Musical Theater
- Carnival! (Music and Lyrics: Bob Merrill Book: Michael Stewart). Broadway production opened at the Imperial Theatre on April 13 and ran for 719 performances
- Do-Re-Mi London production opened at the Prince Of Wales Theatre on October 12 and ran for 169 performances
- Donnybrook! Broadway production opened at the 46th Street Theatre on May 18 and ran for 68 performances.
- The Fantasticks London production opened at the Apollo Theatre on September 7 and ran for 44 performances
- How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (Music and Lyrics: Frank Loesser Book: Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstein and Willie Gilbert) – Broadway production opened at the 46th Street Theatre on October 14 and ran for 1417 performances.
- Kwamina Broadway production opened at the 54th Street Theatre on October 23 and ran for 32 performances
- Milk and Honey Broadway production opened at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 10 and ran for 543 performances
- The Music Man London production opened at the Adelphi Theatre on March 16. Starring Van Johnson, Patricia Lambert, Ruth Kettlewell and Denis Waterman.
- Salad Days (Julian Slade) – London revival at Prince's Theatre
- Sail Away Broadway production opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on October 3 and ran for 167n performances
- The Sentimental Bloke (Music: Albert Arlen Lyrics: Nancy Brown, Albert Arlen, Lloyd Thomson and C. J. Dennis Book: Lloyd Thomson and Nancy Brown). Premiered at the Albert Hall, Canberra, March. Melbourne production opened at the Comedy Theatre on November 4.
- The Sound Of Music (Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Book: Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse) – London production opened at the Palace Theatre and ran for 2385 performances.
- Stop the World - I Want to Get Off (Music, Lyrics and Book: Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse) -London production opened at the Queen's Theatre on July 20 and ran for 485 performances.
- Subways Are For Sleeping (Music: Jule Styne Lyrics and Book: Adolph Green & Betty Comden) Broadway production opened at the St. James Theatre on December 27 and ran for 205 performances.
- Wildest Dreams (by Julian Slade) London production opened at the Vaudeville Theatre on August 3 and ran for 76 performances
Read more about this topic: 1961 In Music
Famous quotes containing the words musical and/or theater:
“Then, bringing me the joy we feel when wee see a work by our favorite painter which differs from any other that we know, or if we are led before a painting of which we have until then only seen a pencil sketch, if a musical piece heard only on the piano appears before us clothed in the colors of the orchestra, my grandfather called me the [hawthorn] hedge at Tansonville, saying, “You who are so fond of hawthorns, look at this pink thorn, isn’t it lovely?””
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“Be reflective ... and stay away from the theater as much as you can. Stay out of the theatrical world, out of its petty interests, its inbreeding tendencies, its stifling atmosphere, its corroding influence. Once become “theatricalized,” and you are lost, my friend; you are lost.”
—Minnie Maddern Fiske (1865–1932)