I cried during "Gold" in Once and pretty much lost it during the ending, though I agree a lot of the second half had me teary-eyed throughout, even as somebody who saw the film and knew what was going to happen.
I teared up in many parts of Billy Elliot though it has been a while to pick out a particular part except when Billy reads his letter for his mother.
A.LOT. of the Color Purple. Seriously, I prepared and was still unleashing buckets of tears.
I cried when George 'killed' Martha's son and all was revealed. I cried when Honey found out through George what Nick has said behind her back, the betrayal is so palpable.
Fiddler when Tevye feels betrayed by Chava being with Fyedka and when he says goodbye to Hodel when she leaves for Kiev.
Light in Next to Normal. Chava-Tevye confrontation and then at the end. But, Kim's suicide is the big tear producer. Between the music and the lyrics and....I need to go get a kleenex.
And then of course there's that story about the producer watching the opening of Annie crying at the end twice: first because it was a wonderful show and second because he realized he had no money invested in it.
I am currently playing "Chava" in a production of "Fiddler".. I was almost overwhelmed when we started to work on the "Chavaleh" scene where Tevye rejects Chava. I have come to really embrace that moment.. it is so powerful.
WIT. Helen Stenborg reading The Runaway Bunny to Kathleen Chalfant. Just thinking about it puts me on the verge of tears.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
JOURNEY'S END. Saw it four times and like everyone else sitting in that sparsely filled theatre (a crime), completely lost it at the end.
CYRANO. The finale.
SITPWG. Move On.
SOUTH PACIFIC. This Nearly Was Mine and the finale.
But my favorite would have to be BILLY ELLIOT. I walked in, expecting the show to be nowhere near as good as my friends in London were proclaiming it. I was turned off my the cast recording, the preview audience surveys and the $140 top ticket price on weekends. I bought a ticket in the rear mezz, just to say I saw it and then "Solidarity" happened, and then the "Letter Song," then the "Angry Dance," and then all of act two. Even Michael's big number brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't believe how wrong I was. I love those moments in theatre.
Sadly, overexposure to theatre has made me very difficult to be emotionally moved. However, in those rare productions where the execution of lyric, music, staging, timing, and design all blend into such a moment, I do find myself coming to tears every now and then. No show has executed such a moment as NEXT TO NORMAL.
NEXT TO NORMAL:
NATALIE: "Dad? What the hell, why are all the lights off? Where's Mom?"
DAN: "She's...gone."
NATALIE: "Oh. So it's just you and me now, huh?"
All this and into the song "LIGHT" then until the the final WHITEOUT. SOBBING.
AIDA: Second to last scene, where Aida and Radames are in the tomb, and the black borders box them in.
COMPANY: Towards the end of "Being Alive" I become breathless and tears stream.
RENT: "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" makes me lose it.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
What More Can I Say? from Falsettos. Poignant. from RC in Austin, TExas What More Can I Say?
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
The Most Happy Fella - when Tony sings the final version of 'I Don't Know Nothing About You' to Rosabella.
Billy Elliot, again - first hearing the line "we will always stand together" in the opening number, with the foreknowledge of how things would end. Also when Billy's dad's workmates give him money.