Classic Performances You HAVE seen

[BWAY Baby2]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 9:37am

For me:

Barbra in funny Girl

Angela in Mame

Bernadette and Mandy in Sunday in the Park
Julie in Victor/Victoria

Liza in Chicago

Liza in Flora The Red Menace

Hugh in Boy From Oz

Jennifer Hollliday in Dreamgirls

Gwen Verdon Sweet Charity

To name a few

Updated On: 4/21/17 at 09:37 AM

[jo]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 9:43am

Richard Kiley in Man of La Mancha...and Hugh Jackman in The Boy from Oz.

I did see Angela in Mame and Liza in Flora -- but at that time, their performances did not register with me as classic.

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 10:07am

In middle school a field trip was us seeing Nathan Lane, Faith Prince, etc. in Guys and Dolls. What a memory. Also saw Daisy Egan in The Secret Garden.

As for modern performances I've seen Cynthia Erivo's Celie, Bette Midler's Dolly, Glenn Close's Norma Desmond, Ben Platt's Evan Hansen, all of which I think will be considered modern classics. 

[BroadwayLover4]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 10:08am

Melba Moore Purlie ( my first Broadway show)

Patti "Gypsy"

Patti "Evita"

Glenn Close "Sunset Boulevard" 

Hugh Jackman "Boy from Oz"

Zero Mostel "Fiddler"

Carol Channing "Dolly"

Cherry Jones "Doubt"

Cherry Jones "The Glass Menagerie"

Audra McDonald "Lady Day"

Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou "Sweeney Todd"

 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 10:09am

Chita & Gwen in CHICAGO

Entire original 1975 cast of A CHORUS LINE

Patti & Mandy in EVITA

Andrea McArdle, Shelley Bruce, Sarah Jessica Parker & Allison Smith and Dorothy Loudon and Alice Ghostley in ANNIE. 

Ben Vereen in PIPPIN

Liza & Julie in VICTOR/VICTORIA

Lauren Ball in WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Reba McEntire in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN

Sandy Duncan in PETER PAN

Countless original Broadway casts from 1972 to the present.  

[BuddyStarr]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 10:15am

Patti in Sunset Blvd (I've seen them all and no one can compare)

Idina in Wicked

Huge Jackman in Boy from Oz

Nathan Lane in Forum

Sandy Duncan in Peter Pan

NPH in Hedwig

Christine Ebersole in Grey Gardens

The cast of The Addams Family (It was classic but really really bad.  You could feel for the actors stuck in this dreck)

Chita in Kiss of the Spiderwoman (hell, the whole original cast)

 

[ijest22]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 10:21am

Maybe classic is not the word, but in terms of things I would not have missed, and that not that many people probably got to see:

Kevin Spacey's Broadway debut in Ghosts, with Liv Ullman

Glenda Jackson in Rose

Linda Hunt in End of the World

Sam Waterston and Gilda Radner, in Lunch Hour

The entire cast of Come Back...Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (of course that one is memorialized on film)

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 10:51am

I could name a few but I think the most special was John Cameron Mitchell as Hedwig.  

[canadian fan]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 10:55am

For me, my highlight so far was Mark Rylance in Jerusalem.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:01am

The one that I will claim "bragging rights" for, and which I think many will agree, was Natasha Richardson in Cabaret. No other Sally who came after her (and there have been many fine actresses who have done wonderful jobs in the role) has been able to touch what she did on that stage at the Henry Miller/Kit Kat Club.

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:31am

My personal highlights were Carmen Cusack in Bright Star, and Ben Platt in Dear Evan Hansen.

The performances I've seen that will go down in history are the OBC of Hamilton and Cynthia Erivo in The Color Purple.

Updated On: 4/21/17 at 11:31 AM

[newintown]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:31am

The best ones that come to mind are:

Phyllis Frelich - Children of a Lesser God
Priscilla Lopez - A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine
Lily Tomlin - The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
Original Cast - Nine (1982)
Original Cast - Noises Off (1983)
Original Cast - Sunday In The Park With George (1984)
Joanna Gleason - Joe Egg
Original cast - Romance in Hard Times
Original Cast - Falsettoland
Pauline Collins - Shirley Valentine
Raul Julia - Macbeth (1989)
Bill Irwin - Largely New York and Fool Moon
Original Cast - Grand Hotel
Lane & Prince - Guys & Dolls
Original Cast - Angels In America (1993)
Zoe Caldwell - Master Class
Stritch - A Delicate Balance and At Liberty
Ann Reinking - Chicago
Original Cast - Titanic
Edie Falco - Side Man
Original Cast - Avenue Q
Original Cast - The Seagull (2001, Central Park)
Jackman - The Boy From Oz
Victoria Clark - Light in the Piazza
Original Cast - Well
Christine Ebersole - Grey Gardens

I should stop - more keep occurring...

