Pantomime traditions, especially "Peter Pan", are performed quite often, and a few American theatre companies produce traditional British-style pantomime as well as American adaptations of the form. According to Professor Russell A. Peck of the University of Rochester, the earliest pantomime productions in the US were "Cinderella" pantomime productions in New York in March 1808, New York again in August 1808, Philadelphia in 1824, and Baltimore in 1839. A production at Olympic Theatre in New York of "Humpty Dumpty" ran for at least 943 performances between 1868 and 1873, (one source says 1,200 performances), becoming the longest-running pantomime in history. In
Pantomime and by no means all of which are obligatory. Some of these conventions were once common to other genres of popular theatre such as melodrama. Another contemporary pantomime tradition is the celebrity guest star, a practice that dates back to the late 19th century, when Augustus Harris, proprietor of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, hired well-known variety artists for his pantomimes. Many modern pantomimes use popular artists to promote the pantomime, and the play is often adapted to allow the star to showcase their well-known act, even when such a spot has little relation to the plot. As critic Michael