If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances would you like to have seen?

#1

If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances would you like to have seen?

Posted: 8/9/06 at 9:59pm

If you could have had the chance, which Broadway performers/performances from the distant past would you like to have had the chance to see?

For example:

In musicals, I would like to have been in the audience to see Ethel Merman in Gypsy, and Judy Holliday in almost anything.

For straight plays, I would like to have seen Katherine Cornell in Romeo and Juliet, and Laurette Taylor in The Glass Menagerie.

You have no limit to the size of your list but it must have been a real performance (not somebody you would like to see play a particular role).

Updated On: 8/9/06 at 09:59 PM

#2

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances would you like to have seen?

Posted: 8/9/06 at 10:02pm

Yul Brynner, The King and I

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#3

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances would you like to have seen?

Posted: 8/9/06 at 10:02pm

Gregory Hines in Jelly's Last Jam
Chita in Kiss of the Spider Woman

#4

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances would you like to have seen?

Posted: 8/9/06 at 10:09pm

Patti Lupone and Elaine Page in EVITA

And I second Laurette Taylor in THE GLASS MENAGERIE. I've heard she was spectacular in that role. Some have even dubbed her "the best actress ever."

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Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia

#5

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances would you like to have seen?

Posted: 8/9/06 at 10:14pm

I'm going to go with a more recent one and say Norbert Leo Butz in DIRTY ROTTEN. I was devastated that I missed him by four days.

#6

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/9/06 at 10:15pm

Patti in Evita

I wish I knew what Broadway was in 96 so I could have seen the origional cast of RENT.

Updated On: 8/9/06 at 10:15 PM

#7

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/9/06 at 10:19pm

I'd say Julie Andrews in my Fair Lady. I'm also third-ing Laurette Taylor

#8

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/9/06 at 10:28pm

I'm going to add Gwen Verdon in Sweet Charity; Al Jolson in anything; Robert Morse in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; John Barrymore in Hamlet; the one day that understudy Shirley MacLaine went on for the lead in The Pajama Game and got discovered.

#9

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/9/06 at 10:43pm

I would like to have seen my Aunt Marion Herson, aka Mickey Herson on the night she took over for one of the leads, Nell O'Day, in FINE AND DANDY and in her last show, the original production of BABES IN ARMS. I would also like to have seen what Aunt Marion considers the best show she was in ...THE LITTLE SHOW.

#10

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 12:40am

Audra and Brian in Ragtime

Ethel Merman in Gypsy

Julie Andrews live in anything!!

#11

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 2:01am

Patti in Evita. AHH.

Colm Wilkinson as Valjean (I know, not so distant, but still).

Ditto Julie Andrews in anything. I love her so much.

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"Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!"

#12

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 2:12am

Angela Lansbury in Mame, Gypsy and Sweeney Todd, Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady, Liza in Chicago, B.D.Wong in M. Butterfly, Patti in Evita, Audra in Ragtime and Carousel, Gwen Verdon in anything, Chita Rivera in anything and Jerry Orbach in 42nd Street

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"I hope you're all happy, keeping Alan off the team. Couldn't you, for once, open your minds and hearts and hear something that he couldn't see? I, for one, am glad that Alan is blind, so he can't see what, I am so sad to say, you can't hear." -Jerri Blank

#13

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 3:00am

I would have absolutely LOVED to see Angela Lansbury and George Hearn in Sweeney Todd.

Not to mention what everyone else has, hahaha. Totally Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady.

I think I also would kill to have seen Joel Grey in Cabaret. That man is amazing, and that role will always be my favorite of his.

Let's see if we can list some more...

Bernadette Peters in Into the Woods
Michael Crawford in Phantom of the Opera
Any/all of the OBC members of Rent


There's more, but yeah. WOO!

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"Cages or wings, which do you prefer?"-- Tick, Tick...BOOM!

#14

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 3:04am

Patti in Evita, Ethel in Gypsy, and Taboo. Baaaaaah, to be young.

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"The stage is where I live and come alive and act out all the things that go on in my life. It's not just what I do for a living, it's my shrink and my love affair. No one in my life has ever or ever will kiss me on the mouth like this lover called my relationship with my performance."

#15

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 3:14am

Definitely Patti in Evita.
Also Jerry Orbach in Chicago, Ethel Merman in Gypsy, B.D.Wong in M.Butterfly, Angela Lansbury in Mame & Sweeney Todd, Joel Grey in Cabaret, and so many more!


[Edit: That post bumped me up to 'Featured Actor'..woohoo!]

Updated On: 8/10/06 at 03:14 AM

#16

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 3:20am

I wish that only 2 years ago broadway was something I loved.
Aida-OBC and Idina Menzel
Rent-OBC
Camelot with Julie Andrews
Ethel Merman- Annie Get Your Gun

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"Passion can drive you crazy but is there any other way to live"

#17

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 7:47am

Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls
Ethel in Gypsy
Betty Buckley in Cats
Carrie on B'way
Yul Brynner in The King and I
Liza and Chita in The Rink
Gwen in Charity
Carol Burnett in Once Upon a Mattress
Original cast of West Side Story
Robert Preston in The Music Man
Bernadette in Dames At Sea

I just can't stop.

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". . . POP . . ."

#18

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 8:01am

Two similar threads with some really good answers.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=872656#1523761

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=229308#229336

For me - The OBC of Chicago and Sunday in the Park with George.

Updated On: 8/10/06 at 08:01 AM

#19

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 8:06am

Beauty & The Beast OBC & Kerry Butler

Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth in WICKED

Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady

#20

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 8:14am

Merman in Gypsy and Laurette Taylor in The Glass Menagerie.

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"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

#21

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 8:42am

Agree Ethel Merman and Laurette Taylor.

I would have LOVED to have seen Equus, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class, and Topdog/Underdog (off broadway).

All of Sondheim's shows, but especially Follies, ALNM, Sunday, Company.

Original: West Side Story, Candide, A Chorus Line, and My Fair Lady.

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"We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in it's flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung, the dance when it's been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future too." - Tom Stoppard, Shipwreck

#22

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 10:13am

Chita Rivera and Dick Van Dyke in Bye Bye Birdie

Michael Crawford in Phantom of the Opera (my dad saw him!)

Original cast of The Producers and Avenue Q

#23

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 10:19am

The original cast of Follies... especially Dorothy Collins singing "Losing My Mind".

The original casts of Company, A Little Night Music, Camelot, Man of La Mancha and CARRIE

#24

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 10:51am

Ethel Merman in Gypsy
Idina and Kristin in Wicked
Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady
Mary Martin in Sound of Music

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"when i was little, i wanted to be Ethel Merman" harvey firestein

#25

re: If you could have been there in the past, what performers/performances

Posted: 8/10/06 at 10:59am

I would love to of have seen
1. Idina in Wicked
2. Rent: The entire obc (OMG I would do absolutely ANYTHING to see them)
3. Patti in Evita
4. The OBC of Avenue Q (Although I did see it with Rick and he was really good)

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Rent The best show on Broadway. I was at the closing. BEST night of my Life. April 29th 1996-September 7th 2008 12 years of love "No Day But Today"