Musical Theatre

An article by Jennifer Tepper on the (now basically forgotten) show Blossom Time, which had to separate productions running simultaneously on Broadway in 1923.

The story is pretty interesting - the producers (The Shuberts, whose family now owns many Broadway theatres) apparently wanted to take the show to London and set two different touring casts against each other to see who would make the trip overseas, by having them play in two different Broadway theatres at the same time. It gets weirder: if you bought a ticket to the show you could use it at either theatre! And you then filled in a survey asking you what you thought of the cast. It's like an early 20th century version of a reality TV competition, but on Broadway!

While this situation hasn't recurred on Broadway for a hundred years I will take the opportunity to point out again that in October 2010 London hosted not two, but three, different productions of Les Miz at the same time: the original production at the Queens (now Sondheim) Theatre, the new UK tour production, which ended its run at the Barbican Centre, and the 25th anniversary concert at the O2 Arena.

Though details haven't yet been announced, October 2025 will undoubtedly also see both the current production at the Sondheim and the forthcoming arena tour playing in London at the same time for the 40th anniversary celebrations.