Les Miz/Phantom hands down. I saw them first when I was 15, now I'm 30 and Phantom is still going and Les Miz just stopped. I don't think Non-Equity can count as the same tour as they make changes to them (i.e. Hairspray).
The character names given to tours are official, but aren't used in marketing. People buying tickets at subscripton houses want to think that they are seeing "Phantom", not the Music Box company of Phantom. There was an "Engineer" company of MIss Saigon out for years and the two North American Lion King tours currently out are called the "Gazelle" and "Cheetah" companies.
Miss Saigon had two national tours. I thought they'd make a third, but never did.
What about the fourth national tour of Cats? I heard that was one of the longest running tours ever.
And yeah, Les Miserables' 3rd national tour ran forever. I first saw it back in 1992, and last saw it right before it closed last year.
The 1st national tour of Les Mis lasted only a few years and played major cities such as Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Detroit.
The 2nd national tour only played Los Angeles and San Francisco. It premiered at L.A.'s Shubert Theatre and remained for 14 months, then moved on to San Francisco's Curran where it had a slightly longer run.
Wasn't the 3NT of Miss Saigon the non-Equity tour?
You're right, there was a non-equity Miss Saigon tour out a few years ago, but I don't think it's considered an official 3rd national tour since it was produced independantly, not associated with Cammack. But I could be wrong.
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/05
It wasn't part of CamMac, however, I do believe he gave it some sort of approval (but I may be confusing it with the similar UK tour).
Understudy Joined: 7/26/07
...and i stand corrected.
I guess it seems like there have been so many seperate tours of Hairspray that the years are squashed together.
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