Next to Normal: The moment that Dan says, "Gabriel" -- just kills me.
The Full Monty: Let it Go!!
Death of a Salesman: Brian Dennehy's entire performace, but particular his towering speech at the end.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: (The Turner/Beatty revival) Seeing Kathleen Turner make her first entrance. It was my very first Broadway show and I was mesmerized.
Gypsy: Patti's Rose's Turn
The Boy From Oz: Hugh Jackman's entire performance
Grey Gardens: The Revolutionary Costume for Today -- Christine was astonishing in that performance
Company: Raul Esparza at the lip of the stage in the final moments of Being Alive
Wicked: For Good
Rent: I will Cover you, the reprise with the space missing in the line.
Noises Off: The entire second act
Ragtime: The entire opening sequence and the Act I finale.
-Rent: I'll Cover You Reprise is just so heartbreaking -Wicked: The first time I saw Defying Gravity sent chills up my spine, and For Good, with Merideth Kaye Clark and Katie Rose Clarke, brought me to tears (So sue me) -Spring Awakening: The graveyard scene and Those You've Known. I remember the pure anguish when Kyle Riabko cried out, and how everyone around me was trying to hide their crying. -Next to Normal: I Am the One Reprise, particularly the moment Ftworthguy mentioned when Dan recognizes Gabe. -Hair: Seeing Claude's body on the flag as the rest of the cast eerily sang "Let the Sun Shine In" -Lion King: "Circle of Life" is just a really unique and moving theatrical moment. -Les Mis: The first time I saw "One Day More"; J. Mark McVey's "Bring Him Home" literally stopped the show.
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. "
YMMV and all that, but that is odd. In 30 + years of theater, that was hands down the worst, most laughable scene I ever witnessed on Broadway - but for sure I'll never forget it.
1. Billy dances with his older self in BILLY ELLIOT
2. HAIR -- The tribe exits to the back of the theater singing "Let The Sun Shine In" as we see Claude's body on the flag, with the snow falling.
3. The "New Music" scene in RAGTIME.
4. Emily's return "home" in Act 3 of the recent revival of OUR TOWN -- the only time I've cried during a straight play.
5. "One Day More" -- LES MIZ
6. Elphaba reappearing through the trap door at the end of WICKED. I gasped, as I had only read the book, so I was stunned she was still alive. I loved this twist on the story.
7. "I Dreamed a Dance" / "There's a World" sequence in N2N.
8. Puppet sex in AVENUE Q -- hysterical!
9. Final scene between Louise and Rose in the recent GYPSY
10. The first time I saw the "Cirlce of Life" opening in LION KING.
The best scene in this Normal Heart revival, and the one I will never forget, is Micky's breakdown in the office. Patrick Breen was electrifying, and, for my money, gives the most memorable performance in the show. This, I realize, is a minority view.
Bruce Vilanch as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray when he says something yiddish to Herbie with minimal laughs and ad-libs the following "There are only 4 Jews in this room and that includes 2 of us!" He proceeds to break the fourth wall and look into the pointing out if he can find the other two.
Jan Maxwell's "Could I Leave You?"
"Loud as the Hell You Want!" in Avenue Q
Cathy Rigby as Peter Pan
In Spamalot, Sara Ramirez and Chris Sieber doing "The Song That Goes Like This" entering on a boat with a chandelier coming down and exploding at the end the cap it off.
The whole audience's reaction to "I Believe" in Spring Awakening as it was happening.
The final ten minutes or so of The Pillowman, culminating in (SPOILER ALERT, GUYS) Topolski executing Katurian halfway through his countdown. Startling and chilling. I've always thought that play was about 15 minutes too long, but the ending is completely worth it.
While there are many moments that stick out to me, the most unforgettable scene I have ever watched onstage was when Boyd Gaines as Herbie walked out on Lupone's Rose. You could have heard a pin drop when he slammed his hand on that table. I loved Patti and Laura in that show, but for me, Boyd was the best thing the revival had going for it.
<------ Me and my friends with patti Lupone at my friends afterparty for her concert with audra mcdonald during the summer of 2007.
"I am sorry but it is an unjust world and virtue is only triumphant in theatricle performances" The Mikado
Ragtime revival: During Atlantic City, when the back wall of the set went flying open to reveal the blue of the sky
Next to Normal: Ripley screaming "WHAT WAS HIS NAME?!" at the top of her lungs. I remember being flat against the back of my seat with my hand clapped over my mouth and muttering, "Oh God oh God oh God." Never before or since has anything like that happened to me.
And, forgive me, Peters' Send in the Clowns was gone from my head the moment it was over.