What was your first actual Broadway show and who did you go with? I saw Beauty and the Beast in 2004 when I was 12 with a family friend. It was one of the best days of my life. I also went to Sardi's. First Broadway show that I saw not on Broadway was probably The Sound of Music,Godspell, or Anything Goes when I was about seven. Hooked since.
"And that was that or so it seemed.
Is this the end or the beginning?
All I know is, she was right.
I am an idiot.
It’s even on my birth certificate in so many words.
This is my rage.
This is my love.
This is my town.
This is my city.
This is my life."
Phantom of the Opera with one of my best friends on my very first evening in NYC. It's embarrassing how recent it actually was, but up until then, I had never realized how accessible NYC was to me.
"I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand: Till we have built Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land."
Very first Broadway show? FOLLIES, in LA (which was the NY production moved whole cloth)
Very first Broadway show actually seen on Broadway? Not sure: it could have been one of three -- NIGHT MUSIC, WIZ, or ROCKABYE HAMLET. I think it was SR of NIGHT MUSIC.
First Broadway show I saw was the Mamma Mia national tour. My parents took me to see it in San Francisco.
The first saw I actually saw ON Broadway was the Chicago revival with my family when we took a trip to New York. Luckily, I've learned well and have moved on appreciate shows of a better quality. :)
"You have two kinds of shows on Broadway – revivals and the same kind of musicals over and over again, all spectacles. You get your tickets for The Lion King a year in advance, and essentially a family... pass on to their children the idea that that's what the theater is – a spectacular musical you see once a year, a stage version of a movie. It has nothing to do with theater at all. It has to do with seeing what is familiar.... I don't think the theatre will die per se, but it's never going to be what it was.... It's a tourist attraction." Stephen Sondheim
My first Broadway show was CATS. I'm pretty sure that was the first Broadway show for lots of kids in my generation. Sorry to be boring!
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
The first saw I actually saw ON Broadway was the Chicago revival with my family when we took a trip to New York. Luckily, I've learned well and have moved on appreciate shows of a better quality. :)
Ummm, what do you mean by that? CHICAGO was my first show on Broadway too. It's an incredible piece of theater.
^ People forget that CHICAGO is/was a critical darling as well as a bonafide hit. Or that they used to cast people who could actually sing/dance/act the roles. Anyone who's seen CHICAGO with a competent cast knows it's one of the most incredible nights of theatre you'll ever have.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
First show I vividly remember: Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby with my mom, grandma, brother and sister; I think I was 11(?). As a theater fan and young gymnast I was in heaven!
I've been told I saw the '92 Guys and Dolls and Secret Garden - but I don't remember much other than the pretty white gloves I wore to both productions :) .
"I've never encountered such religiously, you know, loyal fans as Broadway musical theater fans. It's amazing."
--Allison Janney
Phantom of the Opera, in 2000; a 13th birthday present. I had listened to the cast recording since I was 7 and had the show memorized by heart, but it was magical to see it come alive. I remember my father leaning close to me before the lights went down and murmuring listen... the orchestra is tuning. I always strain to catch those first notes now while everyone is still chattering; they're magical.
POTO was my brother's first too. He was about 8. My dad tells the story of how during the overture blast and the chandelier raise, my brother turned to him and said cheekily, "I think they are trying to get our attention...!"
I'm embarrassed to say that it was the Chicago production of Wicked about 4 years ago. I loved it at the time, but in the past year or two, I've tried really hard to avoid it because the more I listen to it, the less I like it.
I got to see Catch Me If You Can just this May. The trip was my college graduation gift and it almost seemed necessary to be a theatre grad and have at least one trip to NYC under my belt. My mom adored it and I enjoyed it.
@ QResident, not bad at all! It was three years until I saw a show on Broadway again (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) after my first time in the theater!
"And that was that or so it seemed.
Is this the end or the beginning?
All I know is, she was right.
I am an idiot.
It’s even on my birth certificate in so many words.
This is my rage.
This is my love.
This is my town.
This is my city.
This is my life."
December 1979, Grease, original produciton about 5 or 6 months before it closed. My older sister and her college roommate each took their little sisters. I hated it, for reasons that made me a stupid kid -- I expected the theater to be extravagant (perhaps jewel encrusted?), I didn't understand the use of the handheld mics (I just thought the actors couldn't be heard without them.).
But it was too late as I'd already been performing for 6 years. I think my second show was either A Chorus Line or Cats. (Both which I loved, but that's a different story.)
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
First actual show on Broadway was Phantom, but I have seen countless touring productions. First tour was the Madison Square Garden tour of the Wizard of Oz back in 1999
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "