Play Performances Theater Longest Running United States Life Type

Most of the longest-running shows in the United States are "musical theater" (shows that involve a lot of singing and dancing), but many plays have had long runs, too. The longest-running "Broadway" (performances presented at one of the 40 large professional theaters in part of New York City) play is Life with Father, which had 3,224 performances between 1939 and 1947. The play is a "comedy" (a type of theater intended to make people laugh) about a middle-class man who tries to control his family, with "humorous" (funny) "consequences" (results).

Tobacco Road is "right behind" (immediately following the first-ranked item; in second place) Life with Father. There were 3,182 performances of Tobacco Road between 1933 and 1941, "plus" (in addition) it had "revivals" (a new production of an old show) in three "subsequent" (later; following) years. The play is a "drama" (a type of theater that tells a story) about a very poor family of farmers in Georgia.

The third-longest-running play is Abie's Irish Rose, which had 2,327 performances between 1922 and 1927, plus revivals in 1937 and 1954.The play is a comedy about an "interfaith marriage" (marriage of people who have different religious beliefs) between an Irish Catholic girl and a Jewish man.

Finally, the fourth-longest-running play in the United States is Gemini, which had 1,819 performances between 1977 and 1981. Gemini is a comedy about the "dysfunctional" (not normal, especially in a negative way) interactions of family, friends, and neighbors who attend a birthday party in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania "backyard" (the grassy area behind a house).