Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

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Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:06pm

I vaguely remember that Bill Clinton saw a Broadway show while he was in office. I could be mistaken.

Anyone know?

"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:07pm

I know that they saw Rent because the cast talks about it on the DVD extras.

Now, mother always said that whenever you hear a strange, frightening, and potentially life-threatening ghostly chant coming from the dark woods that there's one thing that you should do: Not wake the others and go investigate it alone...

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:08pm

Laura Bush saw Grey Gardens.

PLEASE! Do not post anything negative or dramatic! DidYouReallyHearMe has LOST the ability to ignore such posts and he will comment! Please, help him.

With Clay Aiken in Spamalot, all of Broadway is singing a collective "There! Right! There!" -Me-

"Not Barker, Todd is the only person I've ever known who could imitate Katherine Hepburn...in print." -nmartin-

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:08pm

But Laura was never president.

"He found something that he wanted, had always wanted and always would want— not to be admired, as he had feared; not to be loved, as he had made himself believe; but to be necessary to people, to be indispensable." -F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:10pm

Too bad she wasn't.

Oops. Did I say that out loud?

I do know that Lincoln saw part of a show -- but that was in Washington, not Broadway.

Updated On: 5/29/08 at 11:10 PM

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:10pm

Yes, but she's the the First Lady, so I saw it as relevent.

EDITED BECAUSE I'M BEACHED AND SHOULDN"T POST AFTER REHEARSAL.

Updated On: 5/29/08 at 11:10 PM

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:12pm

I wasn't being a catty little bitch. I was just stating that she was never president. Sorry.

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:15pm

Sorry, I'm really tired.

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:17pm

No need to say sorry, I was the rude one, and I'm tired too.

#10

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:24pm

I know Bill Clinton saw a performance of THE ICEMAN COMETH with Kevin Spacey back in 1999.

"It's Phantom meets Hamlet... Phamlet!"

#11

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:30pm

I do know that Lincoln saw part of a show -- but that was in Washington, not Broadway.

That wasn't the first show he'd ever seen.

Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how

#12

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:36pm

Clinton also saw Chicago in its early part of the LONGGGG run!!!

#13

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:42pm

There's a picture in Anthony Rapp's autobiography of the cast and the Clintons after the show.He also talked about all the secret service they had there that day and how the theatre had to be searched before anyone was allowed in.

Obama says on his website that he supports the arts, so if he becomes President (knocks on wood), hopefully he'll find some time to go see a show.

#14

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:45pm

Didn't Hilary or Bill (or both) see Avenue Q?

"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611

#15

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:47pm

Bill Clinton saw The Iceman Cometh? Must be a good joke in there somewhere.

#16

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:49pm

I recently read an interview with Danny Rutigliano, the guy who has been in LION KING since it opened (he plays Timon), and he said his favorite performance ever in the ten years was when Bill came to see the show in 1998:

"Do you know that part in 'Hakuna Matata' where Timon interrupts Pumbaa as he sings 'And I got downhearted every time that I farted' ?," he explained. "And my character says 'Not in front of the kids.' Well, that night, I said 'Not in front of the President.' And that line just brought the house down."
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2007/10/11/tune-thursday-timon-tells-tails-er-tales-about-his-time-on-broadway.aspx

#17

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:52pm

The Clintons also saw Forum when Whoopi was in it. After the opening number, when she comically berated the late-comers, she told them, "We'd have waited for you, but, you know, the big guy is here tonight," and then gestured towards their box.

Not the President, but Laura Bush and one of her daughters also saw Wicked- there used to be a photo of them with the cast on the Wicked website.

Also, the Clintons saw Q after Bill left office.

Updated On: 5/29/08 at 11:52 PM

#18

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/29/08 at 11:52pm

Hillary saw The Secret Garden, and was quoted in the ads as saying it was "Simply Magical!"

"This is wanting something, this is reaching for it, This is wishing that a moment would arrive. This is taking chances, this is almost touching, what the beauty is." --The Light in the Piazza

#19

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/30/08 at 12:11am

Its great that the Clintons are theatre fans

#20

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/30/08 at 12:23am

I thought George W. Bush saw Hairspray in 2004... am I wrong?

[title of show] on Broadway. it's time. believe.

#21

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/30/08 at 1:19am

So many possible jokes...

Bill Clinton saw "The Iceman Cometh" and hollered, "Hey, I married your sister..."

"But Laura Bush was never President" Neither was George.

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

#22

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/30/08 at 3:57am

There's no way Bush saw Hairspray. The show preaches tolerance and acceptance. That's not his cup of tea.

Updated On: 5/30/08 at 03:57 AM

#23

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/30/08 at 4:38am

The Blairs took the Clintons to Shakespeare's Globe when they were over here in the late 1990s (and - yes - I know that's not a Broadway show either)

#24

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/30/08 at 5:54am

Regan was at a performance of 'The Will Rogers Follies' in NY - was he in office then- i don't recall?

A young actress with Noel coward after a dreadful opening night performance said to him 'Well, i knew my lines backwards this morning!'' Noels fast reply was ''Yes dear, and thats exactly how you said them tonight'!'

#25

re: Last time a U.S. President saw a Broadway show while in office?

Posted: 5/30/08 at 6:26am

"I thought George W. Bush saw Hairspray in 2004... am I wrong?"

Sort of. It was his father, George H.W. Bush, and Barbara Bush, who saw Hairspray in 2004, during the RNC.

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