History MissingEpisode / Theatre

** Creator/{{Aristophanes}}, the greatest of the Greek comedians, has eleven surviving plays out of around forty.

* Theatre/Lestat The musical based on Anne Rice's Vampires with music by Creator/EltonJohn and Bernie Taupin has a smaller fan base than it deserves, maybe because John has suppressed the release of the Cast Recording leaving it a truly lost musical.

** There are records of a play called ''Love's Labours Won'', which was thought to be an alternate title for ''Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew'' until a fragment turned up that listed them as separate plays. It's also been suggested that it's an alternate title for ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing'' -- a 2014 Royal Shakespeare Company production even [[http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/loves-labours-won/usually-known-as.aspx performed it under that title]] -- but since ''Theatre/LovesLaboursLost'' has a pretty clear SequelHook, it's just as possible that it's a now-lost direct sequel to the earlier play.

** There are various references in contemporary documents to a play co-written by William Shakespeare titled ''Cardenio'', probably adapted from a section of ''Literature/DonQuixote'', which is generally accepted to have been completely lost. However, the only contemporary reference to the play existing was by a bookseller called Humphrey Moseley, who is known to have falsely attributed other plays to Shakespeare to make them more saleable, and a minority theory suggests that it was a retitling and false attribution of ''The Second Maiden's Tragedy'' by Middleton, which loosely adapts the same episode from the novel but gives it a much more violent and tragic ending.

** There are various references in contemporary documents to a play co-written by William Shakespeare titled ''Cardenio'', which is generally accepted to have been completely lost.

* In a rather strange case, the Musical ''RENT'' by Johnathan Larson survives in text form and recorded performances. However, what's been heavily sought after is a recording with the full original cast. While the movie survives, it omits several songs and has 2 alternate cast members. On top of that, the live setting is considered to be far superior and the original performers were acclaimed for their skills. In 2006, a low quality camera recording was recovered of the opening night performance, but it's hard to tell what's going on and everything is distorted beyond all belief. It's believed that a full performance with the original cast exists somewhere, but for some reason nobody will release the full version.

** It's believed that many works can be found in the remains of an ancient Roman villa. Problem: it's in Herculaneum, one of the cities buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

* In a rather strange case, the Musical ''RENT'' by Johnathan Larson survives in text form and full performances

* Claudio Monteverdi probably wrote eight operas, but only three survive in complete score (the earliest and the last two). Three seem to be lost entirely, and we have only a single fragment from each of the other two (one being the famous ''Lament of Arianna''). These fragments only survived because they were published separately.

** Creator/{{Menander}}'s ''Dyskolos'' ("Grouch") was recovered by archaeologists a few decades since with only thirty-nine lines missing, but is the only specimen of the Athenian New Comedy to survive in a performable amount.

** There are records of a play called ''Love's Labours Won'', which was thought to be an alternate title for ''Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew'' until a fragment turned up that listed them as separate plays.

** Creator/{{Aeschylus}}, regarded as the father of dramatic tragedy, is known to have written seventy plays; today, we possess only seven. Among the lost plays are the second and third plays in the ''Prometheia'' trilogy, ''Prometheus Unbound'' and ''Prometheus the Fire-Bringer'', of which only fragments survive.

** This also applies somewhat to the play ''Theatre/PericlesPrinceOfTyre'', which only exists in a corrupt, pirated copy. [[note]]However, his supposed collaborator George Wilkins wrote a novelization entitled ''The Painful Adventures of Pericles, Prince of Tyre'', which some scholars have attempted to use as a source for reconstructiong some of the play's dialogue.[[/note]]

* Many Creator/GilbertAndSullivan fans have never heard of their first collaboration, ''Theatre/{{Thespis}}''. The reason is that Sullivan's music is lost except for two songs: "Little Maid of Arcadee" (published as sheet music) and "Climbing Over Rocky Mountain" (reused in ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance''). Since Gilbert's libretto survived, there have been multiple efforts to "reconstruct" ''Thespis'' with "Sullivan-style" music. Creator/IsaacAsimov even wrote a time travel story in 1978 ("Fair Exchange?") which focused on a character travelling back to 1871 to rescue the score.

** References to a play co-written by William Shakespeare titled ''Cardenio'', which is generally accepted to have been completely lost.

