Shows that left you in a mess of tears, unable to breathe nor stand up, and sobbing like a bitch?- Page 9

[circusliz]

Posted: 8/8/06 at 5:38pm

A production of The Diary of Anne Frank at Illinois State U.

As a jewish female who's had the book/play essentially shoved down her throat since she 8, I am usually fairly numb to this story (although certainly not to the millions of lives it stands for). But I think this production was using the revised script from the 1997 revival. At the end of the show, Anne runs from the SS to grab her diary. Her father goes after her, but the SS stop him with a gun to his head.

My dad and I are very close, and with this scene I suddenly, and for the first time, imagined myself in Anne's place, with someone holding a gun to my dad's head. I freaked...

Even after all this time, it still gives me the chills.

[alliez92092]

Posted: 8/8/06 at 5:58pm

This guy (I can't remember his name) did an off-broadway short one of The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. It was him telling that story and weaving in a story about a kid with AIDS. I never got to see him do it Off-Broadway but he came to my school and I was absolutely hysterical. He made even the tough kids who would never expect to cry go weak at the knees.

Bare: A Pop Opera. I say this all the time. I've never even seen the show live, but every time I listen to the music or watch the video I cry like a baby.

And of course Rent. I start crying at Without You and sob through I'll Cover You (reprise), stop, and then start up again at Your Eyes.

And I sobbed on Wicked's last night in Boston knowing I would never experience the same thing again.

[latheatrelover]

Posted: 8/8/06 at 6:04pm

Well, I remember this one show...finding out I paid full price and the person next to me paid half.

[GreenGirl22406]

Posted: 8/8/06 at 6:34pm

Almost all of the emotional numbers in rent, for good and finale in wicked, and, oddly enough, in DRS the scene where freddy comes back to find the hotel room empty (i was a little depressed at the fact that norbert wasn't there, maybe that's why i started sobbing). the shoving-the-candlestick-down-the-pants thing kinda ruined it, though.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 12:54am

Jacques Brel tonight.
Sobbed through most of Act 2.
Damn them and their talent and their powerful material!

[CapnHook]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 2:41am

"More recently, when i watched the alternate ending of the RENT film, when they come back to the stage with the empty spotlight, I was blown away, and then Angel enters and I wept even more.
Oh, the power of the theatre!"

JBSinger - I started to lose it, too, but when Angel re-appeared, it went away some. I think it might have been even stronger if it was just an empty space or a stool with drumstricks on it instead of bringing him back.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 2:48am

It's usually the performance of the particular actor that makes me cry, though sometimes music is a big part of it.

I think it's a very cleansing experience.
Updated On: 8/9/06 at 02:48 AM

[Janelle188]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 2:50am

The Last 5 Years (the recording), Miss Saigon (both times I saw it) and Ragtime.




"More recently, when i watched the alternate ending of the RENT film, when they come back to the stage with the empty spotlight, I was blown away, and then Angel enters and I wept even more.
Oh, the power of the theatre!"

Me, too!! I really wish they had gone with that ending instead!

[AshleyBrownFan123]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 12:35pm

Rent-when Angel dies
Little Women

[WhoPaintedTheKitten?]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 6:12pm

How come so many people on this board find Sweeney Todd so emotional to watch? (This isn't a critisism, I'm just wondering)

Updated On: 8/9/06 at 06:12 PM

[GodIHopeIGetIt]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 6:23pm

Um... I left Rent (with the ORIGINAL CAST, mind you) in a complete mess... Chorus Line, Light in the Piazza, Sunday (just because of the music)... I was a wreck all through Rent's 10th anniversary (don't kill me). Though I think that Bernadette's 'Rose's Turn' really broke some sort of record for crying in a show.

Sometimes I'm usually moved to tears by phenominal moments. When the music builds, usually. In ACL - the Music and the Mirror, and oddly enough, the Drowsy Chaperone.

I think the most I cried was in Lestat, and of course, that was for fear of the future of the American Musical.

I'm not a person who's usually emotional... but theater just comes in touch with your soul. The characters are letting you in, and showing you themselves and their world. Somehow, that hits something for me.

[GoodbyeMyLover]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 7:04pm

i cry in everything.

at the end of aida,

everything in les mis.

rent i cried a lot

name a show i will cry in it.

[Tirso de Molina]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 10:04pm

THE NORMAL HEART in the Public Theater revival with Raul Esparza. The audience sobbing during the deathbed scene was so loud that the actors had to raise their voices to be heard. I've never seen an entire audience so collectively wrenched by a performance.

[to wherever]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 10:06pm

"i cry in everything."

Same here. I even cried during Spelling Bee. lol.

[cac1015]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 11:21pm

I saw A NERVOUS SMILE 7/29. I have never seen another piece of theater like it. And Amy Brenneman was flawless in it. It was an incredible show...so moving. SO sad to think those things really happen...

[shortshorts]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:32am

Les Mis, especially when the Bishop gave Valjean the candlesticks.

Ragtime.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:49am

The London production of INTO THE WOODS. From where the cuckoo clock set "exploded" at the end of "Last Midnight" through the end of the show.

The finale of the CABARET revival. A brilliant coup de theatre.

[JailyardGuy]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 10:04am

I cry a lot, but some particularly memorable moments were Dessa Rose (from about 30 seconds into the opening number to about 15 minutes after the show ended, i was a disaster); the first time I saw Aida (in San Francisco...Simone and Kelly Fournier KILLED ME); I actually got really emotional near the end of [title of show]; and I nearly had to be COMMITTED after I saw Les Miserable for the first time, lo those many years ago.

[dramaqueen3]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 11:31am

West Side Story gets me every time.
Rent.
Les Miz.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 1:54pm

As we speak, I am listening to my copy of Bright Lights, Big City. The third reprise of Brother is making me well up.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 2:05pm

Actually, a lot of shows have left me in that condition - but then again, I wear my heart on my sleeve, so I'm an easy mark.
Most recently, The Light In The Piazza did it to me, and I'll never forget the night I saw Parade - I wept for about an hour straight. I love shows that do that to me.

[SpellRENT777]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 3:10pm

I saw RENT again last night and it still gets me! I always get the most incredible chills during the opening song. Will I? really hit me this time and Ms. Smith's Out Tonight got me all teared up. She is just too good! Then, during I'll Cover You (Reprise) I literally forgot to breath and i was almost afraid of dieing! Also, during the line "You always said how lucky you were that we were all friends, but it was us baby, who were the lucky ones," i started completely bawling! And of course, I just completely lost it at the end. I started at Your Eyes and didnt stop until they left the stage. It is such a powerful and real show!

[Danielm]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 3:41pm

Floyd Collins.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 10:25pm

Martin Short: Fame Becomes ME, just because there were some moments that made me laugh so hard I cried. He can be so frickin' random sometimes, and his Jiminy Glick is so funny, especially with Chris Noth last night as the "surprise" guest.

[pianodude]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 11:44pm

Side Show: "Who Will Love Me As I Am?" is such a powerful song to end Act I...it made me numb. Act II is a killer for me. "Private Conversation" when the twins seperate in Terry's mind. The whole wedding situation through the end. The finale is so haunting.