The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo album by American singer and rapper Lauryn Hill. It was released on August 25, 1998, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is a neo soul and R&B album with some songs based in hip hop soul and reggae. Its lyrics touch upon Hill's pregnancy and the turmoil within her former group the Fugees, along with themes of love and God. The album's title was inspired by the film and autobiographical novel The Education of Sonny Carson, and Carter G. Woodson's The Mis-Education of the Negro.

After touring with the Fugees, Hill became involved in a romantic relationship with Jamaican entrepreneur Rohan Marley, and shortly after, became pregnant with their child. This pregnancy, as well as other circumstances in her life, inspired Hill to make a solo album. Recording sessions for the album took place from late 1997 to June 1998 mainly at Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, as Hill collaborated with a group of musicians known as New Ark in writing and producing the songs.

The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling over 422,000 copies in its first week, which broke a record for first-week sales by a female artist. It was promoted with the release of the hit singles "Doo Wop (That Thing)", "Ex-Factor", and "Everything Is Everything", while "Lost Ones" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" were released as promotional singles. To further promote the album, Hill made televised performances on Saturday Night Live and the Billboard Music Awards before embarking on a sold-out, worldwide concert tour.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was among the most acclaimed albums of 1998, as most critics praised Hill's presentation of a woman's view on life and love, along with her artistic range. At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill earned ten nominations, winning five awards, making Hill the first woman to receive that many nominations and awards in one night. The album's success propelled Hill to international superstardom, and contributed to bringing hip hop and neo soul to the forefront of popular music. New Ark, however, felt Hill and her record label did not properly credit the group on the album; a lawsuit filed by the group was settled out of court in 2001.

Since its release, the album has been ranked in numerous best-album lists, with a number of critics regarding it as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time. Among its honors are inclusion in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, Harvard University's Loeb Music Library, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American history, the 200 Definitive Albums in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. In 2021, the album was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, for estimated sales of 10 million copies in the US, making Hill the first female rapper to accomplish this feat. Worldwide, the album has sold over 20 million copies, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, the best-selling album by a female rapper, and the best-selling neo-soul album of all time. It remains Hill's only studio album.

## Background

In 1996, Lauryn Hill met Rohan Marley while touring as a member of the Fugees. The two gradually formed a close relationship, and while on tour, Hill became pregnant with his child. The pregnancy and other circumstances in her life inspired her to record a solo album. After contributing to fellow Fugees member Wyclef Jean's 1997 solo record Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival, Hill took time off from touring and recording due to her pregnancy and cases of writer's block. This pregnancy, however, renewed Hill's creativity, as she recalled in an interview several years later: "When some women are pregnant, their hair and their nails grow, but for me it was my mind and ability to create. I had the desire to write in a capacity that I hadn't done in a while. I don't know if it's a hormonal or emotional thing ... I was very in touch with my feelings at the time." Of the early writing process, Hill said, "Every time I got hurt, every time I was disappointed, every time I learned, I just wrote a song."

While inspired, Hill wrote over thirty songs in her attic studio in South Orange, New Jersey. Many of these songs drew upon the turbulence in the Fugees, as well as past love experiences. In the summer of 1997, as Hill was due to give birth to her first child, she was requested to write a song for gospel musician CeCe Winans. Several months later, she went to Detroit to work with soul singer Aretha Franklin, writing and producing her single "A Rose is Still a Rose". Franklin would later have Hill direct the song's music video. Shortly after this, Hill did writing work for Whitney Houston. Having written songs for artists in gospel, hip hop, and R&B, she drew on these influences and experiences to record The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

## Recording and production

Hill began recording The Miseducation in late 1997 at Chung King Studios in New York City, and completed it in June 1998 at Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica. In an interview, Hill described the first day of recording, stating: "The first day in the studio I ordered every instrument I ever fell in love with: harps, strings, timpani, organs, clarinets. It was my idea to record it so the human element stayed in. I didn't want it to be too technically perfect." Initially, Jean did not support Hill recording a solo album, but eventually offered to help as a producer, which she did not accept. Aside from doing work at Chung King Studios, Hill also recorded at Perfect Pair Studios in New Jersey, as well as Sony Studios, with some songs having different elements recorded at different studios. The bulk of the album, however, was recorded at Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, the studio built by reggae musician Bob Marley. Regarding this shift in environment, Hill stated: "When I started recording in New York and New Jersey, lots of people were talking to me about going different routes. I could feel people up in my face, and I was picking up on bad vibes. I wanted a place where there was good vibes, where I was among family, and it was Tuff Gong." Many members of the Marley family were present in the studio during the recording sessions, among them Julian Marley, who added guitar elements to "Forgive Them Father".

In an interview, recording engineer Gordon "Commissioner Gordon" Williams recalled the recording of "Lost Ones", stating: "It was our first morning in Jamaica and I saw all of these kids gathered around Lauryn, screaming and dancing. Lauryn was in the living room next to the studio with about fifteen Marley grandchildren around her, the children of Ziggy, and Stephen, and Julian, and she starts singing this rap verse, and all the kids start repeating the last word of each line, chiming in very spontaneously because they were so into the song." Columbia Records considered bringing in an outside producer for the album and had early talks with RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan. However, Hill was adamant about writing, arranging, and producing the album herself: "It would have been more difficult to articulate to other people. Hey, it's my album. Who can tell my story better than me?" She recalled Ruffhouse Records executive Chris Swartz ensuring her artistic freedom while recording the album: "I had total control of the album. Chris Swartz at Ruffhouse, my label, said, 'Listen, you've never done anything stupid thus far, so let me let you do your thing.'"

## Music and lyrics

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is considered a neo soul album, according to Christopher John Farley of Time and Rhapsody writer Mosi Reeves; Complex magazine refers to it more generally as R&B. Its music incorporates styles such as soul, hip hop, and reggae, with some songs based in hip hop soul, according to the Encyclopedia of African American Music (2010). "When It Hurts So Bad" is musically old roots reggae mixed with soul. While mostly in English, "Forgive Them Father" and "Lost Ones" both feature singing in patois, which is the common dialect in Jamaica. Although heavily R&B, the song "Superstar" contains an interpolation of the rock song "Light My Fire" by The Doors. Hill said that she "didn't want to come out with a [Fugees] type of sound", but create "something that was uniquely and very clearly a Lauryn Hill album." She also said that she did not intend for the album's sound to be commercially appealing: "There's too much pressure to have hits these days. Artists are watching Billboard instead of exploring themselves. Look at someone like Aretha, she didn't hit with her first album, but she was able to grow up and find herself. I wanted to make honest music. I don't like things to be too perfect, or too polished. People may criticize me for that, but I grew up listening to Al Green and Sam Cooke. When they hit a high note, you actually felt it."

Much of Hill's lyrics dealt with motherhood, the Fugees, reminiscence, love, heartbreak, and God. Commenting on the album's gospel content, Hill stated "Gospel music is music inspired by the gospels. In a huge respect, a lot of this music turned out to be just that. During this album, I turned to the Bible and wrote songs that I drew comfort from." Several of the album's songs, such as "Lost Ones", "Superstar", "Ex-Factor" and "Forgive Them Father" were widely speculated as direct attacks at Fugee members Wyclef and Pras. "Ex-Factor" was originally intended for a different artist, however, Hill decided to keep it after it was completed, due to its personal content. Although a large portion of the album's love songs would turn out to be bitter from Hill's previous relationship, "Nothing Even Matters", a duet performed by Hill and R&B singer D'Angelo, showcased a brighter, more intimate perspective on the subject. The song was inspired by Hill's relationship with Rohan Marley. Speaking about "Nothing Even Matters"' lyrics, Hill remarked: "I wanted to make a love song, á la Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, and give people a humanistic approach to love again without all the physicality and overt sexuality."

"To Zion", among the more introspective tracks on the album, spoke about how Hill's family comes before her career and her decision to have her first child, even though many at the time encouraged her to abort the pregnancy, so as to not conflict with her burgeoning career. In an interview she discussed the song's origin and significance, commenting "Names wouldn't come when I was ready to have him. The only name that came to me was Zion. I was like, 'is Zion too much of a weight to carry?' But this little boy, man. I would say he personally delivered me from my emotional and spiritual drought. He just replenished my newness. When he was born, I felt like I was born again." She further stated: "I wanted it to be a revolutionary song about a spiritual movement, and also about my spiritual change, going from one place to another because of my son."

Throughout The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, several interludes of a teacher speaking to what is implied to be a classroom of children are played. The "teacher" was played by American poet and politician Ras Baraka speaking to a group of children in the living room of Hill's New Jersey home. Hill requested that Baraka speak to the children about the concept of love, to which he improvised in the lecture. Slant Magazine's Paul Schrodt remarked on the title's reference to Carter G. Woodson's The Mis-Education of the Negro: "[Hill] adopts Woodson's thesis and makes it part of her own artistic process. Like the songs themselves, the intro/outro classroom scenes suggest a larger community working to redefine itself." Along with Woodson's book, the album's title was inspired by the film and autobiographical novel The Education of Sonny Carson.

## Marketing and sales

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was released on August 25, 1998. It was promoted with three singles—"Doo Wop (That Thing)", "Ex-Factor", and "Everything Is Everything"; all of which became hits and produced popular music videos. The album broke numerous sales records. In its first week, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first album by a unaccompanied woman rapper to peak or debut at number one in the US. Its first-week sales of over 422,000 copies, broke the record for female artists at time, previously held by Madonna's Ray of Light (1998). The Miseducation also became the first debut album by a woman to launch atop the Billboard 200 chart; which made Hill the first act to have debuted at number one on both the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 with their first entries on each chart. The album's first-week sales remained the highest first-week sales for a debut album released by a woman in the 20th century, and the highest for a female rapper ever.

