So many people mentioning Ragtime as if that was from the distant past. I feel so old. I saw Dreamgirls and it was, truly, fabulous. As was Chorus Line. The Shubert is such an intimate house, the show had such immediacy.
But let's go back further, much further. I have to keep reminding myself of how lucky our grandparents were. They could walk down any of the streets off of Broadway, plunk down as little as twenty-five cents and see Fred Astaire ONSTAGE. Live. Singing "Night and Day" and gloriously tap dancing, just like he does in the movies. Or Ginger Rodgers singing "Embraceable You." (while the guy standing in the back of the theater pacing might be George Gershwin). Or watch the visual and verbal antics of Victor Moore. Or Gene Freakin' Kelly (again at the Shubert) dancing and singing live. Or literally feel the roar of Ethel Merman; or the joy of the chorus belting out Oklahoma. And back then, it was still possible to take the family to the theater without getting a bank loan.
Personally, as my avatar would suggest, I would give ANYTHING to see "On Your Toes" and enjoy Ray Bolger tapping live. To see "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" as danced by Bolger and Tamara Geva (or in the British production by my beloved Vera Zorina) is a dream I know will never come true.
In many ways, Broadway is a vast repository of unfulfillable dreams.
I guess countless generations in the future will mutter "If only I could have seen Ragtime..."
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699