Your Video Wish List

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 11:36am

If videos of shows were available, here are some I would love to have

1. Jekyll/Hyde _ Original Cast
2. Scarlet Pimpernel
3. The Civil War
4. Dance of the Vampires
5. It's A Bird, It's A Plan, It's Superman
6. Baker Street
7. Phantom of the Opera _ Crawford
8. Nine - Banderas
9.Follies - Original
10.42 nd Street
11. The Producers
12. Jane Eyre ( for my wife)

Updated On: 9/14/03 at 11:36 AM

Posted: 9/14/03 at 11:41am

DREAMGIRLS(Jennfier Holliday)
AIDA
CARRIE (of course)
ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
RAGTIME
STARLIGHT EXPRESS
ASPECTS OF LOVE
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
WITCHES OF EASTWICK
WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (even thought it was origianlly a movie)
BLOOD BROTHERS
SUNSET BOULEVARD (same as WDTW)

...there are so many...

[DofB5]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 11:45am

Well, as far as vids go, I’m sure almost everyone on the board knows which ones I would like to see but beyond that, my wish would be for EVERY show to be made available to the public on vid.

I know it’s not the same as seeing the show live but what better way for future generations to see what these wonderful performers were like in their heyday.

The charm of live theater is that it is LIVE

The shame of live theater is that once the show is gone, it’s GONE. Never to be seen except by those lucky enough to have it alive in their memory.

Consider the wonderful shows/performers that were around before there were recording devices. We'll NEVER get to hear or see them. What a pity.

D

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 12:09pm

I might be mistaken, but ive heard that the new york public library has tapes of most broadway shows for historical purposes. they cant be checked out, and i believe you must provide research proof for viewing them. has anyone else heard of this?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 12:12pm

Yes.. you have to provide a reason for seeing the show, schedule a viewing appointment, and you can only see a show once. It also has had to have closed on Broadway --no current shows can be viewed.


Original Broadway company of Hairspray -- perfectly cast, powerhouse talents on stage and backstage.

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 12:15pm

has anyone ever attempted this? id love to see some shows like DOTV and Carrie that not too many people got the chance to see.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 12:17pm

I think one of the glories of theater, is that you have to see it to see it. That you can't go home with it. That you have to make yourself absolutely present, in the Zen sense, when you are sitting in that theater and take in as much as you can.

Having a record is great, but think of the centuries of performances that you had to be there to see. That, in my opinion, is the true theatrical tradition, and without recorded productions, it encourages innovation and evolution. THINK of all the criticisms of a couple of recent revivals! ("That Into the Woods was NOTHING comapared to the original cast, which I only saw on VHS.")

[DofB5]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 12:18pm

I've heard of it a few times on the board. I guess I should have been more clear when I said "available to the public". I meant like go down the local vid store to buy or rent. Not have to make a long trip and maybe not be allowed to see the show at some library.

D

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 12:18pm

oh so true Namo.

[DofB5]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 12:22pm

I agree that there is nothing like being there--I don't want you to think I'm taking anything away from that but not everyone has Broadway down the street to be able to go see the shows.

How many times does an original cast do a road trip? My point was to give someone a chance who would dearly love to see a show a way of "being" there anyway they could.

D

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 12:28pm

I wasn't referring to just Broadway. I was referring to theater. Theater before the advent of motion pictures was all there was (I'm including opera, Voiceanth, and all performing arts, so there's no need, no need) ... and people went. Obviously, they didn't all go to Broadway either.

I think the world would be a different place if people were more motivated to go to the theater wherever they live, rather than to get incomplete artifacts of productions they couldn't or didn't access in NYC for whatever reason. I remember reading posts from the people condemning the Into the Woods revival because they had seen the video of the original Broadway cast. And I kind of wanted to tell them that that video didn't capture a whole LOT of what was great in that production.

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 12:34pm

I agree, as an actor that theatre is best experienced, there, in the moment, not on a television screen. However, the theatre world, and primarily Broadway is making itself completely inaccessible to the everage joe. With tickets from $65-$100+ a show, who can afford to see too much theatre anymore? Youre right, theatre before film was all there was. It sent messages, entertained people for a few hours, and livened up the harsh world of the outside. But it was also a theatre with accessibility. people could afford to see the shows and saw them thusly. Today, that just isnt possible. Broadway has limmited itself to the wealthy, tourists, and broadway fanatics who dont mind spending the dough. For theatre to survive, this needs to change.