It topped the Billboard 200 for a second consecutive week, during which it sold 265,000 copies; and earned a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after two weeks. The following week, Hill became the first artist in the history of the Billboard 200 chart to enter the list at number one with a debut album and spend three consecutive weeks at the summit, when the album stayed at number one on the chart. The album held four non-consecutive weeks at number one, which tied the record during the time for most weeks at number one for a hip hop album released in the Soundscan Era, before being surpassed by Jay-Z's Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life. By late October 1998, it had spent nearly two consecutive months within the top five of the chart, and had not fallen below number three slot. The album's chart stability was considered rare for a hip hop release at the time, since most hip hop albums that debuted high quickly plummeted down the charts.

The Miseducation had sold 2.9 million copies in the United States by December 1998, becoming one of the best-selling albums of that year. It also topped the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums year-end chart, making it the first and to this date, the only album by a woman to accomplish this feat. In Ireland, the album became the first rap album to reach number one on the Irish Albums Chart. In Japan, it sold over one million copies in its first few months, and became one of the few million-certified albums by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.

The album's sales increased after Hill's appearance at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, as it sold 234,000 more copies in the week of March 3, 1999, and 200,000 copies the following week. 198 days after its release, the album was certified 5× platinum by the RIAA, and is one of the fastest-selling albums to achieve this milestone. By August 1999, it had sold 10 million copies worldwide, including nearly 700,000 in Canada. The album would eventually log a total of 26 weeks in the top ten of the Billboard 200 chart. In April 2002, Columbia said that the album had sold 12 million copies worldwide, and by 2009, its global sales were reported to be 19 million copies.

As of 2015, it is the only rap album by a woman (from July 1995 - July 2005) to spend more than one week at number one; is the longest-running number one album from a woman rapper; and one of the longest-running number one rap albums ever on the Billboard 200 chart, according to XXL. In 2018, it was announced that The Miseducation was the most-streamed album released in 1998, on Spotify. It is one of the United Kingdom's most streamed albums from the 1990s, and is among the top 200 most streamed albums from the 70s, 80s and 90s, according to the Official Chart Company.

The album held the record for the longest-charting debut album by a female rapper on the Billboard 200, at 91 weeks, for over 21 years before being surpassed by Cardi B's Invasion of Privacy (2018). In 2021, the album was Diamond certified by the RIAA, which led Hill to earn the Guinness World Record for being the first female rapper to reach RIAA Diamond status. It was also reported that the album has sold 20 million copies worldwide according to Sony Music.

### Tour

Initially, there was no immediate tour planned due to the album not needing further promotion. Hill was also pregnant again with a child due in September 1998. Her first live performances of the songs were at Saturday Night Live and the Billboard Music Awards. In January 1999, Hill recruited a band and began rehearsals for what would become The Miseducation Tour. Tickets sold out as soon as the tour was announced.

The tour began at Budokan in Tokyo on January 21, 1999. Hill performed there again the following night, and played at two other Tokyo venues in the following week. One week later, she flew to London for her performance at the Brixton Academy on February 8. With 20 US dates total, the American part of the tour, which featured Outkast as the opening act, started on February 18 in Detroit, and ended on April 1 in Hill's hometown of Newark, New Jersey. During the tour, Hill performed three sold-out nights at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. She began the tour's 14-date European leg on May 13, when she performed at the Oslo Spektrum in Norway, closing on June 2 at the Manchester Arena in England. Hill would return back to the US, performing 10 shows in July and August, with Busta Rhymes as an opening act. She then returned to Japan, where the tour was completed. Los Angeles Times stated that the tour was "quite possibly the most accomplished tour ever by a hip-hop artist" at the time.

Hill did not want an extensive tour because of obligations to her family and the difficulties she experienced touring with the Fugees in 1996, which she found desensitizing and isolating. According to Hill biographer Chris Nickson in 1999, "there was the possibility of more dates being added ... but it was unlikely that Lauryn would be willing to make the tour more grueling and draining. She'd come to know that there was much more to life than a career."

## Critical reception

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was met with widespread critical acclaim; according to Los Angeles Times journalist Geoff Boucher, it was the most acclaimed album of 1998. Reviewers frequently praised Hill's presentation of a female's view on life and love. Eric Weisbard from Spin called her a "genre-bender" whose confident singing and rapping was balanced by vulnerable themes and sentiment. In The New York Times, Ann Powers found it "miraculous" and "exceptional" for Hill to use "her faith, based more in experience and feeling than in doctrine," as a means of connecting "the sacred to the secular in music that touches the essence of soul." AllMusic's John Bush was impressed by how she produced most of the album, "not as a crossover record, but as a collection of overtly personal and political statements", while demonstrating "performing talents, vocal range, and songwriting smarts". David Browne, writing in Entertainment Weekly, called it "an album of often-astonishing power, strength, and feeling", as well as "one of the rare hip-hop soul albums" to not lose focus with frivolous guest appearances. Browne applauded Hill's artistic vision and credited her for "easily flowing from singing to rapping, evoking the past while forging a future of her own". Dream Hampton of The Village Voice said she seamlessly "travels her realm within any given song", while Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot deemed the record a "vocal tour de force" with arrangements that "bristle with great ideas". XXL gave the album a perfect "XXL" rating, with the magazine saying that it "not only verifies [Hill] as the most exciting voice of a young, progressive hip-hop nation, it raises the standards for it."

In a less enthusiastic review, Q magazine's Dom Phillips felt the music's only flaw was "a lack of memorable melody" on some songs that did not use interesting samples, while John Mulvey from NME quibbled about what he felt were redundant skits and Hill's "propensity" for histrionics and declarations of "how brilliant God is" on an otherwise "essential" album. Pitchfork's Neil Lieberman found some of the ballads tedious and the melodies "cheesy". Citing "Lost Ones" and "Superstar" as highlights, The Village Voice music editor Robert Christgau deemed it the "PC record of the year", featuring exceptionally understated production and skillful rapping but also inconsistent lyrics, average singing, and superfluous skits. He appreciated the "knowledge [and] moral authority" of Hill's perspective and values, although he lamented her appraisal of God on record. In the Los Angeles Times, Soren Baker believed Hill was more effective as a critical rapper than a singer on the more emotional songs, where her voice was "too thin to carry such heavy subject matter".

### Accolades

At the end of 1998, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill topped numerous critics polls of the year's best albums, including Rolling Stone, Billboard, Spin, and Time. It was also voted the second best record of the year in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics published in The Village Voice. Hill was nominated ten times for the 1999 Grammy Awards, making her the first woman to ever be nominated that many times in one year. She won five Grammys, including awards in the Best New Artist, Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Best R&B Album categories. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill also won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making it the first hip hop album to ever receive that award. Hill set a new record in the industry, as she also became the first woman to win five Grammys in one night. Hill was the big winner of the night at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, taking home four Moonmen, including Best Female Video and Video of the Year, for the music video for her single "Doo Wop (That Thing)", becoming the first hip hop video to win the award. It also earned her nominations at the NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Female Artist, Outstanding Album, and Outstanding Song ("Doo Wop (That Thing)"). At the Billboard Music Awards, the record won in the R&B Album of the Year category, while "Doo Wop" won Best R&B/Urban New Artist Clip, and at the 1999 American Music Awards, Hill won the award for Best New Soul/R&B artist. She also won a Soul Train award and received a nomination for Best International Female Solo Artist at the Brit Awards.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill has since appeared on a number of lists ranking the greatest albums ever; according to Acclaimed Music, it is the 113th most acclaimed album based on such rankings.

## Lawsuit

Though The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was largely a collaborative work between Hill and a group of musicians known as New Ark (Vada Nobles, Rasheem Pugh, Tejumold Newton, and Johari Newton), there was "label pressure to do the Prince thing," wherein all tracks would be credited as "written and produced by" the artist with little outside help. While recording the album, Hill was against the idea of creating documentation defining each musician's role.

In 1998, New Ark filed a 50-page lawsuit against Hill, her management and her record label, stating that Hill "used their songs and production skills, but failed to properly credit them for the work." The musicians claimed to be the primary songwriters on two tracks, and major contributors on several others, though Gordon Williams, the album's mixer and engineer, described the project as a "powerfully personal effort by Hill ... It was definitely her vision." Audio engineer Tony Prendatt, who also worked on the album, defended Hill, with a statement saying "Lauryn's genius is her own". In response to the lawsuit, Hill claimed that New Ark took advantage of her success. New Ark requested partial writing credits and monetary reimbursement. The suit was eventually settled out of court in February 2001 for a reported \$5 million.

## Impact

### Influence on contemporaries

Several artists have cited the album as an inspiration for their musical work including Omar Apollo, H.E.R., Ella Mai, Rachel Platten, and Macy Gray. Furthermore Ella Mai, Rihanna, Dan Smith of Bastille and Adele have all called The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill their personal favorite album. American entertainer Donald Glover stated that it's his most-listened to album, while Zendaya, along with rappers J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar have cited it as their favorite album by a female artist.

Producer Savan Kotecha told Vulture that he and Ariana Grande listened to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album during the recording of Grande's fourth studio album Sweetener. Kotecha stated that the chord changes in Grande's song "No Tears Left to Cry" was modeled after the album. Beyoncé cited Hill as one of her primary inspirations for her fourth album 4. The Miseducation also inspired the albums Daytona by Pusha T, The College Dropout by Kanye West, and Immunity by Clairo.

