Karl Friedrich Schinkel : The Queen of the Night, set design for Mozart’s 'The Magic Flute' , 1815.

The Child's Dream of Pantomime by Alfred Crowquill. Alfred Henry Forrester (10 September 1804 – 26 May 1872) was an English author, comics artist, illustrator and artist, who was also known under the pseudonym of Alfred Crowquill.

‘Alexander; The Man Who Knows (C.A. Alexander - Claude Alexander 1880-1954), colour lithograph ; sheet 56 x 34 cm. Magic Poster.

Plate from ‘One Hundred Portraits of Peking Opera Characters' an Album of 50 leaves. Unidentified artist. China late 19th–early 20th century. Ink , colour and gold on silk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art , NYC.

'Mysterious Mahendra, Master of the Human Mind'. Header - Grand Theatre, Bemidji. Minn., 3 days starting Mon. Sept. 10.. Magic Poster , Herald Poster Co. Collinsville Illinois, 1923 . Library of Congress

Ichikawa Sadanji in the role of Narukami, Natori Shunsen, 1926

Poster for 'Last of the Red Hot Lovers' shows Venus from Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, 1969.

A play by Neil Simon: An Apartment In New York’s East Thirties, A Late Afternoon In December, A Late Afternoon In August, A Late Afternoon In September."

Poster for A Raisin in the Sun - 1959.

A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred") by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a Black family's experiences in south Chicago, as they attempt to improve their financial circumstances with an insurance payout following the death of the father, and deals with matters of housing discrimination, racism, and assimilation. 

After touring to positive reviews, the play premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on March 11, 1959. It transferred to the Belasco Theatre on October 19, 1959, and closed on June 25, 1960, after 530 total performances. Directed by Lloyd Richards, the cast comprised:

Sidney Poitier – Walter Lee Younger
Ruby Dee – Ruth Younger
Ivan Dixon – Joseph Asagai
Lonne Elder III – Bobo
John Fiedler – Karl Lindner
Louis Gossett – George Murchison
Claudia McNeil – Lena Younger
Diana Sands – Beneatha Younger
Glynn Turman – Travis Younger
Ed Hall – moving man
Douglas Turner – moving man

- Wikipedia

Barbette. 1926. Artist: Charles Gesmar (1900-1928).

One of the best known transvestite performers of the 1920s, Barbette (née Vander Clyde of Georgetown, Texas) began her career as a trapeze artist in traveling circuses. Once in Europe, she took to more opulent costumes and dance routines, always ending the performance by removing her blonde wig to reveal her gender (à la Victor/Victoria). 

Caudieux by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - 1893.

Toulouse-Lautrec delivers a rather unflattering portrait of the café-concert artist, Caudieux, in this poster advertising the star's performance. Caudieux's talents lay as a comic and the artist has certainly made him a figure of fun here: he's shown as an ageing performer, portly and overly made up, mincing across the stage with pursed lips. Caudieux was known as the 'Human Cannon' which perhaps explains why Toulouse-Lautrec has chosen to depict him in motion. - V&A

Grand Théâtre de l'Exposition - 1889.

"For children visiting the Paris World's Fair, there was a whole Kiddie Show with plenty to see and do. An enchanting Cherette announces the entertainments with trumpet and drum, accompanied by a symbol-clanging little clown. The location in the large fairgrounds is easy to find, 'At the foot of the (Eiffel) Tower on the Suffren side.' Rare!" (Rennert, PAI-XXIII, 207)

 

"The achievement of Cheret was to create a world of explosive happiness, and to paste it on the walls of Paris. As a painter he will be remembered for what Huysmans calls his 'spirit of nervous gaiety', as a lithographer for his superb technique, and as a poster artist for being the ancestor of all modern advertising." (Abdy p.36)

Print of a poster for The Equinox of the Gods by Randy Salas (Designer) at the Straight Theater (San Francisco, Calif.) - 1967.

Poster advertises Thursday, Sept. 21 [1967], 8:30 P.M. show at the Straight Theater, 1702 Haight, by Kenneth Anger, [presented by] the Bringers of Light & the Straight Theater.

The avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger, once a Hollywood child-actor, is a disciple of the occultist Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) and regards the presentation of his films as occult ceremonies that can awaken spiritual forces in his audience. He is the author of the notorious Hollywood Babylon (San Francisco, 1975), which told the stories and originated several of the myths of sex scandals, crimes, and the anti-Communist "blacklist" involving Hollywood celebrities from the early 1900s through the mid-1960s. Originally published in French (Paris, 1959), the book first appeared in English in a pirated, incomplete edition in 1965, and its distribution was banned by U.S. postal authorities. - NYPL

Hurly-Burly Extravaganza and Refined Vaudeville with Sylvia Thorne "The American Venus". Created / Published Buffalo, N.Y. - Courier Litho. Co., c. 1899.

Mr. & Mrs. Herbert L. Flint’ present The Flint’s Hypnotic Skirt Dance, (cross-dressing stage act) , lithographic poster Created by "National Pr. & Eng. Co., Chicago.", ca. 1895, Library of Congress.

Kellar - self decapitation, magician poster, 1897, Library of Congress

Utagawa Toyokuni - Ichikawa Danjūrō VI in the Kabuki Play Shibaraku - 1812
Ichikawa Danjūrō VI in the Kabuki Play by Utagawa Toyokuni I (Japan, 1769-1825) Japan, 1812.

Colour woodblock print , 36.67 × 26.35 cm.