[DavidMegg]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 1:01pm

I'm sure no one disagrees w/Namo (least of all me), but speaking for myself, I love to watch the shows they've captured on video at the NY Performing/Fine Arts Library not to replace theatregoing, but to fill in voids where I was unable to actually be there... as in shows that were playing when I was 4.
I agree that people who see videos of shows (i.e. Into the Woods) and then comment on their "experience" watching it is NOTHING compared to the experience of being a part of it live, in the audience. But for some, it's the only access they have to quality theatre. And these archives (and video releases) are intended to do just that - preserve, not replace the whole theatre-going experience.
d.

[ChristineDaae]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 2:02pm

Phantom with Sarah Brightman & Michael Crawford
Dance of the Vampires
42nd Street
Cabaret with a good/current cast
Thourouly Modern millie

[Sally]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 2:12pm

"I agree, as an actor that theatre is best experienced, there, in the moment, not on a television screen. However, the theatre world, and primarily Broadway is making itself completely inaccessible to the everage joe. With tickets from $65-$100+ a show, who can afford to see too much theatre anymore?..."

Who could disagree that live theater is best? To see Broadway theater, however, is as you say, very expensive---more for some than others. Besides the ticket prices, I would have a $200--$400 airline ticket and the price of a hotel that has more guests than roaches and rodents, plus walkin' around money.

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 3:01pm

I would love the original LSOH.

[Kavana]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 3:25pm

the original LSOH was aired on Japanese TV
so is It's A Bird, It's A Plan, It's Superman
i have a copies
Updated On: 9/14/03 at 03:25 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 3:49pm

The question of videos should be that they are available for those who want them. If you do not want them great but if you do they should be available. Think how many great performances have been lost forever . To those unable to make the trek to NYC, they should be able to experience the recent revival of "Long Days Journey Into Night". To think these performances will not be seen again. What a shame. I saw Dennehy in "Death of a Salesman " in person but love the idea I can watch it over & over again as it was aired on Showtime & I taped it .

[sharon1]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 4:05pm

Phantom of the Opera w/Crawford, Brightman, Barton or Ball
Aspects of Love
Passion London version
My Fair Lady
Annie Get your Gun w/Merman
Gypsy w/Merman
Man of La Mancha w/Kiley
King and I
Carousel w/Barbara Cook
There are oodles more but that is the start

Posted: 9/14/03 at 4:43pm

The Last Five Years
Aida - Idina Menzel
Elegies: A Song Cycle
john & jen
Parade
Rocky Horror Picture Show Revival
Into the Woods Revival
Man of La Mancha - Marin Mazzie
Avow
The Invention of Love
Take Me Out
Avenue Q
Updated On: 9/14/03 at 04:43 PM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 4:48pm

In theater circles there is always much praise for such "legendary" performances Laurette Taylor in GLASS MENAGERIE and Jessica Tandy in STREETCAR. Too bad we don't have any video or film record of these performances. How I'd love to relive Zoe Caldwell's incandescent performance in MASTER CLASS--and the Patti LuPone version which followed it. Both were sheer bliss!

[glitzguy3]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 5:46pm

Miss Saigon with Lea Salonga

[MlleDaae]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 5:59pm

if I would make a list of all the videos (boots) I'd want...it'd be long! But...there is one that I think no one will ever find!

'My Fair Lady' starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison.

Oh well...i can always wish.

~MlleDaae

[Max Bialystock]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 6:06pm

KING OF HEARTS

CARRIE

WHEN COUSINS MARRY

[DofB5]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 6:26pm

I don’t wish to start anything, but one of the points I tried to make in another thread was that why am I going to go to all the trouble of traveling to NYC, paying for a hotel, food, walking around money, PLUS a large ticket price for the show, etc, etc when I can watch a road show (mostly with unknowns) that has just as good a chance of being just as good as anything on Broadway? If you look at it that way, the only drawing card Broadway has that the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center does not is the stars you have in the shows up there.

But isn’t that part of the reason you want to go see a show? You want to see Mr./Ms. So and So’s version of a play? Surely you must agree that no two performances will be alike. Same words, same music but isn’t part of it the thrill of seeing one of your favorite people doing something they love? Again, nothing can replace being there live but if that wasn’t possible, wouldn’t you at least want an echo of it through a vid?

I agree that at one time the local theater was all that people had but as the saying goes–“That was then, This is now”. The audiences in Tampa or where ever are just as hungry to see the original casts as the NYC crowd is. Yes, I’ve seen POTO several times but I never got to see Mr. Crawfords version. Same words, same music but I will always, always long to see his version and in that light, I have never seen POTO.

D