Now that we’ve looked at the drivers of Broadway’s recent season, we annually provide an updated look at the playwrights, composers, lyricists and book writers who had have the most performances of their work in the history of Broadway.

We divide the ranked list into groups, or circles. The 10th Circle includes artists whose work has been seen the equivalent of eight shows a week for 52 weeks for 10 years, or 4,160 performances. The 15th Circle is for 6,240 performances, and so on. This year a composer reached the 60th Circle!

So let’s begin with the 22 artists in the 10th Circle (4,160 – 6,239 performances), in places #61 – 82: Marshall Brickman (4,262), Arthur Miller (4,368), Winnie Holzman (4,406), E. Y. Harburg (4,570), Rick Elice (4,581), Joe Masteroff (4,617), Leonard Bernstein (5,065), Harold J. Rome (5,075), Terrence McNally (5,095), Jonathan Larson (5,123), Catherine Johnson (5,231), Harvey Fierstein (5,243), Harry Warren (5,262), Arthur Laurents (5,293), Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (5,300), Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs (5,447), Kurt Weill (5,662), Frederick Loewe (5,858) and Joshua Logan (5,867).

Fierstein had the largest jump in the rankings this season, with 863 performances of Newsies, Kinky Boots and Casa Valentina.

Next week we’ll look at the 28 members of the 15th Circle, places #33 – 60.

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July 17, 2014 — Broadway Peformances II

Last week we looked at the 22 members of the 10th Circle.

Here are the 28 members of the 15th Circle (equivalent to eight shows a week for 52 weeks for 15 years), from 6,240 to 8,319 performances: Moss Hart (6,410), Al Dubin (6,567), Tennessee Williams (6,580), Howard Ashman (6,643), Eugene O’Neill (6,718), Alan Jay Lerner (6,781), Cy Coleman (6,788), Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi (6,870), Nicholas Dante (6,896), James Kirkwood (6,919), Edward Kleban (7,001), Frank Loesser (7,175), Herbert Kretzmer (7,216), Kenneth Tynan (7,273), Lorenz Hart (7,321), Sheldon Harnick (7,336), Linda Woolverton (7,352), Richard Maltby, Jr. (7,550), Joseph Stein (7,623), Peter Stone (7,642), George Bernard Shaw (7,661), Jerry Bock (7,670), Betty Comden and Adolph Green (7,842), Alan Menken (8,081), Jerry Herman (8,113) and T. S. Eliot (8,146).

Of these, Alan Menken should reach the 20th Circle, behind Newsies and Aladdin, about Labor Day.

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July 24, 2014 — Broadway Performances III

Today we look at those Broadway artists whose work has had the equivalent of eight shows per week for 52 weeks for 20 years (= 20th Circle) or 25 years (= 25th Circle).

In the 20th Circle (8,320 – 10,399 performances), the 15 artists, ranked #18 – 32, are Ira Gershwin (8,367), Marvin Hamlisch (8,445), Abe Burrows (8,472), George Gershwin (8,493), George Abbott (8,517), Irving Berlin (8,577), Jule Styne (8,772), Herbert Fields (8,784), William Shakespeare (9,090), Dorothy Fields (9,219), Jerome Kern (9,268), Stephen Schwartz (9,534), Thomas Meehan (9,567), Cole Porter (9,930) and Elton John (10,073).

Of these, three are still working: Schwartz (with Wicked and Pippin), Meehan (with Annie and now Rocky) and Elton John (with The Lion King<./ins>).

In the 25th Circle (10,400 – 12,479 performances), the nine artists, ranked #9 – 17, are Russel Crouse (10,484), Bob Fosse (10,679), Howard Lindsey (11,299), Charles Hart (11,328), George S. Kaufman (11,369), Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg (11,393), Richard Stilgoe (11,712() and Michael Stewart (12,189).

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July 31, 2014 — Broadway Performances IV

We are now at the top of the list of Broadway performances — the top eight artists of all time.

In the 30th circle (12,480 – 14,59 performances), ranked #8 is Stephen Sondheim (13,329), behind West Side Story (2,093), Gypsy (2,081),A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1,835) and Sweeney Todd (1,094), Into the Woods (1,045), A Little Night Music (1,026) andCompany (1,013) among his 22 shows.

In the 35th Circle (14,560 – 16,639 performances), ranked #7 is John Kander (15,964) and ranked #6 is Fred Ebb (16,018). Almost all their work was done jointly: Chicago (8,213), Cabaret, Kiss of the Spider Woman (904) and Woman of the year (770) among 15 shows each.

in the 40th Circle (16,640 – 18,719), ranked #5 is Tim Rice (18,301), lyricist for The Lion King (6,870), Beauty and the Beast (5,461), Evita(1,904), Aida (1,852), Jesus Christ Superstar (1,084) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) (978) among his eight shows.

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August 7, 2014 — Broadway Performances V

We are now at the top of the mountain — the top four.

In the 45th Circle(18,720 – 20,799 performances), ranked #4, is Neil Simon (19,566). Seven of his 33 shows have run more than 1,000 performances: Barefoot in the Park (1,639), Promises, PromisesThe Odd Couple (1,508), Brighton Beach Memoirs (1,308), Sweet Charity(1,256), Plaza Suite (1,097) and They’re Playing Our Song (1,082). Seventeen of his shows have run more than one year. He has by far the most performances of any playwright — 14,957 performances.

In the 50th Circle (20,800 – 22,879 performances), ranked #3, is Oscar Hammerstein II (22,471). Just above him, in the 55th Circle (22,880 – 24,959), ranked #2, is his frequent collaborator Richard Rodgers (22,944). Together they created Oklahoma (3,033), South Pacific (2,936),The King and I (2,912), The Sound of Music (1,976) and Carousel (1,362). Hammerstein had 40 shows, Rodgers 42.

In the 60th Circle (24,960 – 27,039 performances), ranked #1, is Andrew Lloyd Webber. On Christmas Day, 2013 he became the first artist to have 25,000 performances of his work on Broadway. This is the equivalent of watching a Webber show for eight performances a week for 52 weeks a year for more than 60 years! His 11 shows include The Phantom of the Opera (10,951), Cats (7,485), Evita (1,904), Jesus Christ Superstar (1,084), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (978), Sunset Boulevard (977) and Starlight Express (761).