Original Casts

How many original casts has everyone seen and the best cast you've ever seen? The biggest problem with my family and I is that we dont act on offers we get in the mail of discounted shows- especially the new ones that are coming out, and wait to late and dont get too see original casts.
When I was younger I saw the original cast of Beauty and the Beast, the Los Angeles cast of the revival if Joseph on Broadway, the second rival of Peter Pan, the original cast of Titanic, the original cast of Footloose, the original cast of Swing!, but one understudy was in- DERRICK WILLIAMS, so I was happy!, Nathan Lane was sick for my performance of The Producers, but if nobody told me, I would have gone right on believing that Brad Oscar was really him, the original cast of Saturday Night Fever, the original cast of the revival of LSH, and of course Wicked, and I was very fortunate everyone was in that night, now hearing rumors that Kristen may be sick.
But the best cast I think I ever saw, working very well together in a show was Chicago and I didnt even see Bebe or Ann Reinking. I saw Belle Callaway..if anyone ever knows if shes in a show please say something on her because she is so talented among a phenomenal cast of talents traveling from all over the nation. So whats your opinions?

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I saw the original casts of BRING BACK BIRDIE and LEGS DIAMOND. Do those count?

Bring Back Birdie!
How excellent- That only played for like 6 performances. I heard it was an awful flop, but probably would have of enjoyed, laughing the whole night away. At least you got to see Chita Rivera and Donald O' Conner right?
I still have yet to see "Millie" but am addicted to the CD and Sutton Foster's voice. She has the best Broadway voice ever. I wish I was her! Who were the understudies? I wanted to see Amour really bad and am still pissed beyond belief that I did not get to see La Boheme. I wanted to see that show so badly, Baz is my favorite director- Romeo and Juliet, my fav. movie, and kept pressuring my parents to take me, but time flies. That is the biggest regret I have of a show and of course for not seeing the new Big River. There Broadway on Broadway performance blew me away, and the deaf lad as Huck was so adorable and had such passion in his eyes that I cried just watching him. And the vocals were awesome! Too bad for Big River and La Boheme.

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Saw the original cast of pre-Broadway "Jane Eyre" and original casts of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "La Boheme" on Broadway. Best cast in my opinion was "TMM"--Sutton and the rest were fantastic!

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Since I haven't started going to shows much until a few years ago, most of my OBCs are fairly recent. Movin' Out, Urinetown, Avenue Q, La Boheme, Def Poetry Jam, the current Little Shop and the revival of Man of la Mancha. I saw the original Aida cast minus Sherie Rene Scott. ALso the original Full Monty cast minus Patrick Wilson (it was actually the last performance of the original guys and Patrick had left two weeks earlier, so Will Chase was already playing Jerry). I think that's it. Maybe Sweet Smell of Success, it was still John Lithgow, Kelly O'Hara and Brian D'Arcy James, but since I didn't really enjoy that show, I never learned if it even made it to any major cast changes.

Updated On: 11/17/03 at 05:32 PM

It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Baz Luhrman is my favorite director out today and "La Boheme" was classic Baz. The stage, lighting, and costumes were gorgeous and the talent was equally good. I'm so glad I saw it before it closed--I'd never forgive myself if I had missed it. The CD is good, but part of what made "La Boheme" so great was the visual aspects. If you want a cast album of "La Boheme," I'd recommend an opera recording with the full score.

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I almost didn't get to see it. We were only in NYC for 4 days, and were only planning on seeing 4 musicals. Fortunately, I talked my mom into letting me go to "La Boheme" while she went to "42nd Street." The only downer was I had 2nd row mezzanine seats with my $20 student tickets. I would've liked to have been further back so I could take in more of the visuals. But I did manage to grab some crepe paper from the parade scene to take home :)

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I meant orchestra. It's been a long day and my brain is rather fried.

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I saw the original cast of Sweeney Todd, which still ranks as one of the best nights I've ever spent in the theater (Angela Lansbury was awesome). Also on Broadway, saw the original casts of Big, Victor Victoria, Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Civil War, The Full Monty, Titanic and Steel Pier (well, SP only had one cast as it closed quite early - in fact I was at the closing night, which had a great atmosphere). I've seen the original casts of a a huge number of shows in the West End - too many to mention.

Although I'm pleased to have seen shows with their original "stars" - with a few exceptions, I don't really believe it should matter what cast you see. A great show should be able to stand on its own, not rely on its stars. (Still glad I had the privilege of seeing Angela though! And the golden voiced Linda Eder in J & K. And wish I had seen Bernadette Peters in Into the Woods - and greatly looking forward to seeing her in 12 days time in Gypsy!)

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When I went to the theatre sporadically in the early and mid-1990s, a few times I saw understudies in lead roles even though I was seeing the rest of the original cast. I did see the entire original cast for the Guys and Dolls revival with Peter Gallagher, Nathan Lane and Faith Prince, though, and I'm glad I caught that! I also somehow managed to convince my parents to take me to see Evita when I was young, so I saw the original cast of that, thank goodness.

Since I've been going more regularly (well, regularly might be putting it mildly), though, I've seen a lot more original casts. I did see the original cast of the revival of Chicago, luckily, but I have to agree with Elphie about Belle Calaway - one of the best interpretation of Roxie that I've seen, IMHO. Belle is the Roxie and Mama Morton standby on Broadway now, I was lucky enough to catch her when she went on as Roxie last Monday, and she was just as terrific as I remembered her to be. I would like to see her in another role someday, though, I think she is a fabulous performer.

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wow, I guess it ages me to say that I have literally seen over ONE THOUSAND original casts, more than half on opening nights.

I wouldn't know where to begin.:)

Many their first New York performance in addition to opening night.

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RENT, WICKED, tick, tick...BOOM!, LES MISERABLES, MISS SAIGON, AIDA, STARLIGHT EXPRESS, THE CIVIL WAR, JEKYLL & HYDE, TOMMY, TABOO, CRAZY FOR YOU, FOREVER PLAID, HAIRSPRAY, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, etc . . .

The best being RENT . . . .

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Let's see...
Rent
The Life
Jekyll and Hyde
Scarlet Pimpernel
The Civil War
The Producers
Jane Eyre
The Lion King
Avenue Q
Bat Boy
Titanic
...and I think thats it...but who knows

And my favorites are...Bat Boy, The Civil War, Rent and AveQ