Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen
Understudy Joined: 5/18/15
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#1
Posted: 6/2/15 at 3:35am
What are the greatest LIVE performances you have EVER seen on stage?
I think I have two.
Bernadette in Into the Woods and Audra in Lady Day & Emerson's Bar and Grill.
Understudy Joined: 8/3/14
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#3
Posted: 6/2/15 at 5:03am
Vanessa Redgrave--Long Day's Journey Into Night
Mercedes Ruehl & Bill Pullman--The Goat or Who is Sylvia
Danny Burstein--Follies
Katie Finneran--Noises Off
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#6
Posted: 6/2/15 at 6:33am
Alison Luff in wicked.
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#7
Posted: 6/2/15 at 7:08am
Lead actor in Fela- a star making performance that did not make him a star-Hugh Jackman in Oz- Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria, Kathleen Turner in Virginia Woolf, Audra McDonald in Porgy and Bess- and this, of course, is for starters.
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#8
Posted: 6/2/15 at 7:19am
Jenn Colella as Elizbeth in If/Then was incredible and one performance I will never forget.
Of course, Alice Ripley as Diana in Next To Normal is another performance I'll never forget.
I can't forget Sydney Lucas and Judy Kuhn in Fun Home. Wow.
Possibly, also Norbert Leo Butz in Big Fish...
Updated On: 6/2/15 at 07:19 AM
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#9
Posted: 6/2/15 at 7:37am
Meryl Streep & Raul Julia, TAMING OF THE SHREW (Delacorte)
Ethel Merman, CALL ME MADAM (tour)
Angela Lansbury, MAME, GYPSY (tour), SWEENEY TODD (Broadway)
Jack Klugman, Sada Thompson, Joanna Gleason, ALL MY SONS (tour)
John Lithgow, BEYOND THERAPY, M. BUTTERFLY (Broadway)
Honorable Mention:
John Cullum, CLEAR DAY (tour), MARY (pre-Bway), 1776, SHENANDOAH,
ON THE 20TH CENTURY (Broadway)
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#10
Posted: 6/2/15 at 7:41am
Gaveston, were you ever able to see Streisand in Funny Girl? Just curious.
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#11
Posted: 6/2/15 at 8:05am
I know it's hard to believe from my posts, but I was only 11 when Streisand left the stage show. I'd never seen a professional show of any kind at the time.
I first saw Streisand in HELLO, DOLLY! and found her unintentionally hilarious. Later I saw the FUNNY GIRL film and finally understood what the fuss was about.
***
Ah, I see why you asked and, no, of course I wasn't offended. In my list, the shows like CALL ME MADAM, MAME, and CLEAR DAY were all road shows after the Broadway runs.
Updated On: 6/2/15 at 08:05 AMBest Live Performances You've Ever Seen#12
Posted: 6/2/15 at 8:12am
Ah ok just wondering. I also loved Streisand in Hello Dolly (though many here detest the film)
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#13
Posted: 6/2/15 at 8:19am
I've come to love Streisand in DOLLY! (That voice! That score!), but I laughed my head off the first time I saw it.
