From an article in The New York Times ("Scenes From a Half-Century Show", Sunday July 24 by Sarah Boxer):

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center is showing "A Community of Artists: 50 Years of the Public Theater," an exhibition of photographs, posters, and other theateralia, until October 15.

It hits all the high notes, and there are lots. Over five decades, the theater has championed many playwrights, some political theater and a few great musicals.

Picture selections include:

1967: "Hair"
If any play captured the spirit of its time, it was "Hair," with its brash hymns to peace and love. It was also the first production in the Public's new permanent home, the former Astor Library on Lafayette Street, where it remains today. The show went on to a four-year Broadway run.

1975: "A Chorus Line"
The director Michael Bennett, center, with the composer Marvin Hamlisch, right, rehearsing the show at the Public. It went on to break the record for Broadway's longest-running musical and wine nine Tonys.

1980: "The Pirates of Penzance"
The Public's shot in the arm to Gilbert & Sullivan proceeded to Broadway, and Hollywood, where it was a 1983 movie, above, with Kevin Kline, front left, and Rex Smith; Linda Ronstadt was the headliner.

In the 1990s, "Bring in 'da Noise, Bring In 'da Funk," with Savion Glover, plumbed the roots of tap. The Public Theater's archive is an unburied time capsule, unearthed.

I saw Bring In 'da Noise, Bring In 'da Funk when it transferred to the Ambassador Theater in 1996 and loved it (I'm a huge tap fan and seeing Savion Glover was a real treat).

I still wear the t-shirt I bought at the theater! The other day I was wearing it and walking by Lincoln Center, when a young male dancer-type passing by said to me, with a smile "Wow, that's an old t-shirt!

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