Actor, Composer, Playwright. Despite his father's wishes, he decided at a young age that shipbuilding was not his chosen trade and ran away to San Francisco where he made his stage debut. He was soon a favorite of local audiences. Later, while appearing in Chicago, he met Anthony Cannon (whose stage name was Tony Hart). They became "Harrigan and Hart" and formed what has been called the first famous collaboration in American Musical Theatre. They started by presenting short vaudeville sketches in which they played comic versions of lower class ethnic New York City characters. With their popularity, they expanded into full-length plays, all written by Harrigan. The most famous of these was "The Mulligan Guards", which became their signature piece. It spawned a series including "The Mulligan Guard Picnic", "The Mulligan Guard Ball" and "The Mulligan's Silver Wedding". In breaking with the standard of the day, the music in these shows was integrated with a more literate story and although still broadly farcical, they set the stage for what we recognize today as modern musical theater. Throughout their career, Harrigan wrote the book and lyrics for more than 25 Broadway musicals. The team was such a success that they opened their own theatre in New York City, the New Theatre Comique, but it was leveled in a fire in 1884. They moved on to a new theatre, but lingering bad feelings stemming from the fire and Harrigan's habit of constantly hiring his relatives broke up the partnership in 1885. He continued to write and perform until 1893. At the time of his death at age 67 of heart disease, according to his New York Times obituary, "…he died believing that he had been forgotten-not by his old friends of the stage, but by the fickle public." However, the resulting outpouring of grief from a public that mourned one of the most beloved stage figures of his time would have showed him how wrong he was. He was the inspiration for George M. Cohan's 1907 song "Harrigan" and Harrigan and Hart's rise to fame was the basis of the 1985 Broadway musical of the same name. It starred Harry Groener as Harrigan and Mark Hamill as Hart. Unfortunately it was not a success and closed after 4 performances.
Actor, Composer, Playwright. Despite his father's wishes, he decided at a young age that shipbuilding was not his chosen trade and ran away to San Francisco where he made his stage debut. He was soon a favorite of local audiences. Later, while appearing in Chicago, he met Anthony Cannon (whose stage name was Tony Hart). They became "Harrigan and Hart" and formed what has been called the first famous collaboration in American Musical Theatre. They started by presenting short vaudeville sketches in which they played comic versions of lower class ethnic New York City characters. With their popularity, they expanded into full-length plays, all written by Harrigan. The most famous of these was "The Mulligan Guards", which became their signature piece. It spawned a series including "The Mulligan Guard Picnic", "The Mulligan Guard Ball" and "The Mulligan's Silver Wedding". In breaking with the standard of the day, the music in these shows was integrated with a more literate story and although still broadly farcical, they set the stage for what we recognize today as modern musical theater. Throughout their career, Harrigan wrote the book and lyrics for more than 25 Broadway musicals. The team was such a success that they opened their own theatre in New York City, the New Theatre Comique, but it was leveled in a fire in 1884. They moved on to a new theatre, but lingering bad feelings stemming from the fire and Harrigan's habit of constantly hiring his relatives broke up the partnership in 1885. He continued to write and perform until 1893. At the time of his death at age 67 of heart disease, according to his New York Times obituary, "…he died believing that he had been forgotten-not by his old friends of the stage, but by the fickle public." However, the resulting outpouring of grief from a public that mourned one of the most beloved stage figures of his time would have showed him how wrong he was. He was the inspiration for George M. Cohan's 1907 song "Harrigan" and Harrigan and Hart's rise to fame was the basis of the 1985 Broadway musical of the same name. It starred Harry Groener as Harrigan and Mark Hamill as Hart. Unfortunately it was not a success and closed after 4 performances.
Bio by: TomDuse
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