Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
bwayboy22
Broadway Star Joined: 5/9/12
#1Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 12:42pmLooking Back at Broadway we can think of Iconic performances that people have remembered for decades and will remember for decades to come. Performances like Merman in Annie Get Your Gun, Mary Martin in the Sound of Music, Streisand in Funny Girl, Lansbury in Mame, Yul Brenner in the King and I, Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly, Loudon in Annie, Lupone in Evita, Buckley in Cats, Holliday in Dreamgirls, etc. What performances of the past 15 years do you think will become Iconic and remembered for years to come?
#2Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 12:44pmTonya. It'll always be Tonya.
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#3Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 12:45pmFantasias sweaty poonanny in The Color Purple.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
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suestorm
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/15/13
#4Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 12:46pm
Laura Osnes as Cinderella. i think everyone will be compared be compared to her
Cristen Milioti and Steve Kazee in ONCE they will be talked about for years, what chemistry!
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Updated On: 9/6/13 at 12:46 PM
#5Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 12:48pm
Got my house, it still keep the cold out....
bwayboy22
Broadway Star Joined: 5/9/12
#6Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 5:56pmThat is quite the picture...not sure if I want to remember it forever
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#7Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 6:18pm
You should be whipped with a cat-of-nine-tails for not mentioning Donna McKechnie in A Chorus Line. That woman knew how to work a red dress. And she did more in 10 minutes with "Music & The Mirror" than most actresses did in a lifetime.
It's difficult because all the ones you've listed were the original stars of original works. Now we have so many revivals and it's always difficult for a revival to outshine an original, whether it's a stage production or a movie. Plus I think the new Millennium brought a dry spell to the Broadway musical. There just aren't that many iconic performances.
If I absolutely had to give an answer (and it's a very weak one)
Sutton Foster in Thoroughly Modern Millie
Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel in Wicked
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#8Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 7:44pm
I think this decade belongs to the ladies.
Alice Ripley in Next to Normal
Christine Ebersole in Grey Gardens
Tonya Pinkins in Caroline, or Change
I know you.
I know you.
I know you.
AKarp2013
Broadway Star Joined: 7/25/11
#9Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 7:53pmMaybe just me but Harvey Fierstein in Hairspray and John Lloyd Young in Jersey Boys. And of course Tonya Pinkins (still the best performance given by anyone in the 21st century). Updated On: 9/6/13 at 07:53 PM
#10Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 7:56pm
Adding onto Ebersole and Pinkins-- Victoria Clark in THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA.
Any male performances? I can think of a few I will never forget, but I don't know if they'll ever be considered iconic.
#11Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 7:57pm
Alice Ripley in Next to Normal
Christine Ebersole in Grey Gardens
Tonya Pinkins in Caroline, or Change
^This.
And I would add Victoria Clark in The Light in the Piazza.
**jv beat me to it. 
Updated On: 9/6/13 at 07:57 PM
#12Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:01pmFor males, maybe Raúl Esparza in Company? That was a revival, but he certainly out did any Bobby I've ever seen.
#13Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:02pmNatasha Richardson & Alan Cumming do deserve a place on this list, as well.
frankenleeestein
Chorus Member Joined: 8/23/13
#14Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:02pmI'm not sure in what role, but I truly believe Norbert Leo Butz will become an icon in some respect.
#15Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:03pmHow about Nathan Lane in The Producers?
#16Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:04pm
Agree about Ripley, Ebersole, and Clark.
In terms of men, I can think of three:
Norbert Leo Butz in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Nathan Lane in The Producers
Brian Stokes Mitchell in Ragtime (this one just made it in to your 15 year window)
bwayboy22
Broadway Star Joined: 5/9/12
#17Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:08pmWhy Can't A Performance in a Revival become Iconic? I would say that they definitely have in the past! I think Patti's Rose will be remembered for a long time! But i agree with most of you in the respect that the past decade has really belonged to the ladies with exceptions of Nathan Lane, Alan Cumming, and Norbert Leo Butz.
Broadway Star Joined: 12/31/69
#18Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:09pmPatti Lupone, sending back the soup at the Edison Coffeeshop, calling the cook "A misguided hottentot unfit to brew tea!"
luvcaroline
Broadway Star Joined: 10/19/05
RW3
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#20Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:38pmIdina Menzel as Elphaba maybe.
#21Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:49pm
The interesting thing is that I don't think Idina Menzel as Elphaba is or will become iconic....maybe her voice singing those songs because the album is so widespread. But Wicked is SO widespread, and there have been so many replacements that I feel it makes her performance and Tony award less special.
Cf. Tonya Pinkins, Alice Ripley, Christine Ebersole. Their roles are synonymous with their performance.
I think Alice Ripley's performance is already iconic. She played the role for years and is pretty widespread. The problem with Tonya Pinkins and Christine Ebersole is their shows only had short runs and the shows are not that popular...(in contrast, every show mentioned in the OP are very well known), so I don't know if people will be talking about them in the future...
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Updated On: 9/6/13 at 08:49 PM
#22Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 9:00pmI agree that Alice Ripley is already iconic. I was walking through Shubert Alley over the weekend and heard three separate groups of people discussing her performance. Despite her vocal issues she is synonymous with greatness and we are already reminiscing about it.
#23Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 9:32pmJohn Gallaghar, Jr. in Spring Awakening?
pinoyidol2006
Broadway Star Joined: 5/3/11
#24Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 10:23pmFor me, I feel like Norbert in "The Last 5 Years" is iconic... His Tony performance for Scoundrels was pretty goddamn amazing, though. Not sure if it's popular enough to be iconic. L5Y has at least some kind of a cult following.
I like your imperturbable perspicacity.
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#25Today's Performances that Will Become Iconic
Posted: 9/6/13 at 10:36pm
Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth in WICKED immediately came to mind. Say what you will about their performances and the show itself, but WICKED isn't going anywhere any time soon and I think it'll be pretty cool to tell my grandkids that I saw that original duo, more than once. I don't think giving an iconic performance has much to do with being easily "replaceable" or not. I think that's a sign of a truly great, legendary performance. And I think that's a different thing than being "iconic."
And besides the ones that have been mentioned (Ebersole, Pinkins, LuPone, etc), Hugh Jackman in THE BOY FROM OZ was one of the first ones I thought of as well.
Updated On: 9/6/13 at 10:36 PM
