Posted: 1/30/17 at 7:37am
I've been reflecting on decades of theater-going, and thought it would be fun to see how some of you respond to my list below with your own "Most" whatever show experiences...here's mine:
MOST ravishingly beautiful production of a show! Tommy Tune's original production of NINE.
MOST thrilling first act closer of a musical ever - Jennifer Holliday, And I'm Tellin' You I'm Not Goin'. I've experienced many amazing moments in a theater, but still none compare to how J Holliday gripped an entire audience by the heart and lifted us out of our seats - I was screaming and crying and shouting like a black pentacostal in church, and I'm a white gay man! :)
MOST definitive Mama Rose - Patti Lupone.
MOST devastating monologue - I can't pick between these two: Paul in A Chorus Line (1976 is when I saw it - on a high school trip from West Virginia!) and Elizabeth Franz grieving words over Willy Loman's grave at the end of Death of A Salesman.
MOST terrible production I've ever seen - MOOSE MURDERS! I stayed to the end, but my actress friend Lee went roaring up the aisle at the end of Act I screaming, "This is an outrage to the Theatah!" :)
MOST exciting double star combo in a show - Liza and Chita in The Rink (but the show was kind of sour).
MOST amazing technical effect...Beast's transformation into the Prince on stage in Beauty and the Beast - still can't figure out how they did it!
MOST profoundly moving, mesmerizing experience - Angels in America, original production.
MOST transcendent concert performance - Liza Minnelli in Pittsburgh 1980 (I was a country bumpkin up from WVU, but to this day, those 2+ hours of dynamic power, thematic range, lyric communication, and raw theatrical energy has made me a life-long fan!)
I'll stop here - what are yours?
