Boston's Colonial Theatre to Shut Down This Year; Looking Back on Five Shows That Started at the Historic Space

Boston’s historic Colonial Theatre, a staple of the city's theater district since 1900, will shut down for at least one year, the Boston Globe reports. Following an engagement by the national tour of The Book of Mormon this October, the theater, owned by Emerson College, will remain empty as the school weighs its options for the space. Though a spokesperson for the college has insisted that the stage will be preserved, whether it will continue to operate as a theater after the year is up is unclear.

The Colonial Theatre is one of the oldest theaters in the city, and while it has primarily been used in recent years to house touring productions, the venue was once a prime house for Broadway-bound shows to test the waters before transferring to New York. Here are just a few musicals that got their start at the Colonial Theatre.


Anything Goes (1935)
Despite becoming the exemplary golden age Broadway musical, Anything Goes was a rush job. The original book by P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton was scrapped, and Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse were brought on. They rewrote the show as the cast rehearsed it, and according to Brian Kellow in his Ethel Merman biography Ethel Merman: A Life, they had the scenic designer create ambiguous sets because they had no idea where their script would take them. Legend has it that Crouse stood in front of the Colonial on opening night, begging patrons not to go in to witness what had been hastily thrown together. Crowds went in anyway and loved it, and though times have changed, it’s still a hit.


Carousel (1945)
It’s only fitting that Carousel would play New England before Broadway. Where else would you have a really nice clambake? The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical first played New Haven, Connecticut before a three-week stint in Beantown in 1945. Out-of-town audiences were treated to an even lengthier Act II ballet (which had to be condensed to 40 minutes before being cut further). Before the celestial figure known as the Starkeeper was created, Hammerstein had a "Mr. and Mrs. God," depicted as a New England minister and his wife, greet Billy Bigelow in the afterlife. They didn't last for long.


A Little Night Music (1973)
Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s romantic tuner played 23 performances at the Colonial before waltzing over to Broadway’s Shubert Theatre. Moments that didn’t make it to New York include “Silly People” for Frid and Carl-Magnus’ “Bang!,” which was later replaced with “In Praise of Women.” Petra’s big song, “The Miller’s Son,” was added midway through the Boston run, which caused the creative team to replace Garn Stephens with D. Jamin Bartlett, who they believed was better suited for the number.


La Cage Aux Folles (1983)
More than 20 years before Massachuetts became the first state to recognize same-sex marriages, Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein’s musical about acceptance and being what you are premiered in Boston. Though the creators and producers initially feared that the city may have been to conservative to be receptive to a show about a gay couple—one a drag performer—that qualm was quickly subdued. Herman has stated that he realized the universality of the show in Boston, when he noticed a man and woman joining hands and comforting each other during the number “Song in the Sand.”


Seussical (2000)
One of the more recent shows to work out its kinks at the Colonial Theatre was Seussical, the imaginative musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. The tuner did not receive the glowing reviews it expected in Beantown, resulting in a series of tweaks and revisions (including a new director and costume designer) before transferring to the Richard Rodgers Theatre on the Great White Way. Despite lasting only six months on Broadway after its tumultuous journey, the musical has gone on to find success in local markets through national tours, regional and community stagings.