Buzz
When we reflect on our high school years, it often feels like everyone shared the same experience, participating in the same sincere theater productions. As it turns out, it’s not just a feeling—it’s true.
NPR, with the assistance of Dramatics, a magazine aimed at theater students and educators, decided to take a deep dive into the most popular high school plays and musicals. The magazine has published an annual ranking of the top productions since 1938, and after getting their hands on the archived editions, NPR compiled the rankings, awarding points to each show based on its placement (15 points for first place, 14 for second, and one point for shows ranked beyond 14th).
This is the first time this data has been gathered, and the results reveal that for the past 76 years, two productions have reigned supreme: Our Town and You Can't Take It With You. Here’s a snapshot of the data.
Most Popular High School Play, By Decade
1940s: You Can’t Take It With You 1950s: Our Town 1960s: Our Town 1970s: You Can’t Take It With You 1980s: You Can’t Take It With You 1990s: Our Town 2000s: A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2010s: Almost, Maine
You can check out the top six for each decade in the original post, along with color-coded data showing when the plays were first written or staged. Most of them date back to the 1930s through the 1950s.
Don Corathers, editor of Dramatics, shared with NPR that the enduring popularity of these two plays is due to their fit for high school productions: "Most high school teachers need a large cast, many female roles, and something that’s not too challenging for your grandma to sit through," he explained.
What’s evident is that iconic plays retain their relevance within the halls of high school theater, much like top musicals, though newer works seem to have an easier time making their way in.
The Most Popular High School Musical, By Decade
1960s: Oklahoma! 1970s: Oklahoma! 1980s: Bye Bye Birdie 1990s: Bye Bye Birdie 2000s: Guys and Dolls 2010s: Beauty and the Beast
Along with the rankings, NPR also provides graphics to track how the top works have ranked over time. They mention in the post that the popularity of certain productions is influenced by licensing, which means that some works that could have been widely loved might be excluded. Moreover, the rankings in Dramatics are not exhaustive, as the Educational Theater Association only surveys its members. In 1938, the association had 500 members, but today it boasts around 5000—still less than half of the estimated 12,000 high schools in the U.S. that offer drama programs.