Let's face it: she is incredibly mannered as an actress, which is why some of us never believe her as YENTL. Daisy Clover was actually a pretty good fit. And I loved THE WAY WE WERE; I thought Streisand was perfect in it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#14
Posted: 6/2/15 at 8:25am
Diana Rigg - Medea
Entire Cast of the OBC of Nicholas Nickleby
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#15
Posted: 6/2/15 at 8:29am
I have a mixture of plays and musicals...and I didn't see my first Broadway show until 1998:
Victoria Clark, The Light in the Piazza
Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens,
John Cameron Mitchell, Hedwig & The Angry Inch
Lea Salonga, Miss Saigon (saw her when she came back near the end of the run)
Audra McDonald, Ragtime (great cast, particularly Mitchell and Friedman as well)
Natasha Richardson, Cabaret
Michael Cerveris, Sweeney Todd
Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kiss Me Kate
Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Dan Fogler, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Cherry Jones, Doubt
Jefferson Mays, I Am My Own Wife
Mary Louise Parker, Proof
Denis O'Hare, Take Me Out
Kathleen Turner, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Bill Irwin, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Updated On: 6/2/15 at 08:29 AM
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#16
Posted: 6/2/15 at 8:37am
- Billy Porter and the OBC of KINKY BOOTS
- Norbert Leo Butz and Kate Baldwin in BIG FISH
- Idina Menzel in IF/THEN
- Kristine Nielson and Annaleigh Ashford in YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU
- Jefferson Mays in A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER
- Andrea Martin and Carly Hughes in PIPPIN
- Rachel York in the national tour of ANYTHING GOES
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#17
Posted: 6/2/15 at 8:54am
I did see Barbra in Funny Girl- I was 14 years old and already a huge Streisand fan. However, I saw her in November, 1966- she left one month later to do FG in London- and she had said, later in interviews, that she was basically sleepwalking through the part until she could leave Bway. Although I loved seeing her- this was not a sensational performance- she was good- but it lacked a certain enthusiasm and energy that disappointed me- Streisand is beyond amazing when she is feeling it- but it was a bit of a let down- and even at 14, I could tell that the feeling was gone. But, saw her many times live- and the best performance I have ever seen her give was in Brooklyn- she was on fire and I was in row 3 to witness it all. And yes, Alice Ripley was a force of nature in Next To Normal- forgot to mention her- from a long time ago- Liza Minnelli in Flora The Red Menace blew me away as a kid- my first exposure to Liza- and I was super impressed with her talent and passion.
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#18
Posted: 6/2/15 at 9:01am
Kelli O'Hara in Bridges.
Featured Actor Joined: 10/3/14
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#19
Posted: 6/2/15 at 9:23am
Jessie Mueller in Merrily We Roll Along - The 100 seat theatre was 1/2 full. The cast was amazing. 3 months after this she went to Broadway doing On A Clear Day. Literally said to the people I was with, how is this person not performing in a bigger venue?
Patti in Gypsy at Ravinia
E. Faye Butler in Caroline Or Change
Although this was not based on a single performance, the show A Twist Of Water at The Mercury Theatre was unbelievable and probably the single best show I have ever seen.
Also the original Chicago production of A Steady Rain was also unbelievable.
Yay for Chicago Theatre!
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#20
Posted: 6/2/15 at 9:30am
Patina Miller in Pippin (I cannot even begin to describe it)
Billy Porter in Kinky Boots
Andrea Martin in Pippin
Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#21
Posted: 6/2/15 at 9:42am
F. Murray Abraham - Cyrano (Baltimore 1970's)
Ian McKellan - Bent (London 1970's)
Hamlet (I don't know the actors name)- (It was performed in one of the courtyards of the walls of Dubrovnik)
Irene Worth and Christopher Walken - Sweet Bird of Youth (Brooklyn Academy of Music)
Cherry Jones and Philip Bosco - The Heiress
The entire company of Nicholas Nickleby - (Royal Shakespeare Company, London)
It's interesting to me that only one of my shows was on Broadway (Though a couple of the productions ended up there) and I think between 1978 and 1998 I saw 95% of the shows produced on Broadway.
Updated On: 6/2/15 at 09:42 AM
Broadway Star Joined: 10/13/06
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#23
Posted: 6/2/15 at 10:20am
Victoria Clark, "The Light in the Piazza"
Zoe Caldwell, "Master Class"
Faith Prince, "Guys and Dolls"
Donna Murphy, "Passion"
Audra McDonald, "Ragtime"
Jonathan Pryce, "Miss Saigon"
Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen#24
Posted: 6/2/15 at 10:24am
Off the top of my head -
Meryl Streep - MOTHER COURAGE
Tonya Pinkins - CAROLINE OR CHANGE
Jennifer Jason Leigh - CABARET
Christine Ebersole - GREY GARDENS
and the best performance I've ever seen anyone give -
Frank Wood in SIDE MAN.
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