Shows/Events/Occurrences that you were lucky enough to see/have- Page 4

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 12/2/14 at 11:23pm

If anything, these are just performances that are special to me, maybe not occurrences or events:

The pre-Broadway run of 9 TO 5

Adam Lambert going on as Fiyero in the Los Angeles production of WICKED

Stephanie J. Block in CRAZY FOR YOU before she became a Broadway fixture

The La Jolla Playhouse production of HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME

Victoria Clark, Jan Maxwell, Danny Burnstein, Elaine Paige in FOLLIES

Donna Murphy in WONDERFUL TOWN - musical theatre heaven!

A pre-MORMON and FROZEN Josh Gad in SPELLING BEE in New York

The original cast of SPELLING BEE in Los Angeles

Hugh Jackman in THE BOY FROM OZ

Lin Manuel-Miranda in the Los Angeles run of IN THE HEIGHTS

Norbert Leo Butz in the Los Angeles run of DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

The abridged Las Vegas productions of AVENUE Q and SPAMALOT

[lovebwy]

Posted: 12/2/14 at 11:34pm

"Master Class with Dixie Carter"??

Did you see that with Blanche at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater?

[eyehrtfood]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 12:28am

The 1990s Mandy Patinkin concert at the Shubert in Chicago, where he had laryngitis and warned audience he might cancel - and then whisper-sung his heart out for the on-edge-of-seat audience for two hours (he cancelled subsequent perfs in run)

The Will Rogers' Follies original Bway cast w/no prior knowledge - just brilliant staging and performances - blown away by the fun of it all

The Keith/Dee Will Rogers' tour in Chicago - where I noticed a very oddly named teen chorus girl in program, "Sutton Foster? What kind of a weird name is that?"

Seeing my first Bway shows - The million-Watt Hinton Battle in the lightweight Tap Dance Kid on a Saturday, Sondheim's SUNDAY (Westenberg/Plunkett) on a Sunday - and La Cage (w/the legendary George Hearn) on Monday... (followed the next Saturday by Keene Curtis' even GREATER Albin in the La Cage tour in St. Louis...)

Seeing Lauren Bacall (and Marilyn Cooper) in the Woman of the Year tour - my first star turn... and first scene-stealer

The original Chess - 3+ hours in previews.. David Carroll... Judy Kuhn. (Heck , even Phillip Casnoff...)

The pre-Bway Toronto Ragtime original cast... We'll never see anything like it again...

Elaine Paige (opposite Alexander Hanson) in the London Sunset
.. her small stature and overdone American accent = perfect for the silent screen star gone wrong.

Tyne Daly in Gypsy (both Bway runs)

The Los Angeles Follies (2012) revival first preview (and Victoria Clark's first show, too) - though having a 25 year old "Roscoe" understudy singing "Beautiful Girls" made for a rocky start.,.

The Papermill Follies... 'nuff said...

And the show that started it all - the original London Sweeney Todd - with Denis Quilley and Sheila Hancock. Mindblowing/Life altering... I became a Sondheim fan/musical fan that day...







Updated On: 12/3/14 at 12:28 AM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 7:19am

"Master Class with Dixie Carter"??

Did you see that with Blanche at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater?"

Actually, Dixie Carter replaced Patti LuPone in the New York production. And she was quite good after Patti's b*lls to the wall performance. Dixie found quiet moments in the role that Patti zoomed right past.

[leezy8242]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 8:38am

I was at the Bring It On! out-of-town tryout in Atlanta for one of the first few performances-- got to meet Lin-Manuel Miranda and talked for a long time with Jeff Whitty who wrote the book for Avenue Q (that was actually really cool, since no one there knew who he was except for me, he was super nice and talked to me for a long time)

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 9:50am

More!

Wicked and Thoroughly Modern Millie pre-Broadway

Adam Lambert in 110 in the Shade at Pasadena Playhouse

Colm Wilkinson as Valjean in San Francisco (the tour stop before Shanghai) in 2002

Kelli O'Hara and Felicia Finley in the ensemble of the J&H tour

[Larry6417]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 7:08pm

A DELICATE BALANCE w/Elaine Stritch
FALSETTOLAND at the Lucille Lortel
ANGELS IN AMERICA pre-Bway Mark Taper Forum
THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES at the Vivian Beaumont w/John Mahoney
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS w/ Lee Wilkof, Hy Anzell, & Ellen Greene
LONG'S DAYS JOURNEY INTO NIGHT at the Broadhurst w/ Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, and Peter Gallagher
LONG DAYS JOURNEY INTO NIGHT on the West End w/Jessica Lange and Paul Rudd
INTO THE WOODS OBC
SWEENEY TODD at the Uris with George Hearn & Dorothy Loudon
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH w/John Cameron Mitchell
NOISES OFF OBC
BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS w/Matthew Broderick
CAROUSEL at the National Theatre, London
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS at the National Theatre, London
TWO WEEKS WITH THE QUEEN at the National Theatre, London
BILOXI BLUES w/Matthew Broderick
THE PRODUCERS OBC
THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE at the Plymouth
FIFTH OF JULY at the Apollo
IPHIGENIA 2.0 at the Signature
ORPHANS Orig Off-Bway Cast
EXTREMITIES Orig Off-Bway Cast w/Susan Sarandon
SPEED THE PLOW w/Jeremy Piven
THE HEIRESS w/Cherry Jones
COMPANY in Concert w/OBC at Long Beach Terrace Theatre
THE NORMAL HEART OBC

AND

THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES, first preview at the Palace (Al Hirschfeld was across the aisle sketching)





Updated On: 12/4/14 at 07:08 PM

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 7:30pm

I saw Colm Wilkinson as the Phantom in Toronto.

I don't know if lucky is the word, but I saw Jamie Farr and Lorna Luft in "Girl Crazy"

I liked seeing the shows that will probably never see the light of day again.
"Lord of the Rings" in Toronto.
"Wunderlust" at Stratford Festival (about the life of Robert Service)
"Maria Severa" at the Shaw Festival (about the life of the originator of fado music)
The original production of "The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County" in Atlanta. The tour is set like people sitting around the campfire telling ghost stories. I thought the original staging and choreography had magical moments.
"Gibson Fleck" a student written musical at Univ of Michigan MT

[gleek4114]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 7:55pm

Everyday I regret the fact that I missed The full production of Ghost Brothers! It was in my city for one day and I had a show to perform that night. Oh well, I guess you can't see it all. I would've loved to see Emily in it though.

[Matt1]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 10:18pm

Seeing the final Broadway performance of Billy Elliott was amazing. Also saw final show of Lauren and Bertie in Matilda as well of Gabes final show.

[Matt1]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 10:20pm

also aaw Ripley's and Gabby's and Sophia's final performances as Matilda.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 11:57pm

Follies in Boston
Moon for the Misbegotten with Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst
Drat! the Cat!
Darling of the Day on opening night and discovering Patricia Routledge
Angela Lansbury in Gypsy, including opening night in Boston And closing night at the Winter Garden
Irene Worth in Sweet Bird of Youth, with Christopher Walken as Chance Wayne
Barbara Harris in The Apple Tree
Angela Lansbury in The King and I
Carol Channing's last performance in the original run of Hello! Dolly! And closing afternoon with Ethel Merman. She was not as good as Channing or Pearl Bailey, but it was a special performance
Joel Grey in The Grand Tour
Cate Blanchette in Streetcar
Christopher Plummer in Cyrano
Maureen Stapleton in The Secret Affair of Mildred Wild
Gwen Verdon, Liza Minelli and Anne Reinking in the original Chicago
Nicholas Nickleby
Rosemary Harris in Hay Fever
Zoe Caldwell in Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope
Sherry with Clive Revill and Dolores Gray on opening night
Phil Silvers in A Funny Thing
The Pajama Game with Barbara McNair, Hal Linden and Cab Calloway
Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Sada Thomson in Saturday! Sunday! Monday!
Irene Worth in The Lady From Dubuque
Jane Alexander in The Heiress
Cry For Us All in Boston. Still remember 4 or 5 songs and one of the best sets ever



