Theater Programs are No Longer Interesting
Steven B. Zwickel
July 27, 2026
I Used to Love Theater Programs
My parents, especially my mother, were avid fans of the performing arts. They believed that it was important for their children to be exposed to these from an early age. As with our choices of food and drink, we weren’t expected to like everything, but they insisted we try out new things.
I grew up in New York City and my parents were avid theater-goers, so I started attending shows on Broadway when I was really quite young (my sister and I have the dubious distinction of being among the youngest audience members ever kicked out of The King and I—I was 4, she was 3—we knew all the songs and sang along!)
And so, from the time we were quite little, my sister and I were taken to see musicals, shows, concerts, operas, and ballets. By the time I was a teenager, I was in love with the theater. {Concerts and operas also appealed to me, but ballet never interested me.}
One of my favorite souvenirs from many of my trips to the theater were Playbills, and I kept collecting these as I grew up and eventually moved from New York to Wisconsin. {Playbill is the brand name of a free program given to audience members in New York and some other American theaters <https://playbill.com/>}
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| 1973 "El Grande de Coca-Cola" Off-Broadway comedy set in Honduras. Jeff Goldblum was part of the cast |
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| 1976-78 "Sly Fox" by Larry Gelbart with George C. Scott Based on Ben Jonson's 1606 play "Vulpine" |
I began collecting memorabilia, particularly theater programs, but also original cast recordings (at first 78 rpm records, then cassette tapes, then CDs). My collection grew over time until several large boxes were taking over our basement. I had a collection of some 300–400 theater and concert programs—some from Broadway, some from the London stage, some from Chicago, and many from Wisconsin. Among the cast lists are some of big names in modern-day theater (a few from before they went on to become big stars—you would recognize them immediately).
In July, 2021 I contacted the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research <https://wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/> about making a donation to the Archive Playbill Collection. I explained that I had theater programs and Playbills from theater productions and concerts done in New York City, London, Chicago, and Wisconsin dating from approximately 1960 to 2020. I also had programs for the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Chamber Orchestra, Madison Theater Guild, Forward Theater Company, Madison Ballet, CTM (Children’s Theater of Madison), and Madison Opera.
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| 1983 "The Mikado" Madison Savoyards' production cover design by Sarah White |
In addition, I offered to donate a lobby poster, London cast recording LP, movie script, and the Philadelphia tryout program and ticket stubs for the musical My Fair Lady. I also had programs and audio cassette recordings from 1977-1986 productions of Gilbert & Sullivan operettas by the Madison Savoyards, audio cassettes of cast recordings of various musical and opera productions, and 35 years’ worth of programs and one poster from American Players Theater in Spring Green, Wisconsin <https://americanplayers.org/> (Winner of a Tony Award in 2026!).
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| 1956 "My Fair Lady" program from the Philadelphia tryout run |
The star of my collection was the program and ticket stubs from the 3rd night of a month-long Philadelphia tryout run of My Fair Lady at the Erlanger Theater on Feb. 18, 1956. These items are extremely rare and I never found anyone who had anything like them. (Eliza sings a song called “I Want to Dance All Night”—thank goodness they changed that lyric!). In Act I, Scene 9 the song “Say a Prayer” was cut from the show but Lerner and Loewe used it in the 1958 musical film Gigi.
The program and tickets (and the Erlanger Theater ticket envelope) were given to me by a woman who was there that night, so I can authenticate them. I thought maybe a real musical theater buff or Julie Andrews fan would probably pay a lot for them. As it turned out, the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research took the entire collection for its archives.
Why I No Longer Like Theater Programs
Over the past few years I have come to dislike printed theater programs and I no longer collect them. Here’s why:
➽ Too many pages in modern-day programs are devoted to “our wonderful sponsors”. It must appeal to the vanity of those who can afford to donate $25,000+, but it comes across as boasting and bragging about how rich they are. Don’t they know that the highest form of charity is that which is given anonymously? {OK, according to Maimonides <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzedakah> complete anonymity, where neither party knows the other, is the second-highest form.}
I understand the reason for listing all of “our wonderful sponsors”—it’s supposed to encourage other rich people to become wonderful by donating. But it’s annoying to those of us who just want to know more about the play we are about to see.
➽ Director’s Notes used to tell us a bit more about the show, its origins, and perhaps some insight into its meaning. Nowadays, it seems they think it’s important to tell the un-amazing story of how the director came across this “obscure” play (often after it won tons of awards abroad) and how incredible and insightful it is, even if it is hundreds of years old and “a play about nothing.” Most importantly, we are told that this play is RELEVANT to the way we live TODAY!
➽ Once upon a time, it was interesting to read a little bit about the performers’ backgrounds, just to help us remember where we might have seen them before and to note their credentials. Now we get a complete resumé, alongside a heavily edited headshot, of every actor and everyone else who may have had anything to do with the show. Are there really people who want to know that the Assistant to the Prodcution Assistant to the Touring Company Co-Stage Manager worked on “Our Town” in Kalamazoo?
I also note an alarming growth in the list of organizations, and people (including headshots and bios) listed as producers.
And, of course, many entries finish with either # or @ so we can “like” and “friend” them on social media, or with a shout out to someone “ who always believed in me.” I believe I will turn the page.
➽ I do not have a PhD in Advanced Music Theory, so I am completely lost when the program notes for a concert contain an extensive vocabulary, usually in Italian (occasionally in another European language), explaining the music that will be played.
“The third alesatura movement, features an uccisore ensemble reflecting the peasants’ march into combat with the giant grasshoppers, followed by a mordant credenza motif in C-flat spazzatura calderossa, typical of the composer’s devotion to cestino oblongatto.” This kind of thing does not make me allegro.
Of course I will continue to be part of the audience at many concerts, plays, and shows. I still enjoy a great night watching and listening to professional entertainment. But the programs they give out will go back into the rack for re-use when the curtain comes down. I won’t be saving them any longer.
