The Moment You Fell in Love With Theater- Page 2

[BobbyErikValjean]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:38pm

At the moment when that chandelier went up to the ceiling of the Majestic Theater, I was hooked.

[evadiva]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:58pm

When we were 7th grade, my friend sang young Cosette in the high school choir's Les Miz medley. She had a sweet voice and looked very young.

I became obsessed with Castle on a Cloud - it was so haunting to me.... I bought the soundtrack and would would stay in my room for hours trying to mimic the placement of Frances Ruffelle (Eponine) I remember not being able to belt the C on "KNOWN!"

I practiced hard. Luckily I didn't hurt my voice. For the 8th grade talent show I sang "I Dreamed a Dream" because the high notes were easier for me.

One year later, I auditioned for my high school's musical. It was set to be The Boys From Syracuse. I sang "On My Own" (I now had the C) When the director heard my audition - she changed the musical to Funny Girl - having always wanted to do it. I became her Fanny Brice. It was my freshman year. Talk about an upset!

The rest is history. Needless to say, Les Miz will ALWAYS be my first love.

[dramaqueen2]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:08pm

i have two kind of..
the first time i was onstage when i was younger than kindergarten i would say in a dance recital..

and then again in middle school when i saw AIDA for the first time. and that was what began the OBSESSION more like, haha.
oh, what a great memory! =)

[rosekwbp]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:16pm

When I saw Bernadette's Gypsy performance in 2003. From then on I was hooked on musical theater.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:33pm

Wow, a lot of you had national tours, etc. when very young. ALL I had was crappy community theatre...but it was still LIVE THEATRE and I was still enthralled.

I'll pick one moment. Age ca. 12. Some dumb Jean Kerr comedy. There was a boy in it, my age. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen...I could hardly breath! And he was acting in a play, like I wanted to do! And he was good at it! And it looked fun!! My knees were weak for days. (I guess falling in love with a boy and with theatre happened at the same time, kinda.)

(Later, we ended up in the same local acting class, and worked on a couple of shows together, although I still had trouble breathing in his presence LOL. His name was Thomas Gibson, and you've seen him on TV and in films. He co-starred on "Dharma and Greg" and now "Criminal Minds". )

[BDavis0092]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:35pm

I was 8 or 9 and my school's honors classes got to go see the touring company of Phantom. I was absolutely obsessed from then on.

[iRuvPrinceton]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:35pm

Forgive me for my cheese but it was the moment YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN began. I was eight years old and I was in love. For most of my life, I had read Peanuts comics religiously and seeing those characters on stage, really, was awesome.

:P Again, I say, sorry for the cheese!

[bwaymizfit2]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:44pm

Definitely when I saw Cats when I was 8. I had seen a few shows before that (Beauty and the Beast/Nutcracker, stuff like that) and I enjoyed them, but I was just a little to young to be truly moved. I sat quietly through most of Cats being a little bored, and then...Mr. Mistofelles! I'll never forget the big dance break and the big theatrical lighting, but mostly just the pure energy of the song. Let's just say I've been hooked ever since. So, while Cats may not be my favorite show, it was certainly my first real theatrical experience, and will thus always hold a special place in my heart

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:50pm

Sorry to copy someone but mine was also the opening prologue of Ragtime. I remember thinking "this is the most amazing thing I have ever seen or heard" and then proceeding to beg my mother for the cast recording after the show.

[OOTI2004]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:55pm

I was obsessed with Grease in the second grtade, but that didn't get me particularly obsessed with theater in general.

So I would have to say when I was in fourth grade and went to see a high school production of Guys and Dolls. I remember watching the "I'll Know" scnene and I was just transfixed. Then at the moment they kissed and she slapped him, I was hooked.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 11:02pm

I think that the defining moment was when I saw the opening sequence of Beauty and the Beast when I was five. But when I was younger I was in love with Into the Woods!

[teh_pretty]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 11:33pm

I was four years old at the Fantasticks. Almost twenty years later, it's still one of my favourite shows.

[scott68]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 12:27am

Third grade, visiting New York, The Lion King. Haven't looked back since. Although I guess you could say seeing my school's production of Les Mis freshman year, with one of the most talented performers I've ever had the honor of seeing as Jean Valjean, was the big catalyst, because it made me realize that Broadway wasn't just for the people who've been conditioned for it since birth, but relatively egalitarian. (He, as the case would be, ended up being kicked out of college for too many alcohol-related offenses. Sad.)

[Broadway4Life2]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 12:32am

When I was younger I wanted the chance to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway even before I knew what Broadway was (sadly I will not get that opportunity any time soon). And I love the movie to this day. So it will always be one of my favories.

And though I love musicals, what actually got me hooked on theatre was seeing a production of A Streetcar Named Desire put on by the very same junior college I attend now. I was a freshman in high school. And it is so great to know that I will get to perform on the same stage. I sit in the house sometimes and still am in awe.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 12:34am

Okay, so mine was CATS...