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:43am

BrodyFosse123 said: "Chita & Gwen in CHICAGO

Entire original 1975 cast of A CHORUS LINE

Patti & Mandy in EVITA

Andrea McArdle, Shelley Bruce, Sarah Jessica Parker & Allison Smith and Dorothy Loudon and Alice Ghostley in ANNIE. 

Ben Vereen in PIPPIN

Liza & Julie in VICTOR/VICTORIA

Lauren Ball in WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Reba McEntire in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN

Sandy Duncan in PETER PAN

Countless original Broadway casts from 1972 to the present.  

 

Don't know that Liza was a classic performance.  She was terrible.

 

[MizMamie]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:47am

Original cast of Evita

Rooney & Miller, Sugar Babies

Yul Brynner, King & I (1985 revival)

Lane & Prince, Guys & Dolls

Neuwirth & Reinking, Chicago
 

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:49am

Thelma Ritter and Margaret Hamilton in UTBU.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:49am

I don't know if this counts, but Rebecca Luker as Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins.

[newintown]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:57am

After Eight wrote: "Thelma Ritter and Margaret Hamilton in UTBU."

Lord, I'm weeping with laughter. My high school did that play, and I can only imagine. You didn't think Tony Randall matched their quality?

[JudyDenmark]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 12:02pm

I accidentally went to opening night of Wicked, so that was pretty cool. I'm not old enough to have gone to the "classic" classics, but I've gotten to see some good ones. As a kid: OBC of Into the Woods, OOBC of Little Shop, Patti in Anything Goes, OBC of Les Mis & Phantom, Carol Channing on tour with Dolly.... I'm sure more. 

As an adult I've seen lots of the OBCs since moving to New York in 2003... the newer classic "a star is born" performances that stand out are Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, OBC of Hamilton, Alex Sharp in Curious Incident, Sutton in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Carmen Cusack in Bright Star, Heather Headley in Aida (that was before I moved), more I'm sure I'm forgetting!

And Bette in Hello Dolly, which is obviously not "a star is born," haha... but classic and wonderful and iconic nonetheless.

[DrFrasierCrane]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 12:12pm

Maybe in 5 years I'll be able to brag about having seen Annaleigh Ashford and Jake Gyllenhaal in Sunday.

If we're counting proshot videos, I've seem several classic performances. Obviously it's nowhere near the same as it would've been live.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 1:21pm

Sure I am forgetting one of the all-time greats, but here goes as I travel down memory lane...

 

Play -- Male:

-- Jason Robards in Moon for the Misbegotten and The Country Girl

-- James Earl Jones in Fences and, especially, The Great White Hope

-- Derek Jacobi in Cyrano and Breaking the Code

-- Roger Rees in Nicholas Nickelby

-- Jim Dale in Scapino

-- Ian McKellen  in Amadeus

-- Christopher Plummer in Barrymore and Inherit the Wind

-- Nathan Lane in It's Only a Play, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and The Nance

-- Michael Moriarty in Find Your Way Home

-- George C Scott in Sly Fox

-- Richard Burton in Equus...best of the three

-- Frank Langella in Dracula and Frost/Nixon

-- Henry Fonda in Clarence Darrow

-- George Rose in My Fat Friend

-- David Dukes in Bent

 

Play -- Female:

-- Colleen Dewhurst in Moon For the Misbegotten and Whose Afraid of Va. Woolf

-- Zoe Caldwell in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Medea.  (Actually did not like Master Class, so her performance seemed a little over the top)

