Swing Joined: 1/3/14
1. OBC Sweeney Todd (Angela Lansbury & Len Cariou)
2. Gypsy Angela Lansbury
3. OBC Dreamgirls
4. OBC Chorus Line
5. OBC Ballroom (Dorothy London & Vincent Gardenia)
6. OBC Bandstand
7. OBC Follies
8. OBC Company
Does anyone know if any video footage of BALLROOM exists? I'm aware of the original TV ad on YouTube but that seems to be about all there is online.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/24/14
Pippin original cast
Pippin revival original cast (was at opening night)
Jesus Christ Superstar original cast
Hair original cast (at the public)
Little Shop of Horrors any cast with Ellen Green or the Encores cast again with Ellen Green
Hairspray original cast
Les Mis original cast (it was my first Broadway show)
In the Heights original cast (saw them 7 times)
Four different productions of Angels in America.
Tuesday Nite: Dear World
Wed Matinee Henry Sweet Henry
Wed Nite: Redhead
Thursday Night: New Girl In Town
Friday Night : Golden Boy with Sammy Davis Jr.
Saturday Matinee: Flora the Red Menace with Liza Minelli
Saturday Nite : Rags
Sunday: House of Blue Leaves with the Original Off Broadway Cast
In no order:
OBC Dreamgirls
Taming of the shrew with Meryl Streep and Raul Julia
OBC funny girl
OBC Mame
OBC Nine
OBC Follies
OBC Pippin
OBC Hairspray
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/7/18
Fun thread
Evita with Patti
Anastasia with Christy and Derek
Anastasia with Christy and Zach
Beauty and the Beast with Andrea McArdle
Les Miserables
OBC Dear Evan Hansen
OBC Hamilton
Annie with SJP
Oooooh let's see here:
1. Come From Away
2. Dear Evan Hansen OBC
3. Once On This Island revival w/ Hailey Kilgore (I saw it last summer but it was during the time she was out because of injury)
4. Hadestown
5. Hamilton OBC
6. Alice By Heart (off-Broadway)
7. The Band's Visit (saw it in January but really wish I could see it again)
8. Fun Home OBC
If only this was real...
Plays:
A Streetcar Named Desire - OBC
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - with Elaine Stritch
A Moon for the Misbegotten - 1973 Broadway Cast
Angels in America - OBC
Musicals:
South Pacific - OBC
My Fair Lady - OBC
Gypsy - OBC
Follies - OBC
Shows & Casts I've Seen But Would See Again if I Could:
A Chorus Line - OBC
Sweeney Todd - OBC
Children of a Lesser God - OBC
Dreamgirls - OBC
Cyrano de Bergerac - 1984 Derek Jacoby cast
Sunday in the Park With George - OBC
Caroline, or Change - OBC
The Light in the Piazza - OBC
tue: La Cage aux Folles [most recent revival cast]
wed: [mat] Sweeney Todd [recent off broadway revival original cast]
wed: [eve] HADESTOWN
thu: Pippin [revival cast]
fri: HEDWIG [jcm playing Hedwig]
sat: Angels in America [revival]
sun: tbd
this was hard!
Pippin said: "In no order:
OBC Dreamgirls
Taming of the shrew with Meryl Streep and Raul Julia
OBC funny girl
OBC Mame
OBC Nine
OBC Follies
OBC Pippin
OBC Hairspray
"
That’s a pretty fab list!
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/31/18
hak5 said: "tue: La Cage aux Folles [most recent revival cast]
wed: [mat] Sweeney Todd [recent off broadway revival original cast]
wed: [eve] HADESTOWN
thu: Pippin [revival cast]
fri: HEDWIG [jcm playing Hedwig]
sat: Angels in America [revival]
sun: tbd
this was hard!"
John Cougar Mellencamp played Hedwig?
1) OBC Sunday in the Park
2) OBC Fun Home (I missed Sydney Lucas)
3) OBC Hadestown
4) Pippin Revival
5) A Little Night Music (Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch)
6) Falsettos Revival
7) OBC Ragtime
8) OBC Bright Star (really sad I missed that one)
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
If HELLO, DOLLY! was still running, I would be overjoyed to see it 8 more times.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/11
Dollypop said: "If HELLO, DOLLY! was still running, I would be overjoyed to see it 8 more times."
Would that REALLY be your decision, despite the number of great shows I assume you have seen in your theatre going life, and the ones you didn't see.
