by the famous Bob Fosse, creator ofChicago(pr.
1975), whose concept musicalBig Dealopened in
1986.
Another such artist was Tommy Tune, who
achieved top rank as a director-choreographer with
Nine(pr. 1982) and followed with the hitGrand Hotel
(pr. 1989). Not known as a choreographer but as a
frontline director of musical theater was Hal Prince.
Prince became well known with his work on con-
cept musicals he produced in the 1970’s with the
composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim.Sweeney Todd,
perhaps their best-known work, starring Angela
Lansbury, opened in 1979 and ran throughout the
1980’s. Their last joint production wasMerrily We Roll
Along(pr. 1981). In the 1980’s, Prince devoted him-
self to importing and staging English musicals such
as Andrew Lloyd Webber’sThe Phantom of the Opera
(pr. 1986).
Indeed, it was the English import that came to
dominate the American musical theater scene in the
late 1980’s. In addition toThe Phantom of the Opera,
which became the longest-running musical in Broad-
way history, was Lloyd Webber’sCats, inspired by
T. S. Eliot’sOld Possum’s Book of Practical Cats(1939),
which opened in the United States in 1982 and be-
came the second-longest-running musical in Broad-
way history.
New and Established Theater Artists David Mamet,
who continues to be an important dramatist in the
early twenty-first century, was introduced in the
1980’s. Mamet’s powerful work on the lack of ethics
of some businessmen,Glengarr y Glen Ross, won the
1984 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He followed in 1988
withSpeed-the-Plow. Mamet was joined by emerging
playwrights Langford Wilson and A. R. Gurney.
Gurney contributed five plays during the 1980’s, his
two most successful beingThe Dining Room(pr. 1981)
andLove Letters(pr. 1988). Wilson opened the 1980’s
with the Pulitzer Prize for Drama forTalley’s Folly(pr.
1979).In addition toAngel’s Fall(pr. 1983) andBurn
This, hisHot L Baltimore(pr. 1973) ran throughout
the decade.
Sam Shepard, Edward Albee, and Neil Simon
were a trio of established playwrights who found suc-
cess in the 1980’s. Shepard had two important 1980’s
plays,True West(pr. 1980) andA Lie of the Mind(pr.
1985). Albee contributedMarriage Play(pr. 1987),
and Simon had successes withThey’re Playing Our
Song(pr. 1979),Brighton Beach Memoirs(pr. 1983),
Biloxi Blues(pr. 1985), andBroadway Bound (pr.
1986). In speaking of established playwrights, it
should be noted that one of the twentieth century’s
most prominent American dramatists, Tennessee
Williams, died in 1983.
The number of talented new actors on Broadway
in the 1980’s was impressive. They included Kevin
Kline, Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Glenn
Close, Stockard Channing, and Swoosie Kurtz, many
of whom went on to distinguished film careers.
Joining these stars were three impressive talents
who returned from filmmaking to grace Broadway
productions: Meryl Streep, Kathleen Turner, and
Dustin Hoffman. In addition to performers, there
emerged new designers to join the ranks of estab-
lished artists. Freddy Wittop, famed for his costume
designs forHello, Dolly!(pr. 1964), made his last con-
tribution to Broadway in 1986’sThe Three Musketeers.
His reins were taken up by William Ivey Long, who
received the 1982 Tony Award for his costume de-
signs forNine. Long was joined by scene designer
John Lee Beatty, who, by the mid-1980’s, had designs
for six shows running simultaneously. Broadway de-
signers were not all men, however. Scenery and cos-
tume designer Heidi Landesman contributed de-
signs for four Broadway productions.Alternative Theater In addition to professional
productions in New York City and across the United
States, interesting forms of alternative theater ma-
tured during the 1980’s. The best-known director
creating alternative theater is Robert Wilson, who
mixes various forms of media and live theater. In
1985, he moved his workCIVIL warSfrom Europe to
the United States. Wilson’s works do not have plots,
and they take place in slow-motion so that the sense
of time is altered and the audience is assaulted with
nonstop images and sound effects. Another aspect
of alternative theater involves performers who spend
an entire evening presenting autobiographical in-
formation. Such artists include Laurie Anderson,
Spalding Gray, Lily Tomlin, and Whoopi Goldberg.
Some performance artists went beyond autobiogra-
phy and included the audience in their work. This
technique might range from chatting to traditional
song and dance to dangerous activity such as cutting
the artist with a knife or sticking him or her with
pins. An important alternative theater, the Mabou
Mimes, presentedDead End Kids: A Histor y of Nuclear
Powerin 1980. The production intermixes text, such964 Theater The Eighties in America