The Show That Did You In- Page 3
The Show That Did You In
#50re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 2:20am
I grew up loving MGM musicals. I knew who Judy Garland was before I knew who the President was.
My first trip to NY I saw:
"Pirates of Penzance" with Kevin Kline, Linda Rondstadt, George Rose and Rex Smith
"42nd Street" with Jerry Orbach
"A Day In Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine"
and "Woman of the Year" with Lauren Bacall and that comedic goddess Marilyn Cooper
But it was a later trip to NY when I saw "Sunday in the Park with George" with Bernadette Peters and Robert Westenberg (Mandy Patinkin was out that day) that did me in. By the end of the show, I was in tears, it was so beautiful. I was wiping my tears away with my souvenir t-shirt. I wore that shirt until the logo was worn away. I lost that shirt in an apartment fire. I still miss it. But I have the memories forever.
"A coherent existance after so many years of muddle" - Desiree' Armfelt, A Little Night Music
"Life keeps happening everyday, Say Yes" - 70, Girls, 70
"Life is what you do while you're waiting to die" - Zorba
#51re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 2:21am
Les Miserables.
It wasn't the first show I saw, but I tend to think it was the first show I saw of substance. It wasn't just entertaining; it was moving. It was one of my mom's favorite shows, and she took a chance, hoping I would enjoy it as much as she did. I did, and now theater is just another love we can share and enjoy together.
I recognize the addiction to being alive.
Cenoern
Stand-by Joined: 10/26/05
#52re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 2:30amRENT... how cliche haha. I think it was in 2002? I'm not sure.
pandajen14
Stand-by Joined: 3/22/06
#53re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 2:46amPhantom, when I was in fifth grade. ::ashamed::
"Writing should be easy, like a monkey driving a speedboat..." -[title of show]
"I'm tired of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and meet up with them later." -Mitch Hedberg
#54re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 5:42am
A show called Moby Dick in London when I was 10 - having suffered through many awful amatuer productions of South Pacific and Annie get your gun, I had no idea that going to the theatre could actually be fun!
But the show that really got me into the full blown 'obsession' was Les Miserables when I was 14 - that's when I started buying cast albums and bugging my parents to take to me to which ever show was coming through town at the time 
fiesta1
Stand-by Joined: 11/20/03
#55re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 8:01am
I've been attending theatre since I was little (my parents were artists, so the arts have always been a part of my life).
This will date me, but it was the original production of "Hair" was the forst Bway show I saw. I was 8 years old, and my amazingly progressive parents took me (it did not hurt that a cousin did PR/marketing for the production).
Then in high school I saw Equus, The Wiz, Bubbling Brown Sugar, and A Choris Line.
Cousin Horace has since passed on, but that planted the seeds for a lifetime of being an audience member.
#56re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 8:07am
I"ve always loved musicals..... I think I saw the Sound Of Music at least 10 times.....Everyone knew that I loved musicals but I wouldn't considered myself a musical freak because the only musicals I really knew about were sound of music and grease. Then after a few years of likeing Grease and Sound of Music (the movies) I kind of fell out of the whole Musical thing
Then Phantom of the Opera Happened. I was in grade ten band and we had to play "Phantom"......everyone in the class fell in love with it. That's what made me fall in love with musicals again.....funny how I haven't seen the play..... yet. I still didn't know too much about other musicals, in grade ten we went to Toronto to see MaMaMia (which was okay I guess...I didn't really like it). In grade twelve we went to NY to see Wicked. I loved it to say the least. That got me into Broadway....as soon as I got home I started looking up other musicals and even though I havent' seen an actual Broadway play since WIcked (a year ago) I now see local and regional stuff all the time.
#57re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 9:18amLes Miserables
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#58re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 9:32am
I grew up in a house where there was a lot of exposer to musicals. We had dozens of them on VHS, and the cast recordings of City of Angels and The Secret Garden were in the family car for the better part of a decade.
But the one that really "did me in" was Into the Woods. I didn't get to see the original production live, but my family taped the PBS performace when it first aired. I watched that video nearly every day, literally hundreds of times, and my parents still don't know how I sat through a 2+ hour musical over and over again (and I mean actually sat, still) at 7.
In second grade, one assignment was to write a short paper and draw a picture of who we would like to be if we could be anyone for one day. My crayon drawing of Bernadette Peters hung prominently in the classroom next to the dozen Michael Jordans and other sports players the other boys chose...
