BackStage Utah

I have reached a milestone in my Community Theater Production Database project.  I know have information from 200 community and semi-professional theaters across the nation (and 1 in Germany).  The oldest theater in the survey was established in 1913 (and it took forever to enter the data from that one!), the newest was established in 2007.  In all, over 5200 separate plays have been done, and I believe the total number of productions is around 27,000ish.  Here's the latest breakdown:

TOP 25 PRODUCTIONS (1913-2007) (I've got a list of the top 100, but this will do for now)
1.  A Christmas Carol (209 productions)
2.  Arsenic And Old Lace (188 productions)
3.  The Fantasticks (159 productions)
4.  You Can't Take It With You (157 productions)
5.  Barefoot In The Park (156 productions)
6.  Blithe Spirit (151 productions)
7.  Harvey (146 productions)
8.  Guys And Dolls (145 productions)
9.  Fiddler On The Roof (141 productions)
10.  The Music Man (136 Productions)
      The Odd Couple (Male Version) (136 productions)
12.  The Mousetrap (128 productions)
13.  Oliver! (125 productions)
14.  Steel Magnolias (123 productions)
15.  The Sound Of Music (122 productions)
16.  A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (119 productions)
17.  Oklahoma! (112 productions)
18.  Our Town (109 productions)
19.  You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (107 productions)
20.  The Foreigner (104 productions)
      The Man Who Came To Dinner (104 productions)
      South Pacific (104 productions)
23.  The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (103 productions)
      Bus Stop (103 productions)
      Wait Until Dark (103 productions)

And here are the:
TOP 25 (well, 26) PRODUCTIONS (2000-2007)
1.  The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (43 productions)
     A Christmas Carol (43 productions)
3.  Annie (40 productions)
     Over The River And Through The Woods (40 productions)
5.  Moon Over Buffalo (32 productions)
6.  Arsenic And Old Lace (31 productions)
     The Sound Of Music (31 productions)
8.  Oliver! (30 productions)
9.  Barefoot In The Park (29 productions)
     Steel Magnolias (29 productions)
     Sylvia (29 productions)
12.  Joseph And The Technicoler Dreamcoat (28 productions)
13.  A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (27 productions)
      Proof (27 productions)
15.  The Odd Couple (Male Version) (26 productions)
      You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (26 productions)
17.  The Foreigner (25 productions)
      The Music Man (25 productions)
      The Wizard Of Oz (25 productions)
20.  Cinderella (24 productions)
      Gypsy (24 productions)
      Rumors (24 productions)
23.  Bye Bye Birdie (23 productions)
      Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (23 productions)
      Fiddler On The Roof (23 productions)
      Little Shop Of Horrors (23 productions)

Ten Things I've learned while doing this project:
1.  I've had to add new titles to the database for almost every theater company, which tells me that theaters are willing to take a chance on a less well-known title, from time to time;
2.  Theater companies across the country seem to be looking for some alternative to A Christmas Carol, but aren't finding many decent alternatives;
3.  Bob Easton needs to update Around The Globe's website (nudge, nudge);
4.  On a wholly unrelated note, there are a lot of really bad web sites out there;
5.  Despite all of Dark Knight's efforts on behalf of society, people will still do West Side Story;
6.  That Neil Simon fellow appears to show some promise;
7.  I need to find a copy of The Girl In The Freudian Slip, just to satisfy my own curiosity;
8.  I may have found a musical that I might possibly consider auditioning for (except for that whole "not being able to sing" issue):  http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/2676?osCsid=5f2cd...
9.  Theater companies don't do enough Shakespeare; and
10.  There's a theater company in Colorado that specialilzes in "swashbuckling theater."  I think this might be too small a niche to prove economically viable in the long run.

mr. spiker wrote on Mar 27^th, 2007 at 4:10pm:


Basically, my criteria for inclusion are as follows:
1.  Any member of the American Association of Community Theater; or
2.  Any theater listed on the Community Theater Green Room web site; or
3.  Anything that came up when I did a Google search for "community theater;" and
4.  The theater company had to have its entire production history on its web site (because I'm lazy)

So for the purposes of this survey, if a theater company defines itself as a community theater, that's good enough for me.  There is, of course, a huge disparity in the size, scope, and resources of the companies included in the survey.  It's not a very scientific sampling.

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I almost made that joke ....

but if the Hales or SCERA ever schedule Cat On A Hot Tin Roof or Proof, make sure to let me know.

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Thanks.  I think there's an article in there somewhere.  I just need to figure out where....   

I hope you never have the opportunity to audition for "Das Barbecu" in Utah. �Larry West did it up at Snowbird a few years back. �It was TRAGIQUE! �Very LAME show. �I'd see "West Side Story" for the 20 time before I'd see that show again.