The Show That Did You In
The Show That Did You In
NightLaughs
Leading Actor Joined: 6/26/04
#0The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:18pm
Everyone has a first love, a show (or two) that made them realize the beauty of Broadway. What was the show that got you hooked for good and what was the experience like?
For me it was Rent, I was 15 years old. First Broadway show I ever saw, and none to come after have affected me the same way. I sat in the audience, in complete awe. Since then I see everything I possibly can.
If you limit your choices to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise."- Robert Fritz
RentBoy86
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
#1re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:20pmRENT. I saw it on tour when I was a sophmore in high school. I was sitting in the way back of the theater with my girlfriend at the time. I really liked the show, but it didn't hit me how great it was until I bought the OBC a few days later. It was just an amazing experience. Up till then, I thought Broadway had to be all bubbly like Music Man and Oklahoma, but this show had grit and heart. I loved it.
MissElphie
Broadway Star Joined: 4/4/05
#2re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:21pmLes Mis when I was 8. I heard it for the first time and was hooked.
#3re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:21pmHonestly, WICKED. My musical theater group did it as performance and I fell in love with it. It was in 2003, so I haven't been Broadway obssed for THAT long.
Just because I got the lead doesn't mean you can't be my understudy!:)
#4re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:21pmBeauty and the Beast in all its glory at the Palace Theatre. I was 7.
#5re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:22pmI know it is terribly cliche, but it was Rent for me too. I was thirteen. I had just started Freshman year at a performing arts high school and a friend burnt me a copy of Avenue Q and I liked it so I asked for something else and she gave me Rent. After that, I was in and wasn't going out anytime soon. I just found that the power of voices, lyrics, and music together was more powerful than dialogue itself could ever be. Those are the Broadway moments I live for.
"I can't figure out what kind of life this is, comedy or tragedy, I just know it's showbiz. And what if I don't agree with the lines I have to read? They don't pay me enough, the way I see it."
Act4ever
Broadway Star Joined: 4/12/04
#7re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:25pmRENT. I was 12, and it was my first Broadway show ever. It completely did me in. The feeling in the theatre was electrifying. To look around and see everyone else crying and so touched by this material made me realize how special it actually was. It got me more into acting, as well, because I wanted to be able to make people feel emotions like that. Maybe not cry, but feel something so strongly through my work.
#8re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:32pm
Phantom of the Opera when I was 8.
I had been listening to the music for about four years before I actually saw it, but after seeing it I fell even more in love with it. I saw Sandra Joseph and Rick Hilsabeck and Sandra Joseph blew me away. She was everything I had always imagined Christine would be.
#9re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:33pm
Phantom of the Opera
Wang Theatre, Boston MA
Oct. 5 1996 8:00pm
I was 9 years old. been hooked ever since..
"here I have a note"...I'm not really a phantom fan, it was really cool when I was younger, but have seen far better shows since. But, it holds a special place for me because it was my first show ever, so I can't dis it entirely.
"I'll eat some breakfast, then change the world."
#10re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:38pm
Gypsy when I was 16. It wasn't my first sure but there was magic in the theater that night.
Updated On: 6/13/06 at 08:38 PM
Cruel_Sandwich
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/30/05
mijofly19
Broadway Star Joined: 6/14/05
#12re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:41pm
I saw Les Mis right before it closed and became obsessed for a while, but quickly grew out of it.
Then I saw Phantom a year and a half ago, and have seen about 25 shows since. I don't think that obsession is ever going to go away again.
#13re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:46pm
My first live show was PETER PAN with sandy Duncan when I was 5. Then the ANNIE movie and SOUND OF MUSIC movie and GREASE movies LOL 
My next was A CHORUS LINE. Then CATS, ah, CATS. LES MIZ, PHANTOM, INTO THE WOODS, MISS SAIGON... all live and in person I have been in love with Broadway my whole life.
"TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD"- LES MISERABLES---
"THERE'S A SPECIAL KIND OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS SHOW PEOPLE... WE'RE BORN EVERY NIGHT AT HALF HOUR CALL!"--- CURTAINS
#14re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:49pm
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
I was in my high school choir and we did the title song and I fell in love with it . . . went out and bought the cast recording . . . hooked ever since.