Right when the overture started, it gave a shiver down my spine and when the cats started dancing on stage, I felt like I was somewhere. It was just one of those magical moments.

[Dover]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 12:42am

Add me to the list for the POTO overture. When I was 12 I saw the show, and while I had seen a few other shows, it never occurred to me that live theatre was a possible career path -- I had always wanted to work in film or television. It wasn't even so much the chandelier as all those drops flying. I couldn't believe something so simple could be so powerful, and I realized it was only possible because it was live, and a musical. I decided I wanted to make that happen someday.

I'm not sure I expected it so literally, that the show would run long enough that I would get to call it myself, in the same theatre, calling the very same cues that made me decide to make my life in this business. I hope I get to do a lot of cool things over the course of my career, but I don't think there will be many more beautiful sequences to call than that, and certainly none that will ever mean more to me personally.

[mattonstage]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 12:44am

So many things converged to make my heart sing.
Seeing the film of West Side Story for the first time.
Watching the Carol Burnett Show every week.
Going crazy, clapping my 5 year old hands like a maniac at a local production of Peter Pan. Come back Tinkerbell!
But live theater really came alive for me in high school, when I saw James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer in Othello. I thought that was the most exciting things I had ever seen. And I felt like they were doing it just for me. So powerful, right there, live in front of me.

[galindagirl2]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 1:54am

Mine's a weird combo too...
It was Julie Andrews swinging her suitcases around during "I Have Confidence"...
and me waltzing around my living room as a little girl to "Think of Me" and "Music of the Night" :)

[Mrs.LinkLarkin2]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 2:10am

I think for me it's something that has really evolved over the past year, not necessarily just dawned on me at once. I knew I liked this stuff since I was 7 creating my own musical out of Snow White and taping it. The first show I saw where I was like, "Wow!" was a community production of Oklahoma when I was in 6th grade. I left quoting it and singing the songs.

[IMsooHyprToday]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 8:26am

Oh wow. this is actually one of my first memories ever!! When i was 3 years old and a couple months, I saw a production of Peter Pan at PCPA in Santa Maria, CA. I knew it was going to be kindof a big deal because my parents told me that if anyone asked i was to say i was to say nothing, and my older sister (age 5) would tell them i was 5 years old too, or else i wouldn't be allowed to watch the show....

Because i was only three, i dont remember much-- but watching those kids fly off the stage amazed me to no end. Then they got real pirate ship on the stage, and [what i thought to be] a live aligator-- and i was sold for life. I remember sitting there thinking i wanted to join in on the fun.

The magic in the theatre that night was REAL, and it changed my life forever. Since then, I have been a theatre kid, and now I am pursuing it as professional carrer. Even now whenver i think of it, i get a little teary eyed.............

fishes,
Graham!

[Tchi4Lif188]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 10:40am

I had always enjoyed theatre, but fell in love when I first watched the Into The Woods dvd in 9th grade. I was hooked.

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 1:24pm

My mother loves broadway, and by my 11th birthday I'd already seen many shows (Including Les Miserables, Phantom, and Into the Woods)despite living in North Carolina. We made lots of strategic show going trips. I'd say that I really enjoyed the shows a lot, but I remember the MOMENT that I really, REALLY fell head over heels in love with broadway.

I was 11 years old and our trip that year included "Secret Garden" (which I think was at the St. James...anyhow) - I remember for the first time being moved to tears in a theater - not because something was sad, but because it was so beautiful and amazing and live and right there in front of me. I cried all the way through the curtain call and started begging my mother to let me see it again before we left town.

She didn't want to see it again - but let me advance on my allowance to buy a single orchestra ticket for the next day - and that was my first time "alone" at a broadway show. She escorted me to the door of the St. James, told me over my dead body I wasn't to leave the lobby afterwards without her, and left me there. I was so madly in love with the show it was a real wrench to leave the city. I've loved many shows that much since then, but there will always be a place in my heart for Secret Garden.

Off topic - but I don't recall my orchestra ticket being more than 60 bucks... and I'm fairly sure it was full price, maybe I'm wrong. I'm not sure I could have advanced my meager allowance to 110 if that had happened today...

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 1:27pm

Being in Fiddler On The Roof in middle school.
I was Mordcha The Innkeeper.
During our final dress reherasal
the lights went down in the room
the lights on the stage came up
we had our costumes on and we began TRADITION.
and the energy was infectious.
I knew from then on, I knew I'd always love theater.

But seeing a show,
I'd say seeing Beauty and The Beast when I was 10
or seeing Wicked on my birthday and crying when Defying Gravity was sung.

Updated On: 3/13/07 at 01:27 PM

[madbrian]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 1:36pm

Jeez, I feel so freakin' old reading these...mine was seeing the original cast of A Chorus Line very early in its run.

[Dover]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 7:17pm

"Off topic - but I don't recall my orchestra ticket being more than 60 bucks..."

I remember full price when The Secret Garden was running was $65, although it could have been $60 when the show first opened.