Performance I want to see AGAIN - Funny Girl at the Actors Fund Concert 2002. I just rewatched Seth Rudetsky's Lillias White deconstruction last night and would love to go back and feel all that energy in the New Amsterdam again.
A performance I'd like to see that I missed: Patti LuPone in Evita (or the performance where Nancy Opel became a turtle in the Eva Dress..)
I was listening to the recent BroadWaysted podcast with Jenn Gambatese (its a weird Podcast, IMO), and they were casting famous people in Broadway shows, and it reminded me of Jerry herman saying Judy Garland wanted to do Mame. I would travel back in time, and make it happen.
Or I would settle for Judy at Carneige Hall!
"Ok ok ok ok ok ok ok. Have you guys heard about fidget spinners!?" ~Patti LuPone
Performance I'd like to see again: Hamilton preview at the Public. Can't remeber which preview I saw but seeing that show before all the buzz (and not knowing the songs) was priceless. I remember after the final black out the man sitting next to me whispered "Jesus!". What an experience.
Performance I wish I could have seen: Raul Julia in Nine (or really any Broadway performance by Raul Julia -- swoon).
I would want to see the original extended version of South Pacific from Boston, pre the drastic cuts and rewrites. The way that show was shaped is so fascinating to me.
Also Carol Channing's final performance as Dolly in her original broadway run.
"Life is already so dark. If you have got the talent to make it brighter and bring people hope & joy, why would you withhold that?"
I'd love to go back in time to see Laurette Taylor in "The Glass Menagerie." So many actors praise her performance on the " Broadway: The Golden Age" documentary. It must have been truly remarkable.
"I'm seeing the LuPone in Key West later this week. I'm hoping for great vocals and some sort of insane breakdown..." - BenjaminNicholas2
Richard Kiley in MAN FROM LA MANCHA, original staging in a theatre in the round.
Michael Ball et al in ASPECTS OF LOVE in London 1989 - the singing was very impressive!
War Horse at Lincoln Center - impressive and emotional.
Ingrid Bergman in that drama with Arthur Hill -- can't even remember the name of the play - I was too much in awe of Ms.Bergman especially with my front row seating. Maybe also because it was my first time in America and Broadway was such a dream event?
Angela Lansbury in MAME - to explore why it has impressed so many, when at that time I thought it was just an OK play to me. My lingering memory was We Need A Little Christmas.
Hugh Jackman --
*Curly in OKLAHOMA! in London ( 1999) although I would have preferred to have seen it in its original RNT theatre home instead of the Lyric theatre - didn't know who the lead actor was then as I came to see it only because of the music of Rodgers & Hammerstein
I'll break the rules because others did...'can't just have one, maybe 5'.
Something that I saw:
-- Angela Lansbury in MAME. The first time I saw this remains my single favorite performance EVER.
-- Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards in A Moon For the Misbegotten.
-- Nicholas Nickelby. A once in a lifetime experience.
-- Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in The Producers. I know there are people who consider this overrated and feel its relatively short run was appropriate. With Lane as Max B. and that original cast, I NEVER laughed so hard in my life; and Betrayed was one of the great 11:00 numbers ever.
-- Follies in Boston, because it was so unexpected; and I think I ENJOYED 'Boy, Can That Boy Foxtrot' more than 'I'm Still Here'.
Something That I Didn't See:
-- Judy Holiday at the opening of Bells Are Ringing
-- Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall. I listened to the recording about three weeks ago, and still got goosebumps.
-- Opening night of The Philadelphia Story with Kate Hepburn.
-- Don't ask me why, cause I don't know, but the original production of A Majority of One. I would have loved to have seen Gertrude Berg, and the movie is one of my all-time guilty pleasures, despite the incredibly politically incorrect servant.
One I saw: SARAFINA! at the Cort. Being a sheltered kid from Ohio new to NY but long in the biz, I'm ashamed to say that I really didn't know what apartheid meant. This show (about a year into its run) just blew me away. The VOICES in that theater, the passion, the storytelling, the stunning stagecraft... always at the top of my list of theater experiences.
One I didn't see: Either the opening nights of THE FANTASTICKS, or YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN. Both have special places in my heart and I'd love to experience the reactions of those who knew nothing about them going in.
"What- and quit show business?" - the guy shoveling elephant shit at the circus.
Probably the original production of one of the Sondheim classics. I also hate that I was only around 9 years old when the Patti Lupone lead Gypsy was on Broadway. Love that show and I love that cast. Would've loved to have seen that live.
I guess I'd choose either original Sweeney or original Sunday. Not sure which.