Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen

[lesmis]

Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#1

Posted: 12/29/07 at 11:37am

Mine would be Mary Martin

[StageFan2]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#2

Posted: 12/29/07 at 11:51am

Ethel Waters; and although a screen star, I would have loved to seen Katherine Hepburn in live performance.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#2

Posted: 12/29/07 at 11:52am

Gwen Verdon
Ethel Merman

"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop

[lesmis]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#3

Posted: 12/29/07 at 11:55am

I would have loved to see Helen Hayes too.

[Ed_Mottershead]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#4

Posted: 12/29/07 at 1:32pm

Jeanne Eagels in Rain
Mrs. Leslie Carter in one of her Belasco plays (just to see how bad she probably was)
Frances Starr in The Easiest Way
John Barrymore in The Jest, Hamlet, Richard III or anything from his glory years
Nazimova in Hedda Gabler or Ghosts
James K. Hackett when he was still a matinee idol
Sarah Bernhardt in Phedre
Eleanora Duse in anything
Mrs. Patrick Campbell in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray

BroadwayEd

[BigFatBlonde]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#5

Posted: 12/29/07 at 1:41pm

Merman! Merman! Merman!


Laurette Taylor
Gwen Verdon
Kim Stanley
Brando
Fanny Brice
Rosalind Russell
Tallulah Bankhead

..many others

What great ones do the less will prattle of

[uncageg]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#6

Posted: 12/29/07 at 1:46pm

Hume Cronyn & Jessica Tandy

Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder

[Chason]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#7

Posted: 12/29/07 at 1:56pm

A while back I saw Ethel Merman in the film It's a MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD World - and she was so freaking hysterically funny. God, I LOVED her in that movie! I wish I had been alive when she was famous. It certainly was a glimpse for me into why she was. Bless her. She's dead now, right?

George: Rubbing alcohol for you, Martha? Martha: Never mix, never worry!

[MargoChanning]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#8

Posted: 12/29/07 at 2:02pm

Merman died over 25 years ago.

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

[Gypsy9]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#9

Posted: 12/29/07 at 3:12pm

Ethel Merman died on February 15, 1984 at age 76 of complications from a brain tumor. That night all the theatres on Broadway dimmed their lights in her memory.

Her last regular Broadway performance was the lead in HELLO DOLLY, the show that was written with her in mind. Merman played that show from March, 1970 to December, 1970 when the show closed. Composer Jerry Herman had written two songs just for her.

Merman's last public appearance in NYC was at Carnegie Hall on May 10, 1982. Her adoring public, me included, went wild with enthusiasm. She was truly one of a kind. I feel lucky to have seen her in HAPPY HUNTING, GYPSY, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN(revival), HELLO DOLLY and the Carnegie Hall concert.

"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"

Updated On: 12/29/07 at 03:12 PM

[TheaterBaby]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#10

Posted: 12/29/07 at 4:19pm

Mary Martin
Gwen Verdon
Julie Andrews

"It's the little things; the details, that distinguish the Barbra Streisands from the Rosalyn Kinds."~Gilmore Girls~

[bwaymizfit2]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#12

Posted: 12/29/07 at 5:20pm

hmm...if I could only pick one? I would say John Raitt. That man's voice was singularly AMAZING!

[sgv123]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#13

Posted: 12/29/07 at 5:40pm

fanny brice
Ethel Merman

[Elphaba3]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#14

Posted: 12/29/07 at 5:43pm

Julie Andrews.

[BrianS]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#15

Posted: 12/29/07 at 5:58pm

The original cast of A Chorus Line. Not outright stars, but they definitely owned the roles they played.

If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them. - Ethel Merman

[pushdabutton]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#16

Posted: 12/29/07 at 8:09pm

Vanessa Williams in Kiss of the Spider Woman

[TheaterBaby]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#17

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:48pm

"since when is Julie Andrews a "past" Broadway Star?"

Gee, well, I'll take it back when she signs up to star in her next big musical.

"It's the little things; the details, that distinguish the Barbra Streisands from the Rosalyn Kinds."~Gilmore Girls~

[steven22]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#18

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:56pm

jennifer laura thompson in wicked

[Lil_little_edie942]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#19

Posted: 12/30/07 at 11:45pm

Ethel Merman, Ethel Waters.

This Laurette Taylor lady seems brilliant. Practically everone in 'Broadway: The Golden Age' was raving about her, tragic her peformance wasn't captured on film.

[OnTheAisle]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#20

Posted: 12/31/07 at 12:16am

Ethel Merman
Richard Kiley
Robert Preston
Ray Bolger

"Not a day goes by..."

[jeniferrenepatricia]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#21

Posted: 12/31/07 at 1:30am

Gwen Verdon
Ann Reinking in "Dancin'" (I know it's coming back to Broadway, but Ann won't be the lead)
Tallulah Bankhead
Lauren Bacall in "Woman of the Year"
Gregory Hines
Bob Fosse

Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.- Bette Davis

[allofmylife]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#22

Posted: 12/31/07 at 1:37am

I would give ANYTHING to see Fred and Adele Astaire, preferably in "Funny Face, Gene Kelly, absolutely in "Pal Joey" and TOTALLY Ray Bolger in "On Your Toes."

I am always amazed to think you could once walk into a Broadway theater and see these gods performing, live, right in front of you.

Wow.

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

[DirtyRottenGirl]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#23

Posted: 12/31/07 at 4:23am

Julie Andrews is a past broadway star. Because of her messed up surgery she can only sing like an octave range. She rarely sings now because she cant really.

Gwen of course!

[jeniferrenepatricia]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#24

Posted: 12/31/07 at 5:14am

I am so happy that I got the opportunity to see her in Victor/Victoria on Broadway. I can't remember what year it was, but I actually cried when I saw her on the Tony Awards one time afetr the surgery. To lose such a gift is heartbreaking.....

Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.- Bette Davis

[knicknut]

re: Past Broadway Stars You Wish You Had Seen#25

Posted: 12/31/07 at 12:29pm

Jerry Orbach
Gregory Hines
Gene Kelly
Fred Astaire

And not Broadway related, but I would kill to have seen the Rat Pack live at the Sands. Updated On: 12/31/07 at 12:29 PM