Most enthusiastic audience you have experienced?

[veronicamae]

I didn't experience it personally, just via the magic of technology.

But the ovation Idina received for her final-final Broadway show when she came back in the red track suit for the last scene was pretty much 6+ solid minutes of screaming.

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Hairspray in June 2003. Drama Desk, OCC, and Drama League awards had already happened and the show had just cleaned house. The Tony's were about a week away and things were looking good. It was just a really enthusiastic, happy crowd who seemed genuinely excited to be at the show. And the cast just rode that energy. I didn't love everything about the show, but I loved how just entirely into everyone was.

[adamgreer]

I'll never forget the first preview of the ultimately ill-fated revival of Ragtime. There was long, thunderous, applause when the curtain rose after the lights dimmed to reveal Coalhouse at the piano with the cast gathered around him.

The final performance of the Night Music revival was pretty special, too. There was a sense among the audience, an unspoken feeling, that this would be Stritch's last appearance on a stage and it was as if everyone wanted to thank her for her career. And she was letter perfect that afternoon- totally on her game. At curtain call, unbeknownst to her, Bernadette and the rest of the cast stepped back to let Stritch have a solo bow and that's when the place really erupted. In a very Stritchian way, she ate it up, while pretending not to (repeatedly gesturing for everyone to stop clapping). Bernadette spoke, and then Stritch, again in a very Stritchian way, said "Now it's my turn to talk!" and proceeded to run through her own list of thanks, which allowed her to poke a little fun at herself (she gestured upwards and said "And Hugh Wheeler, I swear I never changed a single word!"). It was an afternoon I won't ever forget.

[Mr Roxy]

Both involved fight sequences

Knockout
Golden Boy - Sammy Davis Jr

[Gothampc]

Betty Buckley in Sunset Boulevard. Once she got to the lyric "I've come home at last.." the BB Fan Club went nuts and nearly ripped the seats apart.

Carol Channing in Hello Dolly. The last Broadway revival, she's driven on in the streetcar hiding behind the newspaper and everyone in the Channing Fan Club went nuts. I mean, who did they think was behind that newspaper? Barbra Streisand?

[justoldbill]

FOLLIES. Winter Garden Theatre. Closing night-7/1/1972. Trust me-I was there. No one looked more stunned at the response than Alexis Smith.

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Shia Labeouf's first performance in Cabaret. The reaction was so ecstatic that the police had to come and it even got media attention.

[haterobics]

Priscilla closing night was pretty off the hook. Since we stopped the performance mid-show, not after a musical number, for what I recall being a 7-ish minute standing ovation.

[Jarethan]

Follies closing night

Gypsy closing night with Angela Lansbury. The best rendition of Rose's Turn that I have ever seen

Final preview of Over Here, mainly because the audience was so surprised to be loving a show they thought would be a silly nothing.

Moon for the Misbegotten, with Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst...both times...immediate stomping standing ovation (in a period where they were very rare, unlike today when they are indiscriminately annoying)

First preview of the Mame revival that flopped. It flopped because of terrible management...opened in the summer with no notice and terrible advertising. It was the only time I ever saw an audience applauded (stomped really) for so long that the cast came out for a final bow in front of the curtain with the house lights already up.

[HighFlyingAdored97]

- Pippin September 2013 - Thunderous applause when the orchestra started up, standing O after No Time At All
- Guys and Dolls concert at Carnegie Hall - The crowd was literally buzzing before the show
- Hedwig with NPH the week before he left
- Wicked Tenth Anniversary

[Claudia Draper]

Streisand. New Years Eve '93. MGM grand. Her return to stage after 27 years.

[Wickedmonkey332]

For me it was closing night of In The Heights. Flags, sing alongs, dancing in the seats. The ovation for the final Carnaval was incredible.

[Julie Yard]

I'm at the wrong end (again!) but waiting for the start of a Broadway preview of BOM on my birthday. The house was packed with South Park fans ready to have a good time. It was electric. Great, great night of theater.

[temms]

Glittergrrl, JCM's return to "Hedwig" is exactly what I was going to post! I was there at the third of the three shows and it was pretty incredible. Everyone in the audience knew every word of the show, so there were a lot of added extras. I remember that every one of Tommy's prerecorded speeches had an extra line, and there was a whole section where she read a poem about her "taint".

The opening line was changed slightly to: "Ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not… and I get the feeling you will… HEDWIG!" followed by the loudest roar I've ever heard two hundred people make.

[qolbinau]

Probably the SCOTTSBORO BOYS soon after they announced closing. Somewhat documented here:

https://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.php?thread=1025261&mobile=on

[The Other One]

"The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby" New Year's Eve and Day, 1981-82. Their closing weekend, and I've never felt a theater more joyous.

[Curious3]

Farewell performance of soprano Renata Scotto at the Metropolitan Opera. This was a performance of FEDORA with Placido Domingo. I left after the 30 minute mark of applause and at least 15-20 curtain calls.

[sctrojan65]

Crazy For You….first act finale, "I've Got Rhythm." Wasn't opening or closing night. Just a typical night in the theater. But it was such an energized number, the audience went pretty wild in appreciation.

Sunset Boulevard…Glenn Close…Shubert Theater….LA. "As If We Never Said Goodbye." In the same place in the song that someone mentioned with regard to Betty Buckley above.

Saturday Night Fever….I will admit, the house rocked from start to finish the night I saw that one.

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

I'd say my best were at A Little Night Music with Bernadette and Elaine and the OBC of Nice Work when I saw it. Both audiences at these shows cheered very enthusiastically for the leading players, the curtain call was amazing to see, and most if not all of the jokes in both got great responses.

[HamilHansen]

The closing night of SEUSSICAL on Broadway. All the fans of the show were there, screams and cheers throughout. Janine LaManna got an incredibly long ovation after All For You and there was applause after every. little. thing. There's a bootleg of it floating around somewhere......

[TheSassySam]

Mine was American Psycho's closing night. There's a recording out there somewhere, but the audience was so incredibly enthusiastic. 

[bfreak]

I was at Hamilton the night it won the Pulitzer Prize. When Lin-Manuel Miranda entered, the applause was unlike anything I've ever seen and went on for about 2 minutes straight through. It was a terrific moment to see everyone become so thrilled at seeing the man who created such a wonderful piece as he starred in it and was celebrated for it.

[BroadwayBeebe]

Bette Midler’s first preview in Dolly immediately springs to mind. Maybe my favorite night ever in a theatre.

[droosychap]

The opening night of The Humans ties with the opening night of Springsteen on Broadway.

Openings are always special but those are 2 that had a special feeling in the air that night.

[Patty3]

The Wednesday matinees of Hamilton the day after the 2016 Election. Some of the lines really stood out and it was as if the audience was waiting for them to be spoken. The applause that almost stopped the show was King George coming out after Yorktown and singing "What Comes Next".