As I posted last week, I am writing a book on Broadway fans. I received some wonderful information from my last post on musical fans thank you but am having difficulties finding audience members that were/are repeat attenders of plays. Perhaps there aren't any?
Of course there are. I've seen a number of plays more than once.
Curious Incident, Peter & the Starcatchers, & August:Osage County, just to name a few.
Have I heard of someone going a massive amounts of time? Actually, no.
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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.
Plays don't tend to have the diehard fans that musicals do. I've seen Curious Incident and Hand to God 3 times each, but mostly only because I wanted friends visiting town to see them so I went along.
Hand to God is the perfect show to see multiple times. The first time I saw it I laughed and screamed my head off. The second time I saw it I taken away by the question of "Why?" which is the brilliance of the play. Even the NYTimes stated that in its review. Then again it is the only production of a play I have seen multiple viewings.
I think I saw Billy Elliot 70 times or more before it closed. I saw Next To Normal at least five or six times. Hedwig eleven times. Book of Mormon seventeen I think, and many others multiple times. I love shows that run a long time and have lots of replacements. I like seeing what different actors do with the role. Billy Elliot was especially cool that way. The show was almost a different show with a different Billy or Mrs. Wilkinson.
It hasn't been the same production, per say, but every time a professional production of Macbeth is done in or near New York I try and catch it. I studied the play in college and still find it fascinating to this day to see the different interpretations of the play and characterization of the characters by different actors and directors.
Most recently, I saw the one man Alan Cumming version, the Lincoln Center production and (a little less traditional) I revisited Sleep No More for the third time.
I answered in your other thread that yes, I have seen multiple plays multiple times. It makes me question your research skills for writing a book when A- you're doing your research on this board and B- not even reading the responses.
SOME of the plays I've seen multiple times: Curious Incident, August Osage County, The Heidi Chronicles, Angels in America, Intelligent Homosexual's Guide, The Lyons
I've seen several plays/musicals multiple times, especially if I really connected with the material and want to revisit it to see things I may have missed on my first visit. It's also interesting to see what an actor does with the material during different performances. It's live theater so there will undoubtedly be some differences, but that's the beauty of live theater.
There are only three Broadway shows I've seen more than once, two of them plays. I saw One Man, Two Guvnors, Peter and the Starcatcher, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood twice each. I intend on seeing Hand to God again!
Peter and the Starcatcherand The Heidi Chronicles are a couple of the plays I've seen more than once.
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I saw Casa Valentina 7 times last year, and I've seen Wicked about 14 times over the past two years. Typically, I tend to see shows at least twice, maybe even three times if I really like it and tickets are easy and affordable. Here's a layout of the past 3 years of my theatre experiences.
1x: 72 Broadway and Off Broadway shows 2x: 17 Broadway and Off Broadway shows 3x: 11 Broadway and Off Broadway shows 4x: 2 Broadway shows 5x: 3 Broadway shows 7x: 1 Broadway show 14x: 1 Broadway show
"Mostly, I loved the size of these people's emotions. Nobody has emotions this size anymore. Outsized emotions. Operatic emotions. Kushemski and Vanda are like Tristan and Isolde, they're Paolo and Francesca. Nobody's in total thrall like this anymore. Nobody's overcome by passion like this, or goes through this kind of rage." Thomas, Venus in Fur
An Inspector Calls and Master Class are the only Broadway productions of plays I've seen more than once, though I would have gladly seen the 90s revival of A Doll's House and The Pillowman again. And An Inspector Calls should have run forever and never closed as far as I'm concerned. I think it is thus far the most perfect production of anything I've seen on stage.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
I don't know if this fits, but I have seen all five Broadway productions of Gypsy, starting with Merman in the '50s, followed by Lansbury, Daly, Peyers,and Lapone. I also saw all 3 How to Succeed: Robert Morse, Ferris Buller ( re......Broderick) and that Harry Potter kid. I don't know if this makes me an avid theatre fan, or just old....but, I'll accept entither one!