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
JohnBoy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/06
#15re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:49pmSeeing the original London cast of MY FAIR LADY, when I was 9. I was transfixed. I can still vividly recall it, to this day.
#16re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:50pmPOTO, what else?
...What happened next, was stranger still, a woman breathless and afraid, appeared out of the night, completely dressed in white. She had a secret she would tell, of one who had mistreated her. Her face and frightened gaze, my mind cannot erase...But then she ran from view. She looked so much like you...
JudasIscariot
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/05
#17re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:51pm
Guys and Dolls, I saw a local production of the show and got hooked.
I didn't start acting until I saw Man of la Mancha and was completely blown away.
#18re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 8:51pm
"A Christmas Carol." I saw it at MSG every year as a child and looked forward to it for months. Once that overture started I'd get so excited. Then that let to other shows.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird
#19re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 9:06pm
--i saw peter pan at the age of 4 or 5...didn't make much of an impression on me since i fell asleep...
--i grew up listening to Jesus Christ Superstar. we would clean the house to it. i still don't like it much, but it has a special place in my heart..especially when drew sarich is singing it...
--what REALLY did me in was ALW's POTO. May 6th, 1996 Row H, seat #111. I was eleven...that really did me in. I listened to the CD on my ancient CD player for 3 months before going to see it for my birthday (may 3rd) and when that chandelier dropped...it was the coolest thing in the world. especially because, in row H, it's right over your head. At the time, Davis Gaines was the phantom, but he was out that night--we saw Jeff Keller which was, looking back, a GREAT honor...and i told him that when i ran into him on the street a year and a half ago.
ever since then, I've been addicted to theatre. it's my antidrug.
Plince! Plince! Nein! T-Rex!!
broadway_baby4
Stand-by Joined: 12/5/05
#20re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 9:07pmVery typical answer, but it was Rent. The untypical part, however, was that it was with the original cast when I was six years old.
#21re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 9:11pm
I recently spoke to my father about this. For years I had been convinced that Les Miserables was the first Broadway show I ever saw. Apparently, it wasn't. It was Meet Me in St Louis, and Cats (*shudder*) in 1989. I saw Les Miz the following year. I was 10 years old. And even though it wasn't the first Broadway show I saw, it's the one that "did me in". I was in love with that show for years. I knew the entire score by heart, and would often act out scenes with my sister (we'd fight over who got to be Eponine).
And while my tastes have changed considerably since then, I still hold that show close to my heart.
JustABroadwaybaby2
Broadway Star Joined: 4/6/06
#22re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 9:15pm
You're a good man, Charlie Brown with Anthony Rapp, and Kristin Chenoweth,and B.D. WOng.
All of my life, I have seen broadway shwos my mom gets press seasts) and have just sorta grown up with it. A few years ago, I heard Seasons of Love, a song I had know for EVER, but just never knew the name. I love rent. And Wicked. I know it wasn't quality theater to some, but I loved the empowerment of it all, adn I thoguht Idina and Kristin were great. I'm sorry.
Also, when I saw Little Women, i was sobbing. I know, everyone said it was terrible, but that is how I got into Sutton Foster.
When I first heard the "Piazza" cast recording and Kelli and Victoria's voices on it, I cried for reasons I couldn't udnerstand. I'm exctied to see it on TV.
And for gods sakes, no, I'm not in the age group where The Color Purple is effective to most, but I LOVED it.
All of my life, I have been introduced to Broadway, and each time I see a show, I could see myself up there. It feels right, and safe.
So I've always been hooked.
"I'm thinking about how if you took the W in
answer, and the H in ghost, and the extra A in aardvark, and the T in listen, you could keep saying WHAT but no one would ever hear you because the whole word would be silent."
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#23re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 9:42pm
My Fair Lady was the movie that did me in...eliza was the first dream role put on my list
and Beauty and the Beast...OBC when i was in first grade....i've now seen it 3 times and i'm yearning to play belle
colleen_lee
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/16/05
#24re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/13/06 at 9:45pmDiscovered the POTO cassette in a friends' basement at the age of 7. Was hooked from there after. Saw the show shortly after that.
"You just can't win. Ever. Look at the bright side, at least you are not stuck in First Wives Club: The Musical. That would really suck. "
--Sueleen Gay
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