This is "Your" Show Because...

Posted: 7/11/04 at 6:45pm

What's the one show, musical or straight play, that continues to have significance to you? It's "your" show, and the merits, or lack thereof, have no bearing.

For me it is A CHORUS LINE. Thirty years ago this week it was my first date with the person who still shares my life. I remember standing that Tuesday evening in Shubert Alley before the 8pm curtain. It was in previews. When I made the date a week earlier I was told, "Well, I've got friends in it and I've already seen it twice down at the Public, but I guess I'll go again." We're still one singular sensation I'm happy to say.

So A CHORUS LINE remains special to me. Good thing it was a great show!

[CJR]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 6:56pm

CHICAGO is my show and THE SHUBERT is my theatre for so many more reasons than I can list here. I also wouldn't really feel comfortable listing them all... Let's just say I have a lot of emotional and personal ties to that show and theatre.... when Chicago was big in my life (ie: I was seeing it almost every weekend) it was me escaping for 2 or 3 hours from everything going on in my life.

HOLLYWOOD ARMS is also my show because I identified with Older Helen so very, very much... and also because of my personal ties with the show too.

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:02pm

The Rocky Horror Show- I was also attending this show weekly to help me get through rough times: the loss of some friends on Sept 11th, and both my grandma and great grandma facing death. I had a lot of fun times with great friends, I got to know Sebastian Bach better, and met Matt Morrison.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:21pm

Okay.... I honestly would have to say Hairspray. The show never gets old for me.

The score is wonderful. It doesn't have a true clinker in it, and most scores do, and it manages to be very true to 60s style without copying.

The book and construction really manages to recall the old style musical in it's construction, but it does so without being old fashioned and everything seems dresh. It takes all of the time tested traditions of Broadway musicals and infuse them and make them fresh and new. How many Broadway musicals out there have a moment like "Timeless to Me" where it is just a bare stage and an actor? Most 'modern' shows will not do that.. it shows that the Hairspray creative TRUSTS the material. I never fail to laugh at the jokes and I admit, I even tend to cry a LITTLE.. I started BAWLING when Link left Tracy at Motormouth's.. especially with how Carly plays it.

Theproduction design is perfection. I hear criticism of it and it truely frustrates me because I wonder from what view point the person criticizing it is looking at it from. From the very first image of Tracy in her bed and all of the dancers around it to the finale, David Rockwell manages to give us an image of Baltimore as see through the eys of a wide-eyed optimist that IS Tracy Turnblad. You don't see REALITY.. you see teh world through her eyes, the way it all looks to her.. during the title song, with the giant flip hair doo, it it LITERALLY like looking into her mind.

The casting for the show is phenominal as well. They have brought us some unbelieveable fresh talents that haven't been seen before (Carly), given launch pads to some talented young actors and made them more visible (Adam Fleming, Kathy Brier), and allowed us to see soem well loved old pros who have been around teh block and back and never fail to deliver (Mary Bond, Harvey, Dick..)



I can talk for DAYS.. but that is just a bit.......

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:24pm

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA--This was the first musical I have ever heard (I was in 10th Grade). So, without this musical.....I probably wouldn't be at this message board right now.

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:27pm

"Into the Woods." It's the first musical I fell in love with. The score is gorgeous and the layers are endless. A new discovery is made every time I watch it.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:30pm

ANNIE - Andrea McArdle was my age and it was the first OBCR I bought on my own. I wore that record out and belted my lungs out to it, became a big fan of Andrea, and through her television appearances on Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas where she always sang a Judy Garland song, she introduced me to the music and legend of the great Ms. Garland and all of that put together changed my life.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:32pm

Well, the first show I saw was 42nd Street, but that was a tour. My first Broadway show was Thoroughly Modern Millie. I sat 6th row center and most of the original cast was there, including Sutton. In most of my cast recordings, there are only a few songs on each CD that I really like and repeatedly listen to; however on Millie, I can say that I "thoroughly" enjoy each song and enjoyed seeing it performed!

[M J R]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:32pm

I BAWLED in Hairspray when Tracy came-out after her "makeover" in "Welcome to the 60s"!! I mean, CRIED - Was so embarassed...

[Delphine]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:33pm

LES MISERABLES- My first show, I saw it at the early age of six. At the time, I didn't really understand much of it, but something clicked. Fantine became my role model (WTF?!), and the revolutionary students got me all riled up. I would sing along to all of the songs, and for a while it was all I would listen to.
Now, my tastes in shows has grow immensely, but Les Miz still has special meaning to me. I still connect with all of the characters, I still love the music, and I still feel it's a classic. It's part of my childhood, and it's part of me now. I can ceratinly say that without LM, I wouldn't love Broadway shows like I do now.

