First Impressions

I really enjoy seeing a show more than once if I'm lucky enough, but I don't find that I prefer the actors the first time more than any other time. To me it's dependent upon the choices the actor makes as the character he or she is playing. Sometimes when I see a different actor in a part I already saw, that actor is able to play up or play down certain parts or emphasize different words.

Yes!
I hate to say it, but when I saw Wicked in London both standbys were on (Hayley Gallivan for Louise Dearman and Lucy Van Gasse for Gina Beck).
While Gina Beck was still out for the second performance, I saw Louise and I couldn't get Hayley out of my head (although Louise's acting was FAR superior; Hayley has one amazing voice).

That's the only show that I've seen twice that have had different cast members in it.

I was a student in Los Angeles when EVITA had its pre Broadway run at the huge Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. It played almost the entire summer and with student rush seats a mere $3.00, I went back twelve times. It never sold out and there were great orchestra side section seats available for every performance.

The great thing about EVITA was that there were so many alternates playing the coveted title role. It allowed a newly rising actress the perfect vehicle to show what she had (or hadn't). Patti played the evening performances and Terri Klausner was the matinee Eva. However when Patti was out on a 2 performance day, Terri would go on evenings and had to be replaced for the matinees. I had a friend who worked the box office who would call me when a new Eva was going on. It was great fun never quite knowing what to expect.

So besides LuPone and Klausner, I got to see Nancy Opel, Florence Lacey, Derin Altay and others whose names I can no longer recall (I do remember seeing Loni Ackerman but that was later at the old Shubert). But is was like viewing a talent contest seeing who was best in various categories. Surprisingly the best dancer was LuPone (for some reason no one ever got that foot stomping bit down as well as Patti in the Buenos Aires number), best overall acting was Florence Lacey and Klausner and Altay had pure strong singing voices. But overall no one topped Patti who grew in the role as the summer progressed. Seems Prince and Webber knew her strengths when they cast her. Mandy was never out and his take on the role was frozen from day one. Never had the opportunity since to see so many actresses in the same role in such a short amount of time.