I may be old, but I was able to see....
I may be old, but I was able to see....
#1I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 12:46pm
Ethel Merman as Rose. I was six years old at the time, and I remember every minute of it!
I was also fortunate enough to see Angela Lansbury in "Mame".
I feel very lucky.
Anyone else have memorable fifties, sixties and seventies shows to share?
Updated On: 11/28/11 at 12:46 PM
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#2I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 12:53pm
I saw most of the 1950s' and 1960s' hits on the road or in revival. (Thus, Lansbury in GYPSY rather than Merman; but Merman in CALL ME, MADAM.)
I saw most everything in the 1970s, except flops (alas, including PACIFIC OVERTURES) that closed while I was out of town.
By the 1980s, I'd begun to make conscious choices to skip some of the European imports, including MISS SAIGON and STARLIGHT EXPRESS.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#2I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 12:56pm
I saw the original cast of Spelling Bee. I'm dating myself!
#3I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 1:03pmOur American Cousin--the night BEFORE Lincoln was shot!
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#4I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 1:10pmThe BIRDS by Aristophanes, original cast.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#5I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 1:13pm
Tippi Hedren was in that, right?
But how was the play, Mr. Joey?
#6I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 1:34pmIt was really good but Laura Keene didn't stagedoor.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#7I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 1:40pmDoesn't she know it's the fans who made her? On the other hand, maybe there was a danger vibe in the air that week.
#8I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 1:45pmDid Booth have an understudy?
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
#9I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 1:49pm
Marlene Dietrich on Broadway. Judy Garland at the Palace.
Forty Carats, Any Wednesday, Mary, Mary, Barefoot in the Park, The Star-Spangled Girl. . .
#10I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 1:53pmthe original cast of Grease. Tickets were $20. I think I went 20 times.
brochatkid
Stand-by Joined: 5/10/08
#11I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 1:55pmGlenn Close and Jim Dale in Barnum (and Terrence Mann before he was famous).
#12I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 2:02pm
Sorry to be that guy, but during OUR AMERICAN COUSIN were there any gunshots?
Thanks in advance.
#13I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 2:03pmThere weren't when I saw it but I heard they added one during previews.
#14I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 2:05pmOhhhhh, what was the show curtain like?
#15I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 2:08pm
My earliest national tour was 1776 when I was eight years old.
Earliest Broadway shows: On Your Toes (Makarova revival), Dreamgirls, Cats, 42nd Street, Agnes of God, and Torch Song Trilogy.
EDIT: You know, I should have said my earliest show was 1776 with the original cast: Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock ... all playing themselves!
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#16I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 2:19pmThe original FOLLIES in LA. In NY, the original WIZ and NIGHT MUSIC, as well as PACIFIC OVERTURES — the last preview before opening, with the full creative team standing right behind me and my date in standing room... and a bomb scare that was called in three minutes before final curtain.
Ed_Mottershead
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/20/05
#17I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 2:30pmFirst show I ever saw in NYC was Peter Pan with Mary Martin. Other standouts for me were Ethel Merman in Gypsy, the Lunts in The Visit, original West Side Story, original cast of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (no one has ever touched Uta Hagan as Martha, IMO), Richard Burton in Hamlet (sort of), Gielgud/Richardson in The School for Scandal, the great and underappriciated Kim Stanley in The Three Sisters, the fabulous Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame, Charles Laughten in Major Barbara. And a stock production of Pal Joey with Larry Kert and Shirly Conway. Gettin' old and it's a really bummer.
WOSQ
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
#18I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 4:57pm
*Gielgud and Richardson (and Tandy and Washbourne) in Home
*Julie Harris in The Belle of Amherst
*Julie Harris in anything
*Tandy and Cronyn together or separately
*The unmatched original cast of Company
*Jim Dale in Scapino (The funniest show I have seen in 50 years, bar none.)
*The original production of Follies
*The original cast of A Chorus Line
*Michael, Lynn, Vanessa and Corin Redgrave although not together.
*My first Broadway show that was not a tour--No Strings with Diahann Carroll and Richard Kiley; score by Richard Rodgers, book by Sam Taylor, staged by Joe Layton
*Rosemary Harris as Blanche Dubois
*Ellis Rabb's production of The Royal Family
And last and never ever least,
*Jason and Colleen in A Moon For The Misbegotten
Ed_Mottershead
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/20/05
#19I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 5:14pmTotally agree with you about Moon for the Misbegotten -- probably my greatest night in the theatre, period. Reason I didn't mention it was I thought this board was limited to 50's and 60's. I was wrong.
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#20I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:14pmOrbach and O'Hara in Promises, Promises; Vereen in Pippin; Dale in Scapino; Simmons and Hamilton in ALNM; the first national tour of ACL
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#21I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:20pm
Jane2, if you paid $20 for GREASE tickets, you may have been seeing the end of the long-running, original production, but you weren't seeing the original cast.
Top prices for Broadway shows didn't hit $20 until 1976.
(ETA I have a link for the claim that tickets didn't hit $20 until that year, but the link blows the margins of this thread. I figure it isn't worth it.)
Updated On: 11/28/11 at 08:20 PM
#22I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:29pm
On a similar note, what productions do you think we'll all be bragging about seeing in fifty years?
#23I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:55pm
On a similar note, what productions do you think we'll all be bragging about seeing in fifty years?
Well, I personally will be bragging about seeing the fabulous 8-perf flop, "HIGH"...but most likely THE BOOK OF MORMON might be our stake in theatre history 50 Years from now...
#24I may be old, but I was able to see....
Posted: 11/28/11 at 10:27pmGaveston, the only cast members I can remember right now are Barry Bostwick as Danny, Adrienne Barbeau as Rizzo and Carol Demas as Sandy. Perhaps the tickets were $10? I didn't think the price was all that important.
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