Best Live Performances You've Ever Seen

John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig.

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

Santino Fontana in Act One

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.

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)

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 AM

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.

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

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.

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!

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

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"