical.

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Kerry Ellis, who played Grizabella in the London Palladium revival of Cats, will reprise the role of the faded glamour cat when the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical returns to Taipei in June to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

The king will return soon. Disney Theatrical Productions’ The Lion King will reopen in London’s West End this summer. Performances will begin July 29 at the Lyceum Theatre, where it’s played for the past 21 years.

A little Body Heat is being applied to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof these days in the shapely, silk-slipped form of Kathleen Turner, hiking the theatre temperature appreciably. She turned instant star her first time on film — as the tragically literal femme fatale of the 1981’s Body Heat — and she has been circling for a Broadway opening ever since. It actually comes to pass this month when Turner stars, in her glamorous and predatory fashion, as Maggie the Cat, prowling through Tennessee William’s 1955 Pulitzer Prize–winner about Southern-fried avarice and mendacity.

Stage and screen star Matthew Broderick celebrates his birthday March 21.

1867 Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. is born in Chicago, Illinois. He goes on to become one of the most powerful showmen ever. His Follies, filled with beautiful women and exciting variety acts, becomes a 25-year tradition following the first Follies of 1907. He introduces talent such as Fanny Brice, Bert Williams, Ed Wynn, W.C. Fields, Marion Davies, Eddie Cantor, and Will Rogers.

Disney’s Aladdin, which opened March 20, 2014 at the New Amsterdam Theatre, celebrates seven years on Broadway today. Aladdin, directed and choreographed Casey Nicholaw, was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical, with James Monroe Iglehart winning Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as The Genie.

Seeing a show in London’s West End is a special experience for many reasons, but one is the centuries-long history surrounding the dozens of theaters. Where can you learn more about those storied performance halls? Enter Neil Maxfield, owner of The West End Musical Walking Tour. He takes tourists around the famed theatre district discovering fascinating architecture, anecdotes, and historical figures from the 1700’s to today.

Watching a piece of choreography, one sees image after image, animated through movement, brought to life by a performer. But distilling dance to a single picture is an art form all its own. From just a few movements, an audience can immediately discern a story, an emotion, or even identify a choreographer. The flexed jazz hands in Bob Fosse’s work in Chicago, the kick line in Michael Bennett’s work in A Chorus Line, and more all take on a life of their own when isolated from the larger body of work.