-- Irene Worth in Sweet Bird of Youth

-- Fiona Shaw in Medea

-- Vanessa Redgrave in LDJIN, Lady From The Sea, and Orpheus Descending

-- Maggie Smith in Lettice and Lovage and Private Lives

-- Judi Dench in Amy's View

-- (Not Broadway but) Cate Blanchett in Streetcar

-- Rosemary Harris in Hay Fever and The Royal Family

-- Eva LaGallienne in The Royal Family 

-- Kathleen Turner in Va. Woolf

-- Glenda Jackson in Strange Interlude

-- Cherry Jones in The Heiress and The Glass Menagerie

-- Cicely Tyson in A Trip to Bountiful

-- Jane Alexander in The Great White Hope and The Heiress

-- Swoosie Kurtz in The Fifth of July and House of Blue Leaves

 

 

Musical (Male)

-- Christopher Plummer in Cyrano

-- Nathan Lane in The Producers AND A Funny Thing

-- Phil Silvers in A Funny Thing

-- Richard Kiley in Man of La Mancha

-- Tommy Steele in Half a Sixpence

-- Hugh Jackman in Oz

-- Robert Preston in I Do! I Do!

-- Kevin Kline in Pirates of Penzance

-- Robert Lindsey in Me and My Girl

-- William Daniels in 1776

-- Jerry Orbach in Promises! Promises!

-- John Callum in Shenandoah

-- Hal Linden in The Rothschilds

-- Cleavon Little in Purlie

-- Alan Cumming in Cabaret

-- Joel Grey in Cabaret and The Grand Tour

-- Boyd Gaines in She Loves Me

-- Lin-Manuel Mirnda and Daveed Diggs for Hamilton

-- Tommy Tune in My One and Only

-- Lenny Baker in I Love My Wife

-- Colm Wilkinson in Les Mis

-- Herschel Bernardi in Fiddler on the roof

-- Antonio Banderas in Nine

-- Len Cariou in Sweeney todd

 

Musical (Female)

-- Barbara Harris in The Apple Tree and On a Clear Day

-- Angela Lansbury in everything: Mame, Dear World, Prettybelle, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, ALNM.  Interestingly, I was only disappointed once...in The King and I.  Maybe it as lack of rehearsal time.

-- Glenn Close in Sunset Blvd.

-- Bebe Neuwirth in Chicago

-- Gwen Verdon in Chicago and Sweet Charity

-- Chita Rivera in Chicago

-- Patricia Rutledge in Darling of the Day

-- Donna Murphy in TKAI and Wonderful Town

-- Pearl Bailey in Dolly

-- Patti Lupone in Anything Goes, Evita and Sweeney Todd

-- Bernadette Peters in Gypsy

-- Sandy Duncan in Peter Pan and My one and Only

-- Katherine Hepburn in Coco

-- Mary Martin in I Do! I Do!

-- Melba Moore in Purlie

-- Alice Ripley in Next to Normal

-- Lillian Heyman in Hallelujah Baby

-- Bea Arthur and Jane Connell in Mame

-- Lotte Lenya in Cabaret

-- Alexis Smith in Follies

-- Jennifer Holiday in Dreamgirls

-- Idina Menzel in Wicked

-- Sutton Foster for Anything Goes

 

Special Section: Disappointments

-- Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun revival.  Wood.

-- Barbara Streisand in Funny Girl.  Bored.

-- Zero Mostel in Fiddler.  Ad-libbed too much

-- Cherry Jones in Doubt.  I thought she was fine, bit Kathleen Turner should have won the Tony IMO.  i just didn't see what was special.

-- Jim Dale in Barnum.  Meh after Scapino

-- Michael Crawford in Phantom.  It probably had more to do with the size of the role than his performance, but it just didn't seem special.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 1:51pm

Angela & Len  (original cast) - Sweeney Todd

Chita - Kiss of the Spiderwoman

Stephanie Mills & Andre DeShields - The Wiz

James Earl Jones - Paul Robeson

Sherman Hemsley - Purlie

Frank Langella (twice) - Dracula

Cherry Jones - DOUBT

Gere and Dukes - BENT

Menzel and Chenoweth - Wicked

 

Have to add a few personal favorites:

Linda Eder in Jekyl & Hyde prior to Broadway before they cut so much music.

Carol Channing in "The Bed Before Yesterday"

Alexis Smith (twice) in 'PLATINUM"

 

To this day I am still upset that my ticket for Dreamgirls turned out to be for the day after Jennifer's final performance.

