Comprehensive Musical Coverage in Illinois High Schools, AY 2010-11:
schoolsnapshots.org/arts/musicals.pl
Although information from about 100 high schools in Illinois has not yet been received, we have gone ahead and published our findings for performances of musicals during the 2010-11 school year in Illinois.
We are currently tracking about 318 productions. Of those, 66 closed before Jan. 26, either before the winter break or earlier in January, and 241 are known to be opening after Jan. 26.
Three high schools produced musicals in cooperation with other high schools, two of those coops being in-district productions and one being a cooperative venture between high schools in two nearby districts.
At least 146 high schools are not performing a musical this year. We report “at least” because several high schools in the Chicago Public Schools system, where musicals are not likely to occur, did not report any information. At a few schools out of the 146, whose superintendents I talked with over the phone, part of the reason why a musical was performed during the 2009-10 school year but not during the 2010-11 school year was a cut in the fine arts budget. It still must be said, though, that the overwhelming majority of schools not putting on a musical this year didn’t put one on last year or the year before, either. The budget problems, therefore, can’t get all the blame by any means.
We note missing information on a number of schools. For example, we have indication that musicals will be performed at 29 schools for which we don’t know the title. This is an artifact of our data collection methods, as we asked for the information before some schools knew what musical would be performed. We will stay on top of our data collection and get information about these musicals published as soon as possible.
As the data currently stands, a total of 95 unique musicals will be performed this year in Illinois. This number, however, includes some productions that combine songs from several different musicals, as well as some other musical performances at schools related to drama, such as madrigal dinners, where this is the only such activity at the school. Furthermore, 41 musicals are being performed at only one high school in Illinois this year, that we know about.
Running away with the popularity lead this year is Beauty and the Beast, not surprising for this Disney-based musical that currently stands as the seventh-longest running musical in Broadway history. In a distant second, we find several musicals in a near dead heat, depending on information received from schools late in the reporting cycle. Among the second-place finishers are Hairspray, Little Shop of Horrors, Bye Bye Birdie, Grease, Into the Woods, Footloose, and Once Upon a Mattress.
Finally, I would like to invite you to see our expanded and up-to-the-minute coverage of musical productions in Illinois high schools at the link above. Thanks to Alicia Mills, our research assistant, who put in all this data, our coverage is about as complete as I’ve ever seen when it comes to a beat stretching out over all of Illinois.
