The best and worst live performance witnessed — Page 5

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#101

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/24/07 at 11:43pm

Obviously there are a lot more but here are a few. Victoria Clark and Norbert are the only Tony Award winners that I have ever seen live playing the role they won for so they're special to me.

BEST:
Victoria Clark - The Light in the Piazza
Norbert Leo Butz - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Megan Starr Levit - The Phantom of the Opera
Doug Wert, Harlon George & T. Scott Cunningham - Take Me Out

WORST:
Joan Almedilla, Robert Hunt, Jennifer Butt and Norman Large in the Les Miserables tour.

Updated On: 2/24/07 at 11:43 PM

#102

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/24/07 at 11:52pm

I have not seen many shows, so forgive mw for my paltry list:

Best:
The Entire Cast of Sweeney Todd
Norbert Leo Butz in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Jennifer Laura Thompson in Wicked

Worst:
David Ayers in Wicked

I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.

#103

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/25/07 at 12:04am

Best performance.............Natashsa Richardson in "Cabaret" and Michael Crawford in "Phantom Of The Opera."

Worst..............anything "Wicked" related.

#104

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/25/07 at 12:50am

Best
Tonya Pinkins - Caroline, or Change
Victoria Clark - Light in the Piazza
Kaitlin Hopkins - Bat Boy
Deven May - Bat Boy
Belle Callaway - as Roxie in Chicago (I got to see her twice on tour. She was brilliant.)
Bob Martin - Drowsy Chaperone
Christine Ebersonle - Grey Gardens
Marla Schaffel - Jane Eyre
Idina Menzel - Wicked
Roger Rees - A Man of No Importance (can't believe no one's mentioned him yet!)
Heather Headley - Aida
Norbert Leo Butz - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Gay Marshall - Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Alfonso Ribeiro - Golden Boy at Encores! This is probably my favorite performance I've ever seen.

Worst
Lea DeLaria - Rocky Horror Show
Joan Jett - Rocky Horror Show
Catherine Keener - Burn This
Steve Blanchard - Johnny Guitar
Petula Clark - Sunset Boulevard national tour
probably all of the Threepenny Opera revival cast EXCEPT Jim Dale and Nellie McKay. I think they were the only ones who knew what show they were in.

#105

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/25/07 at 9:47am

I'd already posted a list of the best and worst. I'd have to add Brian F. O'Byrne's excruciating performance in COAST OF UTOPIA to the worst list. Absolutely unforgiveable. The role required a Kevin Kline-level performance, it gets a Keanu Reeves level performance.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/

#106

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/25/07 at 10:30am

Best:
Cherry Jones - The Heiress
Harvey Fierstein - Torch Song Trilogy & Hairspray
Elizabeth Ashley, Geraldine Page & Maryann Plunkett in Agnes of God
James Earl Jones & Mary Alice in Fences
Michael Crawford in Phantom of the Opera
Natalia Makarova in On Your Toes
Tyne Daly in Gypsy
Christine Ebersole & Mary Louise Wilson in Grey Gardens
Bernadette Peters in Sunday in the Park With George
Brian Stokes Mitchell in Ragtime

Worst:
(not for lack of talent, but mostly because they WALKED through their performances on auto-pilot when I saw them)
Jerry Orbach in 42nd Street
Millicent Martin in 42nd Street
The cast of Phantom of the Opera in 2002.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#107

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/25/07 at 10:37am

Best:
Lea DeLaria as Eddie/Dr. Scott in "Rocky Horror"
Jennifer Laura Thompson as Glinda in "Wicked"
Ellen Harvey as Tanya in "Mamma Mia!" (Tour)
Betty Buckley as Norma in "Sunset Blvd."
Betty Buckley as Margaret White in "Carrie" (Based on the clips I've seen)
Bebe Neuwirth as Velma in "Chicago"
Bryan Batt as Albin in "La Cage"

Worst: (Like B12B, not based on talent, based on just general bad performance)
Charlotte D'Amboise as Cassie in "A Chorus Line"
Richard Dreyffus as Fox in "Sly Fox"
Shoshana Bean as Elphaba in "Wicked"
Gary Beach as Albin in "La Cage"
The cast of RENT in April 2004.

http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer

#108

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/25/07 at 10:55am

The best preformances of seen this season are:

Nathan LAne in Butley - riviting.
Angela Lansbury in Dorothy Parker: This is My Life - utterly aamzzing.. such grace and class on the stage.

The worst proformancs....

CATS - The entire cast

Doug Hemming - Merlin - All I can say is what were they thinking? Cheesey magic tricks,hammy acting,and a disjointed story line.

#109

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/25/07 at 12:31pm

Best

Kerry Butler in Hairpsray
Victoria Clark in Light in the Piazza
Kristen Chenoweth in Your'e a Good Man Charlie Brown, Wicked and Apple Tree { I don't remember her performance in Steel Pier very well}
Gavin Lee- Mary Poppins
Vanessa Williams- Kiss of the Spider Woman and Into the Woods

#110

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/25/07 at 8:26pm

Best: Valerie Harper in GOLDA'S BALCONY!!!

Worst: Norbert Leo Butz and the touring cast of DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS.

"I believe that art does not exist only to entertain, but also to challenge one to think, to provoke, even to disturb, to engage in a constant search for the truth." - Barbra Streisand

#111

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/25/07 at 8:31pm

BEST:
raul esparza as bobby in company

WORST:
daphne rubin vega as fantine in les mis

#112

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/26/07 at 10:49am

Best:

Norbert Leo Butz in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Jonathan Pryce in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Greg Jbara in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
David Hyde Pierce in Spamalot
Elaine Paige in Sunset Blvd.
Betty Buckley in Sunset Blvd.
Michael McCarthy in Les Miserables
Randall Keith in Les Miserables
Heather Headley in Aida
Christine Ebersole in Grey Gardens
Davis Gaines in Phantom of the Opera
Hugh Panaro in Phantom of the Opera
Douglas Sills in The Scarlet Pimpernel
Roz Ryan in Chicago
Maria Friedman in The Woman in White

Worst:
Daphne Rubin-Vega in Les Miserables
Liza Minelli in Victor/Victoria
Steve Blancard in Beauty and the Beast
Thomas James O'Leary in Phantom of the Opera
Richard Kind in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

#113

re: The best and worst live performance witnessed

Posted: 2/26/07 at 12:30pm

Best: Deven May, Bat Boy

Worst: Lea DeLaria, Rocky Horror Show
(I am assuming community theatre shouldn't count here....)

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