#51
Posted: 8/3/08 at 12:20pm
Thanks to all who responded. Indeed, it is very hard to choose just one.
If you could travel back in time and see ONE show... — Page 3
#52
Posted: 8/3/08 at 12:34pm
I also said "Show Boat" because of the era. Not just the shock of the story line, but to see New York society dressed up in tuxes and evening gowns. A Ziegfeld show, in its heyday.
Mix that with the curtain going up, and in the very first lyric you hear, "N*ggers all work on the Mississippi, N*ggers all work while the white folks play..."
I'm thinking it probably looked like that audience shot from The Producers while they're watching Springtime for Hitler.
Oh, to be a fly on that wall. Now, granted, the "N" word was used quite a bit back then... but it was still considered vulgar and derogatory. Not "Ziegfeld" material. Then to get a misogination story, where you care about all the people involved... and to hear that score! To hear Helen Morgan sing Bill and Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man. To see Charles Winninger and Edna May Oliver live on stage.
Mix that with the curtain going up, and in the very first lyric you hear, "N*ggers all work on the Mississippi, N*ggers all work while the white folks play..."
I'm thinking it probably looked like that audience shot from The Producers while they're watching Springtime for Hitler.
Oh, to be a fly on that wall. Now, granted, the "N" word was used quite a bit back then... but it was still considered vulgar and derogatory. Not "Ziegfeld" material. Then to get a misogination story, where you care about all the people involved... and to hear that score! To hear Helen Morgan sing Bill and Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man. To see Charles Winninger and Edna May Oliver live on stage.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#53
Posted: 8/3/08 at 12:45pm
The opening night of Show Boat at the Washington DC National Theatre on Tuesday, November 15, 1927.
This was the only performance with every song and scene. Cuts were subsequently made in accord with the audience's response of that evening. This first performance opened at 8:30 pm and the final curtain fell at 12:40 am.
This was the only performance with every song and scene. Cuts were subsequently made in accord with the audience's response of that evening. This first performance opened at 8:30 pm and the final curtain fell at 12:40 am.
#54
Posted: 8/3/08 at 1:18pm
The original Broadway production of Follies.
It's a no-brainer.
It's a no-brainer.
Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done.
-John Patrick Shanley
#55
Posted: 8/3/08 at 1:38pm
Assassins, Last Five Years, Ragtime, or Show Boat.
#56
Posted: 8/3/08 at 2:01pm
If we can add something to one of mine:
OBC of Phantom without the knowledge that any technology would ever be updated
Original Chicago
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Original South Pacific
OBC of Phantom without the knowledge that any technology would ever be updated
Original Chicago
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Original South Pacific
#57
Posted: 8/3/08 at 2:49pm
Would love to have seen Gleason in Into The Woods back in the day. Same goes (more recently) with the original cast of Hairspray. I've seen so many of them in other production since (Legally Blonde, Xanadu, etc.) but would have loved to see the original lineup.
#58
Posted: 8/3/08 at 6:41pm
The final performance of Miss Saigon on Broadway
Don't believe everything that you hear! Only the peeps involved know the truth!
#59
Posted: 8/3/08 at 6:46pm
So many choices:
Opening night of MY FAIR LADY
The first night Liza stepped in for Gwen in CHICAGO
The original production of FOLLIES
Streisand in FUNNY GIRL (before she got bored)
but the winner is ...
Merman in GYPSY
Opening night of MY FAIR LADY
The first night Liza stepped in for Gwen in CHICAGO
The original production of FOLLIES
Streisand in FUNNY GIRL (before she got bored)
but the winner is ...
Merman in GYPSY
#60
Posted: 8/3/08 at 6:52pm
For me, it is the Broadway flop Smile. I stumbled upon a demo recording of it and have been intrigued to see it ever since.
#61
Posted: 8/3/08 at 6:55pm
There are so many...But I think I would have to go with Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters. If we are talking off Broadway or off-off Broadway- then it would be See What I Wanna See @ The Public with Mary Testa and Marc Kudisch.
