Who Has Worn the Most Hats on Broadway? Part 2

Dying to know more about an obscure Broadway fact? Broadway historian and self-proclaimed theatre nerd Jennifer Ashley Tepper is here to help with her new series, Broadway Deep Dive. Every month, BroadwayWorld will be accepting questions from theatre fans like you. If you're lucky, your question might be selected as the topic of her next column!

Today's question is: Who has worn the most hats on Broadway- director, producer, writer, actor, etc.?

Here are a few folks that could hold a record for the "number of hats" they've worn on Broadway shows.

Part I included those who have worn four or five hats on Broadway shows and part two includes those who have held even more positions than that!

Six Hats Club

Irving Berlin

Hat Count: 6
Actor, Composer, Lyricist, Producer, Theatre Owner, Writer

One of the most abundant contributors to the Great American Songbook, Berlin was an impresario who, for a time, even owned the Music Box Theatre.

Eubie Blake

Hat Count: 6
Actor, Composer, Lyricist, Music Director, Producer, Production Supervisor

Of the four Shuffle Along creators, Blake worked on Broadway for the longest span of time. He was there to celebrate when a musical revue of his work, Eubie! opened in 1978, when he was 91 years old.

George M. Cohan

Hat Count: 6
Actor, Composer, Director, Lyricist, Producer, Writer

The "father of American musical comedy", Cohan gave his regards to Broadway by working on over 100 productions in various capacities.

Bob Cole

Hat Count: 6
Actor, Composer, Director, Lyricist, Producer, Writer

Cole was the highly regarded and influential co-creator of A Trip to Coontown, the first Broadway musical entirely written and owned by Black artists. He worked on more than 25 Broadway shows as a writer in his lifetime.

Cy Coleman

Hat Count: 6
Arranger, Composer, Lyricist, Music Director, Musician, Producer

A lauded jazz club pianist, Coleman had a singular career, and composed major Broadway musicals spanning four decades. Influenced by his jazz and popular music roots, Coleman penned Little Me, Sweet Charity, Seesaw, I Love My Wife, On the Twentieth Century, Barnum, City of Angels, The Will Rogers Follies, and The Life.

Noël Coward

Hat Count: 6
Actor, Composer, Director, Lyricist, Producer, Writer

An influencer starting in the 1920s, Coward was as celebrated for his multi-faceted work as he was for his taste, wit, and style.

Elsie Janis

Hat Count: 6
Actor, Composer, Director, Lyricist, Producer, Writer

While her official Broadway hat count might be six, Janis played far more roles when you include other media-from radio announcer (the first female to occupy this position on NBC) to film production manager. Janis was an iconic Broadway personality whose work included several eponymous shows that she directed, wrote, and starred in.

David Loud

Hat Count: 6
Actor, Arranger, Composer, Music Director, Music Supervisor, Musician

The well-regarded music director of shows from Ragtime to Curtains has also appeared on stage in productions including Merrily We Roll Along and Master Class.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Hat Count: 6
Actor, Arranger, Composer, Lyricist, Producer, Writer

The preeminent multi-hyphenate of his generation, Miranda has been wearing multiple hats since long before Hamilton, from his work with Freestyle Love Supreme to his creation of web series and content.

Elizabeth Swados

Hat Count: 6
Choreographer, Composer, Director, Lyricist, Musician, Writer

Swados holds the distinction of having occupied six different roles on the same production: her masterwork Runaways, for which she wrote book, music, and lyrics, directed, choreographed, and played guitar-all at the age of 27.

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Hat Count: 6
Arranger, Composer, General Manager, Orchestrator, Producer, Writer

The impresario responsible for composing The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Sunset Boulevard, and more also controls his own properties as a producer.

Seven+ Hats Club

Bob Avian

Hat Count: 7
Actor, Assistant Stage Manager, Choreographer, Director, Producer, Production Assistant, Production Supervisor

Michael Bennett's right hand man, Avian assisted, co-choreographed, or produced all of his shows, from A Chorus Line to Dreamgirls, and went on to recreate his choreography after Bennett died.

Jason Robert Brown

Hat Count: 7
Arranger, Composer, Lyricist, Music Director, Music Supervisor, Musician, Orchestrator

Multi-hyphenate Jason Robert Brown has held up to seven different positions on his musicals, which include Songs for a New World, Parade, The Last Five Years, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon in Vegas, and Mr. Saturday Night. (And if you count the singing he did while conducting Urban Cowboy, the hat count would technically be eight!)

Tom Kitt

Hat Count: 7
Arranger, Composer, Lyricist, Music Director, Music Supervisor, Musician, Orchestrator

Represented on Broadway this season by Almost Famous, Pulitzer Prize-winning Kitt is known for writing his own Broadway musicals (High Fidelity, Next to Normal, Bring It On, If/Then, Flying Over Sunset) and creating original orchestrations and arrangements for shows comprised of pop music (American Idiot, SpongeBob SquarePants, Head Over Heels, Jagged Little Pill).

Marc Shaiman

Hat Count: 7
Actor, Arranger, Composer, Conductor, Music Director, Lyricist, Orchestrator

The multi-talented Shaiman (Hairspray, Smash, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the upcoming Some Like It Hot) has been impressing audiences from a young age, wearing seven different hats on Broadway shows and even more in the cabaret, film, TV, and recorded music spheres.

Noble Sissle

Hat Count: 7
Actor, Director, Lyricist, Producer, Production Supervisor, Scenic Designer, Writer

In addition to his multi-faceted work on Shuffle Along, and his Broadway career of writing, performing, and more, Sissle was also a bandleader, vocalist, musician, and disc jockey.

David Belasco

Hat Count: 8
Actor, Director, House Manager, Producer, Production Supervisor, Stage Manager, Theatre Owner, Writer

The namesake of Broadway's Belasco Theatre was a famously tempestuous impresario who presided over hundreds of productions as a writer, producer and more between 1884 and 1930.

Julie Taymor

Hat Count: 9
Composer, Costume Designer, Director, Dramaturg, Lyricist, Mask Designer, Puppet Designer, Scenic Designer, Writer

With nine different positions held on Broadway productions, and up to six at once on productions including The Lion King, Taymor is at the top of the list when it comes to multi-hyphenates.

---

Notes:

-Book writers, conceivers, playwrights, translators, etc. all elicit the term "Writer".

-Assistant and associate credits only count as a separate hat if the individual never held another position in that field.

-Musician is separate from music director only when there are productions where the individual has occupied solely the role of musician.

-There are integral production credits that are not listed online, including stagehands, musicians, and assistant positions in various departments. These lists are therefore not without unintentional omissions.

To post a comment, you must register and login.