Posted: 5/14/18 at 11:19pm
"Sunday" always gets me, too but I cry pretty often at musicals: "Follies," "Sweeney Todd," "A Chorus Line" (although at a dialogue scene, every time) and, most recently, "The Band's Visit" this week.
Posted: 5/14/18 at 11:31pm
I am certainly a professional teardrop machine, and it's worst when (as some have said) I can relate to a show on a personal level.
Productions that fit this particular criteria include Fun Home, Sunday in the Park with George, Waitress, Into the Woods, and Carousel. But there are many more that still make me misty!
Posted: 5/15/18 at 12:07am
Dear Evan Hansen is the only show that I have seen that never fails to make me cry no matter how many times I see it. You're a Good Man Charlie Brown made me cry as a kid because everyone was so mean to him. I shed a tear at "One Last Time" during Hamilton. The end of Cabaret also makes me cry. And the one that I am most embarrassed about is when I saw Spongebob for the first time there was multiple times were I began crying because I was watching my childhood on stage.
Updated On: 5/15/18 at 12:07 AM
Posted: 5/15/18 at 12:08am
Once on this Island also made me tear up.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 12:25am
It’s happened twice. The first was “Next to Normal” on Broadway. Alice Ripley had tears pouring out of me.
The second and last was the revival of “The Color Purple.” It was the matinee after the 2016 general election and I was filled with a very sad, confused, and upset energy. I probably shouldn’t have seen it, but that was the only time I was going to be able to before it closed.
Needless to say, Alice Ripley and Cynthia Erivo give the two greatest on-stage performances by actresses in a musical that I’ve ever seen. [On the play side, it’s Estelle Parsons in “August: Osage County.”]
Updated On: 5/15/18 at 12:25 AM
Posted: 5/15/18 at 1:21am
Often and usually. I can easily be overwhelmed by the experience and it's common for me to react that way in a glorious opening number. (and often in one less so). I get both tears for emotional moments and overwhelmed ones. And as for "Sunday" - Pavlov's dog has nothing on me. From the first notes (even in an instrumental) tears start pouring down my cheeks.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 4:08am
I'm not proud to admit I cry buckets every time those crazy Von Trapp's start up the Alps. I even did over 100 performances in summer stock and cried at the end of every one.
Even worse, I lose my **** at the end of SHENANDOAH when Boy limps into church calling, "Pa! Pa!" I've seen the show and film enough times to know better. I also worked on this show and should have been immunized, but no.
Updated On: 5/15/18 at 04:08 AM
Posted: 5/15/18 at 7:11am
Posted: 5/15/18 at 8:07am
I have cried- but ver,y very rarely. Something has to really get to me to make me cry. Usually it will have to do with loving someone who is ill and dies- but most musicals- and plays, for that matter, do not make me cry. But, that said, i do love theater- one of my life's passions- and see stuff all the time- on Broadway and West End- several times per year- I live in Atlanta, GA but grew up in NY- Long Island- and my family still lives in NY.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 8:29am
"Come From Away" is the first to come to mind. I was reluctant to see it in the first place but my husband wanted to so we went and I was a mess from the beginning to the end. It was mainly because of the humanity of the people of Gander, the things they did without question and of course knowing what was going to happen. I had hoped to see the show again with dry eyes but just hearing the music starts the flow.
"Falsettos" was another one, that second act is tough especially with the new ending from the revival which adds closure to the play that the original didn't have.
During the recent revival of "Fiddler" there was an elderly man a couple of rows in front of me who started uncontrollably sobbing during the "Little Bird, Little Chavala" sequence.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 8:54am
Most musicals don't make me cry, but there have been some recent exceptions.
Out and out crying at multiple points - Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and Come From Away. Cried tears of joy at Hello Dolly, which was totally unexpected, but has happened each of the three times I've gone - that production is just so beautiful.
I cry at Bring Him Home and Empty Chairs at Empty Tables in Les Mis, as they are songs my father frequently sang at home - Les Mis was our favorite musical. Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again from Phantom, is another, as it was sung by my sister at our father's funeral. They always made us tear up, but there's an added layer for us when we hear those songs now that's upgraded it to a full on cry. Teared up somewhat at The Lion King during He Lives in You for the same reason.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 9:17am
Falsettos destroyed me every time I saw it. Every single time.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 9:22am
just recently when i was in London last September, when i saw the National Theatre's production of FOLLIES...i started crying right at that first chord from the orchestra...i was seeing this show for the first time since i saw the original production on Broadway in 1971...it was a true moment for me..
also a couple of years back when i saw the Tony award winning revival of THE KING AND I i cried when UNCLE TOM'S CABIN started...i had always wanted to see that number on Broadway
Updated On: 5/24/18 at 09:22 AM
Posted: 5/15/18 at 9:26am
Posted: 5/15/18 at 9:26am
Posted: 5/15/18 at 10:28am
NEXT TO NORMAL brought me to tears. Also saw THE LION KING in previews and the opening number made my eyes tear up.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 10:49am
I find I am grinning from ear to ear during the whole duration of a show, regardless. It stems from just being so excited to see these productions live. However, I've cried during more musicals than I care admit, but a time that stays with me was in The Bridges of Madison County, second act when Robert sees Francesca with her family in town and she runs to him and they embrace and then you realize it was a fantasy of hers. Gosh, that wrecked me.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 11:12am
I got very misty my second time seeing the revival of Once on This Island--Hailey Kilgore just got me in her final scene at the gate. I've been known to well up at Falsettos, the Lincoln Center South Pacific revival finale, and the finale of Light in the Piazza as well. The first time I saw Miss Saigon, I thought I was prepared from listening to the OLC recording 10,000 times, but that moment after the second-act confrontation when Lea Salonga sang "I still taste your kisses...", etc., I was a goner.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 12:29pm
Posted: 5/15/18 at 12:34pm
Posted: 5/15/18 at 12:40pm
I cried at Amelie... so it's safe for you all to assume I cry at everything.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 2:15pm
I cried pretty much all through "Carousel" last week. It's a magnificent production.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 3:13pm
GavestonPS said: "I'm not proud to admit I cry buckets every time those crazy Von Trapp's start up the Alps. I even did over 100 performances in summer stock and cried at the end of every one.
Even worse, I losemy **** at the end of SHENANDOAH when Boy limps into church calling, "Pa! Pa!" I've seen the show and film enough times to know better. I also worked on this show and should have been immunized, but no."
You're not alone on that one. That final reprise of "Pass The Cross To Me" always get me! Now there's a show that Encores should be considering.
Posted: 5/15/18 at 3:45pm
Good thread.
Carousel - Lyric Opera Production in Chicago - Steven Pasqual's end of the soliloquy
The Color Purple - Meneir Chocolate Factory - Cynthia Erivo's I'm Here balling when she say I'm Beautiful. The best part because of the size of the theater and that it's in a round is that you could see everyone else balling their eyes out.
Phantom of the Opera - Majestic Theater - When the Phantom let's Christine go at the end.
Company - Broadway - Raul Esparza's saying the line "Who will I take care of"