Upcoming shows:
#62
Posted: 8/3/08 at 8:36pm
Follies, totally.
Part of me wanted to say SITPWG, but that's at least been preserved on video. The orginal Follies, though, is lost to both video AND complete OBC audio.
Part of me wanted to say SITPWG, but that's at least been preserved on video. The orginal Follies, though, is lost to both video AND complete OBC audio.
#63
Posted: 8/3/08 at 8:40pm
CHICAGO with Gwen & Chita
#64
Posted: 8/3/08 at 8:43pm
so many to chose from...
Grey Gardens
Assassins
Caroline or Change
Kiss Me Kate OBC
Grey Gardens
Assassins
Caroline or Change
Kiss Me Kate OBC
"right up here is where i store the juice."
#65
Posted: 8/3/08 at 8:48pm
GOLDEN BOY. Seeing Sammy Davis and Paula Wayne together on a broadway stage would have made the trip of over 40 years worth while (:
#66
Posted: 8/3/08 at 8:51pm
Camelot with Julie, of course. There are plenty more, but if I had to pick ONE, it would be this one. 
So, that was the Drowsy Chaperone. Oh, I love it so much. I know it's not a perfect show...but it does what a musical is supposed to do. It takes you to another world, and it gives you a little tune to carry with you in your head for when you're feeling blue. Ya know?
#67
Posted: 8/4/08 at 12:34am
TOSS UP:
OBC The Secret Garden
OBC Peter Pan
OBC The Secret Garden
OBC Peter Pan
And you think of all of the things you've seen, and you wish that you could live in between ,and you're back again only different than before...
After the Sky.
-Into the Woods (Jack)
#68
Posted: 8/4/08 at 5:03am
Definitely Angels in America.
#69
Posted: 8/4/08 at 7:48am
There are a lot I would have loved to have seen, but the one that haunts me still is Side Show. I'm still kicking myself for not taking a weekend to come up here from school and see it. 
Experience live theater. Experience paintings. Experience books. Live, look and listen like artists! ~ imaginethis
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
#70
Posted: 8/4/08 at 9:03am
I feel like "old man river" myself, since I've actually seen several of the choices people have posted here!
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#71
Posted: 8/4/08 at 9:16am
Gypsy--the Merm
Guys & Dolls w Nathan & Faith.
Guys & Dolls w Nathan & Faith.
#72
Posted: 8/4/08 at 9:39am
My immediate reaction was OBC of Follies. But reading the responses, I'm now torn between that and opening night of Showboat in 1927.
I was lucky enough to see Les Miserables at the Barbican before it moved to the West End. Ever since I've wished I could experience that sense of discovery without exposure to previous hype for something major.
I was lucky enough to see Les Miserables at the Barbican before it moved to the West End. Ever since I've wished I could experience that sense of discovery without exposure to previous hype for something major.
#73
Posted: 8/4/08 at 10:33am
Dance of the Vampires or The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The Best Thing Right Now: Hair Revival!
#74
Posted: 8/4/08 at 11:28am
Three things, not one but three:
--Opening night of "Jesus Christ Superstar," 1971 (to hear Ben Vereen's full performance as Judas, and to be convinced that yes Tom O'Horgan did direct such an outlandish production)
--"Hair," 1969 (note that I don't want opening night, but the first night in '69 that the latter day version of the script was, for the most part, frozen...or to see Ben Vereen as Berger, which was a VERY brief run)
--"Dance of the Vampires" (only to be convinced that it really happened)
--Opening night of "Jesus Christ Superstar," 1971 (to hear Ben Vereen's full performance as Judas, and to be convinced that yes Tom O'Horgan did direct such an outlandish production)
--"Hair," 1969 (note that I don't want opening night, but the first night in '69 that the latter day version of the script was, for the most part, frozen...or to see Ben Vereen as Berger, which was a VERY brief run)
--"Dance of the Vampires" (only to be convinced that it really happened)
"There is no problem so big that it cannot be run away from."
~ Charles M. Schulz
#75
Posted: 8/4/08 at 11:33am
ME JACK, YOU JILL in March 1976.
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