Awards

• Winner of Best Book in American Theatre and Drama 2010

Overview

America’s Longest Run: A History of the Walnut Street Theatre traces the history of America’s oldest theater. The Philadelphia landmark has been at or near the center of theatrical activity since it opened, as a circus, on February 2, 1809. This book documents the players and productions that appeared at this venerable house and the challenges the Walnut has faced from economic crises, changing tastes, technological advances, and competition from new media. The Walnut’s history is a classic American success story. Built in the early years of the nineteenth century, the Walnut responded to the ever-changing tastes and desires of the theatergoing public. Originally operated as a stock company, the Walnut has offered up every conceivable form of entertainment—pageantry and spectacle, opera, melodrama, musical theater, and Shakespeare. It escaped the wrecking ball during the Depression by operating as a burlesque house, a combination film and vaudeville house, and a Yiddish theater, before becoming the Philadelphia headquarters for the Federal Theatre Project. Because Philadelphia is located so close to New York City, the Walnut has served as a tryout house for many Broadway-bound shows, including A Streetcar Named Desire, The Diary of Anne Frank, and A Raisin in the Sun. Today, the Walnut operates as a nonprofit performing arts center. It is one of the most successful producing theaters in the country, with more than 350,000 attending performances each year.

Full Product Details

Author:   Andrew Davis
Publisher:   Pennsylvania State University Press
Imprint:   Pennsylvania State University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   0.767kg
ISBN:  

9780271030531

ISBN 10:   0271030534
Pages:   424
Publication Date:   15 June 2014
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

Contents List of Illustrations Prologue: America’s Oldest Theatre 1 The Beginnings of Theatre in Philadelphia, 1682–1809 2 Circus and Spectacle at the Walnut Street Theatre, 1809–1820 3 The Era of the English Star, 1820–1829 4 The Walnut in the Age of Jackson, 1829–1840 5 The Marshall Era, 1840–1849 6 Respectability, 1849–1860 7 The Civil War Years, 1860–1867 8 The Last Years of Stock, 1867–1879 9 A Combination House, 1879–1895 10 The Syndicate Years, 1896–1920 11 Boom and Bust, 1920–1940 12 A Tryout House, 1941–1954 13 The Shuberts in Decline, 1954–1969 14 Performing Arts Center, 1969–1982 15 A Subscription House, 1982–1999 16 The State Theatre of Pennsylvania, 2000 and Beyond Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

Davis describes the remarkable growth and development of the Walnut over the past several decades. This narrative is among the book's most useful contributions to the institution's history. Another important feature of Davis's chronicle may be found in the way that it documents the central role of the nondramatic in the various activities that took place in and around nineteenth-century American playhouses. America's Longest Run provides a rare opportunity to survey the development of an important American institution that has borne witness to much of the nation's history. Davis's work will be a welcome addition to the library of anyone interested in the history of Philadelphia or the American theatre. -Aaron Tobiason, Pennsylvania History The book is beautifully produced with a lush, velvet cover that sits as comfortably in one's hands as, no doubt, patrons sit in the theatre's lush seats. Readers throughout the country will enjoy this book; although it is a case study of only one significant theatre, it is a comprehensive, fascinating introduction to American culture and society as depicted through the history of its entertainments. -Marti LoMonaco, Broadside

Davis describes the remarkable growth and development of the Walnut over the past several decades. This narrative is among the book s most useful contributions to the institution s history. Another important feature of Davis s chronicle may be found in the way that it documents the central role of the nondramatic in the various activities that took place in and around nineteenth-century American playhouses. America s Longest Run provides a rare opportunity to survey the development of an important American institution that has borne witness to much of the nation s history. Davis s work will be a welcome addition to the library of anyone interested in the history of Philadelphia or the American theatre. Aaron Tobiason, Pennsylvania History

Author Information

Andrew Davis is a specialist in the American popular theatre. He holds a PhD in Performance Studies from New York University and teaches at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.

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