Brighton Pierrots by Walter Sickert - 1915

Vaudeville Musicians by Charles Demuth - 1917

Vaudeville by Charles Demuth - 1917

Léon Bakst for the ballet Choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky Music Claude Debussy Based on L'Après-midi d'un faune - 1912.

The ballet, The Afternoon of a Faun (French: L'Après-midi d'un faune), was choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky for the Ballets Russes, and was first performed in the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 29 May 1912. Nijinsky danced the main part himself. The music is Claude Debussy's symphonic poem Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. Both the music and the ballet were inspired by the poem L'Après-midi d'un faune by Stéphane Mallarmé. The costumes and sets were designed by the painter Léon Bakst.

Pierre Bonnard Program for The Last Crusade (Dernière croisade), The Wanderer (L'Errante), and The Purloined Palan Flower (La Fleur Palan enlevée) from The Beraldi Album of Theatre Programs, 1896

Costume design for the ballet The Firebird ( L'Oiseau de feu) by Léon Bakst - 1913 

Tancrède Synave Program for Mademoiselle Fifi from The Beraldi Album of Theatre Programs - 1896.

Tancrède Synave was a French painter. He was born in 1870 and died in 1936. He is known for his portraits of women in the Parisian high society.

Georges de Feure Comedie Parisienne, La Loïe Fuller Dans Sa Création Nouvelle, Salomé 1900.

Georges de Feure (real name Georges Joseph van Sluijters, 6 September 1868 – 26 November 1943) was a French painter, theatrical designer, and industrial art designer in the symbolism and Art Nouveau styles.

Peg Entwistle, posing in costume for a scene in Wild Duck circa 1925. Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Promoting Mr. Risley and his son (among others), New Strand Theatre, 26 June 1843.

Poster for the performance of Hazel Kirke by Steele MacKaye presented by the Madison Square Theatre Company in Worcester Theatre on January 18 - no year, but likely 1881

Cabinet card image of two performers playing stringed instruments. Labeled 'European comic eccentric 'Bonitas' family'. Harvard Theatre Collection, Harvard University 1918 or earlier

Theater company at the table with a chamber orchestra, anonymous, 1920 - 1935

Poster for original production of 'Applause,' showing sketch of star Lauren Bacall, 1970.

Poster for Alfie, 1964.

Alfie by Bill Naughton (author) at the Morosco Theatre, New York, NY - December 16, 1964 – January 2, 1965.

The Cast:

Alfie - Terence Stamp
Lily Clamacraft - Marcia Ashton
Ruby - Margaret Courtenay
Humphrey - Jeremy Geidt
Annie - Mary Hanefey
Mr. Smith - George S. Irving
Gilda - Juliet Mills
Joe - Jerry Verno
Carla - Carol Booth
Harry Clamacraft - Donald Ewer
Perc - Peter Fenton
Woman Doctor - Vanya Franck
Lofty - James Luisi
Siddie - Joanna Morris
Flo - Sasha von Scherler

Poster for 'The Glass Menagerie' shows silhouette of a unicorn transposed on a woman's face. 1965.

The Glass Menagerie is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his histrionic mother, and his mentally fragile sister. In writing the play, Williams drew on an earlier short story, as well as a screenplay he had written under the title of The Gentleman Caller. - Wikipedia

Jas. H. Wallick's Bandit King - c.1890.

Reading from top to bottom, the poster states, “The Sensational Event/ Jas. H. Wallick’s Bandict King / Jas. H. Wallick / Roan Charger and Bay Raider / Popular Prices.” At the center is an oval bust portrait of the actor Jas. H. Wallick. Above and below this portrait are two rectangular scenes, one showing Wallick with his two horses and the other depicting a performance of The Great Bowie Knife Fight on Horseback. - Smithsonian

Edouard Vuillard : Pierrot - c.1890

Gismonda by Alphonse Mucha (Moravia, Ivančice, active France, 1860-1939) - c. 1894-1895.

Gismonda is a Greek melodrama in four acts by Victorien Sardou that premiered in 1894 at the Théâtre de la Renaissance. In 1918, the play was adapted for the now lost film Love's Conquest. In 1918/1919, it was adapted into the opera Gismonda by Henry Février.

Hellé: Opéra en 4 actes by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen - 1896

Two Actors by John Copley - 1911

Viviane, 1886 designed and made by Jules Chéret (French, 1836-1932)

The Opera Box (La Loge de L'Opera) by Alexandre Lunois (French, 1863-1916) - 1894

Valmy and Léa c. 1885-95 by Jean Béraud (French, 1849-1935).

A forerunner to the cabaret, the café-concert was an irresistible subject for artists working in fin-de-siècle Paris. Here, the performers are illuminated by the unnatural glow of gas footlights, while the musicians in the orchestra, seen mostly from behind, are tucked in the shadowy foreground. The neck of the double base extends above the crowd, drawing the viewer’s eye to the climactic can-can. - Cleveland Museum of Art

Tingletangle by Edvard Munch - 1895

Ichikawa Danjuro IX as Taira no Tomomori Taira no Tomomori - One hundred rolls of Ichikawa Danjuro IX (series title) - 1898.

Program for Théâtre de l’Oeuvre by Félix Edouard Vallotton - 1894

Tous Les Soirs by Henri-Gabriel Ibels - 1894. 'Tous les Soirs - Irène Henry Parisiana-Concert.'

Le Cafe Concert by Henri-Gabriel Ibels - 1893

Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Yvette Guilbert, 1894.

Henri Gabriel Ibels, Jane Debary, 1895.