King Lear

Shakespeare's tragedy was first mounted in New York in 1754 and soon became a popular vehicle for all the great American tragedians. Junius Brutus Booth, himself a little mad, was a noteworthy interpreter as was Edwin Forrest. It was also a favorite role of Edwin Booth, though critics divided on the merits of his performance, which, especially in early years, seemed to have been copied from his father's. Modern revivals, including those featuring Louis Calhern, Orson Welles, Paul Scofield, James Earl Jones, Hal Holbrook, and F. Murray Abraham, have found surprisingly little favor at the box office.