So, I know that it is always a good idea to see new things. Yet, I am sure we all have our favortie shows that we consider our " go to show" if you will. A show that we can easilly see and can't get tired of. I know many people have a show or two like this. I want to know what show and why. I would prefer it if you said something else other then " I like it because it's good." Clearly you do, a show being good is part of the reason why you go back there.
For me, I would say Les Miserables and A Chorus Line. I would say Les Miserables for both the music and I am convinced that the story is the greatest story ever told. And, For my second show I would say A Chours Line. I have seen this show twice. every other show I have been to and seen again I know what is going to happen when. Thus, the whole drama and suspence of what is going to happen next and what the other characters reactions are ect is gone. But, I still enjoy it none the less and it is still entertaining. But, when I saw A Chorus Line the second time, I stil reacted the same way as if it were my first. I still cried during Paul's monlouge and keep in mind even prior to seeing it the first time I just NEVER had cried during a show before. But, it happend twice even though I knew the ending of his story and what not.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/16/05
Follies is just a goldmine for me with so many lines to analyze, moments to capture a new perspective or reason from for past or later things. You aren't just experiencing one night of bubbling chaos, but rather emotions, feelings, actions from the past 30 years culminating all under the cloak of faded grandeur and excellent songs.
Well, I've seen Les Miserables about 27 times, so I think that speaks for itself. Boublil & Schoenberg have been accused of making a superficial musical out of a complex novel, but I find there's always some new nuance to examine, even if the show is straightforward enough on the surface. I dunno, maybe having knowledge of the novel helps.
Not to mention the barricade boys, who always give me something fun to watch in the ensemble numbers on the nights when I'm not feeling particularly philosophical.
Everyone took everything I wanted to say about Les Miz already.
I've recently found that Jersey Boys offers a lot of ensemble-member-watching opportunities. :)
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
Avenue Q
Company
The Producers
The Big Voice: God or Merman
Spring Awakening
Reefer Madness
Assassins
Gypsy
I think that's about it.
COMPANY.
The small ensemble means everything that happens on stage affects all fourteen people in the cast - timing, fluffs, chemistry.
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
Grey Gardens was the only show I ever had the desire to see again immediately after I saw it the first time. I have seen it twice, and plan on going back many more times this summer. Brilliant piece of theatre with a ton of stuff to notice every time.
I know I'm completely weird in that I found something new/deeper in The Vertical Hour each of the 10 times I saw it. And it was a weird kind of therapy for me...when I had a bad week, I'd grab a printout of a discount code and go see it.
As far as currently running shows... If I've had a bad week teaching, it's No Child.... If I just flat out need to laugh, it's go do the Drowsy lottery. And if I just need a pick me up, it's off to the RENT lotto for me.
I think 110 joined my see more than once because I love it group tonight.
I've fallen in love with a fair number of shows in the past, but my experience with the Company revival has been more compelling than any I've had before. I think, for me, it's because when something moves you that much, you're compelled to go back and experience it over and over and over again, because catharsis doesn't really become a bore. In a way, I suppose it's a little bit masochistic to seek that out in the sense that you want to put yourself into something that can be somewhat emotionally tumultuous, and yet in this case, I find that the rewards outweigh any possible negativities. There's always something new to find, and in a production that is so tightly self-contained, things are still constantly changing and growing. I expected that a point would come at which the lines would stop being funny to me, and yet I laugh every time. That in itself is rare, but it goes much beyond the humor. It's a show that you can intellectualize to high heaven just as easily as you can laugh and identify with its characters. It's just brilliant.
I think Cabaret would be another one, too, given the opportunity... which is why I'm really glad it's coming back!
RENT
Avenue Q
We Will Rock You
Blood Brothers
Chorus Member Joined: 3/12/07
Wicked
I've seen it three times and every time I get something new out of it. A lot of people rag on it, but I think it has a great message and fantastic music.
Company
When "A Class Act" was playing at the MTC I saw it a few times, and would have gone many more times if I could have. The show lost some of its magic when it transferred to a bigger theater (and lost Julia Murney).
Ragtime and Fosse were two shows that I could watch over and over again when they were playing on Broadway.
Grey Gardens is the only show that ever left me seriously wishing I could apply for a job as an usher so that I could watch every single performance for the duration of its run.
Almost any Sondheim show, especially A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, SWEENEY TODD and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. But not, I'm sorry to say, COMPANY. Just not my favorite.
Non-Sondheim: the usual suspects. RAGTIME, GYPSY (although the latter does have Sondheim's lyrics, of course.)
Non-Musicals: anything Albee.
I worked at the original production of Les Miserables and I lost count how many times I saw the show.
Hairspray - 15x and just for the entertainment factor alone. This show has made me happy each and every time.
Piazza - 9x between Broadway and the tour (most recently two weeks ago). I love this show, and it never fails to move me throughout. Same for Ragtime and Titanic.
Journeys End, the play has so much in it, and i believe that it is impossible to gain it all on one visit. (ALL SHOULD GO SEE IT)
Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd.
Cabaret.
The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire.
Could watch them all a million times and every time it would be a totally new experience.
Stand-by Joined: 6/25/06
Gypsy
A little night music, Melbourne Theatre Company ( MTC ) did a production quite a few years ago that was perfect in everyway, saw it every monday night during it's all to brief run.
The cast, design all flawless,
Leading Actor Joined: 4/12/07
Les Miserables
The Light in the Piazza
Company
Leading Actor Joined: 12/31/69
Mollym said:
"I've seen it three times and every time I get something new out of it. "
Some people are just slow to grasp things
Chicago, definitely... I've seen it 5 times (in 3 years) already !
Everyone knows it-Grey Gardens. Seen many, many times. Just can't stop watching. Get something new each time.
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Christine Ebersole for Tony Award 2007-Best Actress in a Musical!
and GG for best musical!
Gypsy and Grey Gardens.
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