Talent manager Nick Shymansky, shared with BET that after being inspired by The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, his search for a Lauryn Hill-like talent led him to discovering Amy Winehouse in the early aughts. Winehouse eventually began working on her debut album Frank (2003), with many of the producers that Hill has worked with. Country singer Lucinda Williams stated that her album World Without Tears (2003), as well her song "Righteously" were influenced by the album and its hip hop elements. Maroon 5's album Songs About Jane (2002) was also inspired by the LP, most notably on the track "Sweetest Goodbye" which drew from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill song "Tell Him". Numerous artists have titled their projects after the album including Freddie Gibbs with his album The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs, Calboy & Lil Wayne on their single "Miseducation", and Lil' Kim on her mixtape track "Mis-education of Lil' Kim".

### Music industry

Following the success of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Hill rose to international superstardom and established herself as a pioneering woman in hip-hop, as magazines ranging from Harper's Bazaar to Esquire to Teen People vied to place her on their front covers. In 1999, she was described as a "Hip Hop icon" by Jet. Music Journalist Brandon Tensley argued that she achieved "icon status through the strength of her debut solo album alone."

Radio personality Ed Lover argued that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill offered a different perspective from other woman in hip-hop, who generally rapped about sex or being "rugged" and "rough" at the time of its release. "Women tuned into her like she was a Ms. Luther King" according to American rapper Redman, while further adding that the album "made women cocky" and empowered them. Journalist Danyel Smith stated that it "dragged rap back to the land of the living after the twin drive-by murders of Tupac Shakur (1996) and Notorious B.I.G. (1997)".

In a February 8, 1999, Time cover-story, Hill was credited for helping fully assimilate hip-hop into mainstream music, and became the first hip-hop artist to ever appear on the magazine's front cover. Later that month, Hill broke numerous records at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards. Among the awards she received that night was Album of the Year, which has often been recognized as the most prestigious award in American music, and marked the first time a hip-hop artist won the award. According to music executive Clive Davis, the win helped the Grammy Awards become more accepting of rap and hip hop music. Former senior music editor for Amazon, Pete Hilgendorf stated it marked the start of when "the progression of R&B moving into hip-hop became evident".

The Rough Guide to Rock (2003) hailed the album as the "ultimate cross-over album of the hip-hop era". The album has been cited as one of the earliest to fully blend rapping and singing, with Genius dubbing Hill as "the first superstar to excel at both singing and rapping". Writing for The New York Times in 2018, Journalist Jon Caramanica noted that by "the mid-to-late 2000s, singing became a full-fledged part of hip-hop, owing to the success of Drake, one of the first stars —Lauryn Hill got there earlier — who toggled cleanly between rapping and singing and understood them as variations of each other, not oppositional forces. Rappers are singers now, to the point where the framework of singing has been refracted almost wholly through the needs of hip-hop." When speaking to Pitchfork about the album's influence, rapper Vince Staples stated that "Nowadays we get a combination of singing and rapping in a lot of music. But back then, it was a risk. So for her to sing like that early on, combined with the subject matter, the arrangement of the album with its throughline, and how it just flows with you... it's definitely a classic body of work." Janelle Monáe shared a similar sentiment arguing that Hill "was hip-hop and R&B, but nobody had used [the combination] in the way she did. She created something that we had never tasted before." Cyndi Lauper argued that the album "changed everything and everybody. Lauryn Hill changed phrasing. She started a whole new kind of singing, taking church and hip-hop and stirring it with this freaking great feeling and voice."

Along with Brown Sugar by D'Angelo, Erykah Badu's Baduizm, and Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite by Maxwell, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is considered to be one of the most important and definitive releases in the history of neo soul music. According to Ebony magazine, it brought the neo soul genre to the forefront of popular music, and became the genre's most critically acclaimed and popular album. The Encyclopedia of African American Music (2010), noted that "some tracks are based more in hip hop soul than neo soul, but the record is filled with live musicians and layered harmonies, and therefore it is a trendsetting record that connects modern hip hop, R&B, and classic soul music together, creating groundwork for what followed it in the neo soul genre." In conversation with the Los Angeles Times about the success of the 1999 album Black Diamond by Angie Stone, editor Emil Wilbekin of Vibe stated "I think [1998's] The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill changed the way a lot of R&B; artists are presenting their music," and added "With Lauryn and Erykah Badu and D'Angelo and Maxwell, there's been a return to live instruments, real singing and real love stories. I think Angie Stone is an outgrowth of that."

## Tributes and anniversary projects

Marvel Comics released a series of variant comic book covers inspired by influential contemporary rap albums, which included a reimagined Miseducation themed Ms. Marvel comic cover. San Francisco Bay Area music collective UnderCover Presents, formed by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, released a Miseducation tribute album entitled UnderCover Presents: A Tribute to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (2017).

On The Miseducation's fifteenth anniversary in 2013, American rapper Nas reviewed the album for XXL, hailing it as a model for artists of all genres to follow. He also called it "a timeless record, pure music", and said it "represents the time period—a serious moment in Black music, when young artists were taking charge and breaking through doors."

In 2018, Hill launched a North American tour to commemorate the album's 20th anniversary. Adele penned a letter referring to the album as  her "favorite record of all time", while noting that it represented "an honest representation of love and life", and added "I feel I can relate too but also I know there's elements and levels I never will be able to. Ms. Lauryn Hill was on form in every way possible. Thank you for the record of a lifetime, thank you for your wisdom! Thank you for existing. Happy 20th". American girl group TLC, spoke to Beats 1 about the album's influence, with Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas stating "I mean, she be in the videos sometimes pregnant, and sometimes not. She was doing it at a time where they would probably be like, "wait until you have your baby." Whereas these days, a female artist — whether you're an actress or whatever — if you're pregnant, you celebrate that from the moment that you decide to share it with the world. She didn't care, she just did it. Her voice — to be able to rap like that and sing like that, she was and is unbelievably talented. There's nobody like Lauryn Hill."

In celebration of the album's 20th anniversary, Billboard interviewed 16 artists who have been inspired by the album, which included Jazmine Sullivan, Maggie Rogers, Rapsody, Normani, Chloe Bailey, Lizzo, Andra Day, Saweetie, Ella Mai, Teyana Taylor, Anne-Marie and more. The album was also the subject of author and journalist Joan Morgan's 2018 book She Begat This: 20 Years of 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'. That same year, Spotify presented the Dear Ms. Hill art installation in Brooklyn, New York which saw fans, including H.E.R. and Kelly Rowland, submit letters about The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and then used those letters to turn them into paper art. Further, the Spotify podcast Dissect launched their first ever mini series, which examined the album and its impact. Hill also collaborated with Woolrich to design Miseducation inspired pieces for their 'American Soul Since 1830' collection, and starred in the accompanying campaign.

## Legacy

### Rankings and honors

The album was the first in the history of XXL to receive a perfect "XXL" rating. In 2007, the album was placed on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 200 Definitive Albums. In 2015, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for inclusion in the National Recording Registry; making it the first female rap recording to enter the National Recording Registry. In 2017, Harvard University selected it as one of the first batch of hip hop albums to preserved in the Loeb Music Library. That same year, the album was ranked in second place on the NPR list of '150 Greatest Albums Made by Women'; and nearly tied with Blue by Joni Mitchell in the number one slot, according to the publication. The album has also been collected by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American history.

While ranking it 314th on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), Rolling Stone credited Hill with taking 1970s soul and making it "boom and signify to the hip-hop generation". Rolling Stone's placement of The Miseducation at number 10 on a revised edition in 2020 made it the highest ranking rap album on the list. In 2022, the album was placed at number 11 on the Consequence list of the "100 Greatest Albums of All Time", being the second highest ranked album by a woman on the list; the publication later ranked it as the second greatest hip hop album ever on their list of the 50 best hip hop albums of all time (2023). In 2023, it was ranked as the best R&B album of all time by British GQ. That same year, The Recording Academy cited it as one of the 10 essential albums made by women rappers; and one of the 5 hip hop albums that "Revolutionized Rap Music" by American Songwriter.

After being asked "What is the best Hip-Hop album of all-time?", the OpenAI created product called ChatGPT, that utilizes artificial intelligence listed The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill along with four other albums as its response, according to Rock the Bells.

### Reappraisal

Jon Caramanica, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), called it "as earnest, unpretentious, and pleasantly sloppy an album as any woman of the hip-hop generation has ever made", and said that, by appealing to a wide spectrum of listeners with hip hop filtered through a "womanist lens", the album propelled Hill to superstardom "of epic proportions" and "the focal point at hip-hop's crossover into the mainstream."

According to Billboard, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill "taught a generation about the power of baring your soul through song". The album touched upon themes of love, heartbreak, and pregnancy, which added an newfound emotional element to hip-hop. Paving the way for artists like Kid Cudi and Kanye West to showcase vulnerability in their music, according to author Kathy Iandoli. Jay-Z stated that with the album, Hill "made something that's going to stand the test of time." Neo soul singer Maxwell named it his favorite album of the 1990s and praised it for its combination of "incredible songwriting and hip-hop".

Chris Mench of Complex, wrote that the album "set a new standard for rap women, and even for rap in general", while adding that "its influence extends far beyond the genre walls of hip-hop. It's hard to imagine the rise of conscious artists like Lupe Fiasco or Kendrick Lamar without her, but it's equally as hard to picture widespread success for minimalist, soulful singers like Adele, Amy Winehouse, and even FKA twigs without Lauryn paving the way." Kyle Anderson of MTV, wrote that the album "essentially gave birth to the genre now known as neo soul, which means you can trace the lineage of Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and dozens of others back to Hill's masterpiece." Writing for Highsnobiety, Journalist David Opie declared that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill has educated "pretty much everyone who's recorded music since" as well as "inspiring both newer artists and hip-hop stalwarts alike."

The Guardian heralded the album as "the high-water mark of the conscious hip-hop movement", and named it a "game-changing cri de coeur", proclaiming that the album "channelled some precious learning for a generation or more of young women, black and white alike; one in which a ferociously talented artist preached self-determination and self-respect, self-knowledge and getting one's due", and added "It was foremother to Beyoncé's Lemonade and Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer".

