Since 1968, sixteen productions that originated at the theater have gone on to play on Broadway, and Goodspeed productions have won more than a dozen Tony awards. The Goodspeed Opera House reopened in 1963 and continues to operate today as a theater. In 1959, concerned residents formed Goodspeed Musicals in order to restore the building and bring back theater performances. After Goodspeed died in 1926, the Second Empire-style building fell into disrepair and was used for a number of purposes, including as militia base during World War I and a Department of Transportation storage facility. Ernie was last seen tapping it up in 42nd Street at Goodspeed Opera House and in the Drama Desk nominated original Off-Broadway cast of Dear Edwina (Scott). On Broadway, Bahorek played Leaf Coneybear in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and he also appeared in Deaf West Theatres national tour of Big River (with Scott Barnhardt). Designed by Jabez Comstock and built by local businessman William Goodspeed, the building’s main floor served as a store, office, and steamship docking point, and the top two floors served as a venue for live performances. Stanley Bahorek is a stage actor who took over the role of Charlie Muskrat in the Goodspeed Opera Houses 2009 production of Emmet Otters Jug-Band Christmas. To learn more visit October 24, 1877, the Goodspeed Opera House on the Connecticut River in East Haddam officially opened to the public with the productions of Charles II, Box and Cox, and Turn Him Out. Full productions at Goodspeed Musicals (CT) in 2008, on Broadway in 2009 and at Act II.

Goodspeed has received two Special Tony Awards, for its outstanding achievements. Received a NYC Women in Media grant to record an EP in fall 2022. Also integral to its mission, Goodspeed houses the Scherer Library of Musical Theatre, which preserves scores, sheet music, scripts, original cast recordings, playbills, and theatre memorabilia, and has established the Max Showalter Center for Education in the Musical Theater to educate and train future generations of theatergoers and theatrical professionals. Price since 1968, Goodspeed produces three musicals each season at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, 17 of which have gone to Broadway (including Man of La Mancha, Shenandoah, and Annie), receiving more than a dozen Tony Awards, In addition, Goodspeed produces three new musicals each year at The Norma Terris Theatre, opened in 1984 in Chester, Connecticut, for the development of new musicals. GOODSPEED MUSICALS has achieved international acclaim for its dedication to the preservation and advancement of musical theatre.

Goodspeed opera house 2009 season