What is your favorite toured show(s) you've enjoyed seeing? What is your least favorite toured show(s)? Would love to hear what yours are.
Mine are: Priscilla Queen of the Desert Evita (2013 tour) The Lion King The Book of Mormon Wicked Jersey Boys Kinky Boots Pippin (2014 tour) Beauty and the Beast ALW's The Wizard of Oz The Phantom of the Opera
I'd say NEXT TO NORMAL but Alice was a bit hoarse at the Matinee I saw (Pearl Sun actually went on that evening) so it kind of tarnished the experience, otherwise it was probably my favorite overall.
I've seen several I liked. But the one I loved was "Angels in America: Perstroika" because it was significantly different from the Broadway production and included the Roy Cohn in hell scene.
One guess.... I've bought tickets for the tour stop in San Antonio on Sat. Jan. 31, 2015...for both the 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. shows. : )
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
Best: - Anything Goes (w/ Rachel York and Fred Applegate) - Wicked 2010 (w/ Donna Vivino) - Wicked 2012 (w/ Jeanna de Waal) - The Book of Mormon 1NT (w/ Mark Evans and Chris O'Neil)(I saw it 4 times) - Shrek - The Addams Family (Non Equity) - Sister Act (When Lynn temporarily replaced Hollis)
Meh: - The Lion King - Beauty and the Beast (Non Equity) (I liked it a lot more than Lion King but still)
Best: Book of Mormon 1NT (Mark Evans) Anything Goes (Rachel York) Wicked 2NT (Christine Dwyer and Jeanna de Waal) American Idiot Evita (Josh Young) Priscilla Sister Act (2012)
Recently the national tours of EVITA, PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT, ANYTHING GOES with Rachel York, and THE LION KING have been fantastic! Less so GHOST, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, and CHICAGO.
"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop
Favorite touring shows: -POTO (both the original and the "remake"). I saw top-notch performers as the Phantom each time (John Cudia and Tim Martin Gleason in the original version, and a terrific cover in the current tour), and the new sets are breathtaking, even though some of the stage business and costuming are downright odd. -Sweeney Todd, many years ago at the Kennedy Center. George Hearn was Sweeney. - Fiddler on the Roof.
Least favorite: -My Fair Lady. Higgins was too old and fat, and some of the changes are odd. The hats at Ascot were just frisbee clones, well before the modern royals wore similar hats at Will and Kate's wedding. Also, now that the ride back to Covent Garden takes place on the underground, Freddy's line that "It's getting awfully cold in that taxi" makes no sense. I liked turning Freddy into a drunk, however. -Book of Mormon, not because I saw it on tour and didn't like it. It's one of my least favorites because the tour tickets are so d--d expensive that I can't afford them, and they sell out in hours even in large venues. -Jekyll and Hyde. The projections were amateurish, the show itself was too over the top, even for the over the top story, and the music was boring. -Flashdance. Read my review on the DC page, from 12/26/13. Lots of flaws.
I haven't caught up with Wicked yet, either on tour or B'way, but I expect it will be on my favorites list, as long as the venue can support the special effects.
Audrey, the Phantom Phanatic, who nonetheless would rather be Jean Valjean, who knew how to make lemonade out of lemons.
Favorites: Wicked tours very well. I really think the current Phantom tour is a great production. Anything Goes with Rachel York was very well-done and well-cast I thought. The Addams Family
Least Favorites: Legally Blonde (way too scaled down for the road) Non-equity Hairspray Non-equity Beauty and the Beast
Favorites: Book of Mormon (1NT with Mark Evans) Chicago War Horse Les Miserables (25th Anniversary Production) The Addams Family (mediocre show but lots of fun to watch) Wicked (like others said, it tours great)
Goes back a while...but my favorite toured show was Miss Saigon - It had Jon Jon Briones as the engineer...the part he currently plays in the latest London revival.
I've only seen one, but I loved it! It was Billy Elliot the last stop in the U.S. before it went to Brazil, and I am still in love with the music and the story. I found everyone in the cast (with the sad exception of the Ms. Wilkinson) to be great!
Anything Goes (Rachel York) It was musical theatre at its finest. Book of Mormon (2NT) Billy Elliot (w/faith Prince) In the Heights Mary Poppins (W Stephanie Leigh) Hairspray (06/07 non-equity tour) the cast at the time was on fire!