Share Your First Time--- (about BROADWAY!)- Page 2

[shavens]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 11:40am

Li'l Abner, 1957. My mom got tickets for us on the third row. Before curtain we watched as Stubby Kaye arrived and looked at snapshots with family. "See you later in the country," he said as he headed for the stage door. We loved the show -- Peter Palmer, Edie Adams, Charlotte Rae. I fancied that a girl in the chorus flirted with me. Also saw Most Happy Fella and Visit to a Small Planet on that trip. Still have the playbills. Dazzled and hooked. Since then I've spent my life as a playwright, director and professor of drama.

[luckyme_i'mnotyou]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 3:49pm

My first Broadway experience was on July 11 with my (at the time)boyfriend of seven months. He decided he was going to take me to see a Broadway show for my birthday. Well, the show was AMAZING and I had a great time. But while on my birthday trip in NY, I fell very hard for a certain actress in the show we had seen. Yes, the lovely birthday gift he had gotten for me made me realize that I needed to quit lying to myself and accept the fact that I was gay. I have moved on, and have accepted myself for who I am. But that was my first Broadway experience, and what an experience it was! Broadway changed my life!(corny, I know)

[bythesword84]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 3:57pm

August 1995- Beauty and the Beast. I was 11 and my dad took me. It was still at the Palace at the time. Fell in love with it as soon as they started the dance in "Gaston." and was hooked on theater through "If I Cant Love Her"

[Thoroughly Modern Cara]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 4:22pm

I think I was 13...I started late I know...but I have made up for it!! I saw the revival of "Annie Get Your Gun" with Bernadette at the Marquis in the summer of 1999. I went on a trip with my summer camp. We would go to 2 shows a summer. I also saw "Rent" that summer. It was just a fantastic experience. I was hooked from then on, I begged my mom to order the cast recording the moment I got home. I was addicted to that CD and to Broadway ever since!

[marincrazy11]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 4:48pm

My family and I usually spend Thanksgiving in Chicago but in 1999 , my sophomore year of high school, we decided to switch it up and go to New York becuase I had been begging them to for a couple of years.

Our first show was Miss Saigon. What an experience! We sat fourth row and it was just spectacular, I really don't know what else to say!

Second show was Jekyll and Hyde and we walked about 45 minutes prior to show and got 2 standing rooms and an obstructed view in the second row, which just had some funny sight lines, but you could still see everything perfectly. We ran back and changed our clothes (we were staying at the Edison, so perfect placement of theater). Mind you it was with David Hasselhoff, but Coleen Sexton made the night all worth it.

I've been back twice since then, once with my (old) high school choir group (saw Chicago-one week after being cast as Roxie at school and Rent), and just about a month ago (Wonderful Town, Boy From Oz,and Wicked). And hopefully I will be going in the winter with my school. I adore New York, I just wish it didn't take 10 hours to drive there.

[azeller]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 4:50pm

Mine too was Annie Get Your Gun in August of 2001 with Bernadette Peters (yes, another late bloomer-I think I was in graduate school at the time.)

I have more than made up for it since then....but it was definately an amazing experience that I will never forget!

[TheGirlinTheFrock]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 5:03pm

Cabaret at Studio 54 in October. - I know pretty recent. I have always loved musical theatre, but my mother was never comfortable going into the city so we never got to go. I pleaded with her to see Les Mis before it closed and begged to see Miss Siagon when it was closing (i am a big fan of Lea Salonga). Finally when Cabaret annouced it was closing and that Adam Pascal would be the Emcee until closing my mother let us go.

It was great. I cannot put into words how wonderful it was. Its something i will never forget.

[NightLaughs]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 5:24pm

I was 15 years old, and just got over a hard freshmen year of highschool. As a gift for a good report card, my dad took me to go see RENT (A show I had recently fallen in love with). I still can see the Nederlander Theater, perfectly. I was in complete awe. Now I have never done drugs, but I doubt any sort of substance can compete with the high I felt that day. Starring at the stage, a huge dorky grin plastered across my face, I prayed the show would never end. 6 rows back, center orchestra, it was perfect. The lights, the set, the music I adored. I wondered, how anything could be better than this?

