Chorus Member Joined: 12/17/10
Spring Break Freshman Year of College by OBC of Wicked. from the last row of the mezz.
Went back the next day with the friend i was staying with and won the center front row lottery tickets.
(That week also saw Ave q, Assassins, little shop & rent)
Leading Actor Joined: 5/17/11
Hello, Dolly! with Pearl Bailey at the St.James,then Man of La Mancha at the Martin Beck.
The original production of "Equus".
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/19/05
'Cuba And His Teddy Bear." 1984
Robert DeNiro, Burt Young and Ralph Macchio.
This is a little embarrassing, but my entire life, my parents and I made frequent trips to New York to visit family and friends. We did the tourist things, saw the Statue of Liberty, went to art museums. It was on top of the Empire State Building that my parents realized I needed glasses when I couldn't see Central Park (I was in kindergarten). My parents enjoy theater and we did so many community theater productions back in Massachusetts. We even saw some off-Broadway plays occasionally when we visited. After high school, I moved to New York to study theater in college. My friend lent me the RENT cast recording and I became obsesssed.
Yet somehow, my first Broadway show was not until I had friends visit me during Spring Break of my sophomore year in college. They wanted to see a show. We saw PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. That was 2004.
So, that's my story. Feel free to judge. But I've sure made up for those Broadway-less years!
Cabaret at Studio 54 on December 7, 2002.
Raul Esparza was starring as the Emcee, and Molly Ringwald was Sally Bowles. However, she was out, so Heather Laws was on for her and my sixteen year old soul was devastated.
'Hair'...last year. It was my first time ever making it all the way to NYC.
"The Wiz" at the Majestic with the original cast. I ended up seeing it 2 more times after it moved to The Broadway Theater.
My 1st show on Broadway was not the traditional Broadway musical, but Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge's stylized rendition of the opera "La Boheme" on May 23, 2003 at the Broadway Theatre :)
Swing Joined: 9/1/04
At Lincoln Center in the mid-Sixties - "South Pacific" with Florence Henderson and "Life With Father" with Leon Ames.
At the St. James, "Hello Dolly" with Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway. The two after that were "Coco" and "1776"
Shrek the Musical in April 2009. I've seen much better shows since then.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/03
"You Kow I Can't Hear You With the Water Running",
late 60's with a school group.
first musical:
"The Magic Show"
a few years later, while at my first job my group won a sales contest. The prize, a night on the town. I remember we dined at Mama Leonie's.
first time on our own, a short while later:
"Evita"
been hooked ever since.
The first show I saw on Broadway was Wicked on my birthday in 2007. I've seen it twice since then.
Swing Joined: 10/25/10
Wicked Fantastic, very interesting as I lived in NYC from 1971 to 2003. La Boheme was the final Broadway show I saw as a resident. I've been back many many times since to see shows, but Boheme was my "farewell New York" show.
The original 1776 in 1969, followed closely by Hello Dolly starring Phyllis Diller, then a return visit to Dolly starring Ethel Merman.
The obvious show for anyone born in the early nineties. Beauty and the Beast.
Hey West Village, what do you remember about Phyllis Diller's Dolly? You're the first person I've encountered who saw her during the run.
Leading Actor Joined: 5/17/11
egghumor, i too was able to see Phyllis Diller in Dolly. I was a kid, so I dont remember too much. She was not bad, none of the standard Diller routine. Every so often a hint of the laugh, but for the most part she played it straight. And her singing wasnt bad either.
Years later I had the opportunity to work with her in a show, and she is a true professional, a lady if the stage , as it were.
Very cool, thanks! I always loved Phyllis Diller when I was a kid.
Promises, Promises. Sometime in 1971. Lorna Luft was Fran. This is what made me the theatre fan I am now!
Gypsy. Bernadette Peters. June 12, 2003. Center mezz row G.
All Shook Up
Sweeney Todd w/Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou. (1979) Have not missed Angela on Broadway since then.
Hal Prince's Show Boat revival at the Gershwin, in 1995. A wonderful, wonderful memory, even though at my young age most of the content sailed straight over my head.
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