[3] Considered to be the most comprehensive international performing arts encyclopedia,[4] it is included in the reference section of many libraries.
Undertaken by an editorial team composed of a few people and led by D'Amico, it was produced in three or four years and contained four volumes.
[7] In drawing up lists of dramas, operas, ballets and films, the editorial team wondered if it their work was worthwhile or helpful.
It was Francesco Savio who sometimes said, "Of course it is; if someone else wants one day to create an Encyclopedia of Performing Arts, they would find these materials to be useful."
Responsibility for each section, such as film, music, or theatre, was delegated to an initial small staff that rapidly grew to thirty editors who coordinated over five hundred employees.
D'Amico felt that the second project benefited from finding amateur collectors without whose assistance entire sectors of biographical entries would have been less detailed.
An example of a collector was Ulderico Rolandi, a gynaecologist who lived in the Via Veneto, and who had made a hobby of collecting, filing and examining librettos.
[citation needed] The project suffered a severe crisis in 1957, two years after the death of D'Amico, due to disagreements between the editorial office and the publisher.
[6] Published between 1954 and 1962, the original nine-volume Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo covers ballet, films, opera, plays, theatre, vaudeville, and other areas of entertainment.
[citation needed] Published in Rome by Unione Editoriale in 1966, the Enciclopedia dello spettacolo.
The proposed biographies of many lesser figures were not included as the editorial staff were unable to keep up with the publisher's deadline.