Longest Show

#1

Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 7:11pm

I know the longest running musical review was the Fantasticks and the longest broadway show was CATS... But what was the longest running show in TIME, hours, minutes? Les Miserables is a pretty long show, but is it the longest?

Updated On: 1/21/05 at 07:11 PM

#2

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 7:56pm

Just a guess. Candide? This would be the full thing.

#3

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 7:59pm

The longest show I've ever seen was Whistle Down the Wind on West End: 3 hours 20 minutes
The twenty minutes were so they could stop the show in the middle of the 2nd Act to fix the "FreeWay" set

#4

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 8:00pm

how about Nicholas Nickby? I heard it ran 3 days .

#5

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 8:44pm

Magruder or Margo,I'm sure could tell us positively,but I think Nicholas Nickleby was to be viewed on 2 consecutive days,each one consisting of an early starting time & over 3 hours in length.

#6

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 9:32pm

Nicholas Nickby... What's it about? MARGO HELP!! Please... I doubt she'll see this page... It's going to get lower and lower on the board post, as with every other post. But, I hope someone sees it with the answers. Thanks so much for all your help so far! I was just wondering!

#7

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 9:35pm

It is directed by Trevor Nunn and John Carid from Dickons's Novel.
First produced in London and later transfered to NY.

That is all I remembered. For the detail you should ask our experts. I believe in NY times theatre section you can find the review. It is one of the best works of Trevor Nunn.

Updated On: 1/21/05 at 09:35 PM

#8

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 9:37pm

Fiddler has actually gotten to be 3 hrs,,,

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#9

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 10:02pm

In 1981 "Nicholas Nickleby" opened at the Plymouth Theater and was 8-1/2 hours in length. Back then it was thought that the price of $100 was much too high and that people would not go and see it. The entire run was sold out, with scalpers commanding $170 a ticket. Wow, I wonder what it would cost today?

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"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"

#10

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 10:44pm

Nic Nic could be viewed all in one day, with Part One at the matinee and Part Two in the evening, or on two different evenings. The one day performances were an unforgettable experience, although I remember at the time that the ushers were forever confiscating food from audience members who seemed to think they would die of starvation without a hefty picnic hamper to graze on throughout the show!
TORCH SONG TRILOGY clocked in at over 3 1/2 hours, but Peter Brook's MAHABARATA (did it play NY?) was a true marathon, often performed from 8pm until sunrise the following morning!

#11

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 10:49pm

Nope. Got it all beat. Saw Mary Poppins in London a few weeks ago. Show started at 7:30. (was supposed to en at 10:20). In the beginning of Act II, they had a set problem with the house. So after about 30 minutes, Cameron Mackintosh himself came onstage to say they will try and figure out how to do the rest w/o the house. Well, after another 30 minutes, they fixed it and the show started again from where it left off. Ended at approximately 11:25 - 3 hours and 55 minutes. Yes, I got a refund.

#12

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 10:53pm

Wasn't there a LONG Eugene O'Neill recently? Strange Interlude, perhaps?

#13

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 11:19pm

Strange Interlude's got 9 acts. it could well be from the IMDB

The play opened on Broadway, New York City, New York, USA on 30 January 1928 and had 426 performances. The leads were played by Lynn Fontanne and Glenn Anders, and the supporting cast included Helen Westley and Tom Powers. Because there were 9 acts, the play began in the afternoon and concluded in the evening after an intermission to allow eating dinner. There were two Broadway revivals.

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#14

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 11:52pm

How long IS Candide. Without the cuts?

#15

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/21/05 at 11:55pm

I Know there are longer plays, as we have all mentioned before, but the longest play that I've actually sat through was "The Ice Man Commeth" with Jason Robards. I did not feel the time at all; it was a great evening of theatre. I did the entire "Angels In America" in one day but that was with a break for dinner seeing Millennium Approaches at the matinee and Perestroika in the evening.

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"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"

#16

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/22/05 at 12:24am

Wagner's Ring Cycle.

#17

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/22/05 at 12:31am

I have not seen Long Days Journey - PAB how is that?

#18

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/22/05 at 1:32am

The Fantastiks was not a revue, it was an off-Broadway musical.

I believe that Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" clocks in around 4 hours.

Nicholas Nickelby was intended to be seen in two parts. You can rent/buy the version that was shown on PBS which was filmed in front of a live audience.

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#19

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/22/05 at 1:35am

I believe that Wildcat is correct, and THE MAHABARATA holds the Guiness record for longest play (although not in its rather truncated Peter Brook version). I think that in its original state, its running time is nearly a week. (Apparently Indians have a much better attention span than we do.)

Other long plays not yet mentioned would include THE KENTUCKY CYCLE (6 hours) and THE CIDER HOUSE RULES (7 hours), although like NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, they were both performed in two parts.

Updated On: 1/22/05 at 01:35 AM

#20

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/22/05 at 8:48am

"I have not seen Long Days Journey - PAB how is that?"

It's a brilliant play! I've not seen a Broadway production of it however.

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"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"

#21

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/22/05 at 9:23am

There was a revival of Long Day's Journey with Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey and Peter Gallagher that was taped for HBO. They managed to trim about 40 minutes off the usual 3 hour and 20 minute running time without cutting a single word of dialogue. They just talked very fast and actually overlapped each other's lines! The director's concept was that this family, who argued a lot, would not actually wait for someone to finish talking before answering them.

#22

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/22/05 at 9:39am

There is also Michael Blakemore's 1973 production of "Long Day's Journey Into Night "with Laurence Olivier and Constance Cummings which was recorded for television.

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"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"

#23

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/22/05 at 10:35am

Wayne State University's Graduate Reperatory Company performed "The Kentucky Cycle" by Robert Schenkkan last year. The play spans 2 centuries 1775-1975

I believe the play ran 7 hours long.

I think there were about nine acts or so.

The show could be viewed in one day, with a dinner break, or on two consecutive days.

#24

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/22/05 at 10:53am

Wildcat's comment about picnic hampers reminds me that I saw the Chinese Opera "The Peony Pavillion" at Lincoln Center in 2001 (?). 55 Acts, 20 hours. Not Broadway, of course. In the spirit of the "authentic" Chinese Opera experience, food was sold in the lobby to be consumed while you watched.

(I didn't stay for the whole 20 hours)

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"They have never understood, and no reason that they should. But if anybody could . . . " --SS

Updated On: 1/22/05 at 10:53 AM

#25

re: Longest Show

Posted: 1/22/05 at 11:13am

hoho, you are lucky.
Even in China, they did not play the whole production a long long time ago. Only some parts.
I did not watch this Lincoln production. But some fan of this show told me that it was adapted in a cheesy way which she did not like at all.