Most Successful Of All Time

[Mantber]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 12:51am

In your own opinion, who do YOU think is the most successful female and male broadway star of all time?

[philcrosby]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 11:02am

FEMALE: (Tie) Ethel Merman and Mary Martin
MALE: (tie) Alfred Drake and Robert Preston

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 11:10am

Idina Menzel and Norbert Leo Butz

[jasonf]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 11:17am

I guess it depends on what you mean by successful - do you mean expanding their careers past Broadway? most successful runs in shows? Most fame? Best reviews?

Female: Audra Macdonald or Bernadette Peters
Male: Alfred Drake or Mandy Patinkin

[timote316]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 11:18am

Geek, you are kidding, right?

Are we referring to successful in their career on Broadway? Or, people that were hugely successful on Broadway, but acheived their fame primarily in other mediums?

If the latter, the female is Julie Andrews. No males are instantly popping into my head... Jerry Orbach?

[tz0o]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:02pm

Female: Ethel Merman
No males are popping into my head. . .

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:06pm

Ethel Merman

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:11pm

Idina Menzel and Norbert Leo Butz? LOL!

How about Ethel Merman, Barbra Streisand, Julie Andrews, Tammy Grimes, Angela Lansbury, Chita Rivera, Carol Channing, Bernadette Peters, Robert Preston, Rex Harrison?

Updated On: 4/22/06 at 01:11 PM

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:12pm

How about Carol Channing? I mean she is most famous for being a Broadway star but still has a household name, an accomplishment not many other Broadway stars can claim.

Updated On: 4/22/06 at 01:12 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:12pm

I would say Gwen Verdon was far more successful than Chita, and I love Chita.

Gwen has 4 Tonys. Considered the best female Broadway dancer of all time. And was the first Broadway star to be associated with the term "triple threat."


And all that info comes out of Broadway history books.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:20pm

For female, I'd definitely say Angela Lansbury. Huge star on Broadway (with 4 Tonys out of 4 nominations), but also a big name in movies and television as well.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:23pm

How about Barbara Streisand?

She's Hollywood and Broadway.

And even had a full South Park episode dedicated to her destruction.

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:27pm

There is no doubt that someone like Barbara and Angela are huge stars, but wouldnt they be more famous for television (Lansbury) and singing (Streisand) than being Broadway stars?

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:33pm

Barbra was a star on Broadway before she was a singing star. I think her first hit song was "People" from "Funny Girl". She went on to be a huge recording and film star (#1 female box office star back in the day). Angela was a film actress but became a big star on Broadway with "Mame" and then "Gypsy". I agree that most people these days know her from TV but I think she is still a Broadway legend. As for that TV show, I often wondered why her friends and relatives didn't leave town the moment she arrived. Didn't they get the word that they would soon be charged with a murder?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:33pm

Mecha Streisand. Funny episode.

I'd say:

FEMALE: Ethel Merman, Carole Channing, Mary Martin.
MALE: Alfred Drake, Rex Harrison, Yul Brenner, Robert Preston

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:34pm

Then I don't get the question?

Is it people who became famous on Broadway....or people who starte don Broadway and then became famous all-around?

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 2:03pm

Yeah, how I am interperating it is people who are most famous for Broadway. Even though Angela is a Broadway lengend, she is more famous for her show than Broadway, which to me wouldnt make her the most sucessful female Broadway star.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 2:06pm

Male: Ben Vereen
Female: Julie Andrews

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 2:15pm

"Even though Angela is a Broadway lengend, she is more famous for her show than Broadway"

That may be true for the masses who don't know anything about history, but would she have gotten the TV show if she had not been famous on Broadway first? She was very famous at the time for being on Broadway. Although she had been in many films, "Gaslight", "Manchurian Candidate", Elvis' mother in "Blue Hawaii" to name a few, she was not a big star until she made it on Broadway.

[neomystyk29]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 2:33pm

Audra McDonald
Ethel Merman
Chita Rivera
Barbara Streisand
Julie Andrews

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 5:05pm

Just a friendly note to say it's Barbra, not Barbara. :)

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 5:10pm

"Geek, you are kidding, right?"

Of course I am!

Now to be serious . . .

Female: Bernadette Peters
Male: Ben Vereen / Joel Grey

[AdamBritten]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 5:13pm

I know shes not one of the most successful now - but I see it coming...

Ashley Brown

Look at her career thus far - and it is highly rumored that she will open as Mary Poppins

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 8:11pm

Of those whose careers who were pretty much solely stage-based and limited in terms of tv and film -- unlike Streisand, Andrews, Lansbury -- then Merman has no real competition. She starred in ten Broadway hits (including landmarks like Anything Goes, Annie Get Yor Gun, Call Me Madam and Gypsy). While others performed in more shows, no one else was THE name-above-title star or so many financially (and criticially) successful hits (even Mary Martin only starred in 5 hits).

For men you might mention George M. Cohan, although the Broadway that he dominated was a very different world than what it became just a couple of decades later. He starred, wrote, composed, directed and produced dozens of successful shows (back when a show could turn a profit running only a month or so -- this was before the days of Equity and unions and minimum salaries, so it was much much easier).

And, frankly, Nathan Lane has to be in the conversation as well. He's been in 13 Broadway shows (and he's just 50), starring in the last 8 -- 6 of which were hits (The Frogs and the Man Who Came To Dinner were not-for-profit). Before he's done he may be the most successful Broadway star in modern theatre history.

Not counting shows in which they were replacements or times when they did a return engagement in a role they'd already played, Verdon starred in 5 hits, Rivera in 3, Kiley in 5 (including plays), Orbach in 4 (plus the Fanasticks Off-Broadway), Drake in 3, Andrews in 3, Grey in 2, Vereen in 2, Preston in 2, Harrison in 3 (including 2 hit plays), Streisand in 2, Lansbury in 2 (including 1 play -- Mame and Taste of Honey), Grimes in 2 (including one play), Patinkin in 2 (Evita and I think the play Shadow Box turned a profit). Audra McDonald has never starred in a hit show (though she was featured in Raisin in the Sun and Master Class that both turned a profit).

Bernadette Peters has done 15 shows in the past 47 years (yes, 47 years -- her debut was 1959), but I believe only 3 (maybe 4) of them turned a profit.

If you're not talking about the sheer number of hit shows, then obviously people like Carol Channing, Richard Kiley, Yul Brynner etc.... who did thousands of performances of a single hit could be factored in.

I didn't go through the non-musical stars like Helen Hayes, Katherine Cornell, Julie Harris etc.... who starred in dozens of plays through the years (it's hard to know which plays of theirs were successful and which ones weren't since plays don't have to run as long to turn a profit).

Updated On: 4/22/06 at 08:11 PM

[musicman89]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 8:25pm

Margo, your knowledge is astounding!