1Playbill cover for Wicked

2Scenic design for Act 2 from Emma Abbott’s production of the opera Paul and Virginia by Victor Massé (1872) showing the interior of the plantation home of Mons. St. Crois on ‘a picturesque island off the coast of Africa’. Tams Witmark Wisconsin Collection, Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin–Madison

3‘A Brivele dem Taten’ (A Little Letter to Papa) (1911). Words and music by Solomon Smulewitz (1868–1943), arranged by Joseph Rumshisky (1881–1956)

4Libretto cover from ‘Klein-Deutschland’ (Little Germany) (1897) by Adolf Philipp

5Editorial cartoon concerning the popularity of The Merry Widow from The Evening American, 1909

6The original New York production of The Student Prince with Ilse Marvenga and the Male Chorus. Photograph courtesy of The Shubert Archive

7A production of Show Boat, c. 1938 at the St Louis Municipal Opera. Photograph courtesy of the Municipal Theatre Association of St Louis

8Gertrude Lawrence with the doll that George Gershwin gave her to hold while singing ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’ in Oh, Kay! Photograph courtesy of New York Public Library, Billy Rose Theatre Collection

9Programme cover from original production of Twenty to One (12 November 1935, Coliseum). Photograph from private programme collection of John Snelson

10Programme cover from the 1945 revival at the Victoria Palace of Me and My Girl (original premiere 16 December 1937, Victoria Palace). The design is the same as the original cover and Lupino Lane starred in both productions. Photograph from private programme collection of John Snelson

11Programme cover from the original production of Bless the Bride (26 April 1947, Adelphi Theatre). Photograph from private programme collection of John Snelson

12Programme cover from the original production of Gay’s the Word (16 February 1951, Saville Theatre). Photograph from private programme collection of John Snelson

13Programme cover from Express Bongo (23 April 1958, Saville Theatre). Photograph from private programme collection of John Snelson

14Shirley Jones as Maria with the children in the 1977 production of The Sound of Music at Starlight Theatre, Kansas City, Missouri. Photograph courtesy of Starlight Theatre, Kansas City, Missouri

15Carol Channing in the 1977 production of Hello, Dolly! at Starlight Theatre, Kansas City, Missouri. Photograph courtesy of Starlight Theatre, Kansas City, Missouri

16Lotte Lenya performing the song ‘Pirate Jenny’ with Leonard Bernstein conducting during the concert production of The Threepenny Opera at Festival of the Creative Arts, Brandeis University, 1952. Photograph courtesy of the Weill-Lenya Research Center, Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, New York

17Production of Company in 2001 at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre (formerly Missouri Repertory Theatre). Left to right: Kathy Barnett, Tia Speros, Cheryl Martin, Paul Niebanck, Lewis Cleale (as Robert, the ‘other’ who is unable to make a connection with his friends). Photograph courtesy of Kansas City Repertory Theatre

18Ann Reinking, P. J. Mann and Christine Colby Jacques in ‘Stout-Hearted Men’, a dance number from Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, in 1979. Photograph by Martha Swope © The New York Public Library

19The original production of Hair in 1968. Photograph by Dagmar

20The original London cast of Les Misérables, Palace Theatre, 1985. © Donald Cooper, Photostage

21Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford in The Phantom of the Opera, Her Majesty’s Theatre, 1986. © Donald Cooper, Photostage

22Matilda the Musical at Cambridge Theatre, London, 2011. Photo by Manuel Harlan © RSC

23El Rey León at Teatro Lope de Vega, Madrid, winter 2017. Produced by Stage Entertainment, at the time the longest-running musical theatre piece in Madrid history. Photograph by Paul R. Laird

24Imperial Theatre marquee featuring The Boy from Oz, summer 2004. Photograph by William A. Everett

25Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre, New York, summer 2004. Photograph by William A. Everett