### Aftermath

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill remains Hill's only studio album. After its success, the singer shunned her celebrity status and pursued a private life while raising six children, but both personal and professional difficulties followed. As Miami New Times journalist Juliana Accioly explained, "She was reported to have spent years on a spiritual quest while dealing with bipolar disorder. She was sued over songwriting credits. She served a three-month prison sentence in 2013 for tax evasion. She was deemed a diva for wanting to be called 'Ms. Hill' and criticized for her erratic performances." In October 2018, Hill embarked on a concert tour commemorating Miseducation's 20th anniversary. In its anticipation, Accioly reflected on the album in the context of the Me Too movement of recent years: "Against that backdrop, Hill's own descriptions of mistreatment carry validation and support for victims. ... For women who came up during Miseducation's zenith, attending Hill's 2018 performance could serve as a measure of how much the world around them has changed — and how many things remain the same. Her crash course on life is still very much relevant: 'It could all be so simple,' but it's not."

## Track listing

## Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

### Musicians

- Al Anderson – guitar (track: 12)
- Tom Barney – bass (tracks: 11–13)
- Bud Beadle – alto/tenor saxophone, flute (track: 7)
- Robert Browne – guitar (track: 2)
- Rudy Byrd – percussion (tracks: 3, 6, 8)
- Che "Guevara" Pope – drum programming (tracks: 5, 6, 8–10, 12, 13)
- Jared Crawford – live drums (track: 4)
- D'Angelo – Rhodes piano (track: 12)
- DJ Supreme – DJ (track: 5)
- Francis Dunnery – guitar (tracks: 11, 12)
- Paul Fakhourie – bass (track: 3)
- Dean Frasier – saxophone (tracks: 5, 10)
- Loris Holland – keys (tracks: 12, 14); clavinet (track: 11)
- Quartet Indigo – strings (tracks: 5, 13, 14)
- Julian Marley – guitar (track: 10)
- Chris Meredith – bass (tracks: 8, 10, 12)
- Johari Newton – guitar (tracks: 2, 3, 8)
- Tejumold Newton – piano (track: 3)
- Vada Nobles – drum programming (tracks: 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13)
- Arun Pandian – guitar (track 16 – Tell Him)
- Grace Paradise – harp (tracks: 4, 6, 8)
- James Poyser – bass (tracks: 2, 4, 9); keys (tracks: 3, 5, 6, 12)
- Everol Ray – trumpet (tracks: 5,10)
- Kevin Robinson – trumpet, flugelhorn (track: 7)
- Ronald "Nambo" Robinson – trombone (tracks: 5, 10)
- Matthew Rubano – bass (tracks: 9, 13)
- Carlos Santana – guitar (track: 4)
- Earl Chinna Smith – guitar (tracks: 2,10)
- Andrew Smith – guitar (track: 7)
- Squiddly Ranks – live drums (track: 8)
- John R. Stephens – piano (track: 13)
- Elizabeth Valletti – harp (track: 7)
- Fayyaz Virti – trombone (track: 7)
- Joe Wilson – piano (track: 14)
- Stuart Zender – bass (track: 7)

### Production

- Errol Brown – assistant recording engineer (tracks: 2, 10)
- Che "Guevara" Pope – co-producer (tracks: 2, 4), producer
- Lauryn Hill – producer, executive producer (tracks: 1–16)
- Matt Howe – recorder (track: 7)
- Storm Jefferson – recorder (tracks: 8, 9, 11, 12); mix engineer (track: 8); assistant mix engineer (tracks: 2, 9)
- Ken Johnson – recorder (track: 9); assistant recording engineer (track: 4)
- Vada Nobles – co-producer (track: 2), producer
- Tony Prendatt – recorder (tracks: 6, 7, 9, 12–14); engineer (track: 14)
- Warren Riker – recorder (tracks: 4, 5, 8, 12); mix engineer (tracks: 2, 9)
- Jamie Seigel – assistant mix engineer (track: 4)
- Greg Thompson – assistant mix engineer (track: 3)
- Neil Tucker – assistant recording engineer (track: 7)
- Chip Verspyck – assistant recording engineer (tracks: 3, 7)
- Brian Vibberts – assistant engineer (tracks: 6, 10, 12)
- Gordon "Commissioner Gordon" Williams – recorder (tracks: 2 – 6, 8 -12); engineer (tracks: 9, 14); mixer (tracks: 2, 4 – 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14)
- Johny Wyndrx – recorder (track: 4)

### Vocalists

- Lauryn Hill – vocals (tracks: 2–16)
- Mary J. Blige – vocals (track: 9)
- D'angelo – vocals (track: 12)
- Shelley Thunder – vocals (track: 10)
- Kenny Bobien – backing vocals (track: 4)
- Chinah – backing vocals (track: 9)
- Jenni Fujita – backing vocals (track: 5)
- Fundisha Johnson – backing vocals (track: 5)
- Sabrina Johnston – backing vocals (track: 4)
- Jenifer McNeil – backing vocals (track: 9)
- Rasheem Pugh – backing vocals (track: 5)
- Lenesha Randolph – backing vocals (tracks: 4, 5, 9, 13)
- Ramon Rivera – backing vocals (track: 9)
- Earl Robinson – backing vocals (track: 4)
- Andrea Simmons – backing vocals (tracks: 4,9)
- Eddie Stockley – backing vocals (track: 4)
- Ahmed Wallace – backing vocals (tracks: 9,13)
- Tara Watkins – backing vocals (track: 9)
- Rachel Wilson – backing vocals (track: 9)
- Chuck Young – backing vocals (track: 3)

## Charts

### Weekly charts

### Year-end charts

### Decade-end charts

## Certifications

## See also

- Billboard Year-End
- List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 1998
- List of number-one R&B albums of 1998 (U.S.)
- List of number-one R&B albums of 1999 (U.S.)
- List of best-selling albums in the United States

Albums involved in plagiarism controversies

United States National Recording Registry albums

United States National Recording Registry recordings


Broadhurst Theatre

The Broadhurst Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1917, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was built for the Shubert brothers. The Broadhurst Theatre is named for British-American theatrical producer George Broadhurst, who leased the theater before its opening. It has 1,218 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. Both the facade and the auditorium interior are New York City landmarks.

The neoclassical facade is simple in design and is similar to that of the Schoenfeld (formerly Plymouth) Theatre, which was developed concurrently. The Broadhurst's facade is made of buff-colored brick and terracotta and is divided into two sections: a stage house to the west and the theater's entrance to the east. The entrance is topped by fire-escape galleries and contains a curved corner facing east toward Broadway. The auditorium contains an orchestra level, a large balcony, a small technical gallery, and a flat ceiling. The space is decorated in the classical Greek and Adam styles, with Doric columns and Greek friezes. Near the front of the auditorium, flanking the flat proscenium arch, are box seats at balcony level.

The Shubert brothers developed the Broadhurst and Plymouth theaters following the success of the Booth and Shubert theaters directly to the east. The Broadhurst Theatre opened on September 27, 1917, with Misalliance; its namesake had intended to use the theater for his own productions. The Shuberts acquired full control of the Broadhurst in 1929 and have operated it since then. The theater has hosted not only musicals but also revues, comedies, and dramas throughout its history. Long-running shows hosted at the Broadhurst have included Hold Everything!, Fiorello!, Cabaret, Grease, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Les Misérables, and Mamma Mia!.

## Site

The Broadhurst Theatre is on 235 West 44th Street, on the north sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, near Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The rectangular land lot covers 10,695 square feet (993.6 m2), with a frontage of 106.5 feet (32.5 m) on 44th Street and a depth of 100.42 ft (31 m). The Broadhurst Theatre shares the city block with the Row NYC Hotel to the west. It adjoins six other theaters: the Majestic to the west, the John Golden and Bernard B. Jacobs to the northwest, the Gerald Schoenfeld to the north, the Booth to the northeast, and the Shubert to the east. Other nearby structures include the Music Box Theatre and Imperial Theatre one block north; One Astor Plaza to the east; 1501 Broadway to the southeast; and the Sardi's restaurant, the Hayes Theater, and the St. James Theatre to the south.

The Broadhurst is part of the largest concentration of Broadway theaters on a single block. The Broadhurst, Schoenfeld (originally Plymouth), Booth, and Shubert theaters were all developed by the Shubert brothers between 44th and 45th Streets, occupying land previously owned by the Astor family. The Broadhurst and Schoenfeld were built as a pair, occupying land left over from the development of the Shubert and Booth, which were also paired. The Broadhurst/Schoenfeld theatrical pair share an alley to the east, parallel to the larger Shubert Alley east of the Shubert/Booth pair. The Broadhurst/Schoenfeld alley was required under New York City construction codes of the time but, unlike Shubert Alley, it was closed to the public shortly after its completion. The Shuberts bought the land under all four theaters from the Astors in 1948.

## Design

The Broadhurst Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and constructed in 1917 for the Shubert brothers. The Broadhurst and Plymouth were two of Krapp's first theatrical designs as an independent architect after he left the firm of Herts & Tallant. While the facades of the two theaters are similar in arrangement, the interiors have a different design both from each other and from their respective facades. The Broadhurst is designed to complement the Shubert/Booth theatrical pair, with a simple neoclassical facade compared to the Shubert's and Booth's "Venetian Renaissance" designs. The Broadhurst is operated by the Shubert Organization.

