Performances That Take Your Breath Away- Page 2

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 2:24pm

Jane Fonda in KLUTE
John Hurt in anything
Anna Magnani in THE ROSE TATTOO
Marlon Brando in REFLECTIONS OF A GOLDEN EYE


Haven't seen them? Netflix NOW!

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 2:26pm

Bjork in "Dancer in the Dark" and Heather Mattazarro "Welcome to the Dollhouse."


I have said this one before, but I saw an early performance of Aida and Heather Headley singing Dance of the Robe. She literally stopped the audience. We clapped for at least two minutes with her hand in the air waiting for the scene to change. It was a pre-Broadway show.

I also used to work with Savion Glover and anytime he was working was pretty much as incredible as it gets.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 9:01pm

Al Pacino is DOG DAY AFTERNOON
Margarita Terekhova in THE MIRROR
Anouk Aimee in 8 1/2
Robert De Niro in THE GODFATHER II
Joe Pesci in GOODFELLAS
Dustin Hoffman in TOOTSIE
Laurence Olivier in LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT

[BroadwaySinger2]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 9:14pm

Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music
Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins
Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria
Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz
Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz
Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man
Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada

[misschung]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 9:41pm

most of what has been already mentioned, and

Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot
Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

for comedic performance: Tom Hanks in the Money Pit, Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 9:41pm

Rita Moreno in West Side Story.

[fabala4077]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 12:21am

Not really a performance, but anything Tony Kushner writes is like an orgasm for my eyes if I'm reading it, my ears if I'm hearing it, and my mouth and body if I'm living it.

Pertty powerful stuff thar

[theatahguy]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 10:47am

Good thread!

I'll have to do some thinking, but off-hand, I'd say

Kate Hudson in Almost Famous...there is so much going on behind her eyes--it blows my mind.

Patrick Wilson in Angels in America

Angela Lansbury's vocal performance in Beauty & the Beast

and dont laugh, but...

Mira Sorvino in Neil Simon's Jake's Women (made for TV movie)...her first scene with Alan Alda is just gorgeous.

...hmmm...and speaking of Neil Simon, I only saw it once, but I remember not being able to tear my eyes from the screen when Anne Bancroft was doing the "George Raft" monologue at the end of Broadway Bound.
Updated On: 5/1/07 at 10:47 AM

[theatahguy]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 10:52am

OH, and I second whoever said Adrien Brody in The Pianist. I could not believe what I was seeing while watching him in that film.

...add to it Bill Murray & Scarlett Johansen in Lost in Translation.

...and Natalie Portman in Closer & Garden State.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 10:54am

Hey, Broadwaysinger2...you ever see Julie Andrews in THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY? Great, classic movie no one talks about anymore AND features Julie in her finest performance, bar none.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 1:00pm

Julie Harris in "The Belle of Amherst".

I saw and fell in love with it and her in it when it was broadcast on PBS back in the late '70s.

And one of the greatest "I Could Kick Myself" overs is that a year or so later, she did it in Pittsburgh "one night only" and I didn't go to see it.