Arms and the Man

Subsequent productions

Flyer for Birmingham Open Air Theatre, 1941, with plays including Arms and the Man performed in municipal parks during World War II.
  • The first Broadway production opened on 17 September 1894 at New York City's Herald Square Theatre. Since then there have been six Broadway revivals, two of which are listed below.
  • The most prestigious London revival was directed by John Burrell for The Old Vic Company at the New Theatre, which opened on 5 September 1944, starring Ralph Richardson (Bluntschli), Margaret Leighton (Raina Petkoff), Joyce Redman (Louka), and Laurence Olivier (Major Sergius Saranoff). "Olivier thought Sergius a humbug, a buffoon, a blackguard, a coward, 'a bloody awful part' until Tyrone Guthrie said he would never succeed in the role until he learned to love Sergius. Olivier, spurred and moustachioed, was high camp": Robert Tanitch.[10]
  • A revival production ran at New York City's Arena Theatre from 19 October 1950 to 21 January 1951, for a total of 108 performances. The cast included Lee Grant as Raina, Francis Lederer as Bluntschli and Sam Wanamaker as Sergius.
  • Marlon Brando's final stage appearance was in Arms and the Man in 1953. He gathered friends who were fellow actors into a company for a summer stock production. He chose to play Sergius while William Redfield starred as Bluntschli.[11][12] The show was produced on the college circuit as well in the 1950s.[13]
  • Carroll Baker, following her enormous success in Baby Doll, toured in the play in the summer of 1957.
  • The play was produced in 1982 at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, with Brian Bedford as Bluntschli and Len Cariou as Sergius.
  • The Studio Arena Theater in Buffalo, New York, put on a production of Arms and the Man in 1983 with Kelsey Grammer as Sergius.[14]
  • A Channel 4 television production in 1983[15] starring Richard Briers as Captain Bluntschli, Peter Egan as Major Sergius Saranoff, Alice Krige as Raina and Anna Nygh as Louka.
  • In 1985 John Malkovich directed a revival production at New York City's Circle in the Square Theatre starring Kevin Kline as Bluntschli (later replaced by Malkovich after Kline's departure), Glenne Headly as Raina and Raul Julia as Sergius. The production ran from 30 May to 1 September 1985, for a total of 109 performances.
  • The BBC produced a second made-for-TV version[16] in 1989, directed by James Cellan Jones, starring Helena Bonham Carter as Raina, Pip Torrens as Bluntschli, Patrick Ryecart as Sergius and Patsy Kensit as Louka.
  • The 1991 production by Channel Theatre Company opened the Malvern Festival before touring the UK. Directed by Philip Dart it featured Sebastian Abineri, Steven Pinner, Juliette Kaplan, Charles Stapley, Mary Woodvine, Andrew Wheaton, Susan Gott and Colin Atkins.
  • In 2011 the play was presented by the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota; The Seattle Public Theater; and the Constellation Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.
  • In the summer of 2013, Odyssey Theatre[17] in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada performed a masked performance of this play.[18]
  • The Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, has performed the play a number of times: in 1967, 1976, 1986, 1994, 2006 and 2014, the last directed by Morris Panych.[19]
  • The play opened at the American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia, on 29 April 2016 and ran until 11 June.
  • In 2023, the play is produced Off-Broadway in New York City at Theatre Row, by Gingold Theatrical Group, and directed by David Staller.[20]

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