### Facade

Krapp designed the Broadhurst and Plymouth theaters with relatively simple brick-and-stone facades, instead relying on the arrangement of the brickwork for decorative purposes. The Broadhurst and Plymouth contain curved corners at the eastern portions of their respective facades, facing Broadway, since most audience members reached the theaters from that direction. The use of simple exterior-design elements was typical of Krapp's commissions for the Shubert family, giving these theaters the impression that they were mass-produced. The Broadhurst and Plymouth theaters' designs contrasted with Henry Beaumont Herts's earlier ornate designs of the Shubert and Booth theaters. Nevertheless, the use of curved east-facing corners was common to all four theaters. The Broadhurst's facade is divided into two sections: the auditorium to the east and a stage house to the west. The facade is generally shorter than its width.

#### Auditorium section

The ground floor of the auditorium contains a water table made of granite, above which are vertical blocks of architectural terracotta. The rest of the facade is made of buff brick in Flemish bond, laid in a diaper pattern. Along the ground floor on 44th Street, there are glass-and-bronze double doors with aluminum frames and transoms. There are display boxes on either side of these doors, and a marquee extends above the doors. The southeastern corner of the facade is curved and contains an entrance to the ticket lobby. This entrance contains a double door, above which is a glass transom panel with the word "Broadhurst" inscribed on it. The corner entrance is topped by a broken pediment, which is supported by console brackets on either side and contains an escutcheon at the center.

Along 44th Street, the auditorium's second and third floors contain a fire escape made of cast iron and wrought iron. There are doors and windows on both levels, leading to the fire escape. In addition, the fire escape's third-floor railing contains cast-iron depictions of ribands and shields. A canopy originally shielded the fire escape at the third floor. Above the center of the third floor, on 44th Street, is a terracotta cartouche containing depictions of swags. The curved corner contains a third-floor window, topped by an oval escutcheon decorated with swags and fleur-de-lis. A terracotta cornice and a brick parapet runs above the auditorium facade. The parapet is stepped and contains a coping made of sheet metal.

#### Stage house

The stage house is five stories high. The ground floor of the stage house contains a granite water table with terracotta blocks above it. On this story, there are two metal doors and three windows. The stage house has five sash windows on each of the upper stories. These windows are placed within segmental arches made of brick. There is a metal fire escape in front of the stage house, which leads to the fire escape in front of the auditorium's third story. A parapet with corbels runs above the fifth story of the stage house.

### Auditorium

The auditorium has an orchestra level, one balcony, boxes, and a stage behind the proscenium arch. The auditorium has about the same width and depth, and the space is designed with plaster decorations in relief. According to the Shubert Organization, the theater has 1,218 seats; meanwhile, The Broadway League gives a figure of 1,186 seats and Playbill cites 1,163 seats. The physical seats are divided into 733 seats in the orchestra, 429 on the balcony, and 24 in the boxes. There are 32 standing-only spots. The theater contains restrooms in the basement and concessions in the lobby. The orchestra level is wheelchair-accessible and contains an accessible restroom; the balcony is not wheelchair-accessible.

#### Seating areas

The rear or eastern end of the orchestra contains a promenade, with four paneled piers supporting the balcony level. The promenade's ceiling is surrounded by a Doric-style cornice as well as a frieze designed in the Adam style. There are also plasterwork panels on the promenade ceiling, which contain chandeliers suspended from medallions. Two staircases with metal railings lead from the promenade to the balcony. The orchestra level is raked, sloping down toward an orchestra pit in front of the stage. The orchestra and its promenade contain walls with plasterwork panels. Doorways on the south (left) wall lead from the lobby, while those on the north (right) and east (rear) walls lead to the exits. The tops of the doorways are flanked by console brackets, which support an entablature and a pediment with anthemia. When the theater was built, the orchestra had a movable floor; half the seating could be removed overnight to accommodate smaller productions.

At the rear of the balcony are four paneled piers (corresponding to those at orchestra level), which are topped by Doric-style capitals. The side walls contain plasterwork panels with swags. There are also doorways with pediments, similar to those on the orchestra. Low-relief panels and air-conditioning vents are placed on the balcony's underside. In front of the balcony is a Panathenaic frieze, based on that of the Parthenon, which is mostly hidden behind light boxes. There is a small technical gallery above the rear of the balcony, the front railing of which contains moldings of swags. A Doric-style cornice runs above the balcony walls, wrapping above the boxes and proscenium.

On either side of the stage is a wall section with three boxes at the balcony level. The boxes step downward toward the stage; the front box curves forward into the proscenium arch, while the rear box curves backward into the balcony. At the orchestra level, there are three rectangular openings, corresponding to the locations of former boxes on that level. The front railings of the boxes contain sections of a Panathenaic frieze, separated by fasces made of plaster; the frieze contained depictions of horsemen. The underside of each box is decorated with a medallion containing a light fixture; this is surrounded by a molded band. Doric-style columns separate the boxes from each other, supporting a molding and panel at the top of each wall section.

#### Other design features

Next to the boxes is a flat proscenium arch, which consists of Doric pilasters on either side of the opening, as well as an entablature above. The entablature contains a central relief panel with a frieze of horsemen. The theater was also designed with a false proscenium opening, which gave the impression of a smaller stage suitable for dramas and comedies. The proscenium opening measures about 25 feet (7.6 m) tall and 40 ft (12 m) wide. The depth of the auditorium to the proscenium is 31 ft (9.4 m), while the depth to the front of the stage is 33 ft 2 in (10.11 m). The ceiling is flat, containing plasterwork moldings, friezes, and medallions, as well as air-conditioning vents. Chandeliers are suspended from the medallions.

## History

Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and the Great Depression. Manhattan's theater district had begun to shift from Union Square and Madison Square during the first decade of the 20th century. From 1901 to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, including the Broadhurst Theatre. The Broadhurst was developed by the Shubert brothers of Syracuse, New York, who expanded downstate into New York City in the first decade of the 20th century. After the death of Sam S. Shubert in 1905, his brothers Lee and Jacob J. Shubert expanded their theatrical operations significantly. The brothers controlled a quarter of all plays and three-quarters of theatrical ticket sales in the U.S. by 1925.

### Development and early years

The Shubert brothers had constructed the Shubert and Booth theaters as a pair in 1913, having leased the site from the Astor family. Only the eastern half of the land was used for the Shubert/Booth project; following the success of the two theaters, the Shubert brothers decided to develop another pair of theaters to the west. Herbert Krapp was hired as the architect, while Edward Margolies was the builder. Krapp filed plans for a new theater at 235 West 44th Street with the New York City Department of Buildings in January 1917; he revised these plans in March. That August, British-American theatrical producer George Broadhurst leased the theater from the Shuberts, and the venue was renamed for Broadhurst. At the time, Broadhurst was a busy playwright; he staged nearly 30 Broadway and West End plays from 1907 to 1924. He leased the Shubert's new 44th Street venue because he wanted a theater to showcase his own work.

The Broadhurst opened on September 27, 1917, with George Bernard Shaw's comedy Misalliance; the show lasted 52 performances. Despite his early intentions, George Broadhurst did not only stage his own shows at the theater; for example, the Broadhurst hosted a revival of R. C. Carton's Lord and Lady Algy in December 1917. This was followed in 1918 by the musical Maytime with Peggy Wood and the play Ladies First with Nora Bayes and William Kent. Rachel Crothers's comedy 39 East opened at the Broadhurst in 1919, and Jane Cowl and Allan Langdon Martin's collaboration 'Smilin' Through' at the end of that year.

George Broadhurst's adaptation of the play Tarzan of the Apes, with real animals, ran for 13 performances in 1921. The Claw featuring Lionel Barrymore opened the same year. Peggy Wood returned to the Broadhurst for Hugo Felix's Marjolaine in 1922, which had 136 performances. The Broadhurst's productions in 1923 included The Dancers with Richard Bennett and Florence Eldridge, as well as the revue Topics of 1923 with Alice Delysia. In early 1924, the Broadhurst staged Marc Connelly and George S. Kaufman's play Beggar on Horseback with Roland Young, which lasted for 224 performances. This was followed the next year by Michael Arlen's The Green Hat with Katharine Cornell; it had 237 performances.

The Broadhurst next hosted the revue Bunk of 1926, which was forced to close in June 1926 due to an injunction against it. Shortly afterward, Alexander A. Aarons and Vinton Freedley leased the Broadhurst Theatre for several years. Jed Harris's version of the George Abbott and Philip Dunning play Broadway opened that September; it continued for 603 performances, ultimately relocating at the end of 1927. It was immediately followed by Winthrop Ames's version of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, featuring George Arliss and Peggy Wood. The Lew Brown/B. G. de Sylva/Ray Henderson musical Hold Everything! opened later in 1928 and lasted for 413 performances. The Broadhurst's last hit of the 1920s was George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner's play June Moon, which opened in 1929 for a 273-performance run. That year, the Shuberts took over the theater's operation from George Broadhurst.

### 1930s and 1940s

In 1931, the Broadhurst staged Herbert Fields and Rodgers and Hart's musical America's Sweetheart, which continued for 135 performances. Aarons and Freedley gave up their lease on the theater that August, and Norman Bel Geddes produced a short-lived revival of Shakespeare's Hamlet that November. This was followed in 1932 by Philip Barry's comedy The Animal Kingdom; the drama The Man Who Reclaimed His Head; and Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's play Twentieth Century. Next, the Group Theatre occupied the Broadhurst during the 1933–1934 season with a production of Sidney Kingsley's play Men in White. Eve Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Company presented several shows at the Broadhurst later in 1934. This included L'Aiglon with Ethel Barrymore, as well as Hedda Gabler and Cradle Song.

The Broadhurst hosted Robert E. Sherwood's play The Petrified Forest with Humphrey Bogart and Leslie Howard, in 1935. Victoria Regina, featuring Helen Hayes and Vincent Price, opened at the end of that year. It ran for 517 performances through 1937, with a hiatus mid-run. Subsequently, Ruth Gordon's version of the Henrik Ibsen play A Doll's House moved to the Broadhurst in 1938. This was followed in 1939 by Dodie Smith's Dear Octopus; the musical The Hot Mikado, an all-Black version of The Mikado with Bill Robinson; and the revue Streets of Paris.

