How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
#1How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 7:40am
Example: Off broadway, broadway, tours, etc. Not school productions.
And how old are you? If you don't want to give your exact age, just an approximate estimate of your age group.
Don't count multiple times seeing one show, just the shows themselves.
Updated On: 6/3/13 at 07:40 AM
gchris11
Broadway Star Joined: 5/7/13
#2How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 7:45am
too many to remember all of them. I am in my 40's
Updated On: 6/3/13 at 07:45 AM
Andre4
Stand-by Joined: 5/31/11
#2How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 8:02amFunny that you should ask since I just catalogued everything I have seen. This includes Broadway, Off-Broadeay, concerts, stand-up, and special performsnces like Cirque du Soleil. I have seen 503 and am 39 years old. My first concert was Phil Collins during his The Serious Tour in 1990. Excluding concerts it would be about 300 shows, not double-counting.
#3How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 9:35amI've been keeping a spreadsheet that covers all the plays/musicals I've seen/read, and while there's certainly room for error and forgotten memories, in the eight years or so since I was in school and starting to pick up theatregoing as a serious hobby I'm over 200 productions. About 40 of those were school productions, so professionally I'm around 160-170 or so.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
#4How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 11:04am
At 57, I have now seen my 365th equity production.
I actually had my list published with special notes...dinner with Penn and Teller or meeting Bernadette Peters or blocking Barbra Streisands view at Tommy, the musical.
#5How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 11:43am
once a month, I'm curious about this blocking Barbra Streisand's view? Want to elaborate? 
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#6How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 11:50am
Please tell me that I'm not the only one that would have no earthly idea what this number would be!
I started seeing b'wy shows when I was 16. I suppose I average maybe 10 a year(many more now than when I was young) -- that would put me near 350. But that is only a guess.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
ErinDillyFan
Broadway Star Joined: 7/14/06
#7How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 12:15pm
So far this year: 8
Last year: 22
2011: 20
2010: 16
Before that,
National tours: 150 (aprox)
broadway: 12 (approx)
other regional(20)
#8How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 1:21pm
Greengirl, what are you collecting this data for? By that I mean why do you want to know? Or is it just a point of discussion?
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
#9How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 2:51pm
Funnily enough, it's all because of BWW that a couple of years ago I first compiled a list of shows I'd seen (yeah, I had a previous name before -- got hacked last summer-- posted under a new name-- don't even get me started...).
Unfortunately I only tallied all the musicals I'd seen, not the plays. Why'd I do it? Because I never ever want to forget the hours I've spent in a theater seat, even to watch the lousy stuff. It's all precious. So tracking back to my first Broadway show (Fiddler) in 1967, I've seen 191 Broadway/ Off-Broadway/ West End or Equity Tour shows. I'm 56.
Sounds like I'd better do the straight play tally soon before the brain cells all slip away in the ether. Ok, there'll be a followup post when I get the other tally done.
#10How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 4:35pm
I'm sure, dramamama, that those of us keeping tally are the freaks. Worry not.
I've kept track ever since I took a Theatre Management class in college that touched on the responsibilities of Artistic Directors and Literary Managers, those for whom a wide and expansive knowledge of plays and musicals would be valuable to have to call upon. So I started a tally out of curiosity and, for fun, have been keeping it ever since.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
ghostlight2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/5/04
#11How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 4:52pmNo idea. Well into the hundreds, not counting repeats.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#12How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 5:09pm
seriously?
too many to think... my first broadway show was in 1986.
i average about 10-15 broadway a year
10-20 off broadway
and i can't count regional and state theaters and tours....
a lot.
#13How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 6:29pm
I saw Fiddler on the Roof on Tour in 2011, and on Broadway, I've seen 9 shows with a 10th being seen on Wednesday. (Beauty & The Beast, Hairspray, Phantom of the Opera (3x), Memphis, Enemy of the People, Evita, Chaplin, Mystery of Edwin Drood and The Assembled Parties, with Nice Work If You Can Get It to be added on Wednesday 
) I'm only 19, so the count will increase haha.
#14How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 8:02pmI honestly couldn't even wager a guess. It's well into the hundreds because I would say I average about 90-100 per year.
"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah
#15How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 8:11pm
Just a point of discussion! I think it's interesting to hear from real theatre fans about this kind of stuff
#16How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 8:15pm
No idea why anyone would care, but it turns out I've only recorded attending 105 Broadway plays, compared to 191 Broadway (etc.) musicals. 296 sounds like a respectable total at the age of 56.
(Are those who aren't tallying their shows also not sharing their ages because they're coy?)
ghostlight2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/5/04
#17How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 8:26pmI'm not tallying my shows because I literally have no idea. Hundreds. I'm not giving my age because I think it's a rude question and nobody's business.
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#18How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 8:27pm9
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
Finch
Stand-by Joined: 9/14/08
#19How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 8:32pm
Well, I started the professional shows with "A Majority of One" with Gertrude. Berg in 1956' and Sylvia Sidney in "Auntie Mame" in 1956. These were both touring companies. But I followed up with "Music Man" as my Broadway first in 1957. That leads up to last weeks's list of "Nance," "Matilda," "Kinky Boots," "I'll eat you Alive," and "Pippin." In other words, I've see a lot over the past 57 years.
Updated On: 6/3/13 at 08:32 PM
ARTc
Stand-by Joined: 11/4/11
#20How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 8:35pm
A while ago, there was a thread about how many Broadway musicals you saw. I listed over 200 (just Broadway musicals and that didn't include repeats) and was both a little surprised and pleased to list the most of any poster.
That was just Broadway musicals... I am an avid attender of other professional productions including Broadway plays, and Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions. I also love dance and attend dance concerts often.
This doesn't include the shows I attended because of a direct involvement in their production. There are many years of those, too.
I just turned 56 and I suspect that if I was to tally all the professional shows I've seen it would have long ago surpassed the 4 digits.
Am I bragging? Perhaps. But, like so many people here, I am passionate about the theater and cherish my many many many experiences spent in a darkened room.
And, I'm just beginning...
Updated On: 6/3/13 at 08:35 PM
#21How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/3/13 at 8:43pmI'm almost 19 and my rough estimate (though I have no real way of knowing for sure) is about 75-80 if we're including Broadway, off-Broadway, national tours and regional productions.
ActingDude172
Chorus Member Joined: 3/22/09
#22How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/4/13 at 11:47amFive Broadway productions, fifteen tours, twenty-six regional productions, and one very professional outdoor drama (not counting a few of the semi-pro others) make forty-seven professional shows. I may be forgetting a few. And I'm seventeen.
yankeefan7
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/14/12
#23How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/4/13 at 12:27pm
I would guess around 50, maybe a little more. I would say the majority of them have actually been on Broadway. Last year, I saw two shows on the West End and I think I have seen 3 tour shows. I have not lived in NY since 1990 so I don't see as may as I would like. I am in my 50's.
Updated On: 6/4/13 at 12:27 PM
RozeeRossi
Chorus Member Joined: 5/13/13
#24How many professional shows have you seen throughout your life?
Posted: 6/4/13 at 12:32pm17 professional in total (not counting multiples)- 8 Broadway, 5 tour, 2 off Broadway, and 2 regional. I'm 14 and I live in Florida so. :P
Videos