Top Theatregoing Experiences
Top Theatregoing Experiences
#1Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/9/16 at 2:58pm
Hi all! I know there have been past threads in similar styles to the Playbill "Top Theatregoing Experiences" but I thought it might be fun to hear everyone's top 10 favorite experiences in the theater! Here is Donna McKechnie's top 10 as a reference point! I bet some of the posters on here have some amazing ones to share! http://www.playbill.com/article/their-favorite-things-tony-winner-donna-mckechnie-shares-her-theatregoing-experiences
#2Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/9/16 at 3:01pm
Here are lists I've made of some of my favorite theatrical performances...
http://karereviews.weebly.com/my-favorite-theatrical-performances-part-1.html
http://karereviews.weebly.com/my-favorite-theatrical-performances-part-2.html
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#3Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/9/16 at 3:02pm
Cynthia Erivo in The Color Purple and the original Broadway cast of Hamilton comes to mind most immediately/recently for me.
#4Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/9/16 at 3:03pm
Absolutely agree with Cynthia Erivo's performance. I've seen her twice and she leaves me breathless every single time!
#5Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/9/16 at 3:25pm
This was crazy hard to narrow down!
John Cameron Mitchell in HEDWIG
Closing performance of IF/THEN
Original cast of NEXT TO NORMAL
WICKED with Idina Menzel and Megan Hilty
PARADE concert at Avery Fisher Hall
SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD with Jason Robert Brown, Laura Griffith, Brian d'Arcy James, Alice Ripley, and Tituss Burgess
Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, and Tamyra Gray in RENT from the front row.
Danny Burstein in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Rob McClure in CHAPLIN
Even though it hasn't happened yet, closing performance of FUN HOME tomorrow. I'd include it on my top 10 list anyway, but I have a feeling closing night is going to be something special.
"I shall stay until the wind changes."
Updated On: 9/9/16 at 03:25 PM
#6Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/9/16 at 3:40pm
It was an extremely incredible experience being at American Psycho's closing. I have never seen such a warm and eager audience. That show should really find an Off-Broadway home.
#7Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/9/16 at 4:28pm
Allegiance's closing. The King and I with Marin Mazzie. Seeing Dear Evan Hansen for the first time almost restores my faith in humanity.
#8Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/9/16 at 4:30pm
in no particular order:
OG cast of OG production of Ragtime
Scottsboro boys - all three times - once at the Vineyard, once on the B'way, and once on the west end.
Heather Headley's final performance of Aida (and the other three times I rushed the front row)
Bernadette's Final performance of Gypsy
Paulus Revival of HAIR!
Paulus Revival of Pippin
Seeing Dick Van Dyke and Chita perform together in "A Dancer's Life"
Titanic - my first B'way show
Cynthia Erivo in Color Purple
second to final RENT performance
Runners up - After Midnight, August: Osage County, and Ripley's final week of "Next to Normal", and Cherry Jones' very last performance on her final stop on tour in Philly of "Doubt"
"I'm an American, Damnit!!! And if it's three things I don't believe in, it's quitting and math."
Updated On: 9/9/16 at 04:30 PM
ringofkeys2
Swing Joined: 11/13/15
#9Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/9/16 at 5:01pm
OBC of Fun Home last August - front row in the 200s, almost center. What an incredible experience... it's kind of surreal being (just about) on the stage.
I'm going to the closing performance tomorrow night, so I also expect that to be something quite special.
#10Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/9/16 at 5:30pm
Seeing Next to Normal for the first time (on tour), with Alice Ripley
The first time i heard Kelli O'Hara sing (in Nice Work, Someone to Watch Over me) i was totally smitten with her voice, and when she did that thing with the gun, i was smitten with her acting
The Goodspeed production of Carousel, with James Snyder's soliloquy - phenomenal voice and acting, and utterly heartbreaking performance (also If I Loved You - amazing voice)
My first time seeing Wicked, with a tremendously-talented Vicki Noon on as Elphaba - awesome
The tap dancing in Anything Goes, Newsies, Aladdin, BOM, and Something Rotten!, and Jeremy Jordan's Santa Fe in Newsies (i apparently love me some Casey Nicholaw tap choreo)
Aaron Tveit's last performance of Goodbye in Catch Me
Idina Menzel's last performance of Always Starting Over in If/Then
Tam Mutu as Anatoly on tour in Chess
The hilarity of Toxic Avenger and BOM, on tour, and of Something Rotten, on Broadway
Kelli and Steven's duets in Bridges, plus It All Fades Away
Being thoroughly delighted by Sister Act, despite not having great expectations based on the "religious theme" implied by the title. Especially loved the double-costume-change sequence in I Could Be That Guy - clever, funny, and touching.