[Corine2]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:33pm

Forbidden Broadway-
My Dad and I were very close and when I was a teenager he took me to the first Forbidden Broadway and said this show will be our thing! Everytime the show changed Dad and I went.
He died in 2000 and I continue going and wish he was with me.
He loved Forbidden Broadway.
It has a special place for that and many other reasons.

Dad loved the theater almost as much as the Opera. He took me to everything. He was the greatest Dad.


Let's ruin Times Square again! Updated On: 7/13/04 at 07:33 PM

[Emutional]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:35pm

"RENT". this show made me grow up, and grew up with me. I first heard it in 4th grade...I memorized all the words, and didn't know what they meant. I saw the show on tour and all of the pieces fell together. Slowly, I learned what every word meant (much earlier than i probably should have), but then I lost it. I forgot about RENT for about 3 years until i was in 7th grade and life sucked and i had all these problems with my friends...I couldn't listen to the music i liked, because it gave me a headache sometimes. Then I found my soundtrack. RENT is the reason I persued theatre. It's the reason I fell in love with Wicked, which is some of the reason I'm so into theatre now. I'm in love with New York City because I went there for the first time just to see RENT. it's everything <3

[HeartinNYC]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:44pm

Corine, that was just the nicest post. My mom died in 2002, and we went to see "A Chorus Line" together in the mid-70's. It became "our show". She was a wonderful mom. I understand. Thanks for making me feel not alone with memories like these!

[SammyGal]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:45pm

Can I pick more than one? I'll go with yes.

Well Les Mis was my first ever show and so it holds that special place even if I didn't understand it back then. It remains one of my favorite shows and cast recordings.

RENT was something that always spoke to me. I learned all the words before I had even seen it and I the first time I saw it was around X-Mas time of 1999 and it was the first time I was allowed to go alone into the city with my sister. I felt so grown up and loved loved loved the show. It also coincided with them singing about the millenium and x-mas time and I felt a part of it all.

Taboo though is "My" show because it got me through a really tough time this past year. I was grieving from a number of deaths and wasn't myself- I was also having tons of issues with my parents. I found the show and felt like I belonged somewhere. It was a safe place for us "freaks" and here was a show dedicated to outcasts of society and theatre lovers alike. I made a close group of friends and it became my home on the weekends. It was the place to run to when things got bad. The cast got to know us and I've never met sweeter, more caring people. I can never forget the kindness and caring that surrounded Taboo. Those were the best days of my life :)

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:48pm

Les Miserables. It was one of my first musicals, but even today, it's a cathartic experience for me. It presents such a beautiful, idealized vision of existence - that one act of good can change the world, and that there is something grand and hopeful beyond this "barricade." I love the fact that each character has his or her "moment" (their own song), and how they each strive for a better tomorrow. At the risk of sounding sentimental and cliche, I find Les Miz wonderful because it's about love. Every type of love is presented: romantic, familial, patriotic, religious, friendship, etc. It's still the most profound musical for me.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 7:53pm

"For me it is A CHORUS LINE."

No WAY! That show is "my" show too. I was an adolescent gay boy and that show spoke to me with its GAY GAY GAY characters and its GAY creators and its tales of a GAY GAY GAY life so very, very different from my hometown. It helped me kiss that place goodbye and pointed me toward tomorrow.

"Thirty years ago this week it was my first date with the person who still shares my life."

Tell us all about her. What's her name?!

[Plum]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 8:31pm

The first show I "adopted" was Les Miserables, because after I watched and loved it in the theater, my parents got me a simplified piano version of the score. So there was a lot of me playing and singing "Castle on a Cloud" when I was 10 or so. :)

The show that I love the most nowadays is Sunday in the Park With George, because sadly, the frustrated artist thing is all too familiar to me.

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 8:40pm

Beauty and the Beast because it was the first show I ever saw. I was 7 and I just thought it was so spectacular. It brought to life my favorite Disney movie of all time.

[Cyndy]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 9:12pm

SWEENEY TODD~~I love the show itself, but it's also kind of special to me because it was the first time someone actually handed me a check for doing something that I will never consider WORK. I played in the pit for a production of it one summer and discovered my dream job. I never got tired of playing that show and my wild imagination was having a field day trying to figure out what was going on on stage (not knowing the show coming into it). It wasn't until well into the run that I had the opportunity to actually sit out and watch a performance. When I hear the show today, my fingers still kind of air play a lot of it...and they'll never forget the last four measures of the show...I think there were more accidentals thrown into those last measures than were in the entire thing, and it flew like the wind!! But such fun!! I'll never forget that summer.

