Broadway has never been very good at sequels. For every rare success, you have to go back to 1907, when George M. Cohan brought his own hit character back for an encore, you'll find a long line of flops: beloved shows that tried to relive their own glory and ended up forgotten instead. But no attempt tells that story quite like Bring Back Birdie.

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as an answer to the Red Scare — then found himself living it. Betrayed by Elia Kazan, tormented by director Jed Harris, and later subpoenaed by HUAC, Miller watched his play flop on Broadway before an unlikely 1958 revival turned it into an American classic. This episode traces the five-year journey from opening-night silence to lasting legacy.

Ethel Waters leads an all-black cast in cabin in the Sky, produced in 1940. This episode highlights the journey of Black Broadway that led up to this milestone production.

Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli reunite in one of Broadway's most fascinating troubled musicals at the Martin Beck Theatre.

Two Tony-winning musicals defined Broadway of the 1960s and 1980s and both played at the Martin Beck Theatre. This is the transcript to a bonus episode that explores how these productions became so celebrated and made Tony history.

Even one of America's greatest playwrights finds failure time and time again with one play, yet Tennessee Williams keeps trying for 20 years to get it right.

For nearly 80 years, the Martin Beck Theatre (1924–2003) stood as one of Broadway's most prestigious legitimate houses. The Beck era is characterized by its dedication to high-caliber drama and groundbreaking musical premieres.

Martin Beck (July 31, 1868 – November 16, 1940) was a vaudeville theatre owner and manager, and theatrical booking agent, who founded the Orpheum Circuit, and built the Palace and Martin Beck Theatres in New York City's Broadway Theatre District.

The 1993 production of Face Value by David Henry Hwang had all good intentions but couldn't match it with the right execution.

The 1989 London production of Miss Saigon finds choppy waters as it tries to bring the mega-musical across the pond to Broadway.

This groundbreaking show, by Earl Wilson, Jr., ran for over 1300 performances, offering an all-inclusive, sexually liberated vision for a pre-AIDS 1970s audience.

The 1966 stage musical adaptation of Truman Capote's classic Breakfast at Tiffany's last only 4 previews on Broadway and never officially opened.