Broadway’s greatest year was 1964: ‘Funny Girl,’ ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and ‘Hello, Dolly!’ opened

Film historians, critics and cineastes have heralded 1939 as the greatest year for Hollywood films. It was the year that saw the release of such classics as “Gone with the Wind,” “Stagecoach,” “Love Affair,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Young Mr. Lincoln” and “Wuthering Heights.” That’s just the tip of the iceberg

But what about Broadway? A case can be made for 1964, which saw the debuts of three musicals that became classics: “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Funny Girl” and “Hello, Dolly!”

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Broadway was changing in the 1960s. Oscar Hammerstein II died in 1960; Irving Berlin’s last show was the disappointing 1962 “Mr. President”; and Cole Porter, who died in 1964, hadn’t had a musical on Broadway since the 1950s.  Sixty years ago, a group of young talented composers and lyricists were the toast of the Great White Way.

Like Jerry Herman. He was all of 30 when “Milk and Honey” debuted on Broadway in 1961 running over 543 performances and earning five Tony Award nominations. But it was his next musical that made Herman a Broadway superstar and one of its most successful composers.

On Jan. 16, 1964, Herman’s “Hello, Dolly!’ opened on Broadway with Carol Channing as matchmaker Dolly Levi (Ethel Merman and several other Broadway divas had turned down the rol) as well as David Burns, Charles Nelson Reilly and Eileen Brennan. Featuring a book by Michael Stewart based on Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker,”  the production was directed and choreographed with vim, vigor and panache by Gower Champion and produced by the flamboyant showman David Merrick, “Hello, Dolly” featured the toe-taping title tune, as well as “Put on Your Sunday Clothes,” “Before the Parade Passes By” and “It Only Takes a Moment.”

The New York Times wrote that “Hello, Dolly!”  had “qualities of freshness and imagination that are rare in the run of our machine-made musicals. It transmutes the broadly stylized mood of a mettlesome farce into the gusto and colors of the musical stage. ‘Hello, Dolly” is the best.” And it was the best at the Tony Awards that year earning 10 trophies including best musical, best composer and lyricist, best actress and direction and choreography.

After Channing left the series, the musical continued with Pearl Bailey, Phyllis, Diller, Betty Grable, Ethel Merman, Martha Raye and Ginger Rogers. The the original production ran 2,844 performances closing Dec. 27, 1970. Channing would return to Broadway as Dolly in two revivals. And Bette Midler brought new life to the musical in the 2017 revival that received four Tonys including best revival and actress for Midler.

On March 26, a star was born: Barbra Streisand opened in “Funny Girl.” The Bob Merrill–Jule Style–Isobel Lennart musical based on “incidents” in the life of Fanny Brice also starred Sydney Chaplin as Nicky Arnstein. Despite such now-standards as “People” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” the New York Times was decidedly mixed on the musical but not its star.

“Who wouldn’t want to resurrect Fanny Brice? She was a wonderful entertainer. Since Fanny herself cannot be brought back, the next big thing is to get Barbra Streisand to sing and strut and go through comic routines a la Brice. Miss Streisand is well on her way to becoming a splendid entertainer in her own right, and in ‘Funny Girl’ she goes as far as any performer can toward recalling the laughter and joy that were Fanny Brice.”

The musical, which ran for 1348 performances, and received eight Tony nominations including best musical and best actress. Channing edged out the 22-year-old Streisand for the Tony. Ironically, after Streisand won an Oscar for her debut in the 1968 movie version of “Funny Girl,” she headlined the 1969 film adaptation of “Dolly!”

Streisand never did another Broadway show after “Funny Girl” and because Barbra is so identified with the role, it would 58 years before a revival opened on Broadway. Beanie Feldstein, the original actress playing Fanny, didn’t warm the hearts of critics or audience and left the production after four months. The show became a success when Lea Michele became Fanny in September 2022 with Julie Benko performing on Thursday evenings. The revival ran 569 performances and is currently on tour.

Arriving at Sept 22, 1964 at the Imperial Theatre was the glorious “Fiddler on the Roof.”  Based on “Tevye and His Daughters” and other stories by Sholem Aleichem, the Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick tuner featured such songs as “If I Were Rich Man,” “L’Chaim,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” “Sunrise, Sunset” and “Tradition.” Zero Mostel won a Tony for lead actor in a musical. It won eight more Tonys including best musical and direction and choreography for Jerome Robbins. The original production ran 3,242 performances and was still running when the 1971 film version with Topol as Tevye was released. Mostel returned in the 1976-77 Broadway revival which ran for 167 performances. Mostel died four months after it closed on Broadway at the age of 62. There have been numerous revivals over the years, the latest was the acclaimed off-Broadway Yiddish version directed by Joel Grey which has had three productions, the latest closing Jan 1, 2023.

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