Best experience you've had at a show? — Page 2

Alex Kulak2 said: "SeeingWickedon Broadway when I was a sophomore in high school. That night, I vowed to myself that I'd work in the theatre someday."



In that very same theater, when it was The Uris, I did the same after seeing the original production of Sweeney Todd. I sat I my seat jaw dropped for about 15 minutes until an usher came over and told me i would have to leave! I looked around and realized I was the only person left in the theater. That is actually my number one experience! And I have became a part of the theatre community about 15 years after and still am!

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Great question.....

1st- I also vote for the Great Comet. Totally unique, never been immersed in anything like that before.

2nd- Mark Rylance in Jerusalem.

3rd- Seeing original cast of Book of Mormon with Josh Gad. Wasn't ready for that :)

Wait...I can't be the oldest person here!!!



some great ones:



1. Annie Miller in Mame - enters in gold lamé Heaven!

2. Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls - never experienced a moment in the theatre like that Act 1 closing - not even Bette Midler in Dolly

3. A Chorus Line Off Broadway - stunning and startling

4. A Little Night Music (original) - exquisite

5. Nicholas Nickleby - hot, hot, hot

6. First performance of Hairspray

7. An Evening With Lena Horne - consummate

8. Blood Brothers in London - cheesy and I loved every minute with Stephanie Lawrence

9. Maggie Smith in Private Lives

10. Derek Jacoby's production of Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano

and the all time best:

11. Follies in Boston and New York - 6 times - everytime was the BEST!

I'd have to agree with Skip23 about the Boston pre-Broadway run of FOLLIES. I can't even describe it... Luckily for us, Ted Chapin has written a fantastic book about the Boston tryout, EVERYTHING WAS POSSIBLE: THE BIRTH OF THE MUSICAL FOLLIES. I love to pick it up every now and then and just relive the experience...

I also remember remember seeing the revival of THE MUSIC MAN just after 9/11...I don't think I've ever experienced a finale so joyful and happy that it reduced most of the audience to tears...happy tears at that.

Finally, one more remembrance of Broadway right after 9/11. I remember seeing the revival of OKLAHOMA! with Patrick Wilson at the Gershwin (Hugh Jackman originated this production at London's National and it's now available on Blu-ray). The show was great and the feeling of patriotism permeated the audience. What happened after the show is what REALLY got me. Coming down the loooong escalators of the Gershwin, and painted above the exit doors for the entire length of the lobby...which you could not really see upon entering the theatre unless you deliberately turned around and looked for it...was this lyric from the show: "We know we belong to the land, and the land we belong to is grand!" There were a lot of teary eyed people on that escalator...I was right there among them.

Seeing the national tour of Matilda about a year ago really sparked my love of theatre, our seats were in the third level balcony in the back, but I was smiling the whole time. The first show I’d seen with that level production value, I was simply stunned. A month later I saw Wicked at the same theater, we won the in person lottery and were seated in the third row. Finally, seeing “Phantom” the first time (current tour). The first note of the overture evoked tears and goosebumps!

Sitting on stage at The Great Comet tbh

Closely followed by hearing Being Alive performed live for the first time in Prince of Broadway (also seeing Hal Prince at the stage door).(I'm not American and musical Theatre isn't a thing in my country but somehow I became a theater nerd) The show was just okay but Being Alive is probably my favorite Sondheim song so I died.

Also seeing the off Broadway production of Sweeney Todd because that's the score that REALLY got me into musical Theatre. I sat at the tables and I'm pretty sure I sobbed the whole show.

Wicked at the Pantages in 07 with Eden as Elphaba and Megan as Glinda. My love of theatre began there. I was so nervous going in ready to be dazzled and scared in pieces all at once. I smiled halfway through the opening number and was speechless (mixed good or bad way) by the bittersweet end.

The best experience I ever had at a show, in terms of being the most memorable and emotional, took place on June 30, 1995. It was Yul Brynner's final performance as The King in The King and I. It was the subject of this article published the next day in the NY Times, which I urge you to read in order to get an understanding of why the performance was so special:

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/01/theater/farewell-performance-for-brynner-in-king-and-i.html

When, as described, the cast gathered on stage to sing Auld Lang Syne, there wasn't a dry eye in the entire sold out theater, and it created an indelible memory that will stay with me for the rest of my life (I hope.)

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I’ve had so many great experiences! Most recent is I won the Dear Evan Hansen lottery (FINALLLYYYY) last week and took my mom. I had seen the show previously with Ben Platt while sitting in the rear mess. Well, this time we were seated front row oechestr and saw Noah Galvin playing Evan and it was magical! We were sooo close we could see his lips quivering, face twitching, tears rolling down his cheeks, the expression in his eyes...just every last emotion you could think of. It was really an incredible experience seeing such great acting up close and become so intimate with the characters. I was mesmerized with Noah’s performance and couldn’t take my eyes off him the entire time.

Besides that, seeing Something Rotten the second week it came out without knowing a thing about it was one of the best experiences in broadway I have ever had. My mom and I were cracking up the entire time and were absolutely stunned when it didn’t win best musical. It was just such a pleasant experience laughing that hard with my mom and it’s a memory I’ll always carry with me.

I've had a lot, but it's going to be hard to beat John Cameron Mitchell sitting on my face during Sugar Daddy.

Way too many amazing times in theater to narrow it down to just one, so I'll have to settle for two.

Seeing John Cameron Mitchell's last performance of Hedwig on Broadway. It was my second time seeing him, but other than Mark Rylance, I've never seen an actor totally become a character quite to the extent he managed to, and the room was so full of excitement and love.

The second was the 25th anniversary performance of Phantom on Broadway. It was an absolutely perfect performance of a great show, but it also helped that I met my now-fiancee the night before at an unofficial party for the show.

I would say watching my wife see her friend from HS days (Robert Cuccioli) perform in Jekyll & Hyde. The other was seeing "Annie Get Your Gun" and Bernadette Peters smiled and winked at me in the first row. I know it was part of the show but it made my evening -lol.

On Sept 7, 2008, my best friend and I entered the lottery for the finale of Rent on Broadway. Our 2 friends that we had met at the show back in 1999 (during our stint of seeing it every weekend) won lottery while my friend and I did not. We went next door to a bar to drown our sorrows and wait for our friend's review of the show... while we were at the bar, we were reminiscing of all of our fun times at that theater and how much the show meant to us. We happened to be sitting next to someone who worked for the theater, and he overheard us talking and said how sweet it was that we made lifelong friends at the show and he loved our story. He then proceeded to hand us 2 tickets to the show (which had already started!) and tickets to the after-party at Chelsea Piers. He had us meet an usher who brought us to the only 2 empty seats of the theater during "Tune Up #2" and I spent the entire time crying my eyes out for so many reasons!! He gave us enough after-party tickets that our friends (who were in lotto seats) could also come and we had the most incredible night! We call that guy "Our Angel" and I still, to this day, can't believe it happened... the magic of Broadway!

Updated On: 2/17/18 at 09:50 PM