Top 10 Broadway Performances of all time? - Page 2

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 10:33am

I would have liked to have seen Lenny.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 10:34am

I may have seen one of the top 10.

Christine Ebersole in Grey Gardens.

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 11:08am

Ummm. Let's say 40 years of shows

Glynis Johns - A Little Night Music
Angela Lansbury - Gypsy (have seen all but Merman)
Raul Julia -where's charley
Liza in Chicago
Jennifer Holiday - Dreamgirls
Jim Dale - Barnum
Brian Stokes Mitchell - Ragtime
Marin Mazzie - Next to Normal
Billy Porter - Kinky Boots
Jessie Mueller -Beautiful

I'll also take 3 bonus play choices



Barbara Bel Geddes - Finishing touches
Maureen Stapleton - the Glass Menagerie
(Unpopular) Tracey Bennett in Rainbow



Updated On: 6/25/14 at 11:08 AM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 11:13am

Janet McTeer - A Doll's House

I was JUST talking about this last weekend. That performance should be on everyone's top ten list. Quite possibly the definitive Nora.

[forgetmenotnyc]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 12:46pm

OK. So the question is a little linguistically problematic. I still welcomed the opportunity to pour thru my memory banks & give me list of favs which are my top bway performances:

Jennifer Holiday in Dreamgirls

Laurie Beechman in Joseph...Dreamcoat

Lois Smith in Grapes of Wrath

John Glover in Whodunnit (I know - this is a weird one - but his performance in that has just always stood out for me.)

(The rest seem to illustrate that, for me, when magic is in the air, there seems to be a steamrolling effect. I just couldn't stop with one performer:)

Anita Morris, Liliane Montevecchi & Karen Akers in Nine

Christine Ebersole & Mary Louis Wilson in Grey Gardens

Sandy Duncan & Maria Pogee in Peter Pan

Liza & Chita in The Rink

Len Cariou,Angela Lansbury & Betsy Joslyn in Sweeney Todd (Hold on, did Betsy ever even do it with Len?)

Victoria Clark & Kelly O'Hara in A Light in the Piazza



Updated On: 6/27/14 at 12:46 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 1:38pm

It's too bad none of you saw Carol Channing in HELLO DOLLY!
That was ONE for the ages.

[KnewItWhenIWasInFron]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 2:59pm

I'm sure I'm missing some but it's fun to think about this great work:
Stockard Channing, "Six Degrees of Separation"
Kenneth Cranham, "An Inspector Calls"
Christine Ebersole, "Grey Gardens"
Cherry Jones, "Doubt"
Cherry Jones, "The Heiress"
Angela Lansbury, "Sweeney Todd"
Bernadette Peters, "Gypsy"
Mark Rylance, "Boeing Boeing"
Lily Tomlin, "The Search for Intelligent Signs of Life in the Universe"
Jeffrey Wright, "Angels in America"

[Matt1]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 5:19pm

I no order

1. Sutton Foster in Shrek
2. Emily Skinner in Billy Elliot
3. Douglass Sills in Scarlet Pimpernel
4. Patina Miller in Sister Act
5. Julian Elia in Billy Elliot
6. Lesli Margherita in Matilda
7. Patina Miller in Pippin
8. Nathan Lane in The Producers
9. Bertie Carvel in Matilda
10.Raul Esparza in Leap of Faith

[mrsveebee]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 6:29pm

Mister Matt: I only scanned this thread to see if anyone would mention McTeer. I see a lot of theater, but that one truly blew me away. Tears streaming down my face blown away...

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 7:05pm

There's a handful of somewhat recent play performances I wish I'd seen but was too young (and hence nowhere near NY) for: Janet McTeer in A DOLL'S HOUSE, Cherry Jones in THE HEIRESS, and the entire original cast of ANGELS IN AMERICA.
McTeer didn't make my list, but her performance in MARY STUART, along with the luminous Harriet Walter, was marvelous.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 7:16pm

I guess this could theoretically be "determined" by averaging all the answers in this thread, otherwise it just becomes a discussion of the best performances each individual poster has seen. Nevertheless, I'll bite.