Updated On: 7/11/04 at 09:12 PM

[marincrazy11]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 9:17pm

Annie Get Your Gun had to be it for me. It was the first show where I really had THE lead and it was so special to me. It was something I had waited for for so long and the fact that it came and it was such a success is still such a special memory for me. I was surrounded by some of my best friends in the entire world for me and I can't even describe what I felt when I was doing it.

Ragtime is also a very special show to me. It has been a very influential show for me.

Updated On: 7/11/04 at 09:17 PM

[NativeNewYorker]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 9:25pm

The Fantasticks.

It makes me think of my childhood...My elementary school was right by the Sullivan Street Playhouse and both my parents grew up in that neighborhood, plus our church and playground were both there, so I spend a lot of time near that theatre.

This sounds totally morbid, but the funeral home everyone in my family has gotten buried out of is across the street from the theatre. Whenever I was at a wake, if I was really upset, I'd stand outside and stare at the theatre and think about the sweet simpleness of that show and it was always a great comfort.

This was especially true at my own father's wake...I was only 17 when he died and I went and stood outside to get away from all my doting relatives. That "Fantasticks" sign always made me feel just a little bit better. Don't know why.

I still get chills every time I hear, "You must always leave the wall."

And when I met Max Von Essen recently, ALL I could think of was, "HE STARRED IN THE FANTASICKS!!!!!!"

It's just an incredibly simple, sweet show...shows that you don't have to be over the top or have crazy sets or a huge cast to be special.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 9:27pm

That's a great story Native

[Roddick19]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 9:31pm

Mine would have to be RENT. Slightly cliche but I don't really care. I saw this show first when I was in 8th grade, in 1998, on tour and was blown away, even though my mother covered my eyes when Maureen's bare ass graced the crowd. I was immediately hooked and logged to find out when the show was coming back. I take the soundtrack with me every where -- on every vacation, every car trip, every move - everywhere. I never get sick of it and every chance I have to see the show I jump at it. I wrote my college entrance essay on the musical and how much it means to me and inspires me to work in theatre (I'm an educational theatre major at NYU). I did a speech about Jonathan Larson and how the world of Broadway, and musical theatre in general, might be different today had he not died in such an untimely manner. No show has ever touched me as much as RENT has and I highly doubt that any show ever will.

[BillyLawlor]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 9:43pm

I think mine would have to be 42nd Street. I think it's the all American Musical, and every time I see it, I get misty eyed because I know that this is what I want to do with my life. The show is full of life and energy, and if I could be there every night, I would be. It started me tapping, and was the show that made me want to dance, and I now I do. The show is perfection in my eyes; I can never get tired of it.

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 7/11/04 at 9:51pm

this feels unoriginal but the most significant show in my life has undoubtedly been LES MIS. it was the 2nd professional show I ever saw [age 8] and the first show that I didn't despise (my first show was CATS). even though I didn't understand the plot, I fell in love with the music and spent much of ages 8-10 wearing out the Original Broadway cassette tape and sporting my Les Mis t-shirt. i eventually grew out of it, forgot about theatre, and focused my life on basketball and hardcore rap music until a fateful evening when I was 13.

I hadn't listened to or thought about LES MIS or theatre for several years. Then I happened to be flipping channels one night and stopped on Sally Jesse Raphael doing a show on Broadway kids. She had the current Young Cosette singing Castle on a Cloud and it caught my attention. The next morning I found my old OBC tape, gave it a listen, actually understood the plot this time, and I was instantly hooked for good. From this point on, my life was destined to be one of culture, creativity, and limited employability. Within a month, my Snoop Dogg and Eazy E CD's were replaced by Broadway recordings and I had given up after-school basketball in order to join a youth theatre. Within a year I had stuffed my 14-yr-old head with a great amount of useless knowledge about shows, performers, composers, and all that other fun elitist trivia that comprises the language of this message board. As many of you can relate to, my obsession with theatre has only snowballed over the years and become more and more the central focus of my life.

So even though I've had enough LES MIS to last a lifetime and it's no longer my favorite show, it will always be the show that brought me into theatre to begin with, and it's possible that I never would have set foot into another theatre if I didn't happen upon that Sally Jesse episode. so that's my cheesy reason for why LES MIS is "my show" (also because I've seen it 26 times, own over 40 recordings of it, and have produced a gigantic "Les Mis- School Edition" with a 115-person cast for a city-run theatre).