While there are many original plays and musicals each year on Broadway, there are also several that have either been playing for years or have been revived by production companies. The Lion King and Wicked have been running since November 1997 and October 2003, respectively, while popular musicals like Company and Sweeney Todd have already been revived multiple times in the 21st century. The 1996 revival of Chicago, meanwhile, is the second-longest running show in Broadway history with more than 11,470 performances since its November 1996 opening.
Excluding the early years of Broadway when bootleg productions were common due to a lack of copyright laws, here are the five productions with the most revivals.
Porgy and Bess
Since its premiere in 1935, George and Ira Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess has been revived seven times at Broadway venues, with its most recent revival occurring in 2012. The Gershwins were primarily known for musical comedies like Let ‘Em Eat Cake (1933) and Strike up the Band (1930) before adapting DuBose Heyward’s novel and stage play about a disabled Black man experiencing homelessness into a folk opera. The musical follows Porgy, who lives on the streets in the fictional South Carolina slum Catfish Row, and his efforts to rescue Bess from her troubled lifestyle.
The original production ran for 124 performances at the Alvin Theatre. The first revival, a significantly shorter version, debuted seven years later in New Jersey before transferring to Broadway. This production had additional brief runs in 1943 and 1944. Subsequent revivals were staged in 1953, 1976, 1983, and 2012. The 1976 revival was significant because it was the first major Broadway production produced by an opera company (Houston Grand Opera) and included the restoration of the complete original score. It won the Tony Award for Most Innovative Production of a Revival.
The 2012 revival, starring Norm Lewis and Audra McDonald in the title roles, won the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical. McDonald, meanwhile, won the Tony for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. It ran for 293 performances at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera had several iterations before it debuted on Broadway in 1933. Originally opening in Germany in 1928 under the title Die Dreigroschenoper, it was made into a film in the US in 1931 and was translated into 18 languages within five years. The 1933 Broadway premiere, however, lasted just 12 performances. It took on new life in 1954, when composer and lyricist Marc Blitzstein adapted the Kurt Weill musical. Blitzstein’s adaptation premiered Off-Broadway with an all-star cast including Bea Arthur and Ed Asner and moved to Broadway a few months later. It opened again on Broadway the following year and enjoyed a six-year run, bringing Blitzstein’s translations of songs “Pirate Jenny” and “The Ballad of Mack the Knife” into the mainstream.
Ralph Manheim and John Willett adapted the show more than a decade later for the outdoor Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, while additional revivals were staged in 1976, 1989, and 2006. The last revival was staged at Studio 54 and had a cast that included Alan Cumming, Cyndi Lauper, and Ana Gasteyer.
Show Boat
Considered by many theater historians as one of the first modern Broadway musicals, Show Boat, with music by Jerome Kern and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, premiered in 1927 at the Ziegfeld Theatre. The original production was incredibly popular, running for more than 570 performances before closing in May 1929. The majority of the original Broadway cast returned for its 1932 revival. A third revival was staged in 1946, while the fourth and fifth revivals had brief runs in 1948 and 1954.
Similar to Porgy and Bess, the Houston Grand Opera produced an operatic revival aligned more with the original musical in 1983. Hal Prince, who holds the record for most Tony Awards, revived Show Boat in 1994. This production ran for 947 performances and won six Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical.
West Side Story
Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s West Side Story has been revived five times since its 1957 premiere at the Winter Garden Theatre. An updated version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set in 1950s New York City, the original production ran for 732 performances and won the Tony Awards for Best Choreography and Scenic Design. This production had a return engagement in 1960 at the Winter Garden Theatre, while subsequent revivals were staged in 1964, 1980, 2009, and 2020.
The 2020 production, however, was a casualty of the pandemic-related Broadway closure. It opened February 20, 2020, at the Broadway Theatre and lasted just 24 performances before the shutdown.
Others with Five Revivals
Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945), Guys and Dolls (1950), Peter Pan (1954), and Fiddler on the Roof (1964) have also had five Broadway revivals. The 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls is the most successful of these productions, running for 1,143 performances and winning four Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical.