Best and Worst Theater Experiences- Page 2

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 4/19/16 at 4:47pm

I'm not going to talk about the worst because why waste the time? I've ranted about Memphis enough. Wait a minute...

Anyway, my best are these: The Normal Heart revival, never before or since have I been in an audience that had such a communal experience. There were audible sobs and sniffles by the end, and at the curtain call the entire theater rose as one and simply applauded for a long time, no cheers, just applause. It was a profound experience from beginning to end. 

John Cameron Mitchell's first and last performances as Hedwig on Broadway. It was so special to get to see him live in that character's skin so many years after he had first done it, and he was truly extraordinary and clearly feeding off the amazing energy the audience was giving him. Crate and all, he was flawless. 

See What I Wanna See at the Public in 2005. I was already a huge Idina fan from Wicked, but See What I Wanna See was my first LaChiusa show and totally shifted my perspective on what musicals could be and what they could accomplish. I was sold from pretty much the first note, and I'll see pretty much anything LaChiusa now as he's my favorite contemporary composer. 

Hello Again at the Transport Group. That production was fantastic and used the space in an extremely effective way. I had never seen a musical done in an immersive way like that before, and it was so exciting to see that show done so well literally right in front of my face.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/19/16 at 5:17pm

Best

Lincoln Center's The King I

The current revival of She Loves Me

Billy Elliot

Hair (revival with the original cast)

Cabaret with Michelle Williams and Alan Cumming

 

Worst

The current production of Les Miserables (especially in the second week of previews when I had to suffer through Aaron Walpoole's unbearable performance as Jean Valjean)

The most recent revival of Sylvia

Flashdance, Dirty Dancing, and the Joseph tour with Ace Young and Diana Degarmo

The current non-equity tour of Beauty and the Beast

 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/19/16 at 5:28pm

Tom5 said: "My worst experience was at ACT, the American Conservative Theatre in San Francisco. While paging through the playbill during the intermission of a very fine Alan Ayckbourn play I heard a loud rumbling and then the seats began to shake. So I looked up and found myself directly below the largest chandelier ever made. Fortunately, this wasn't "The Big One" and I lived to see the curtain call. My best, by comparison, was everywhere else."

Was this before or after 1989? I imagine after the ceiling caved in during Loma Prieta then things would have been retrofitted for the better. Still, I've never been in a theatre during an earthquake in all my theatregoing in the Bay Area, and I hope I never am!

[JudyDenmark]

Posted: 4/19/16 at 5:45pm

The best ever was probably the closing performance of [title of show] - such incredible energy from both the stage and the audience. I was beaming the whole time. 


More recently, I was lucky enough to sit in the front row at Fun Home and the second row at Color Purple last year. They're both such powerful pieces, and I really felt immersed in the story by sitting so close. I won't soon forget those experiences. The power of live theatre, man. Nothing like it. 
 

On the flip side... while I thought Hamilton was brilliant, my theatergoing experience left a lot to be desired. We were sitting way up in the balcony, the usher continuously walked back and forth in front of our section throughout the first act (!!), the couple in front of me was making out for half of it, and I was dealing with some pretty awful back pain at the time that made sitting in those tight Rodgers balcony seats pretty excruciating. Certainly not the worst theatergoing experience of all time, but all of those distractions made it hard to follow the show (this was pre-cast recording), and I just didn't get that life-changing Hamilton experience that everyone else seems to have had. I really, really wish I could go back and redo that night with different circumstances. First world problems, I know.

Updated On: 4/19/16 at 05:45 PM

[Adair Haywind]

Posted: 4/19/16 at 5:53pm

Best:

OBC of "American Idiot" (My first Broadway show)

2012 Revival of "Death of a Salesman" with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield

OBC of "Once" 

"Carrie" at La Mirada Theatre for Performing Arts and the subsequent transfer the Los Angeles Theatre

Worst:

A community production of "Hello, Dolly!" that tried to copy the movie from front to back and failed miserably. They even had someone play Louis Armstrong during the title number.

 

[ChildofEarth]

Posted: 4/19/16 at 5:56pm

Best:

John in Hedwig - every time I saw it.

The Rent Reunion

Hamilton with Obama in the audience

 

Worst:

Taye Diggs in Hedwig

Disaster

A high school production of Les Mis

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 4/19/16 at 5:56pm

One bad experience that always comes to mind is a community theater production of 1776 I saw in Massachusetts a number of years ago. The title and running time seemed one in the same.

It was summer and the auditorium had no air conditioning. Someone really should've opened up a window...

Updated On: 4/19/16 at 05:56 PM

[Tom5]

Posted: 4/19/16 at 5:59pm

1988 the year before the Big One. In  '89 I was safely back in New York but I read that the ACT was partially or mostly destroyed. Although it obviously wasn't during a performance.

[JudyDenmark]

Posted: 4/19/16 at 6:10pm

I feel the need to mention my Worst Experience Ever when I was 11 and went to see a high school production of the Dracula musical. It was in an outdoor amphitheater-like space where the audience brought blankets and sat on the grass. Halfway through Act 2, a freaking cicada ran up my pant leg. I couldn't react in any way or stand up since I was in the middle of a sea of people and the show was going on, so I had no choice but to literally hold onto it in the fabric of my pants for the rest of the show until I could get up and shake it out during the curtain call. Absolutely horrifying. 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/19/16 at 8:11pm

I forgot some in my first post...

 

Best

Wicked - the first time I saw it on Broadway last year. I had the tour(s) countless times and never really "got" the hype. Seeing that set in the Gershwin and all of the amazing blocking (and flying) and staging they were able to do in that space that didn't carry over to the tour made all the difference in my enjoyment of the show.

Bullets Over Broadway - my first ever first preview of a Broadway show. I fell head over heels in love with the show and everything about it. I would have given it the Tony for Best Musical if I could have.

 

Worst

Once - saw the tour in a huge theatre, but from the 10th row, so I don't think the space impacted me enjoyment. I found the show to be boring and pretentious beyond belief

Peter and the Starcatcher - again, saw the tour in the same huge theatre, but from row 8... I thought the play was atrocious and just not funny or clever at all

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/19/16 at 9:21pm

Best: Opening night of "Hello,Dolly!"  (Jan 16,1964)

Worst; "In My Life"  and "Thou Salt Not"

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/21/16 at 8:37pm

Best: original production of Follies, which I saw 5 times in 15 months; Mame with Angela Lansbury; A Moon for the Misbegotten with Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards; Sweeney Todd, with Lansbury and Len Cariou; the opening night of Gypsy in Boston, also with Lansbury...the first time I saw it and I was blown away by the very concept of Rose's Turn and her performance; the first time I saw The Producers with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.  I saw it several times after that, never with them, and -- although I enjoyed the show -- it was never the same; Long Day's Journey into Night with Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Dennehy...that is 6, so I should stop...but I need to ad two more: Nicholas Nickelby and A Streetcar Named Desire with Cate Blanchette.

 

Worst: Dr. Jazz; a touring production of Flashdance that I saw last season; The Leaf People, presented at the Booth by the Public theatre; Metamorphosis, with an excellent Baryshnikov in a complete piece of pretentious garbage; Alice, also presented by the Public Theatre, with Meryl Streep wasting all of her talent on the most boring thing I ever saw; Marco Polo Sings a Solo, also at the Public...great cast, boring and incomprehensible play.  Finally, great reviews and all, I HATED Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and No Man's Land, even with Geilgud and Richardson.

 

 

it sounds like I love everything with Angela Lansbury and hate the Public.  While I do love Angela Lansbury, those three shows were all wonderful nights in the theatre.  Re the Public, they were so prolific and Chance taking, that they were bound to produce some stinkers.  Also saw a lot of great shows they did...just not n the top 6.

Updated On: 4/21/16 at 08:37 PM

[Ranger Tom]

Posted: 4/21/16 at 9:53pm

Best:

* SF cast of Godspell w/ Stacker Thompson as Jesus.  Best color blind casting job I've ever seen.

* JCS - original concert tour after the concept album came out.

* Boys in the Band - Santa Rosa Junior College 1975

* Hair - London.  Cast walked in slow-motion from all over the house to stage prior to curtain

* Oliver OBC.  The kids looking out from the behind the curtain before show

* The Ruling Class.  Rene Auberjonois at ACT (no earthquake)

* Drowsy Chaperone, Magic Circle, Sacramento

* Best two single moment ever - Donna McKechnie, Music and the Mirror, and Kay Cole's At the Ballet crescendo, ACL, first National Tour, SF stop.

Worst:

* Oklahoma at Lincoln Center back in the 1960s.  Ushers singing the songs behind us.

* So far, any of the community theater productions of Les Miz I've seen.

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 4/21/16 at 9:54pm

I'm going to bend the rules and say best and worst experiences of this year. Also I won't be listing them all, just the ones that are best or worst.

Best:

My Fair Lady (Professional, Regional) with Maxwell Caulfield as Higgins.

Grease, (School) although the chairs were dreadfully uncomfortable.

Matilda, (Professional, Touring) I saw this while visiting Chicago. I made a thread because I was so worried about attending it's opening night, plus the tour was already having a rough time. It was my first time seeing Matilda and I was blown away, as was the rest of my family.

 

Worst:

Fiddler on the Roof, (Community) the performances were good, especially the pit orchestra,  Tevye was really good until he forgot the words to "If I Were a Rich Man" but that's not what made the night unpleasant. This may just be me because I already have to were glasses, but the cyclorama was always present, don't get me wrong I love cycloramas but it's colors were very bright, and made my eyes shake. It did however have a nice simple set that was complimented by the cyc, it just hurt to look at for a while!

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 4/22/16 at 12:17am

One of my best memories was seeing Phantom of the Opera. I was in 7th or 8th grade and it was my first trip to New York. I had the cast recording memorized and had acted it out in my living room dozens (hundreds?) of times. My mom's friend's dad worked at the majestic and said he could get us tickets. When we showed up at will call there were no tickets under my dad's name. They told us to come back because sometimes corporate tickets didn't send the names over until late. We got back and still nothing. My mom said "you know what?" And asked them to search for my dad's name backwards because my last name is a first name as well. "3 tickets, fourth row orchestra, center?"  He said?  It was my first Broadway show and I'll never forget the rush when the chandelier swooped over my head. And I could feel the heat when he bursts into flames. I was hooked on theater for life. We were so excited we went across the street and bought tickets to Miss Saigon the next night. I didn't know the music yet and I loved it, bought the OBCR, and added it to the list of shows I acted out in the living room. Afterward we paid $50 to BC/EFA for a backstage tour from the guy who played the engineer. I remember they said they'd take the first 5 groups of 5. We were the 6th group, and I was so disappointed. But there were 3 of us and 2 in the 5th group so they let us team up and we only paid $30. (Can you imagine now how much they'd take for a backstage tour?). It was the most magical weekend and I felt so lucky. 

 

Another was my first time seeing Rent because it was the first show I saw without my parents and it was the first show I saw that could've been about people's real lives. I was from a small town and was visiting New York and suddenly felt like there was this whole world of people right downtown I felt nothing about. I found it so fascinating. 

 

And I was fortunate enough to see Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria right before she left and had surgery. Who would've known she would never be able to sing like that again?  

 

So those are a few of my favorite memories in terms of nostalgia, although I wouldn't call those my favorite shows now.

 

A few other favorite moments that are more recent are the first time I saw Hamilton (at the public), JCM in Hedwig, and the Light in the Piazza concert. 

[bandit964]

Posted: 4/22/16 at 8:19am

BEST

-First time seeing Van Hove's View From The Bridge

-Let The Right One In at St. Ann's

-John, at the Signature

-Hamilton

-Curious Incident

-1st time seeing War Horse

-both times at August: Osage

-Company 2006 Revival

 

WORST

-Women on the Verge

-Roundabout's Hedda Gabler 

-2nd time seeing View From the Bridge (partial view, and the entire theatre coughed throughout the whole show.  felt like the sound of the coughs traveled right down the wall in front of me.)