SHARE: Your First Time

[EugLoven]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 4:39am

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.

[JbaraFan1]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 5:00am

sorry, thought this was something else ...

as you were ...

[kec]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 5:09am

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.

[JakeB]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 5:30am

My first time was when I was about 11. It was so good I vowed not to return.. so worried about spoiling the memory. I went again when I was 15/6 and vowed again not to return again, which I haven't yet, but know I will. It is one of a very few handful of shows which could be considered the greatest running in the world today. Such a shame they made a film version IMO, but that's a different debate altogether. A very happy birthday.

[respeck]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 6:05am

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.

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 8:11am

mine was october 2004 in new york city, over columbus day weekend, i think on a firday or saturday nightwith my family and a friend named katie from idaho experiencing her first time in nyc too! we had a blast seeing it, it had become my fave show, we didnt meet too many people at the stage door, though, and one guy, i think the guy who played mousieur andre, was like to katie "where are you from?" and shes like "idaho" and hes like "well, no ones perfect." and walked away. so yeah, interesting story.
so, yeah. i love phantom no matter what though, very good show.

[Piazzaslight]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 8:20am

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. :)

[guitargeek0624]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 8:52am

My first time was actually on Nov. 11 of 2005. I was dying to see it, and since my family had to cancel our four-day vacation, they managed to get tickets to see it (and good seats, too. Row J in the orchestra).

I was blown away. The main actor that blew me away was Howard McGillin. He was incredible as the Phantom! I really didn't care for Sandra Joseph as Christine, though. Well, anyway, I absolutely loved it. The special effects were awesome, too.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 10:54am

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.

[lamentingenvelope]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 11:06am

My first time seeing Phantom will be January 21st and I'm excited!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 11:14am

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

[Phantomerik15]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 11:34am

My first time was in the July of 2003. I was 11 turning 12 the next month. I hadn't known the exact story. I heard some of the music from the Phantom highlights CD my mom had but never cared much about it. all i knew was a "Phantom" that taught this girl how to sing. Hugh Panaro was the Phantom. At first I was confused...i kept asking my mother "What's going on?" she wasn't too familiar with the story either. By intermission I was saying "I don't get this! This show's kinda boring!" my mom said, "well, the effects are good and it's not bad!...I think i like it better than Les Mis." Then, me-at the time being a big Les Mis fan-said Les Mis was better.
Anyway, after the show i still kept my opinion with it. It wasnt until weeks later, after countless days of not being able to rid myself from the show did I suddenly tell my mom: "Phantom isn't that bad anymore!" It was perhaps that I bought the program and read it and understood the story.

[BWAYboi_yes]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 2:19pm

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.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 2:41pm

I was 11 and, to this day, think I didn't appreciate it. I still don't appreciate it on stage and, while I'm sure I am alone in this, have found the beauty of it in the recent film version. I remember falling asleep and my mother waking me up asking me if I liked what I saw. Apparently, I told my mother, "The chandeleir was cool."

[DramaDork925]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 2:48pm

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.

[zepka102]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 2:55pm

5th grade... january 14, 1994. i had been in love with the show for a year before that, but only knew the highlights. we were going on the trip up to Toronto to see it. i was stuck in the very last row, but dead center, which felt so far away. but i loved every moment of it. Robert Pilon was the Phantom, Theresa DeZarn was Christine, and David Rodgers was Raoul. they were all amazing in the roles, as well as the rest of the cast. definitely became my first major obsession and it's still my favorite musical.

[AnotherDay46]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 3:08pm

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.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 3:09pm

My dad had the record and I listened to it once because I was curious. Unfortunately, the speakers weren't Sarah Brightman-proof, so the last note in the title song blew one of them out. I was like 12 at the time.

[FosseBoi]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 3:49pm

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.

[absolutely fabulous]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 4:42pm

My first time ever coming into contact with a musical that really hit me was the first time i ever saw Sound of Music. Would have been in 1988 (my taped version of the film has ads for the 1988 olympics, hense i know the date) and i would have been 4 at the time. I instantly fell in love with it and ever since then i've been an addict.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 4:44pm

WoW! I agree with JbaraFan-

I totally thought this was about something else

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 4:45pm

i saw it in 2003 and i hated it...then tried the movie...i hated the movie too and i passed out in a movie theatre for the 1st time in my life....BUT i saw the pics of Howard Mc Gillin and i want to see it now...LOL he was so good in the Vanessa Williams recording of Kiss of the Spider Woman!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 5:24pm

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.

[pab]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 5:33pm

My remarkable first memories of experiencing "The Phantom of the Opera" was just how unremarkable the experience was.

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 8:32pm

"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