Alice Ripley - Next to Normal
Audra McDonald - Porgy and Bess
Audra McDonald - Lady Day
Joe Mantello - The Normal Heart
Alan Cumming - Macbeth
Johanna Day - August: Osage County
Phylicia Rashad - August: Osage County

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 9:02pm

Thinking back to my earliest experiences:
William Daniels - 1776
Barbara Cook - She loves Me
Angela Lansbury - Mame
Anne Bancroft - Miracle Worker
Any number of people in the orginal Ragtime - Marin Mazzie, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald.
Lea Salonga - Miss Saigon
Colm Wilkinson - Les Mis

[BobNC]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 11:05pm

#1. Raul Julia, "Nine"
#2. Harvey Fierstein, "Torch Song Trilogy"
#3. Tyne Daly, "Gypsy"
#4. Jennifer Halliday, "DreamGirls"
#5. Vanessa Redgrave, "Long Day's Journey"
#6. Karen Akers, "Nine"
#7. Allan Cummings, "Cabaret"
#8. Christine Ebersole, "Grey Gardens"
#9. Lillianne Montevecchi, "Nine"
#10. Jessie Mueller, "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical"

[walt1896]

Posted: 6/26/14 at 8:53am

[RyToast1]

Posted: 6/26/14 at 10:46am

This sounds like something for Culturalist!


Culturalist

[The Other One]

Posted: 6/26/14 at 9:49pm

Fun topic!

Alan Bates, Fortune's Fool
Christopher Plummer, Othello
Roger Rees, Nicholas Nickelby
Delroy Lindo, Joe Turner's Come and Gone
Jason Robards, A Moon For The Misbegotten

Stockard Channing, Six Degrees of Separation
Amanda Plummer, Agnes of God
Colleen Dewhurst, A Moon For The Misbegotten
Phylicia Rashad, Gem of the Ocean
Cherry Jones, The Heiress

Angela Lansbury, Sweeney Todd
Dorothy Collins, Follies
Chita Rivera, Chicago
Tyne Daly, Gypsy
Audra McDonald, Porgy and Bess

Nathan Lane, The Producers
Phil Silvers, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
Steve Kazee, Once
Gregory Hines, Jelly's Last Jam
Michael Jeter, Grand Hotel

Updated On: 6/26/14 at 09:49 PM

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 6/26/14 at 10:30pm

I would have to add Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady), Kevin Kline (the Pirates of Penzance), Alun Armstrong (Les Miz -- West End), and, if I may add a movie performance, Russell Crowe (Les Miz).

Just kidding about the last one, of course. I wanted to see if people were paying attention. The other three were highly charismatic.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 12:49am

Phil Silvers was a great one...thought about it, but kept my list to 5. What a shame he passes away during the run...on the other hand, he went out on a pretty good high...second Tony for his last performance.

Shoot me, but I thought Chita Rivera was not as good as Bebe Neuworth, although I did think she deserved the Tony a lot more than Donna McKechnie, who I strongly felt should have won for featured performance. As good as she was, there is no way that was a lead role, as was also true with George Rose that year. Terrific performance, but supporting.

[bryan2]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 9:22am

Betty Buckley-Sunset Blvd
Tyne Daly- Gypsy
Bernadette Peters-Song and Dance
Reba Mcintyre - Annie Get your Gun
Michael Crawford- Phantom
Jonathan Price-Miss Saigon
Lea Salonga -Miss Saigon
Andrea McArdle-ANNIE
Dorothy Loudon-ANNIE
CHITA-KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN!!!!

[Patty3]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 2:02pm

These are performances that have left a big impression on me:
Tommy Tune - Seesaw
John Cullum - 1776
Brian Stokes Mitchell - Ragtime
Elaine Stritch - Company
Kevin Kline - On the Twentieth Century
Frank Langella - Dracula
Mark Rylance - Twelfth Night
Alice Ripley - Next To Normal
Josh Gad - Book of Mormon
Yul Brenner - The King and I
Patty Lupone - Gypsy
Brian Dennehy/Christopher Plummer - Inherit the Wind
John Gallagher jr - Spring Awakening Updated On: 6/27/14 at 02:02 PM

[Hank]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 4:03pm

Sutton Foster- Thoroughly Modern Millie
Raul Esparza- Company
Patti LuPone- Evita
Michael Crawford- Phantom
Sarah Brightman- Phantom
Nathan Lane- The Producers
Harvey Fierstein- Hairspray
Lea Salonga- Miss Saigon
Gavin Creel- Thoroughly Modern Millie
Sutton Foster- Anything Goes

[Showface]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 6:12pm

I have heard that Angela Lansbury was absolutely wonderful as Mama Rose in Gypsy.

[ivandixon2]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 7:12pm

Hard to imagine a list of top Broadway performances that didn't include Robert Preston in THE MUSIC MAN. If ever an actor owned a role, Harold Hill was his.