During the 1940s, the Broadhurst hosted numerous musicals and revues. These included Boys and Girls Together with Ed Wynn, Jane Pickens, and the DeMarcos in 1940, as well as High Kickers with George Jessel and Sophie Tucker the next year. The drama Uncle Harry with Eva Le Gallienne, Joseph Schildkraut, and Karl Malden ran at the Broadhurst in 1942. Further hits at the Broadhurst included Fats Waller's revue Early to Bed in 1943; the Agatha Christie play Ten Little Indians in 1944, and a transfer of the revue Follow the Girls with Jackie Gleason and Gertrude Niesen in 1945. Morgan Lewis and Nancy Hamilton's revue Three to Make Ready transferred to the Broadhurst in 1946, and Helen Hayes returned the same year in Anita Loos's Happy Birthday, which ran for 564 performances. Four revues were staged during 1948 and 1949: Make Mine Manhattan, Along Fifth Avenue, Lend an Ear, and Touch and Go.

### 1950s to 1970s

The 1950s saw several long-running shows, though the earliest shows of the decade were short-lived. For example, Martin Balsam and Walter Matthau starred in The Liar, which lasted only 12 performances in May 1950. Douglass Watson and Olivia de Havilland starred in a 49-performance revival of Romeo and Juliet in 1951, while the musical Flahooley ran just 40 performances afterward. Conversely, the musical Seventeen ran for 180 performances later in 1951. Next was the revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey in 1952, featuring Vivienne Segal and Harold Lang, which at 542 performances ran longer than the original production. The Spanish Theatre performed several plays in repertory at the Broadhurst in 1953, followed thereafter by The Prescott Proposals with Katharine Cornell. This was followed by long runs of Anniversary Waltz (1954) with Macdonald Carey and Kitty Carlisle; Lunatics and Lovers (1954) with Sheila Bond, Buddy Hackett, and Dennis King; and The Desk Set (1955) with Shirley Booth.

The Broadhurst hosted Auntie Mame in 1956, starring Rosalind Russell in her last Broadway appearance; it ran for 639 performances. This was followed in 1958 by the play The World of Suzie Wong with France Nuyen and William Shatner, which lasted for 508 performances. Next, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's musical Fiorello! opened at the Broadhurst in November 1959, relocating over a year later in May 1961. Noël Coward's musical Sail Away opened at the Broadhurst in October 1961 with Elaine Stritch, running for 167 performances. The next year, the Broadhurst briefly hosted the long-running musical My Fair Lady, and Richard Rodgers's musical No Strings finished its 580-performance run there. The Tom Jones/Harvey Schmidt musical 110 in the Shade opened in 1963 with Robert Horton, Will Geer, Lesley Ann Warren, and Inga Swenson. The next year, the theater hosted the West End musical Oh, What a Lovely War!.

The musical Kelly was a flop in 1965, with just one performance before it closed. It was followed the same year by the West End musical Half a Sixpence with Tommy Steele, which ran for 512 performances. Afterward, in late 1966, the Broadhurst premiered John Kander and Fred Ebb's Cabaret, which only stayed a short time at the Broadhurst but ultimately lasted for about 1,165 performances. More Stately Mansions, the last play by Eugene O'Neill, opened at the Broadhurst in 1967 and featured Ingrid Bergman, Arthur Hill, and Colleen Dewhurst. You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running occupied the Broadhurst for several months in 1968, during the middle of that play's run. The next year, The Fig Leaves Are Falling flopped after four performances, and Woody Allen, Tony Roberts, and Diane Keaton starred in Play It Again, Sam.

The Broadhurst was increasingly hosting musicals, dramas, and comedies by the 1970s, with the decline of revues. George Furth's Twigs, featuring Sada Thompson, opened at the theater in 1971. Next, Grease had a short run at the Broadhurst during 1972; after transferring elsewhere, the show became Broadway's longest-running musical. It was followed at the end of the year by Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys. Herb Gardner's play Thieves was performed at the Broadhurst in 1974, and the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival of Sherlock Holmes opened that year, with John Wood. Productions shown at the Broadhurst in 1976 included Enid Bagnold's drama A Matter of Gravity, with Katharine Hepburn and Christopher Reeve; a brief run of the musical Godspell, which had been an off-Broadway hit; and A Texas Trilogy, a set of plays by Preston Jones. At the end of the year, the theater hosted Larry Gelbart's farce Sly Fox, starring George C. Scott, which ran for 495 performances.

### 1980s and 1990s

Bob Fosse's musical Dancin , starring Ann Reinking and Wayne Cilento, had opened in March 1978. When Dancin''' relocated in December 1980, it had had the longest continuous run at the Broadhurst. Immediately afterward, the Broadhurst hosted Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, with Ian McKellen, Tim Curry, and Jane Seymour; it ran until October 1983. The Tap Dance Kid opened that December, running for three months before transferring. Next was a revival of Death of a Salesman with Dustin Hoffman, which opened in March 1984 and ran until the end of that year. The Broadhurst was then closed for six months, and the firm of Johansen-Bhavnani renovated the venue as part of a project that cost \$2 million. The project entailed rebuilding the stage, redecorating the lobby, enlarging a lounge and restrooms, and modifying the seating areas. This was part of a restoration program for the Shubert Organization's Broadway theaters.

The Broadhurst reopened in June 1985 with a gender-swapped version of Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple; it lasted until February 1986. The Eugene O'Neill play Long Day's Journey into Night opened at the theater in April 1986, with Bethel Leslie and Jack Lemmon, followed later that year by the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, with Roger Rees. At the end of 1986, Neil Simon's Broadway Bound opened at the Broadhurst with Jason Alexander, Linda Lavin, and Phyllis Newman; it ran for 756 performances over the next two years. Another Simon play, Rumors, opened at the Broadhurst in November 1988 and ran for just over a year.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started considering protecting the Broadhurst as an official city landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. The LPC designated the facade as a landmark on November 10, 1987, followed by the interior on December 15. This was part of the LPC's wide-ranging effort in 1987 to grant landmark status to Broadway theaters. The New York City Board of Estimate ratified the designations in March 1988. The Shuberts, the Nederlanders, and Jujamcyn collectively sued the LPC in June 1988 to overturn the landmark designations of 22 theaters, including the Broadhurst, on the merit that the designations severely limited the extent to which the theaters could be modified. The lawsuit was escalated to the New York Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States, but these designations were ultimately upheld in 1992.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Aspects of Love opened at the Broadhurst in April 1990; despite running for 377 performances, the show lost its entire investment of \$8 million. Several short-lived shows followed, including André Heller's Wonderhouse in 1991, as well as a revival of Private Lives with Joan Collins and the play Shimada in 1992. The next hit was Terrence McNally, John Kander, and Fred Ebb's musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, which opened in May 1993 with Anthony Crivello, Brent Carver, and Chita Rivera; it ran for 906 performances. Next, the New York Shakespeare Festival presented The Tempest in November 1995, starring Patrick Stewart, for 71 performances. The play Getting Away with Murder flopped in March 1996 after 17 performances, and the musical Once Upon a Mattress opened that December with Sarah Jessica Parker, running for 187 performances. In 1998, Jerry Seinfeld performed an original stand-up act at the Broadhurst; his final performance, I'm Telling You for the Last Time, was aired live on HBO. This was followed by Fosse, a revue featuring Bob Fosse shows, which opened in January 1999 and ran for two and a half years.

### 2000s to present

The Broadhurst hosted a revival of the August Strindberg play Dance Of Death in late 2001, featuring Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren. The next year, the theater revived Stephen Sondheim's musical Into the Woods with Vanessa Williams, which ran for 279 performances. Two short runs followed in 2003: Urban Cowboy, with 60 performances, and Never Gonna Dance, with 84 performances. As part of a settlement with the United States Department of Justice in 2003, the Shuberts agreed to improve disabled access at their 16 landmarked Broadway theaters, including the Broadhurst. Billy Crystal's solo show 700 Sundays, which opened in December 2004, ran for 163 performances and at one point was Broadway's highest-grossing non-musical show. The musical Lennon then had 49 performances at the Broadhurst in 2005, followed the next year by Alan Bennett's play The History Boys.

A revival of the musical Les Misérables opened in November 2006, just three years after the long-running original production had closed; it had 463 performances. More revivals followed in 2008, with an all-Black cast in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, as well as a revival of Equus starring Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths. Next in 2009 was a production of Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart, starring Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter, and a West End transfer of Hamlet, starring Jude Law. Meanwhile, the Shuberts sold 54,820 sq ft (5,093 m2) of unused air development rights above the Broadhurst to a developer in 2007; this allowed the firm to profit from the site, since the theater was landmarked and could not be further developed. A further 9,480 sq ft (881 m2) above the Broadhurst and Booth theaters was sold in 2009, and some 1,800 sq ft (170 m2) was sold in 2012. The Shuberts sold a further 58,392 sq ft (5,424.8 m2) of air rights above the Majestic and Broadhurst in 2013.

Lucy Prebble's play Enron flopped at the Broadhurst with 16 performances in 2010, despite critical acclaim on the West End. More successful was the Public Theatre's transfer of The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino, the same year. This was followed in 2011 by Floyd Mutrux's musical Baby It's You!, as well as Hugh Jackman's concert special Back on Broadway. A revival of A Streetcar Named Desire with Blair Underwood and Nicole Ari Parker occupied the Broadhurst in 2012, followed the next year by Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy, with Tom Hanks in his Broadway debut. In 2013, the musical Mamma Mia! transferred from the Winter Garden Theatre to the Broadhurst for the final two years of its 14-year run. The next shows at the Broadhurst were the play Misery in 2015, as well as the musicals Tuck Everlasting and The Front Page in 2016.

