First Broadway Show?- Page 4

[elphaba432]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 7:31am

The Lion King
I was four years-old

[Katurian2]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 8:13am

Le Mis, 1997

[philcrosby]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 8:23am

National Tour of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown in the 68 or 69 in New Haven

First on-Broadway show - APPLAUSE with Anne Baxter (Bacall had left the week earlier), Penny Fuller, Lee Roy Reams, Bonnie Frankline

Two weeks after that -- COMPANY with Larry Kert's understudy, Jane Russell and Barbara Barrie

[tophertilson]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 9:17am

LES MISERABLES. I can't really defend my love of this show, but those first chords still bring me back to that moment in time. Sigh....

TT

[scooter38432]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 9:28am

Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (starring David Cassidy of all people) in the early 80's.

I don't remember much about it except for the fact that I expected the theater to be huge and it wasn't that big at all. (The Royale Theater, maybe?)

[M.Berger]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 9:31am

Does anybody know which the first Broadway Show EVER was?

[Anastasia_Beaverhausen]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 9:45am

Crazy For You - 1993

[musicman117]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 9:47am

The Phantom of the Opera

[leefowler]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:29am

They're Playing Our Song. In my defense, I arrived in New York City on a Monday, and that was the only musical playing Mondays at that time.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:30am

Does anybody know which the first Broadway Show EVER was?

Well there's always IBDB.com to help you out but in general Vaudaville was around long before broadway and I believe yiddish theater(usually a mix of vaudiville and music)downtown played a mjor influence on early broadway shows as well.

I was actually interested myself and this is what I came up with with IBDB.com by season:

Virginius Sep 25, 1820 Anthony Street Theatre

I tried to search for shows before 1820 but there are no records.

Updated On: 5/25/06 at 10:30 AM

[BrianWilsonFan]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:36am

1973: Pippin.

I could try that old chestnut about being a babe in arms: - )

[bschneid76]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:37am

1998: Smokey Joe's Cafe! I got to meet Dee Lee Lively. It was a fun show! And i've been going back to NYC ever since!!

[MCfan2]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:38am

First show -- I'm not sure, but I think it was a dinner-theater "Singin' in the Rain."
First show not in a dinner theater: "Les Miserables."
First Broadway show: "Crazy for You," January 1993. My dad took me. It was my first New York trip, and we had the best time. I'll never forget it.

[YessicaB]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:47am

My first time in the "real" (meaning not children's) theater was seeing Faust when I was 8, so 1993. My first musical was Victor & Victoria in '98. My first Broadway show was the revival of 42nd Street in 2004.

[JBSinger]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:51am

CATS 1st national tour (in Chicago, 1985 or 86) saw it 3X

On Broadway:
Starlight Express (1987)
Les Miz (1987) original cast!

[karen24]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 12:18pm

Wow, I feel really old compared to some of you!
I think my first-ever show was "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown." My parents took me to see it for my 10th birthday, in 1969. Of course, that was technically off-Broadway! I remember practically wearing out the original cast album. (I have taken my two sons to their first shows on their 10th birthdays, too. My oldest saw the revival of "Oklahoma!" in 2002 and my youngest saw "All Shook Up.")

I think I also saw "Fiddler on the Roof" at about that same time, too. It must have been at either the Imperial or the Majestic, and I think maybe Topol was the lead at that point.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 12:21pm

Hey, why defend THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG? I think it's a hilariously good show with really fun music.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 12:22pm

I agree Munk. The album is so much fun!

[sanda]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 12:26pm

Les Miz - I hardly understood the lyrics then, but the music is good enough.
Updated On: 5/25/06 at 12:26 PM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 12:26pm

I was in the show as one of Vernon's "inner voices" and it was so much fun.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 12:29pm

The very first work of musical theatre is generally credited as being "The Black Crook" in 1866 (though MANY debate this). "The Black Crook" initially was simply a rather mediocre melodrama which didn't look to be anything special. As it was about to open, the Academy of Music which was to house a French ballet troupe burned down, stranding the company and their sets. Somebody got the bright idea to add the ballet and sets to the melodrama (along with music for the troupe to dance to) and voila, musical theatre was born. "The Black Crook" proved to be a huge hit with audiences running over a year (totally unheard of in those days) and resulted in lots of imitators.

There is no way to determine the first Broadway show, by the way. There were vaudeville, burlesque, pantomime and minstrel shows as well as productions of non-musical melodrama and comedies going back to the early 1700s.

[astonishing1985]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 12:35pm

First show: Sound of Music in 1987
first Broadway show: Gypsy

[leefowler]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 12:43pm

I always thought it was silly crediting "The Black Crook" as the "first" musical. The Magic Flute is as much of a "musical" as The Black Crook is.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 12:59pm

I totally agree, LeeFowler. But it does make for a fun story.

[catstagestud]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 1:04pm

First Broadway Show: Show Boat Revival July 1996 But I was 10 and didn't know the importance of the show and musical theatre...I think I fell asleep sometime but I do distinctly remember "Ol' Man River" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man." I'd love to see a production of it and watch the entire thing. :-P

Cheers,

Christopher