Top 10 Broadway Performances of all time?

Just wondering everyone's opinions on the top 10 Broadway performances of all time. My opinion (In no particular order)

Jonathan Pryce in Miss Saigon
Patti LuPone in Gypsy
Audra McDonald in Ragtime
Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Joel Grey in Cabaret
Nathan Lane in The Producers
Patti LuPone in Evita
Zero Mostel in Fiddler On the Roof
Colm Wilkinson in Les Miserables
Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls.

I know these are debatable, but they are my opinion. What is your Top 10?

Note: Don't mistake this for "favorite" performances. For example, Sutton Foster in Anything Goes is one of my "favorite" performances of ll time, but i do not believe it is one of the "best" performances of all time.

Updated On: 6/24/14 at 08:45 PM

Patina Miller - Pippin
Andrea Martin - Pippin
Rachel Bay Jones - Pippin
Alice Ripley - Next to Normal
Idina Menzel - If/Then
Jeremy Jordan - Newsies
LaChanze - The Color Purple
Alan Cumming - Cabaret
Linda Emond - Cabaret
Jessie Mueller - Beautiful: The Carol King Musical

Unless anyone has seen every Broadway performance of all-time, a definitive list (obviously) is impossible. Thus, all lists will be telescoped to an individual's awareness. Either shows they've seen (perhaps they just started seeing Broadway in the last year or so, apparently...) or shows they've read about and formulated a general consensus.

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Steven9, did you see those performances live?
Here's what immediately comes to mind of what I've seen:
Peter Firth - Equus
Alan Cumming - Cabaret
Len Cariou - Sweeney Todd
Angela Lansbury - Sweeney Todd
Janet McTeer - A Doll's House
Amy Morton - August: Osage County
Patti LuPone - Evita
Stockard Channing - Six Degrees of Separation
Lily Tomlin - Search for Signs of Intelligent Life...
Lena Horne - The Lady and Her Music

Updated On: 6/24/14 at 09:45 PM

Steven9, I think you want "Favorite performances you've witnessed", not "of all time".

How could I possibly compare Fanny Brice or Marilyn Miller to Patti LuPone, even if I take into account records and film clips?

Rosemary Harris in The Royal Family (as Julie)
Angela Lansbury/Len Cariou in Sweeney Todd
Mark Rylance in Jerusalem
Maggie Smith in Lettace and Lovage
Victoria Clark in Light in the Piazza
Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls
Charles Busch in The Lady in Question (off broadway)
Jerry Orbach in 42nd Street
Deanna Dunagan in August
Victor Garber in Assassins

Updated On: 6/24/14 at 10:04 PM

I agree: how can I truly judge/rank a performance I haven't seen.

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Laurette Taylor in The Glass Menagerie
Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
Ethel Merman in Gypsy
Yul Brynner in The King and I
Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd
Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls
Julie Harris in Member of the Wedding
John Raitt in Carousel

Two personal favorites of all-time:

Mary Alice in Fences
Cherry Jones in The Heiress

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Film lends itself more to these type of lists since we can actually go back and watch those performances. It's pretty much impossible to do it for Broadway. There's legendary performances: Ethel Merman in GYPSY, Angela Lansbury in MAME and SWEENEY TODD, Bea Arthur in MAME, Joel Grey in CABARET, Laurette Taylor in THE GLASS MENAGERIE, the cast of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, Sidney Poitier in A RAISIN IN THE SUN. There's more contemporary ones that people always bring up: Natasha Richardson and Alan Cumming in CABARET, Donna Murphy in PASSION, Audra McDonald in CAROUSEL, Cherry Jones in THE HEIRESS and DOUBT, Christine Ebersole in GREY GARDENS, Jennifer Holliday in DREAMGIRLS, Raul Julia and Anita Morris in NINE, Kelly Bishop in A CHORUS LINE, Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, etc. So hard to actually track every single one of those down.

The highlights from what I've actually seen live:

Amy Morton in AUGUST: OC
Amy Morton and Tracy Letts in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
Christine Ebersole and Mary-Louise Wilson in GREY GARDENS
Laura Benanti in GYPSY
Geoffrey Rush in EXIT THE KING
Liev Schreiber, Jessica Hecht and Scarlett Johansson in A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
Cherry Jones in THE GLASS MENAGERIE
Sophie Okonedo and Anika Noni Rose in A RAISIN IN THE SUN
Audra McDonald in LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL

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I would say using 1850 as a starting point through to the end of this season, it's pretty easy to say what The Top 10 Broadway Performances (not counting replacements) of All Time Are:

Stephen Spinella "Millennium Approaches/Perestroika"
Bert Lahr "Waiting for Godot"
Joe Mantello "The Normal Heart"
Stanley Tucci "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune"
Mark Rylance "Twelfth Night"
Lily Tomlin "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe"
Patti Lupone "Gypsy"
Harvey Fierstein "Torch Song Trilogy"
Kelly Bishop "A Chorus Line"
Betty Buckley "Carrie"

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Christine Ebersole in Grey Gardens

I'm only going to comment on those I've seen live (not in any order), and many/most/all are probably in the "favourite" rather than "best" territory, but whatever.

Angela Lansbury - DRIVING MISS DAISY*

Bernadette Peters - A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

Marin Mazzie - NEXT TO NORMAL

Alice Ripley - NEXT TO NORMAL

Amy Morton - AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

Kelli O'Hara - BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY

Geoffrey Rush - A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO A FORUM*

Bernadette Peters - FOLLIES

* I just realised this is meant to be Broadway-specific, but whatever

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Updated On: 6/25/14 at 06:21 AM

My top two

Gwen Verdon in Sweet Charity
Cliff Gorman in Lenny

Amazing.