Just curious.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/11
Someone in a Tree2 said: "OBC 's of:
ANYTHING GOES (1935)
THE GLASS MENAGERIE
STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
MY FAIR LADY
MARAT SADE
COCO (sue me, but I would love to have been in that theater)
FOLLIES
KING OF HEARTS (chiefly to have seen Santo's magnificent set)
Most of the great shows mentioned after 1975 I've seen and stillremember vividly."
Your comments re King of Hearts hit me in particular. I saw The King of Hearts at the Minscoff and, to this day, think the sets for that show were among the best I have ever seen. I saw the show once, I assume close to 40 years ago, and I can still vividly recall several of the sets, particularly a scene on the roof of a church whose setting was MAGNIFICENT. I enjoyed the show also, though I was not surprised that it did not succeed. No stars, no advance, a 'precious' story line, a 'bland' leading man, should've been in a smaller theatre (although the great sets would -- without re-thinking -- not have worked in a smaller theatre).
I saw Coco twice and loved it both times. I have always loved much of the score and those that I consider 'filler' are not included in my playlist. I listen to it at least 4 - 5 times a year (with multiple playings at those times being pretty typical).
I also saw the original Follies, first in Boston where I was a senior in college at the time, and 4 more times NYC. I have included it in my list to re-assess whether I would still think that it was the single greatest production -- musical or play -- that I have seen in my lifetime. Dangerous, but at leastI would get to see it again in all its glory.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/11
Charley Kringas Inc said: "Busy week of fabulous OBCs:
Roar of the Greasepaint
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Lolita My Love (Nickerson tryout)
Merrily (1st preview)
Love Life
A Letter To Queen Victoria
Allegro
Follies
And then I would cap it with the full 24-Decade History of Popular Music, which would probably kill me and that would honestly be my preferred way to go."
I gotta say you have an interesting list. But I have some comments:
-- I saw A Letter to Queen Victoria at what is now the August Wilson theatre a thousand years ago, and it may have been the single most annoying evening I have spent in the theatre. Boredom set in 3 minutes into the show and never left. Be careful what you wish for.
-- I also saw 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue at the then Mark Hellinger 35ish years ago, and it was a complete mess. Despite the horrible production, it was clear that Patricia Routledge was a magical performer (unfortunately, her three ventures on Broadway (that I am aware of) were all massive failures and she stopped coming over, which was a real loss for Broadway.She was one fo the rare handful of stage performers who you just know is special. She was special in this and Darling of the Day,which I loved; but this was a mess, except for her. I understand the score is actually excellent, and you could appreciate the some of the songs were standouts on first hearing / seeing, but it was a boring mess.
-- I saw Marat / Sade, but was too young to appreciate it at the time. I remember actually being a little scared watching it (I was about 16) because it was just so intense and the cast was so believable. I did not include this on my list, but it would be an interesting re-visit at a (too-)much more mature age.
-- I also saw Merrily in previews, not the first one, and violently hated it. It was one of those super-rare (unique?) cases where the huge portion of blame rested at Harold Prince's feet. His approach to the production was a major failure (age of the cast, cast wearing T-Shirts that said what they were (which you couldn't read from the 5th row, and I was in the cheap seats (which were actually cheap). The Maria Freidman production that I saw in Boston was a revelation, although there was still a coldness through much of the show (because Franklin Shepherd was an iceman). Only in the last scene, which was brilliant, did his innocence and warmth come through, which was clearly intentional, right, but still meant that the show was cold. But I loved it.
-- I saw Roar of the Greasepaint from the cheap seats in the Shubert theatre somewhere in the mid-to-late 60s. I remember not fully understanding it, but loving it because the score was great on first listening, and Ritchard (particularly) and Newley were terrific. It was essentially a 2 man show, with a small cast backing them up. It had a great show-stopper, Where Would You Be Without Me, a number of terrific songs, including Feeling Good, which almost felt like filler at the time (probably because, as I remember there many years ago, the character who sang the role (played by Gilbert Price) sort-of came from no-where)...now it is a classic, then it seemed like filler. IT would indeed be very interesting to see it again. (Though it was not the hit that Stop the World, I wasn't to Get Off Was, I enjoyed it much better, although I will acknowledge that I saw filmed version, which can never capture alive performance.
-- I saw Follies multiple times, and still consider it to be the single greatest evening I have spent in the theatre. The perfect production of a show that has always been flawed.
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