Your greatest theater experience....

[NightLaughs]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:22pm

To add to the trend of "Your favorite this" and "The worst that" threads, here's a question on my mind....

What was your most amazing theater experience to date? Not performing but as an audience member. A show/number/performer that left you speechless, in awe so to speak. After all, these are the moments that convert theater-goers into theater-lovers. Well, at least in my case. I could name a few of my own.

With such a diverse crew around here, I am curious to hear all of yours....

Updated On: 8/20/04 at 11:22 PM

[gwapnisky]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:23pm

Dracuala The Muscial.

I never slept so well during a show.

[NightLaughs]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:25pm

Ouch.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:26pm

Lol.

Sutton Foster. Her performance in Millie was wonderful!

[Corine2]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:27pm

The Normal Heart-(play)
I went twice and RAUL ESPARZA blew me away.
It was a riveting play.
Avenue Q (Musical)
The first time I saw Avenue Q, I loved it. The third time I saw it the more I realized that it has become my all time favorite musical. It is touching. It is clever. It makes you laugh. It makes me cry. It is brilliant and biting at the same time.
I LOVE IT.
Updated On: 8/20/04 at 11:27 PM

[Mythus]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:29pm

When I saw Phantom of the Opera. I don't remember how old I was (maybe ten?), but it was probably the second big-scale (you know, not community theatre or school) musical experience of my life.

I walked out of the theatre thinking, I want to grow up and do this for a living. I remember saying to my mom, "Wow...there really isn't anything like musical theatre." I hate to sound cheesy, but that was the night I realized how profound and incredible musicals were.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:29pm

That's a hard question, because the wonderful experiences I've had at the theatre have been so different from one another, it's hard to choose one.

But I would say that seeing this year's "The Normal Heart" was earth-shattering for me. I've never been so shaken up by a play before, I left the theatre trembling.

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:31pm

I sound like every other teenager in the world (I know musicals before 1996, keep your pants on Nemo), but the first time I saw RENT. I know, I know, shame on me for loving it, right? But it was the first musical that ever profoundly hit me. God I love it.

[Corine2]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:33pm

The Normal Heart made me tremble and cry on a public bus in front of strangers.
It was very embarrassing.

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:35pm

Oh Corine, I wish I had seen it. Raul is just unbelievable as an actor.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:35pm

Hee hee, I finally read my copy of the play today. Still hits me hard, particularly Ned's last speech, and his powerful litany of famous gay men a few scenes prior.

[NightLaughs]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:37pm

I have to second the Rent. People will groan but it was my first musical love, that show made such an impact on me. Not to mention opened me up to everything else out there. It was amazing.

These are great, keep 'em coming.

How much do I wish I had the chance to see The Normal Heart?

[Corine2]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:38pm

Raul was incredible. He moved me. I did not cry much in the theater but as I left the public the tears were pouring down my face and I could not stop. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.
People were staring at me. An older woman came over and offered tissues.
I wanted to crawl into a hole.

[LilMiZBroADwaY23]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:44pm

My front row seats to Phantom. My friend and I cried through 'All I ask of you' and we were just in awe. The cast was brilliant. True, Opera Singers.

Also Hairspray. Just because that musical changed my life around totally. It came into my life just when I needed it. It's had the most profound impact on me than anything else.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:45pm

When I was seeing "The Normal Heart", I made a very conscious effort not to cry. But by the time the lights dim for the last time (with Raul's devestating cry ripping through the air), my composure just collapsed. That's never happened before.

(Maybe we should start a new thread, I think we're hijacking this one! )

[Millie42]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:48pm

Assassins (suprise, suprise)

It makes you think. It makes you almost uncomfortable when you realize you have felt sympathy for these people that you have been taught to hate and consider crazy.
Its brilliant. And funny. the entire cast rocked. And even the stage door was the best time ever.

[showmethetony]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:55pm

My family took me to see POTO summer before college. I was so excited just to be there that I cried five minutes before it started and through the entire thing - it was beautiful. Same thing with Les Mis, which I saw in England. I sobbed like a baby. Something about these classics just hit the soul I guess.

I think that my heart aches and breaks every time I get the chance to be in the audience of any show, good or bad, because it confirms that there is nothing in the world that can top the feeling of being on stage.

[MadeofGold]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:01am

Most recently it was definitely The Normal Heart. I seriously have never walked out of a theater sobbing before that night I saw it with Trisky.

Another one is Annie. Not because it was great or anything but because it's the first musical (of so many) that my parents took me to as a kid. I remember just loving it so much.

[marincrazy11]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:09am

I don't even know. I'd have to say Ragtime was one for me. I was so in love with the show from just the recording and getting to see it live was just a crowning moment in my life.

I guess for me it's just sitting in a Broadway theater before the show, reading my playbill, listening to the orchestra warm up and just breathing it all in. There's such a magic to it.

[Taryn]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:09am

The revival of Cabaret. The show ended and it was just...awe. I had never seen anything like it. Not that I've been able to see a whole lot of theatre at 17 (and living outside of New York City), but it was an amazing experience nonetheless.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:10am

Wickeds opening night. The Gershwin was packed with stars and the show was a knockout. Uproarous laughter, applause, and tears reached everyone at some point of the show. Idina (who was basically unknown) really impressed me to say the least. Her performance on opening night stole the show even from Kristin Chenoweth, who was also hysterical and excellent. Idina made such a convincing transformation from generous and kind to wicked while Kristin Chenoweth set wonderful bounderies for her character, showing her underlying persona, below that bubbly, cutesy attitude there was a vain and jealously greedy person. The show was flawless and it made me go back two more times, which isnt bad. LOL. A wonderful, remarkable theatrical experience.

And...

The 2004 Tony Awards. Another star-studded event. Not only did I get to go to the awards ceremony, I went to the Wicked after party and met Idina, Kristin, and LBB. It was an unforgettable evening.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:11am

Sorry for sidetracking, but I have to comment that marincrazy11's icon scared me there for a second...

[xluckystar2107x]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:11am

i saw Miss Saigon when i was pretty young...probably TOO young to be seeing it but i was a pretty mature kid. i was probably 7 or 8. i just remember the helicopter scene and being in awe.

[marincrazy11]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:13am

it made laugh......so had to put up for a while before switching back to good ole Marin or Judy

[FosseBoi]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:14am

I saw the 1st nat. tour of Beauty (before they took away all of the AMAZING stuff).That was my 1st real production that I saw. Then I saw the AMAZING Sutton Foster in Millie. It was my first Broadway show. One reason it means so much to me is because she is from a small town in Georgia like me.It showed me that evan though I'm from a small town, I still have a chance at makeing it!
Also, seeing and meeting Idina Menzel was HUGE for me!! Because I LOVE HER!!!!