Big Stars You Have Seen Treading The Boards, But Before They Became Famous? — Page 2

Not really treading the boards, so to speak, but when I was visiting MT programs I had been accepted to I caught Jeremy Jordan in a scene study class.

Gene Hackman in Mary Mary I do believe

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Bette Midler in Fiddler on the Roof.

I was 13 and my parents took me and my sister to see Harry Goz in Fiddler. I distinctly remember being offended by one of the daughters because she kept cracking up on stage.

Even at 13, I felt such behavior was "unprofessional"!

A few years later, after she started performing as the Divine Miss M, she related a story about cracking up onstage during Fiddler.

I went home and checked my old programs and there was her name.

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He was already fairly famous at this point, but not as much as he is now - I saw Damian Lewis in Pillars of the Community at the Lyttelton in 2005.

Updated On: 1/14/13 at 01:05 AM

Christopher Walken (Opposite Irene Worth in "Sweet Bird of Youth" at BAM) It's still in the top five theatrical events I've seen. I was in high school so it was in 1975 or so.

Ian McKellan in Bent. My first trip to London. I started crying at the end of the play and didn't stop til way after curtain call. Again, in the 70s.

Here's an opera one.
I saw Samuel Ramey do Dr. Grenville , a tiny part, in Traviata at the Hartford Opera Company (It sat maybe a couple hundred people). Again, 70s.

Glen Close in Crucifer of Blood and Barnum.

Merryl Streep in a tiny role in "The Cherry Orchard" 1977 with Irene Worth and Raul Julia (a year before their Taming of the Shrew)

Uhm, Kevin Kline wasn't a total unknown when he did PIRATES...

He'd already won a Tony two years previously for his huge breakout role, Bruce Granit, in ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. He gave arguably the funniest performance in a show that was full of funny performances.

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Also, "Pirates..." was in the early 80s, not 70s.

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I saw Kristen Haglund (Miss America 200 in high school productions of "Into the Woods" and "A Christmas Carol: The Musical" and my wife and I both looked at each other and said she would be a star. Now, to see if she will have a career after Miss America and quitting CCM.

Jim Parsons in The Pitchfork Disney in 1998 at Stages in Houston.
Lee Pace in The Greeks in 1996 at The Alley in Houston.

Norbert Leo Butz as both Mark and Roger in Rent.
Chandra Wilson in Caroline, or Change.

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In 1972 or '73 I saw a lackluster bus and truck tour of Applause in Greensboro, NC starring aging Opera star Patrice Munsel. Munsel was awful. She had the diva part down pat but the rest of it -- characterization, line readings, gestures -- were woefully over the top and lacked any kind of nuance or subtlety. Her voice was shredded and the upper register painful to listen to.

Diane McAfee was Eve and she was good although not exceptional. She had been the first person cast as Eve in the original production but been rather infamously replaced out of town by Penny Fuller.

The physical production was cheap looking and the orchestra sounded as if it were sight reading.

But there was one performance that made the evening worthwhile, a little blonde powerhouse in the part of Bonnie, the gypsy created by Bonnie Franklin. Although barely larger than a Munchkin, she had this huge, enormous voice with a great belt, sure pitch, and she was on fire as a dancer. She stopped the show completely in the title song and She's No Longer a Gypsy. It was one of those this-kid-is-going-to-be-a-star! performances you don't forget. Except that I did forget her name. A few years ago I ran across my souvenir program and there she was with a full page bio:

Young Miss Pia Zadora.

What happened?

The other memorable moment (apart from some of Munsel's ham-fisted line readings which are still seared in memory) was the gargantuan shocked gasp that went up from the audience when the chorus boys turned around to reveal their pert little dancing derrieres. North Carolina was not the most cosmopolitan place to be 40 years ago. I escaped to Manhattan and civilization a year later.

I saw Megan Hilty play Glinda about 3 months after she had taken over the role on Broadway. She was phenom! She is my favorite Glinda to this day.

Does Jeremy Jordan in previews of NEWSIES count?!

When I was a student I saw the English National Opera production of Weill's Street Scene at the London Coliseum and the "Moon Face Starry Eyed" girl (May?) was Catherine Zeta Jones. She was like a real B'way Baby then: great tapper.

Also as a student in London I saw Ruthie Henshall singing the descant part in Memory in Cats (the role was called Jemima in London, Sillabub in the US), and playinga small role in the original Children Of Eden. She sparkled. I also saw Sarah Brightman playing the role in the OLC and I remember my Mum saying "ooh she's got a spiteful voice".

More recently I saw Eddie Redmayne in the London premiere of The Goat (or Who Is Sylvia?) and being struck by his cheekbones and excellent US accent.