America's Longest Run: A History of the Walnut Street Theatre traces the history of America's oldest theatre. The Philadelphia landmark has been at or near the center of theatrical activity since it opened, as a circus, on February 2, 1809. This book documents the players and productions that appeared at this venerable house and the challenges the Walnut has faced from economic crises, changing tastes, technological advances, and competition from new media. The Walnut's history is a classic American success story. Built by immigrants who came to America to seek their fortune, the Walnut responded to the ever-changing tastes and desires of the theatre-going public. Originally operated as a stock company, the Walnut has offered up every conceivable form of entertainment-pageantry and spectacle, opera, melodrama, musical theatre, and Shakespeare. During the Depression, it escaped the wrecking ball by operating as a burlesque house, a combination film and vaudeville house, and a Yiddish theatre, before becoming the Philadelphia headquarters for the Federal Theatre Project.
Because Philadelphia is located so close to New York City, the Walnut has served as a tryout house for many Broadway-bound shows, including A Streetcar Named Desire, The Diary of Anne Frank, and A Raisin in the Sun. Today, the Walnut operates as a nonprofit performing arts center. It is one of the most successful producing theatres in the country, with more than 350,000 attending performances each year.