The musical Anastasia opened at the Broadhurst in 2017 and ran there for nearly two years. It was followed in May 2019 by Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and in December 2019 by Jagged Little Pill. The theater closed on March 12, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened on October 21, 2021, with performances of Jagged Little Pill, which closed at the end of 2021 due to further pandemic-related issues. It was followed in November 2022 by a limited run of A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical.

## Notable productions

Productions are listed by the year of their first performance.

- 1917: Misalliance
- 1917: Lord and Lady Algy
- 1918: Maytime
- 1918: The Melting of Molly
- 1919: 39 East
- 1919: Smilin' Through
- 1921: Macbeth
- 1921: The Servant in the House
- 1921: Tarzan of the Apes
- 1922: The Faithful Heart
- 1923: The Dancers
- 1924: Beggar on Horseback
- 1925: The Green Hat
- 1926: Broadway
- 1928: The Merchant of Venice
- 1928: Here's Howe
- 1928: Hold Everything!
- 1929: June Moon
- 1931: America's Sweetheart
- 1931: Hamlet
- 1932: The Animal Kingdom
- 1932: The Man Who Changed His Name
- 1932: The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
- 1932: Twentieth Century
- 1933: Men in White
- 1934: L'Aiglon
- 1935: The Petrified Forest
- 1935: Victoria Regina
- 1937: Madame Bovary
- 1938: A Doll's House
- 1938: The Fabulous Invalid
- 1939: Dear Octopus
- 1939: The Hot Mikado
- 1940: Night Music
- 1940: Keep Off the Grass
- 1941: Old Acquaintance
- 1944: Ten Little Indians
- 1945: Lady in Danger
- 1945: Follow the Girls
- 1946: Happy Birthday
- 1948: Make Mine Manhattan
- 1949: Lend an Ear
- 1950: The Liar
- 1950: Detective Story
- 1950: Burning Bright
- 1950: An Enemy of the People
- 1951: Romeo and Juliet
- 1951: Flahooley
- 1951: Seventeen
- 1952: Pal Joey
- 1953: The Love of Four Colonels
- 1953: Spanish theater in repertory (8 productions)
- 1956: Auntie Mame
- 1958: The World of Suzie Wong
- 1959: Fiorello!
- 1961: Sail Away
- 1962: My Fair Lady
- 1962: Bravo Giovanni
- 1962: No Strings
- 1963: 110 in the Shade
- 1964: Oh, What a Lovely War!
- 1965: Kelly
- 1965: Half a Sixpence
- 1966: Luv
- 1966: Cabaret
- 1967: More Stately Mansions
- 1968: Weekend
- 1968: The Only Game in Town
- 1968: You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running
- 1969: The Fig Leaves Are Falling
- 1969: Play It Again, Sam
- 1970: Cry For Us All
- 1970: Private Lives
- 1970: Four on a Garden
- 1971: 70, Girls, 70
- 1971: Twigs
- 1972: Vivat! Vivat Regina!
- 1972: Grease
- 1972: The Sunshine Boys
- 1973: Rachael Lily Rosenbloom and Don't You Ever Forget It
- 1974: Thieves
- 1974: Sherlock Holmes
- 1976: A Matter of Gravity
- 1976: The Heiress
- 1976: Godspell
- 1976: A Texas Trilogy
- 1976: Sly Fox
- 1978: Dancin
- 1980: Amadeus
- 1983: The Tap Dance Kid
- 1984: Death of a Salesman
- 1985: The Odd Couple
- 1986: Long Day's Journey into Night
- 1986: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
- 1986: Broadway Bound
- 1988: Rumors
- 1990: Aspects of Love
- 1992: Private Lives
- 1992: A Christmas Carol
- 1993: Kiss of the Spider Woman
- 1995: The Tempest
- 1996: Getting Away with Murder
- 1996: Once Upon a Mattress
- 1997: Proposals
- 1999: Fosse
- 2002: Into the Woods
- 2003: Urban Cowboy
- 2003: Never Gonna Dance
- 2004: 700 Sundays
- 2005: Lennon
- 2006: The History Boys
- 2006: Les Misérables
- 2008: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- 2008: Equus
- 2009: Mary Stuart
- 2009: Hamlet
- 2010: Enron
- 2010: The Merchant of Venice
- 2011: Baby It's You!
- 2011: Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway
- 2012: A Streetcar Named Desire
- 2013: Lucky Guy
- 2013: Mamma Mia!
- 2015: Misery
- 2016: Tuck Everlasting
- 2016: The Front Page
- 2017: Anastasia
- 2019: Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
- 2019: Jagged Little Pill
- 2022: A Beautiful Noise''

## See also

- List of Broadway theaters
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets

Broadway theater in Manhattan, New York


Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was a gathering that took place on October 30, 2010, at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The rally was led by Jon Stewart, host of the satirical news program The Daily Show, and Stephen Colbert, in-character as a conservative political pundit, as on his program The Colbert Report, both then seen on Comedy Central. About 215,000 people attended the rally, according to aerial photography analysis by AirPhotosLive.com for CBS News.

The rally was a combination of what initially were announced as separate events: Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" and Colbert's counterpart, the "March to Keep Fear Alive." Its stated purpose was to provide a venue for attendees to be heard above what Stewart described as the more vocal and extreme 15–20% of Americans who "control the conversation" of American politics, the argument being that these extremes demonize each other and engage in counterproductive actions, with a return to sanity intended to promote reasoned discussion. Despite news reports' description of the rally as a spoof of Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally and Al Sharpton's Reclaim the Dream rally, and the logo's striking similarity to that of the Restoring Honor rally, Stewart insisted the contrary.

## Origins

### Response to Restoring Honor rally

On August 28, 2010, the Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck held a "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial. On the same day, Al Sharpton led a countermarch, called Reclaim the Dream, to mark the 47th anniversary of the historic Great March on Washington. According to New York Magazine, discussion for a satirical public event in response took place behind the scenes at Stewart's The Daily Show as early as August 12. Stewart has stated that the rally was never intended to be a means to counter Glenn Beck, but was simply another format for his and Colbert's style of humor, saying "We saw [the Restoring Honor rally] and thought, 'What a beautiful outline. What a beautiful structure to fill with what we want to express in live form, festival form.'" Before any public discussion by Stewart, Colbert, or their staffs, members of the social news website Reddit independently began to discuss the possibility of a Colbert-led rally, often referred to as a "Restoring Truthiness Rally". After the rallies were announced, some news articles credited Reddit for the idea. The rally was produced by Stewart's Busboy Productions.

### Announcement

Stewart first hinted at the event on the September 7 episode of The Daily Show by declaring that "[he would] have an announcement sometime in the near to not so near future." Colbert, in that night's episode of The Report (which aired immediately following The Daily Show), said that he, too, had an announcement to make. In the following days, Stewart and Colbert used their shows to hype their respective announcements, competing over whose would be more significant. The banter finally culminated with Stewart formally announcing the "Rally to Restore Sanity" on the September 16, 2010 episode of The Daily Show; Colbert followed by announcing the "March to Keep Fear Alive" on the subsequent episode of The Colbert Report.

Stewart declared that his rally was intended for the majority of Americans, "the 70–80 percenters," who do not hold extreme political views and lack a voice in the media. To illustrate the point, he unveiled a mock motto for the rally: "Take it down a notch for America." A series of protest sign designs were proposed on the Daily Show featuring messages such as "I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler." Colbert responded to Stewart's proposal by challenging the theme of Stewart's rally and justifying his own "March to Keep Fear Alive." Noting that this was not the time to be reasonable, Colbert declared, "Now is the time for all good men to freak out for freedom!"

Oprah Winfrey appeared on The Daily Show via video on October 14, 2010, to award the attending audience free airfare to the rally. The plane tickets were hidden under the audience members' seats in the same fashion as she has given away prizes to her own audience members on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In the episode of the Colbert Report airing immediately afterward, Stephen Colbert also offered tickets to his rally. Without Oprah's support to provide airfare, Colbert instead distributed vouchers for the low-cost Chinatown bus from New York City to Washington, D.C. During the show, Colbert also revealed to Stewart that he did not possess a permit to legally organize the "March to Keep Fear Alive," leading Stewart to propose combining the two events into the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" that would feature a new combined logo.

### Response to the announcement

On the night following the announcement, the pledged number of attendees to the event reached 69,000 on Facebook. This number far exceeded the 25,000 that the rally organizers had indicated as the estimated number of attendees on the National Park Service application for a rally permit. The demand for hotels during the period of the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear outpaced that of the "Restoring Honor" rally. The rally spawned several grassroots websites and Facebook groups for organizing and discussion, some with more than 10,000 followers. Proposals were made for dozens of sister rallies in other major cities, such as Seattle, Chicago, Austin, and Los Angeles to take place on the same day as the demonstration in Washington, D.C. On September 28, Arianna Huffington announced on The Daily Show that The Huffington Post would provide "as many buses as people to fill them" at a specified meeting place in Manhattan, although her plans were later scaled back and preregistration was imposed.

The Wall Street Journal characterized the Rally as a "send-up" of the Washington Restoring Honor rally led by Glenn Beck and the "Reclaim the Dream" commemorative march led by Al Sharpton on August 28, 2010. The Canadian Press called the Stewart/Colbert rallies a "not-so-gentle" swipe at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally. During a town hall event on September 29, President Obama cited the forthcoming rally as representing those people who are concerned with more than just the political beliefs of others, in contrast to "provocative" cable news programs.