Biggest disappointments:
Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl...she was bored and phoned it in...changed lyrics constantly
Mack and Mabel...never was a show more destroyed by a bad book. Everything was great and the show was stuporous. The audience sat on its hands through the curtain calls










Updated On: 12/4/14 at 11:57 PM

[veronicamae]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:58am

- The very first out of town preview, Broadway opening night, and opening night party for If/Then
- LuPone in Gypsy and the signed window card

I consider the fortune of seeing an Original Broadway Cast to be very cherish-worthy. I haven't caught many, since I don't live in NYC and have only been into theater about a decade, but Next to Normal, In the Heights, Spring Awakening, and Legally Blonde are on that list.

Seeing Spider-Man is a fun one to talk about, because it was like 8 months into previews (or whatever) and yep, the green goblin's flying system shut down during the big fight and he was anti-climactically lowered to the stage.

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:19am

No really rare performances, but I was at a one time only "mishap" of sort.

I was at the performance of Spamalot that was delayed due to the transit strike and Eric Idol came out to entertain us until the show started. He told some jokes, eventually pulled Hank Azaria (in full costume) onto stage with him to banter, they told some stories. I'll always remember Azaria coming on stage looking kinda caught off guard that he was being summoned onto the stage. He looked at us and the first words out of his mouth where, "I just want you all to know. I was not the late one. I mean... I was LATE, but I was not the latEST one."

[MVintheheartland]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 10:37am

How about most awful--

Out of town "tryout" of "The Addams Family" in Chicago, convinced my husband (who is NOT a theatre person) that it would be fun! Nathan Lane was out with the flu. Understudy tried hard but was awful. It rained. Restaurant afterward was awful and overpriced.

However, I have been able to see in NYC--

Rent with original cast
Book of Mormon with original cast
Hedwig with NPH
Pippin with original cast, including Andrea Martin

Maybe not too bad for an out of towner.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:09am

The most special one for me is probably the final performance of the Doyle revival of Sweeney Todd, with Sondheim on his feet and cheering with the rest of us at the end.

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:29am

Veronica, I'm the same way about seeing the OBC in shows. I treasure seeing the OBC of Kinky Boots.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:14pm

^ Me as well, Kinky Boots was one of the most eletric nights of theatre I have ever had. The cast was on fire, that rainy Saturday night :)

[lovebwy]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:53pm

Jarethan what an amazing theater going life you've had!

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 3:35pm

It took a while, but it was good to see some non-musical people named:

Julie Harris in The Belle of Amherst;
Jason and Colleen in the aforementioned A Moon For The Misbegotten;
Gielgud and Richardson along with Tandy and Washbourne in Home;
Tandy and Cronyn in The Gin Game, Coward in Two Keys and The Petition;
The original cast of Company;
The original cast of A Chorus Line (and 8 years later the dress rehearsal of that record-breaking performance);
Zoe Caldwell in Master Class;
Cherry Jones and company in the recent Glass Menagerie.

And every production of A Little Night Music that I see (about 6-7 to date), I 'hear' Glynis Johns' perfect line readings in my head.

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 5:52pm

I saw EVITA both in SFO and LA before it became a huge hit on Broadway...in fact the first week of EVITA was a complete mess...and then i saw it in the last week in SF before it moved to LA and it was amazing...

I saw the 25th reunion of INTO THE WOODS in Orange Co...with most of the original stars ply LAPINE and SONDHEIM in discussion before and during the performances...it will be a night i will never forget...

ANGELA LANDSBURY in GYPSY in LA
MARY MARTIN & ROBERT PRESTEON in I DO! I DO! in LA

[Marianne2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 6:57pm

Sara Ramirez at a charity event back in 2010. That's what my profile pic is from.

Idina Menzel at her Radio City Music Hall concert in June.

The final performance of Spamalot on Broadway