Three local/regional productions that improved (for me) on their Broadway/tour counterparts: Cabaret, with Cliff's powerful songs left intact and a heartwrenching performance of the title song by the same wonderful local actress who played Diana in that theatre's N2N; Mary Poppins, with wonderful tap choreography (best i've seen at that level); and Avenue Q
Cynthia Erivo in The Color Purple
Cherry Jones in The Glass Menagerie and also in When we Were Young and Unafraid
#11Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/10/16 at 12:03am
Going Off-Off-Broadway here, but Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History of the Robot War by The Mad Ones is still one of my favorite nights I've ever spent in a theatre.
The wall coming up at the end of the original Roundabout Cabaret revival when I was 16 is still indelibly etched in my mind.
#12Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/10/16 at 9:24am
-Matilda (all 11 times I have seen it)
-Billy Elliot
-an absolutely glorious local production of Ragtime that was better than a lot of Broadway shows I have seen
-Hamilton
-Dear Evan Hansen
-Lincoln Center's The King and I
-and then the one that takes the complete cake... Cabaret at Studio 54 with Michelle Williams and Alan Cumming. I was seated at a table right by the stage. The whole production was unlike anything I have every ever experienced.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
#13Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/10/16 at 10:33am
Guys and Dolls with Faith Prince in '92
The joy and optimism of Hairspray (original cast)
The last moments of Cabaret with Cumming.
Smash's Hit List at 54 Below
Newsies' choreography and energy
Big Fish with my dad days after his father, my grandpa, had passed.
Birthday at On the Town with Hal Prince in the audience
Opening night at Something Rotten
Hamilton - the show itself and the experience of attending the show with Meryl Streep sitting right near me.
Hunchback of Notre Dame at PaperMill - I was crying within the first five minutes. Front row watching Michael Arden transform into Quasimodo right before my eyes.
#14Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/10/16 at 10:34am
-Raul Esparza in Company from the front row.
-OBC of Fun Home. I don't think I've ever cried harder in a theatre than during Ring of Keys.
-the second preview of Matilda.
yankeefan7
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/14/12
#15Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/10/16 at 11:45am
Cherry Jones in "Doubt"
Robert Cuccioli doing "Confrontation" in "Jekyll & Hyde"
Harvey Fierstein in "Torch Song Trilogy"
Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in "The Producers"
Betty Buckley singing "Memory" in "Cats"
Hamilton
Glenn Close & Jeremy Irons in "The Real Thing"
Alice Ripley in "Next To Normal"
The dancing in "Moving Out", especially John Selya and Elizabeth Parkinson.
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#16Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/10/16 at 10:30pm
Hello, Dolly!(all 74 times I saw it)
That Streisand Woman in Funny Girl
Richard Kelly in LaMancha
Keach in Hamlet
James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummet in Othello
Angela Lansbury in Mame and Dear World
Tony Yazbeck in On The Town
Zoe Coldwell and PattiLupone in Master Class
David Furr in Noises Off
LuPone in Gypsy
Bernardino in Fiddler
I hate auto correct!
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
HSky
Leading Actor Joined: 8/9/14
#17Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/11/16 at 1:14am
I can't guarantee my list would be exactly the same if you asked me tomorrow but for now:
- Colm Wilkinson as Valjean in Toronto (never thought I'd get to see him in the role live)
- seeing the original Broadway production of Side Show about a week before it closed
- the first Off-Broadway preview of Urinetown (I remember the invitation and wondering what sort of show with that title I was getting into on April Fool's Day, no less)
- The final performance for Arthur Darvill and Zrinka Cvitesic in the London production of Once
- Side Show revival's first preview
- Something Rotten's first preview (best promo price blind buy I've made)
- The Last Ship with Sting
- The first time I saw Dear Evan Hansen in DC
- specifically Ben Platt's performance in DEH (the individual moments I'd highlight keep changing, most recently it was way he played the speech leading into "You Will Be Found" that took my breath away )
- Brian d'Arcy James final performance in Something Rotten
NZBOY2
Understudy Joined: 8/30/16
broadwayindie
Featured Actor Joined: 10/3/14
#19Top Theatregoing Experiences
Posted: 9/11/16 at 11:53am
A little bit different because I'm not from NYC, so shout out to Chicago productions
Gypsy - Concert at Ravinia w/ Patti
Ride The Cyclone at Shakes - Seriously everyone needs to see it at MCC
Twist of Water at Mercury theatre - Right time right place great production
Caroline or Change at Court Theatre - Again right time and right place great production
Spring Awakening w/ OBC (Broadway)