Emcee4ever
Leading Actor Joined: 7/27/05
icantbelive
Featured Actor Joined: 5/5/06
#60re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 10:48amJoseph, started listening to this when i was 4 and havent stopped
sharon1
Broadway Star Joined: 6/3/03
#61re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 10:51amI think I came out of the womb loving musicals and Broadway. I can't remember a time they were not a part of my conscience. So it wasn't just one musical, it was all musicals.
cpnchicago
Understudy Joined: 4/25/06
#63re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 11:08amAnnie. Then I bought the OBC album and sang it over and over again trying to sound like Andrea McArdle. (This was before the horrible movie came out.)
#64re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 11:10amMy first show was Starlight Express when I was 9 years old, but it was Phantom of the Opera that got me hooked...
In the real world the only people who burst into song are the hopelessly deranged...
LostLeander
Broadway Star Joined: 3/18/05
#65re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 11:25am
I had been interested in acting, and my first favorite movies were The Wiz and Bye Bye Birdie.
I actually watched them both recently, and they're really not that good.
Anywho, when I was about 13, maybe? Around 2000, I think, I was helping to cook dinner, and the Ragtime special on PBS came on, and I was HOOKED. I then began to, uh, acquire... the rest of the soundtrack, and eventually bought the two-CD OBCR. It was all I listened to for about 2 months. That special did me in, actually. Because, I was so intrigued at seeing black people singing GORGEOUSLY. Perhaps subconciously I thought that black people didn't work on Broadway, and this was like an awakening for me. Well... don't get me started on black people and Broadway...
Anywho, I thank RAGTIME for starting it all. And starting it off with taste, I might say. By the time I got to Rent and Les Mis, I could tell you their faults, and knew there was MUCH better out there.
My first Broadway show was Music Man with Eric McCormack, and I don't remember much, except that it was MAGICAL. I sat there with the biggest smile on my face. It's a shame I'm such snob these days.
Personally, I think I have too much bloom.
LadyLizaElliott
Swing Joined: 5/21/06
#66re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 1:16pmLet me see, I was practically raised with Julie Andrews, so exposure there, I knew GYPSY when I was in third grade, but Phantom "did me in" considering I used to blast the overture in my brothers room and dance around in a slip thinking i was a ballarina.
#67re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 1:22pmWest Side Story. So visual and beautiful and fun and devastating and grand...
Color and Light
Broadway Star Joined: 10/23/05
#68re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 1:30pm
It's hard to say which musical it was - I suddenly became obsessed with the film versions of Fiddler on the Roof, Singin' in the Rain, Annie, West Side Story, and Gypsy (the Rosalind Russell version) in fifth grade. I don't know which came first, but that was the year I first got into musical theater.
Stop looking at my charisma.
Updated On: 6/14/06 at 01:30 PM
#69re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 1:30pm
My parents loved Les Mis...There's actually a home video of us on vacation when I was like, 3, where the cast recording is playing in the background and somehow I managed to connect some of the words and sing along. My grandmother is a HUGE Streisand fan, so she used to have those records playing non-stop, too...so I think because I was exposed to it, I just loved it.
My very first real Broadway show was "Cats" when I was 10. I went with my middle school chorus as a field trip and from that point on I was hooked. I had always danced and sang, but when I saw all of those people putting it together, I knew I wanted to be a part of it in some capacity.
#70re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 1:45pm
Sorry, another RENT here. I've always liked musicals for as long as I can remember, but RENT in 2001 tipped me over the edge into a full-fledged Broadway maniac. :3
rosiecabaret
Swing Joined: 4/17/06
#71re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 1:51pmPhantom of the Opera and proud of it!!! lol
#72re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/14/06 at 8:10pmRENT at 13 was what completely did me in. My first broadway show was Peter Pan when I was 2, there's been something in me ever since. Though seeing Annie Get Your Gun and Kiss Me Kate had huge effects on me.
"Without Jews, fags, and gypsies, there is no theatre!"
~Mel Brooks, To be or not to be
coolphantom919
Broadway Star Joined: 6/6/06
#73re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/15/06 at 10:36am
The Phantom Of The Opera
8:00, July 4th 2001
Murat Theatre
tz0o
Leading Actor Joined: 11/10/05
#74re: The Show That Did You In
Posted: 6/15/06 at 10:37am
For me, it would be a sure-fire tie between "The Phantom of the Opera" and "The Sound of Music".
Edited to include 1776, which we used to watch every year.
You insult me, I ignore you. That's how the system works around here.
Updated On: 6/15/06 at 10:37 AM
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