Longest Running Plays in London and New York

• Long Running Plays in Londons West End
• Long Running Plays in New York

The 'long run' as a measure of a plays success is a comparatively modern development. In the early years of British theatre plays were performed by itinerant companies of players roaming the country and performing in whatever accomodations were available. They remained in one place only as long as the local populace tolerated them and there were still a few coppers to be made.

Even after the first permanent theatres were built in London these would by necessity change their productions on a regular basis. After all, although the capital was densely populated public transport was virtually unknown and so the 'catchment areas' of those early theatres was somewhat limited. Regularly changing the attraction on offer was necessary to keep the patrons returning.

The first recorded long running play was "The Beggars Opera" which managed 62 successive performances at the Lincolns Inn Fields theatre in 1728. It would take almost a further one hundred years before the first play broke the century of performances. That was the comic drama "Tom and Jerry" based on the book "Life in London" which ran for five months at the Adelphi theatre from November 1821.

In the years that followed a number of other productions reached the magical 100 performances mark and beyond. As transport in London improved, poverty diminished, and street lighting made the streets safer to travel at night the number of potential patrons for the growing number of theatres increased enormously. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to reduction in costs and improved production values. Less than eight years after the century of performances milestone was breached for the first time the 150 mark was reached by the drama "Black Eyed Susan" starting at the Surrey theatre from June 1829.

The first production to acheive 500 consecutive performances was the comedy "Our Boys" by H.J. Byron whose run at the Vaudeville theatre, commencing January 1875, went on to exceed the 1000 mark and set a magnificent new record 1362 performances. From then, to the end of the period with which this website is concerned, a number of other productions succeeded in surpassing the coveted 500 performances record. These are listed below.

Longest Running Plays in New York

The history of the New York stage has a much more recent origin than that of London's West End, dating back only about as far as the year 1750. By the advent of the period with which this website is concerned the New York stage was still in its relative infancy compared to that of London although it was catching up rapidly. Consequently, during the same period covered above far fewer plays acheived the long run of 500 performances. In fact the following list commences some years later from 1884 since that was when the first play to break the 500 mark in New York was launched.

Both charts compiled from a list in "Who's who in the Theatre" Tenth Edition (Pitman, 1947).