Broadway Theatre Archive

William Saroyan's Pulitzer Prize-winning play revolves around the denizens of a San Francisco bar in 1939. Lonely, lovelorn, weary or cynical, the characters drift in and out of the bar and each other's lives, giving voice to Saroyan's philosophies as they randomly comment about the impending world war, the beauty of art, and traditional notions of good and evil. At least one of the relationships stands a chance of enduring: a brawny innocent named Tom is falling in love with a vulnerable young prostitute named Kitty. Saroyan himself is heard reciting the play's prologue.

Dramatist Luigi Pirandello's mordant comedy of manners tells the tale of upper-crust Italians Silia Gala and her sneering spouse, Leone, who finds his impassivity tested when he has to duel his wife's frustrated paramour.

Donald Moffat stars in Moliere's classic comedy about lovable scoundrel Tartuffe, who befriends the wealthy Orgon and then attempts to seduce both his new friend's wife and daughter in this TV presentation from the Broadway Theatre Archive. Tartuffe pretends to be a pious man whose faith convinces Orgon and his family to succumb to his influence, but he's undone when his womanizing ways make it clear that his piety is a charade.

Adapted from Arthur Miller's play, film focuses on a group of Frenchmen who are detained at Vichy, the capital of France while under Nazi occupation, and "investigated" under suspicion of secretly being Jewish.

Adaptation of Arthur Miller's play.

A dramatization of the 1865 war-crimes trial of Henry Wirz, commandant of the notorious Confederate POW camp at Andersonville, Georgia.

Meryl Streep stars as Alice in this production of Elizabeth Swados' musical, which was adapted from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Based on the acclaimed New York Shakespeare Festival production by Joseph Papp, Alice at the Palace follows Alice's surreal adventures with The Mad Hatter, The March Hare, The Queen of Hearts, and The Cheshire Cat, among many others.

Dustin Hoffman stars in this television adaptation of Ivan Turgenev's tale about Dmitri Zoditch, a simple manuscript reader at a publishing house whose grand dreams don't square with his dead-end job and miserable apartment. When he's assigned to read the diary of a nobleman, he finds bitter parallels between his own pathetic existence and the wasted life described in the journal. Michael Tolan and Charlotte Rae co-star.

High-spirited model Hazel decides that she should settle down in this stage play based on a Dorothy Parker short story. But her marriage to traveling salesman Herbie Morse fails to satisfy her due to his alcoholism and frequent absences. Dispirited and bored, Hazel turns to alcohol herself—and to other men—as her lively spirit sinks and her life begins a downward spiral.

The powerful tales of seven diverse African-American women are woven together in this 1982 performance of Ntozake Shange's Obie Award-winning landmark play. A breakthrough portrayal of black women's experiences in America, the story combines music, poetry and dance to celebrate their unique culture while painting a poignant portrait of their terrible struggles.

Real-life couple Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson star in this 1971 television adaptation of Murray Schisgal's moving play, in which married law student Paul Cunningham takes a job as a typist for an ad agency, where he meets lonely spinster Sylvia. Through a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards, the story of their relationship and developing romance unfolds. Emmy Award winner Glenn Jordan directs this volume from the Broadway Theater Archive.

A portrait of an African American working-class family, this stage production depicts an elderly grandmother's flashbacks to the affairs she had as a young woman and a hard-working father's current conflict with his two unhappy sons.

John Cheever's wry comedy of errors comes to the screen in this filmed presentation from the Broadway Theatre Archive. An upper-middle-class suburb is turned upside-down by the apparent kidnapping of Toby Wooster (Garrett Hanf). Unaware that the whole thing is a setup, the town swings into action to raise funds to meet the kidnappers' ransom demands. George Grizzard, Polly Holliday, Katharine Balfour and Celeste Holm star.

Drawn from the diaries and letters of noted feminists, such as women's suffrage founder Elizabeth Cady Stanton and labor organizer "Mother" Mary Jones, this unique production paints a compelling portrait of the women's liberation movement.

A television adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play about the Hubbards, a rich Southern family of greedy, ruthless individuals.

A rehearsal is disrupted when six figures mysteriously appear on the stage, claiming to be fictional characters from an unfinished play searching for an author to tell their tragic story. An adaptation of the classic Luigi Pirandello play, updated to take place in a 1970s television studio.

An aging Southern belle's preoccupation with her past and her dreams for her children's futures threaten to smother her painfully shy daughter and her aspiring writer son.

Tandy, Merideth and assorted others unexpectedly wake up in a steambath with no easy exit. After spending some time there, it becomes clear that the steambath is a sort of Afterlife, where indifferent souls come to tell their stories to God who happens to be the attendant picking up the towels.

A fictitious but powerful look at the dawn of the nuclear age, this stage performance follows several government scientists as they develop the atomic bomb, grapple with the morality of their work, and confront major problems with their superiors. Written by award-winning playwright Loring Mandel, this riveting production stars Stacy Keach, Alice Drummond, Lois Smith, Clifton James and Verna Bloom.

Norman Lloyd directed this televised production of Jean Renoir's World War II-era play. Taking place backstage at a theatrical performance in Nazi-occupied France, Carola is a tale of passion and intrigue that involves a beautiful stage actress and her emotional and psychological struggles over a Nazi officer, whom she is entangled in an affair with, and a Resistance leader whom she is hiding. Featuring Leslie Caron as Carola, the play also stars Mel Ferrer, Albert Paulsen, Michael Sacks, Carmen Zapata, and Anthony Zerbe.