Updated On: 4/21/17 at 01:51 PM

[madbrian]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 1:53pm

My first Broadway show was the original cast of A Chorus Line.

[ajh]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 5:42pm

In musicals:

Yul Brynner in The King & I

Carol Channing in Hello Dolly

Colm Wilkinson in Les Misérables 

Michael Crawford in Barnum & The Phantom Of The Opera

Con O' Neill & Stephanie Lawrence in Blood Brothers

Mickey Rooney in Sugar Babies

Patti LuPone, Glenn Close, Betty Buckley, Elaine Paige, Rita Moreno & Rita Moreno in Sunset Boulevard 

Ellen Greene in Little Shop Of Horrors

Judy Kuhn in Metropolis & Fun Home

Jonathan Pryce in Miss Saigon & Oliver!

Lea Salonga in Miss Saigon

Chita Rivera in Kiss Of The Spiderwoman, Chicago (Roxie) & The Visit
Brent Carver in Kiss Of The Spiderwoman 

Alan Cumming in Cabaret

Ute Lemper & Pia Douwes in Chicago

Nathan Lane in The Producers

Neil Patrick Harris in Tick Tick Boom

Euan Morton in Taboo

Michael Jibson in Our House

Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Jesse L. Martin & Wilson J. Heredia in Rent

Michael Cerveris in Hedwig & The Angry Inch

Judi Dench & Bernadette Peters in A Little Night Music (different productions!)

Elena Roger in Piaf

Imelda Staunton in Sweeney Todd & Gypsy

Jane Krakowski in Guys & Dolls

Liliane Montvecchi in Grand Hotel

Tonya Pinkins in Caroline Or Change 

Bertie Carvel in Parade & Matilda

Patina Miller in Pippin

Hugh Jackman in Oklahoma! 

Audra McDonald in Lady Day At Emerson's Bar & Grill

Kristen Chenoweth in On The 20th Century 

Zachary Levi in First Date & She Loves Me

Cynthia Erivo in The Color Purple 


Christian Borle in Something Rotten 

Amber Riley in Dreamgirls

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Daveed Diggs & Renee Elise Goldsberry in Hamilton

Ben Platt in Dear Evan Hansen

Andy Karl in Groundhog Day

 

Updated On: 4/21/17 at 05:42 PM

[luvcaroline]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 7:41pm

Chita and Gwen in Chicago

Stephanie Mills in The Wiz

Doug Henning in The Magic Show (don't hate--this was heaven for 16 year old nerdy me)

Julie in Victor/Victoria 

Yul Brynner in The King and I (but only Act 1, because of the blackout of 1977 at intermission)

Idina in Wicked

Patti in Gypsy

OBC Hairspray

Bette in Hello Dolly!

Tonya Pinkins and Anika Noni Rose in Caroline, or Change

 

 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 7:56pm

Heather Headley in Aida...her performance was so stunning, it was the first musical i went back to multiple times to see it to believe it (five times while she was in obc)

Book of Mormon OBC-funniest musical of all time by far and one of my favorite scores

Matthew Broderick and Sara Jessica Parker during the final month of How To Succeed Revival-they were amazing together

Audra McDonald as billie holiday asking us to give her a cigarette, then lighting it and watching her every move on stage during this unreal performance...i have the cigarette box and matches on my desk

Billy Crystal in original tour of 700 sundays...stunning!

Fun Home OBC early in the run- it was a giant group therapy session in the round with some the best acting ive ever seen onstage,,,

Idina Menzel in London wicked opening

Hamilton first preview of touring cast in SF 10th row center

Laura Michelle Kelly My Fair Lady London revival....wow Im still suprised shes not a bigger star

Jason Alexander and Martin Short in the producers...two of my favorite all time comic actors

John Owen Jones Phantom of the Opera in london-amazing singer and actor and well known spitter(sit at least five rows back!!!)

Jersey Boys in SF with Jarred Spector as Frankie (so incredibly great)

Pre broadway tryout of Beautiful and seeing Jessie Mueller own Carol King role

Kinky Boots OBC before the tony awards-was floored by Billy, Annaleigh, Stark and entire cast and knew Billy would win a Tony 

Kristin Chenoweth in On the  20th Century-she was a force unto herself, such chops and comedic timing