Can be Comedy or Drama - the ones that have stayed with you. There are some that will just never leave your head - they're that good.
The one with the thing… You know!
The scene near the end of Next to Normal between Diana and Dr. Madden.
SPOILER
When Marin said "Three months... for the life of my child.." through broken sobs, I lost it. I started to tear up just typing that up.
Through "There's a world" with Mazzie/Kyle in Next to Normal. Mazzie is crying, and it feels so sad that she knows she might 'lose' her son. But then when he comes close (I think she reaches out for his face), her cries change to cries of happiness, and *SPOILER*, it was so plausible that there was nothing she could do but (attempt) suicide...
Bernadette Peters' Clowns.
The last scene of SIDE MAN. Clifford gives a monologue to the audience while his father Gene, stands on the stage silhouetted playing the trumpet one last time. As Clifford finishes talking, the lights in the club they're in slowly come down, almost in a flicker as the trumpet gets louder and louder until they're both gone. That play was one of the most unforgettable theatrical experiences I've ever had.
Leading Actor Joined: 5/20/11
The final scene in Hair (SPOILERS) when Claude is lying, dead, on the American flag in center stage with a single white spotlight on him. The rest of the cast runs through the aisles singing "Let The Sun Shine In" until they get out the back of the theater, and the song continues to play on the speakers until it fades out. CHILLS. I don't know if that's how they staged it in the original, but I thought this (the revival's) staging of that was perfect.
In the 2006 revival of Sweeney Todd, Michael Cerveris/Patti LuPone during "My Friends," it's a brilliant song that was staged brilliantly. When Michael screamed the last line "At last, my arm is complete again!" I got chills. It's the completion of Sweeney's transition into monomania and I LOVE it.
Emma's monologue in the Normal Heart, as performed by Ellen Barkin.
Featured Actor Joined: 6/4/10
The staging of "Tevye's Dream" in the current tour of Fiddler on the Roof. Both chilling and hilarious at the same time.
"Those You've Known" from Spring Awakening when I saw it with Blake, Jon and Lea.
Take Me Out (on tour in San Francisco): The jail confrontation scene with Kippy, Darren and Mungitt.
From HIGH:
End of Act I: When Cody (played by Evan Jonigkeit) comes into Sister Jamison's (Kathleen Turner) office with a bleeding arm and needle fragments stuck in. Once Sister Jamison applies the tourniquet to stop the bleeding, the drugs that Cody attempted to inject begin to course through his system, as he strips completely naked and, in a drug-induced mania, attempts to rape Sister Jamison.
Also, at the very end of HIGH, when Sister Jamison says one last prayer with Cody, and then she abandons him there in the alley, leaving him to die.
(HIGH was a life-changing piece of theatre for me...What I would give to see it again!)
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/10
I Am What I Am, as performed by Douglas Hodge.
The finale of "A Tale of Two Cities," when Sydney Carton begins his final climb up the steps of the guillotine, and the music cuts (briefly) and the light flashes to Lucie, Charles & Little Lucie as he recites the final lines: "It's a far, far better thing I do...".
quizking, that is so sad . I wish I could have seen HIGH.
Dr. Emma Brookner's monologue, delivered by Ellen Barkin.
The final ten minutes of JERUSALEM.
The Diana/Dr. Madden scene mentioned above from NEXT TO NORMAL.
The entirety of 'Joseph Smith American Moses' from THE BOOK OF MORMON.
The original 1972 Broadway production of PIPPIN. I was only 7 years old but I still remember at the start of the show the beginning notes of "Magic to Do" starting and the curtain rising to tons of smoke on the dark stage then suddenly you see all those hands floating in beams of light coming up from the stage floor.
The final moments in SUNSET BLVD. as Norma walks to the front of the stage the scrim lowers behind her and as she sings the final "... I'll be ME!", a small flickering light begins on her face which grows and expands to fill the entire scrim behind her and its a grainy/fuzzy black and white image of her in her youth. At first it looks like a photograph but then the image slowly begins to move and then... the image of the young Norma Desmond smiles and then BLACKOUT! I remember jumping up in my seat the very first time I saw that. Wow!
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
Just off the top of my head:
Walking into the lobby after "I Am My Own Wife."
Patrick Breen's performance of Mickey's monologue in "The Normal Heart."
Lily Tomlin turning to the wall of stars at the end of "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life...", arms outstretched.
Richard III and Lady Anne promenading atop filled body bags at Richard's coronation in the Propeller theater company production.
Gene Anthony Ray and Charlotte d'Amboise skipping onto stage to delicately brush red paint on the face of Linzi Hately. You know what show that was.
Every time the line first forms in every production of "A Chorus Line" I have ever seen.
The two couples fighting in the original production of "Millennium Approaches" on Broadway.
Zachary Quinto's version of the diner monologue in the recent "Angels in America" revival.
The witches' prophecies/rave in "Sleep No More."
Naked Stanley Tucci humping naked Edie Falco in "Frankie & Johnny."
The last scene in Doubt when Sister Aloysius says to Sister James, "I have doubts... I have such doubts!"
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
Patti LuPone's "Rose's Turn"
Elizabeth Ashley changing her stockings in the middle of the huge bed in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF.
Puck jumping off the stage and hiding behind me in A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT DREAM at London's Globe Theater a few years ago.
Angela Lansbury singing "I Don't Want To Know" in DEAR WORLD.
Linda Lavin's George Raft monologue in BROADWAY BOUND.
Len Cariou's rendition of "Epiphany" in the original SWEENEY TODD.
Carol Channing standing at the top of the staircase in HELLO, DOLLY!
Swing Joined: 6/18/11
At the end of Wicked when G(a)linda and Elphaba sing FOR GOOD. Most memorable lyrics ever written.
When the BEAST gets turned into a human because Belle kisses him. So mesmorizing.
Not a broadway scene, but when Kurt tells Mercedes he is gay. The writers and Chris Colfer were SO BRAVE. They changed tv forever.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
Two days after I saw WIcked somebody mentioned the title "For Good" and I had no idea what they were talking about. One man's meat, I guess...
Swing Joined: 6/18/11
It takes a lot of deep personal struggle to relate. I remind myself of Elphaba/ Glinda so it was really memorable for me. With time, you'll gain life experience and learn to appreciate the genious of the song.
Irena's Vow - when Irena describes the problem with the crying baby.
A Chorus Line - At The Ballet performed by the original cast.
The final moments of "Sweeney Todd". (The original B'way production)
The last segment of "Lots Wife" where the piano comes in.
The final moments of "Defying Gravity"
Stephanie Mills singing "Home" at the end of "The Wiz"
The final moments of "House of Blue Leaves"
The scene in "Lydia" where we find out "what happened"
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