Many news organizations sought media credentials to cover the rally. Anticipating staff interest in attending for non-professional purposes, NPR barred staffers from attending the rally in a memo that stated: "NPR journalists may not participate in marches and rallies involving causes or issues that NPR covers, nor should they sign petitions or otherwise lend their name to such causes, or contribute money to them. This restriction applies to the upcoming Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert rallies." NBC and several other media outlets followed suit. Some barred employees from attending the rally outright, while others such as The Washington Post offered more latitude, telling newsroom managers to differentiate between "participating" and "observing."

### Charity drive

Prior to the announcement of the joint rally, supporters of the movement for a Colbert-led march had begun a drive to raise money for educational charities through DonorsChoose.org, a charitable organization of which Colbert is a member of the Board of Directors. In the first 24 hours, supporters raised over \$100,000. In the days that followed, that total increased to over \$250,000, and by the day of the rally over \$500,000 had been contributed. Jon Stewart promoted the Trust for the National Mall, urging his viewers to make donations on behalf of the rally. As of October 31, 2010, over \$188,000 had been donated to the Trust.

## Rally

### Setting

As the number of expected participants grew, the rally was moved from the grounds of the Washington Monument to the east end of the Mall facing the Capitol. The stage was on the east side of the rally with an open back, allowing the Capitol building to provide the backdrop for the performances. In order to meet the public safety requirements of the National Park Service permit, the Mall between the Capitol and 14th Street was divided into sections, with access aisles lined by portable fences. Speakers and jumbotron television screens were placed along both the north and south edges to encourage the crowd to spread out rather than press against the main stage.

Portable toilets and first aid stations were also provided. Because the rally was held the day before the previously scheduled Marine Corps Marathon, the rally planners originally requested to share the portable toilets planned for the marathon runners. The marathon organizers refused, so a second set of portable toilets was ordered.

### Guests

While both Colbert and Stewart were tight-lipped as to the event's schedule and guests, Metromix's Washington DC website published a tentative schedule on October 27, with guest performers said to be confirmed for the event including musicians Sheryl Crow, The Roots and Jeff Tweedy with Mavis Staples along with actors Don Novello (appearing as Father Guido Sarducci) and Sam Waterston. Other guests included 4troops, Yusuf Islam – formerly known as Cat Stevens, Ozzy Osbourne, The O'Jays, John Legend, Kid Rock, Tony Bennett, Mythbusters hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and R2-D2.

### Comedy

Satirical comedy was woven throughout the rally with Colbert expressing, in parody, that fear was superior to Stewart's reasonableness. The theme started with Colbert—costumed like Evel Knievel—emerging from his "fear bunker" in a capsule reminiscent of the 2010 Chilean miners' rescue. Thereafter, Colbert challenged Stewart point by point, usually claiming victory.

One of their battles was waged over three songs about trains. Stewart started with Yusuf Islam singing "Peace Train," which was interrupted continually by Colbert-backed Ozzy Osbourne singing "Crazy Train." The audience held up peace signs for "Peace Train" and horn signs for "Crazy Train." Finally, Stewart and Colbert compromised singing "Love Train" with The O'Jays.

Later, Stewart and Colbert donned matching American flag coats and sang an original song "The Greatest, Strongest Country in the World" with lyrics that reflected common liberal and conservative stereotypes, such as "I love NASCAR halftime shows with tons of TNT. ... My hybrid electric scooter does 100 m-p-g. From gay men who like football ... to straight men who like Glee ..."

In the finale, a giant papier-mâché puppet of Colbert ("Fearzilla") was brought on stage to symbolize his superiority. Peter Pan—played by John Oliver—then appeared and led the crowd in a chant that caused Colbert and his puppet to melt into the stage, thereby handing final victory to Stewart.

### Medals

Stewart gave out "Medals of Reasonableness" cast in bronze with an image of an owl and the Latin motto Sit vis nobiscum, liberally translated by Stewart as "May the Force be with you," to:

- Armando Galarraga for his calm response to the blown call that cost him a perfect game.
- Mick Foley for his contributions outside of wrestling, including his defense of a child mocked for being seen as gay.
- Velma Hart for her reasoned critical questions delivered to President Barack Obama at a town hall.
- Jacob Isom for preventing an evangelist from burning a Qur'an.

Colbert awarded "Medals of Fear" cast with an image of a naked man running with scissors and the Latin motto Cave ne cadmium sit, which Colbert translated as "Warning: May contain Cadmium," to:

- Several news media outlets, collectively, for barring employees from attending the rally on their own time.
- A "tight black T-shirt" that Colbert said belonged to CNN's Anderson Cooper, for always appearing during natural disasters reported on by Cooper.
- Mark Zuckerberg for making Facebook increase fear with regard to Internet privacy.

Zuckerberg's award was presented in absentia. The media outlets' award was accepted on their behalf by "someone with more courage—a seven-year-old girl." Also, videotaped messages were shown of Steven Slater, known from the 2010 JetBlue flight attendant incident, and reality TV star Teresa Giudice, both apologizing for public acts of "unreasonableness."

### "A Moment of Sincerity" speech

After defeating Colbert's "Fearzilla", Stewart closed the rally with a "moment ... for some sincerity" to explain his intentions for the rally:

> This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are, and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times.

He criticized the role the press plays in polarizing political debates, stating that the media—which he described as "the country's 24-hour politico–pundit perpetual panic 'conflict-inator'"—only amplifies problems and no longer makes a distinction between "hav[ing] animus" and "be[ing] enemies." He warned that demonizing opponents and accepting propaganda makes people "less safe, not more" and that "it is an insult, not only to those people, but to the racists themselves who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate."

Much of the speech was devoted to the idea that "[m]ost Americans don't live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives." He spoke on the subject of "reasonable compromises" that happen "every day" between persons of different beliefs, citing as an example traffic merging at the entrance to the Holland Tunnel connecting New York City and Jersey City.

### Crowd size and television broadcast

An aerial photography analysis commissioned by CBS News and carried out by AirPhotosLive.com estimated the crowd at 215,000 people, plus or minus 10%. In comparison, their estimate for the Restoring Honor rally made using the same methods was 87,000 people, plus or minus 9,000. USA Today, Voice of America and ABC News all referred to the crowd as tens of thousands of people, with Voice of America noting, "the crowd filled the Mall, from almost in front of the Capitol to the Washington Monument."

According to local news outlet TBD TV, "Massive turnout for Saturday's rally quickly overwhelmed the Mall, forcing thousands of people into nearby streets and, eventually, just giving up and leaving." The PA system was criticized for being inadequate for those farther back to hear, with the crowd chanting "louder" several times. Jon Stewart, speaking from the stage, jokingly said there were over 10 million people there, and Stephen Colbert satirically tweeted an estimate of 6 billion.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which maintained its normal Saturday service schedule, announced that Metrorail ridership set a Saturday record of 825,437 trips, as compared to about 350,000 on a normal Saturday, and beating out the previous record set in 1991 of 786,358 trips during the Desert Storm National Victory Celebration. The record would last more than 6 six years, until it was broken by the 2017 Women's March.

The rally was broadcast live on Comedy Central and C-SPAN. The Comedy Central live broadcast reportedly drew 2,000,000 total viewers, with an additional 570,000 live video streams on the Internet.

## Response to rally

Keith Olbermann was prominently featured in a video montage shown at the rally that focused on the anger present in cable news. On November 2, Olbermann announced that he would suspend his "Worst Person in the World" segment on Countdown with Keith Olbermann in the interest of turning down the volume and anger. However, he defended the content of his show by claiming that MSNBC (the network that hosted Countdown at the time) differs from Fox News in that "sticking up for the powerless is not the moral equivalent of sticking up for the powerful." After tallying an online vote among his viewers, Olbermann announced that the segment would return on the November 17 broadcast as the "Not Really Worst Persons in the World." Between the two announcements, Olbermann was suspended by MSNBC on November 5 and re-instated on November 9 over his violation of network policy regarding political donations; the contract between Olbermann and MSNBC would be terminated two months later in January 2011. Olbermann would launch an identically named show with the same segment on Current TV beginning from June 2011, but was terminated again in March 2012.

On Real Time with Bill Maher, Bill Maher criticized the rally, saying that while Stewart and Colbert meant well, the message of the rally promoted a false equivalency between the left and the right, noting, "the big mistake of modern media has been this notion of balance for balance's sake. That the Left is just as violent and cruel as the Right ... there's a difference between a mad man and a madman."

On November 11, Stewart appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show and clarified the message he intended to convey at the rally: that too many have "bought into the idea that the conflict [in America] is left versus right" when the conflict is actually "corruption versus not-corruption" and that "both sides have their ways of shutting down debate."

Several websites, such as The Huffington Post, dedicated a page to collecting "the funniest signs from the rally."

In 2012 Stewart said that at the time that he had invited Yusuf Islam to perform at the rally, he did not know that Yusuf Islam had expressed support for a Fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie. Upon learning about it, Stewart tried to get clarifications from Islam, but the conversation he had with Islam left Stewart unsatisfied.

### 2020 anniversary

On October 30, 2020, Stewart appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the event. Colbert apologized after Stewart said his rally to restore fear "won" in a "shutout." Tony Bennett also appeared to sing "America the Beautiful" but was cut off by Stewart.

## Awards and nominations

The rally was nominated for four Daytime Emmy Awards:

- Outstanding Special Class Special
- Outstanding Special Class Writing
- Outstanding Achievement in Technical Direction/Electronic Camera/Video Control
- Outstanding Achievement in Live & Direct To Tape Sound Mixing

## See also

- List of political rallies on the National Mall
- National Endowment for the Humanities' Civility Tour
- One Nation Working Together rally
- Pluralistic Rationalism
- List of protest marches on Washington, D.C.

Rally in Washington DC led by Jon Stewart

October 2010 events in the United States