the revival of La Cage that just closed <3. with The original cast.
One of the best nights of my life. I met the whole cast after.
Understudy Joined: 3/19/10
A Chorus Line (original production) while on a high school trip. Quite a way to start off!
Understudy Joined: 2/19/09
Annie. With my parents, I was pretty young. It must have been near the end of the Broadway run, because I believe Alyson Kirk was playing Annie.
Pretty sure the first big musical I ever saw, though not technically Broadway, was Snow White at Radio City Music Hall... it was a live-action adaptation of the Disney movie, and they used to play it on HBO every year for a while. Picked up a (very very illegal) DVD copy of it at the Broadway Flea Market a few years back, and was thrilled to find it!
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/28/08
First Play- The Crucible with Justine Bateman(who was hot at the time in Family Ties) in '89 I believe
First Musical- Miss Saigon(missed Lea Salonga by 2 weeks) in '93
2nd musical was 14yrs later- Les Mis Revival where I finally got to see Lea Salonga
First show was in 1984, La Cage au Faux.
First play was the same trip, Noises Off, with the wonderful Dorothy Loudon.
Also saw the first(?) incarnation of Forbidden Broadway at Paulson's.
Updated On: 6/10/11 at 03:21 PM
First Play - Sleuth - 1973 at the Music Box Theater starring Patrick Macnee.
First Musical - The Wiz - 1975 - Still in the top three of my all time favorites.
Rent. January 2005. Got the tickets as a present for my 16th birthday.
Understudy Joined: 12/31/69
Nanette 1972 -- Ruby Keeler was out sick that night, but I did see Patsy Kelly.
Man of La Mancha 1967. Original cast. Talk back after the show. My Spanish class took us to it. Still remains my favorite
1979: Whoopee! at the ANTA Theatre (now the August Wilson)
This continues to be an exciting and heartwarming thread. Thanks all for your contributions! If you are still following this thread, I'd love to hear more from the folks that saw: THE WIZ, The 10th Anniversary production of HAIR, WHOOPEE!. THE ACT, STARLIGHT EXPRESS, and THE SECRET GARDEN.
Featured Actor Joined: 8/2/05
Summer of 1977, when I was 7. I can't remember which show came first, but we saw the original cast in Annie and The Wiz.
Chorus Member Joined: 5/14/11
I had seen SEVERAL shows in Los Angeles, but after finally convincing my father to take me to New York, I arrived to my now favorite city in 2003, where I saw Wicked. What an amazing night. I have come back several times now, and have now seen 12 shows. I am going back in August to where I will turn those 12 into as of now, 17.
Chorus Member Joined: 12/31/69
i love this thread.
my first broadway show was the original cast of The Secret Garden. I was sitting with my family in the balcony, and all I remember is the end of the first act, when Daisy Eagan freezes as she's putting the key into the lock to open the gates. I was mesmerized as to how she could hold that still. Then I remember looking over at my family and seeing them all sleeping.
That same trip i saw Will Rogers Follies and offbway's Blue Man Group. It was my introduction to Broadway, and I've loved it ever since.
guettboy, thanks for your post regarding THE SECRET GARDEN. I loved that show so much and so I can only imagine the thrill of having that be my first Broadway show. Please tell us more about your WILL ROGERS FOLLIES experience. The staging and the score are terrific, methinks.
I saw WHOOPEE! in the summer of 1979, I was 12 and my brother was 10 and my mother took us in to see a matinee. The idea was to do TKTS, but my mom didn't realize the line would be so long. So we began to walk uptown and couldn't decide, so we wound up seeing the show at the "last" theater on the walk, the ANTA on 52nd Street (now the August Wilson).
I was 12 and it was my first show, and a while ago, but I remember sitting in the rear mezzanine and it seemed really far from the stage. The lead actor, Charles Repole, was charming, funny and sang well. The show was corny and dated - and if I felt that way at 12 I can only imagine how adults must have felt.
Funny enough, I don't remember it feeling long. Something I suffer from now.
Second Show, First Play: DEATHTRAP with John Cullum and Madian Seldes!
My mum and I saw the Wiz from the third row of the orchestra and I was absolutely blown away by it.
It was and remains one of the most electrifying productions I have ever seen. The cast across the board were stand outs but, my personal favorites were Hinton Battle's soulful and dynamic Scarecrow, Ted Ross's booming and powerful Lion and Andre de Shields's dazzling show stopping Wiz.
This score is on a permanent loop in my memory and I often hum songs from it.
Understudy Joined: 11/8/08
The Tap Dance Kid in 1984 or 85!
My first year of Broadway theater-going:
December, 1973: IRENE, w/Debbie Reynolds
February, 1974: GIGI, w/Alfred Drake (my first "final" perf.)
March, 1974: OVER HERE, w/The Andrews Sisters
June, 1974: LORELEI, w/Carol Channing
July, 1974: GREASE
August, 1974: CANDIDE
October, 1974: PIPPIN, w/Ben Vereen and Betty Buckley
November, 1974: GYPSY, w/Angela Lansbury
November, 1974: MACK & MABLE w/Robert Preston & Bernadette Peters
December, 1974: THE MAGIC SHOW
Not a bad introductory year. I still regret not having seen the original A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC while I had the chance, but my mother disliked Sondheim and wouldn't take me. I had my revenge when I played Henrik years later and she had to see it. Twice. She loved it! Ha!
If we don't count Monty Python at City Center in 1976, it would be 42nd Street in 1982 with Jerry Orbach and the replacement for Peggy Sawyer was Lisa Brown. Was it the Winter Garden?
When I was a freshman at a Penn State campus in Pennsylvania at the beginning of 1976, I started a Drama Club called the 'Schuylkill Players' and we brought a busload of people to NYC on a Saturday to see the matinee of PIPPIN with Michael Rupert at the Imperial Theatre and then the Tony-winning 'Best Musical' THE WIZ at the Majestic Saturday night before heading back to PA in the bus. Naturally, I couldn't get enough and am happy that 35 years later, I'm working on THE NORMAL HEART on Broadway.
Question for FINCH...
I could be wrong, but didn't THE MUSIC MAN premier on Broadway in December, 1957? Not sure about the 8/11/56 reference. Thanks!
I could be wrong,
The 2009 revival of West Side Story. It was a very good production and I was very impressed for my first broadway production, Until I saw more shows :)
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