SHARE: Your First Time

With "The Phantom of the Opera" so near its record-breaking performance, I thought I'd start a thread providing an opportunity for BWW.com Board members (to borrow the campaign slogan) to share their "First Time"

This is not a bash, love/hate thread. Merely a forum for people to share their remarkable first memories of experiencing "The Phantom of the Opera" themselves.

Thank you. Have a pleasant journey down Nostalgia Lane.

My first time... It was in May of 1988. A friend and I had taken off work to see the show on a Wednesday because it was the first available ticket I could get after the show opened (in the rear mezzanine). I had listened to the OLCR for weeks prior to seeing the show, so I knew the music pretty well.

I was entranced. I really got caught up in the story. Everything was so lush and romantic, and the performances, especially by Michael Crawford, were outstanding. I really felt sad for the Phantom at the end when Christine went off with Raoul.

One thing that really stands out in my memory from that first performance happened near the end of the first act. Raoul and Christine are on the roof, and we see the angel sculpture hanging above them. After they go off stage, a hand comes up from behind the angel. The entire audience made an sound that almost sounded like "ooooh" because they realized the Phantom had heard the whole thing. I've seen the show six times since then in different cities around the world, and I have never heard a reaction like that in that scene again.

It was the first touring show I ever saw. I sat dead center in the first balcony, first row with my mother. The chandelier didn't fall down, but hey!

Yeah, that really was a first.

Mine was September 2001, about a week before 9/11. I had been wanting to see the show for quite a while now, and my parents rented the Cast Recording from our local library, which made me want to see it even more. My Uncle then got tickets for a Monday night sow, I think the week that school started. I loved every single second of i, and it's what made me into the theatre fanatic I am today. It made me want to go back and back and back to Broadway, and that's exactly what I did. :)

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So would you like us not to recall our memories if they were negative? I saw the show for the first time in November of 2004 and my most profound memeory is of me almost falling asleep and being 'woken up' during Masquarade.

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What if you "First TIme" was during a production of Phantom of the Opera?

The first time I saw the show, I remember walking into the theatre and thinking, "That stage doesn't look very big to me." I think one of the coolest things about the show is the overture and the way it works into the rest of the show. I think it's pretty amazing, actually. The show, itself? Don't shoot me, but I tend to think that it's not the best adaptation of the book. That's my opinion, of course, but the music is beautiful. I just somewhat wish that there had been just a little more "umph" in its writing. Don't get me wrong, I love the show, and plan to keep seeing it again and again.

I saw it last year when it was in Boston and it was pretty awe-inspiring. But I got to go onstage afterwards. That was far cooler than the show. It was good... not my favorite show by any means but it's ok.

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Mine was in Australia, 1996. I don't remember the exact date. I jumped when the overture started. I was there with my family on a bussiness trip, and we decided to see the show. I saw it many more times after that on broadway. I still think that my first was the most magical, however. My favorite show nonetheless.

Summer of 2005. My mother and I had 3rd row center orchestra. Three things that stand out in my mind of that performance:
1.Hugh Panero
2.Phantoms "All I Ask of You"(reprise)[I think its a reprise]
3. The chandalier falling a few seats next to me. Though it was droping slower that Christmas, it STILL scared me because I didnt think it would fly on stage before it hit someone.

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WoW! I agree with JbaraFan-

I totally thought this was about something else

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I saw it March of 2004 with Hugh P. --- I was thrilled to be seeing one of my first Broadway shows. I was on a school newspaper field trip for a week in NYC. We had just had dinner at Tavern on the Green and then we were going to the Majestic to see the show. The show started and I dont know what happened, maybe it was the fact that i was through-sung or the operatic nature of the piece, but i could not pay attention to save my life. i kept falling asleep and whatnot. The only thing that kept waking me up was the "bun-bun-bun-bunnnn" of the organ. Although, in retrospect, i was I would have stayed awake. its odd because two days earlier we saw Mamma Mia and i was captivated by that show lol.

"its odd because two days earlier we saw Mamma Mia "...

ha, thats funny- i saw mamma-mia like 2 days later, and didnt care for it a lot then, but now i like it
sorta funny
in a way
:)


and im sorry,pab, you werent thrilled
really a shame