A few years and 8 shows later, I have been forever changed by that experience. In some small way it's a part of who I am. Just one of the big moments in my short life. Not only was it amazing, I've developed a respect and appreciation of theater that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. After I got home that day, completely on cloud 9, my mom looked at me and said "Looks like you've found something you really love. You're lucky, most people never do." She was right.

Updated On: 7/19/04 at 05:24 PM

[NYBroadwayNY]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 6:33pm

Wow, it's really great reading all these stories. I knwo they may sound sappy to some, but for those who live in NY City or close enough that you can go to the city when you feel the urge, don't take Broadway for granted. It is still a magical place for us who live way the hell out in the USA. I've been to NY about 15 times over the years, and I STILL get excited when I'm just making the plans or buying tickets online. Every time I leave my hotel and step into Times Square and the Theatre District, it still makes me smile and think how lucky I am to be standing there. The sights. The sounds. The lights. Even the smells! (the good ones, like roasted peanuts and pretzels, and hot dogs) Things that make NY......NY.

[LadyMann]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 7:36pm

It was December of 1993. I saw "Red Shoes." i dont remember much but i know i hated it. and i saw jonathan sharp's bway debut! hehehe. but i consider "Beauty and the Beast" my 1st. it was April of 1994. the month it opened! ill never forget everything it did for me. gotta love terrence! :) i know i def. do!

aimee

Posted: 7/19/04 at 8:46pm

Winter of 1979, Tuesday night, I believe, even skipped rehearsal for "King & I", my family piled into our Ford van and headed to NYC to see 'A Chorus Line'. It was magical. We even went to Sardi's afterwards!

[shlamdiddly]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 9:18pm

my first broadway experiance was peter pan when I was...little. I fell asleep during it which is why i don't remember seeing it. We were only staying for the day and you know how waling around a lot can make a kid tired?...I have an excuse for sleeping. Then, in 6th grade(5 years ago), I saw chicago with my stepmom, stepsisters, and grandparents. In 8th grade I saw Phantom of the Opera with my mom, and it is still one of my favorite Broadway experiences. Second only to my mom surprising me with wicked tickets in January...I'll tell the story.

My mom and i went to NYC for the weekend in January to se The Lion King. We saw that saturday night. On sunday we ate at the Stardust Dinner(I think thats what its's called). Afterwards my mom said we could go buy a shirt at the Wicked theater right sown the street 'cause we were so close. So we went in and we stood in the line for tickets. When the lady behind the counter handed her tickets and my mom told me we were seeing the show RIGHT NOW I was utterly speechless for about 5 minutes. It was like state of shock. So thats my BEST broadway experiance and my first in one long, probably boring entry.

OOOO and I'm seeing Avenue Q this wednesday! YAY!

[thtrehead12]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 12:19am

i was 9 years old....my distant cousin was in town because he was touring with 'miss saigon.' i finally saw the show...twice...and fell completely in love. my cousin took me backstage and i saw all the sets, props, costumes, dressing rooms, leads...matt bogart and deedee lynn magno were among the others that were there...i was tranced days after. i absolutely fell in love with the show and the entire thought of performing onstage. i would secretly play my miss saigon cd and reinact the scenes in my room. of course, i was always "kim." one time, i was so embarassed because i had made it all the way to the finale....as kim was about to shoot herself, she sang "my son, i'll give my life for you." right after the gunshot, i pretended to shoot myself and fell , making a HUGE thud on the floor. later that day, my sister commented on the loud fall she heard from my room and the perfect timing i had with the gunshot.

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 12:02pm

National Tour of CATS in San Francisco. It was awesome. Oh, and I was eight at the time. I listened to that Shimbleshanks the railway cat song nonstop until I was about eleven. And McCavity still reminds me of legos.