* Countless ancient Greek plays have been lost to the historical ether. Of all the ancient Greek playwrights, most are not even represented by single surviving play, and even of the four best-preserved dramatists, we possess only a meagre portion of their complete bodies of works:

* Many GilbertAndSullivan fans have never heard of their first collaboration, ''Thespis''. The reason is that Sullivan's music is lost except for two songs: "Little Maid of Arcadee" (published as sheet music) and "Climbing Over Rocky Mountain" (reused in ''The Pirates of Penzance''). Since Gilbert's libretto survived, there have been multiple efforts to "reconstruct" ''Thespis'' with "Sullivan-style" music.
** ''Thespis'' is such a legend among G&S fans that one of them, IsaacAsimov, wrote a time travel story in 1978 ("Fair Exchange?") which focused on a character travelling back to 1871 to rescue the score.
* References to a play co-written by William Shakespeare titled "Cardenio", which is generally accepted to have been completely lost. There are records of another show, called "Love's Labours Won", but it is unknown if this is a lost play, or simply an alternate title for a show that was later renamed.
** It was thought to be an alternate title for ''Taming of the Shrew'', until a fragment turned up that listed them as separate plays. The "lost play" theory is now considered the more likely.
** [[Series/DoctorWho It was destroyed after witches tried to use it to release their sisters from their prison.]]
** This also applies somewhat to the play ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'', which only exists in a corrupt, pirated copy. [[note]]However, his supposed collaborator George Wilkins wrote a novelization entitled ''The Painful Adventures of Pericles, Prince of Tyre'', which some scholars have attempted to use as a source for reconstructiong some of the play's dialogue.[[/note]] Almost half of his other plays, including ''{{Macbeth}}'' and ''TheTempest'', might have been lost forever if his friends had not decided to publish a memorial volume after his death.
* Countless ancient Greek plays have been lost to the historical ether. To put this in perspective:
** Aeschylus, regarded as the father of dramatic tragedy, is known to have written seventy plays; today, we possess only seven. Among the lost plays are the second and third plays in the ''Prometheia'' trilogy, ''Prometheus Unbound'' and ''Prometheus the Fire-Bringer'', of which only fragments survive.
** Sophocles, the second great Greek tragedian, is credited with 120 plays, but only seven have survived in their entirety. Fragments of a previously lost play of his, ''The Progeny'', were discovered in 2005. The play is part of the [[Theatre/OedipusRex Oedipus cycle]], and is apparently about the Seven Against Thebes.
** The third great Greek tragedian, Euripides, fares only slightly better, with eighteen or nineteen (at least one play's authorship is debated) of over ninety plays surviving. Notably, he is the only Greek tragedian represented by a complete surviving "satyr play" (a burlesque tragicomedy performed in the middle or at the end of a group of tragic plays), ''The Cyclops''.
** Aristophanes, the greatest of the Greek comedians, has eleven surviving plays out of around forty.
** And these four have the best preserved bodies of work of all ancient Greek dramatists; most of their contemporaries are not even represented by a single surviving play (the vast majority were lost after the fall of the Roman Empire).
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* Even WilliamShakespeare wasn't completely immune to this. His play ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'' only exists in a corrupt, pirated copy. [[note]]However, his supposed collaborator George Wilkins wrote a novelization entitled ''The Painful Adventures of Pericles, Prince of Tyre'', which some scholars have attempted to use as a source for reconstructiong some of the play's dialogue.[[/note]] Almost half of his other plays, including ''{{Macbeth}}'' and ''TheTempest'', might have been lost forever if his friends had not decided to publish a memorial volume after his death.

* Even WilliamShakespeare wasn't completely immune to this. His play ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'' only exists in a corrupt, pirated copy. [note]However, his supposed collaborator George Wilkins wrote a novelization entitled ''The Painful Adventures of Pericles, Prince of Tyre'', which some scholars have attempted to use as a source for reconstructiong some of the play's dialogue.[/note] Almost half of his other plays, including ''{{Macbeth}}'' and ''TheTempest'', might have been lost forever if his friends had not decided to publish a memorial volume after his death.

** And these four have the best preserved bodies of work of all ancient Greek dramatists; most of their contemporaries are not even represented by a single surviving play (the vast majority were lost after the fall of the Roman Empire).

** ''Thespis'' is such a legend among G&S fans than one of them, IsaacAsimov, wrote a time travel story in 1978 ("Fair Exchange?") which focused on a character travelling back to 1871 to rescue the score.

*** [[Series/DoctorWho It was destroyed after witches tried to use it to release their sisters from their prison.]]

** Sophocles, the second great Greek tragedian, is credited with 120 plays, but only seven have survived in their entirety. Fragments of a previously lost play of his, ''The Progeny'', were discovered in 2005. The play is part of the [[OedipusRex Oedipus cycle]], and is apparently about the Seven Against Thebes.