Posted: 7/20/04 at 2:50pm

Beauty and the Beast...oh the memories...ahhh!

[wickedfan2]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 3:14pm

I saw Pippen with Ben Vereen, Chicago, Jesus Christ Superstar, A Bette Midlar show about the army. Can't remember which was first but was in complete awe of them all....

[CapnHook]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 3:39pm

My first show was the revival of 42nd STREET.

My parents fell asleep, and I had not noticed until my father started to snore. I reached over my quietly sleeping mother (who was sick) to slap my father (who was tired).

[lvpblues]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 4:44pm

I first went to Broadway on March 15 (appropriately enough) 2000. There was a high school trip going down to see a Wednesday matinee of "Miss Saigon" and I was really excited for the opportunity. I can't remember too much except that I came down with the beginnings of a stomach bug that morning. I had waves of nausea and a temperature reaching 101. But I insisted on going. It was my first time and nothing was going to stop me. I think I was near hallucination by the time the helicopter scene came. I wasn't too moved by the show itself, but my virgin experience was something else. I can remember approaching the Broadway theater and going through the entiring seating process for the first time. Opening my own playbill for the first time and looking at the gorgeous interior of the theater. I was in awe. (My next show was "Cats" - and I started snoring by the end of act one - really, I did. Third time was the charm - the revival of "Kiss Me Kate" with Stokes and Mazzie sent me sailing ten feet in the air afterward).

~K Updated On: 7/20/04 at 04:44 PM

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 5:42pm

Back in 1996 I saw Joseph and the amazing technicolor dream coat with donny osmond in chicago. From then on, i was hooked on shows (i had no idea what the concept of the word broadway meant). I remember in the beginning of the show, there was a sheer screen covering the stage, and i was thinking it was going to be like tv or a movie with a screen and everything. So that was my first ever professional musical. And my first BROADWAY show was les Mis in 2001. 2001 was my first trip to nyc (before september 11th) But between '96 and '01 i saw many national tours. Ever since '96 ive seen over 20 DIFFERENT shows. =D

Posted: 7/20/04 at 5:55pm

For my 16th birthday in 1978, I snuck off and flew to NYC alone - I needed to escape. After listening to the cast recording of A CHORUS LINE about 1000 times, I knew what I needed to see. So I did. It was everything I had imagined it would be - and much, much more. Not incidentally, it was on that little 'escape' that I went down to the Village and saw two men holding hands in the street for the first time, which was the first indication that I was going to get to live a real life someday. That, in combination with the virgin Broadway experience, ranks that weekend in the top 3 or so I've had in this life - so far.

Posted: 7/20/04 at 11:28pm

1972 "Grease" at the Royale...original was hoot.....Movie lost rough edge.....90's Revival pathetic...Rosie O'Donnell as Rizzo was nauseating...the set was a neon nightmare!

[Alix7272]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 11:47pm

Beauty and the Beast - fell in love w/ nyc that night!

[BroadwayMonkey]

Posted: 7/21/04 at 12:26am

This year...(I'm such a loser).....Beauty and the Beast. The set was wicked cool.

[NativeNewYorker]

Posted: 7/21/04 at 12:35am

"For my 16th birthday in 1978, I snuck off and flew to NYC alone - I needed to escape. After listening to the cast recording of A CHORUS LINE about 1000 times, I knew what I needed to see. So I did. It was everything I had imagined it would be - and much, much more. Not incidentally, it was on that little 'escape' that I went down to the Village and saw two men holding hands in the street for the first time, which was the first indication that I was going to get to live a real life someday. That, in combination with the virgin Broadway experience, ranks that weekend in the top 3 or so I've had in this life - so far."

That is a great story!!!

That SOUNDS like a musical itself...

[Erich]

Posted: 7/21/04 at 1:55am

Updated On: 10/26/14 at 01:55 AM