Broadway Star Joined: 12/9/06
I got hooked on musical theatre when I did the set for my high school's production of Fame when I was in the 11th grade. From there my tatses got better of course. Oh, Fame. :)
I grew up in a rather artsy family -- we always had cast albums and movie musicals, etc (I watched West Side Story, Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Grease, The Wiz, Jesus Christ Superstar, The King and I, Oklahoma, etc from birth, essentially). My parents actually started dating in high school while working on their production of Hello Dolly in the early 70s (playing Irene and Cornelius)... that's just always kinda' played through in life, really. I think what kinda' RE-introduced me to Broadway wasn't really a Broadway show itself, but seeing my mother direct the high school musicals when I was a kid in small-town South Dakota. Even though I'd grown up on musicals, I didn't really connect them to Broadway. Seeing the staged musicals suddenly made it click in and I was hooked... Then I went to see Phantom and Les Mis...
My obsession with Broadway didn't really kick in until the revival of Guys and Dolls... then it all came crashin' in -- Miss Saigon, Chess, Hair, Tommy, Secret Garden, etc...
First it was Wicked, and then RENT. Those got me hooked.
the first musical i ever saw was les mis. then the next year i got that cats video, and learned all the songs/choreography. then i wanted to be a broadway star. i give myself... 3 years.
Understudy Joined: 12/7/06
The first musical I loved was "Phantom of the Opera" all though my mother and sisters will probably say that the 12-year-old Christine Daae wanna-be who tormented everyone all hours of the day is what made them wish Broadway could be stripped from the universe. ha ha ha.. I had acted in musicals since I was in elementary school but it wasn't until High School when I saw my first big touring production which was "Les Miserables" and then I knew I would be a fan for life. The first production I ever saw actually on Broadway in New York was "Jekyll and Hyde" and then I knew that someday I had to live in NYC and I moved to the city 2 weeks after I finished college.
Updated On: 6/12/08 at 02:55 PM
I saw local productions of Les Miserables & Fame, and from there I became interested in musical theatre. It was when I heard the soundtrack from The Wild Party (which I realise was Off-Broadway lol) that I became really into the Broadway scene.
I was interested in musical theater since I was 6. But when I was 11, I came to New York and I saw Beauty and the Beast. That's when I realized what Broadway really was and that it was something I wanted to pursue. I've never looked back.
Coke.
Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters. I was 13 at the time, and remember not wanting the show to end!
Updated On: 6/12/08 at 04:08 PM
I remember seeing Big when I was six. I actually remember the whole day as if it were yesterday. I think it was that whole moment and the show itself that turned me onto theatre and musical theatre. I think that if I didn't live right outside NYC I wouldn't have been into theatre at all. And that is one of many reasons why I love my city.
INTO THE WOODS OBC
HELLO DOLLY
Understudy Joined: 7/26/07
Seeing the Lion King at the Pantages is LA when I was 9.
I saw a high school production of the Wiz and I was hooked after that. It was mostly becuase of the music
Well my first encounter with musicals in general was the film version of The King and I, which I saw when I was about 6. My first show was The Wizard of Oz at Radio City Music Hall and my first true Broadway show was Les Miserables. But before that I'd loved theater in general. I went to children's theater productions all the time at the local high school (I was only 3 or so) and played dress up (what little girl doesn't?) so it seemed only natural that I'd get hooked on Broadway.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/5/08
A certain performer...a certain show... ;]
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/5/08
A certain performer...a certain show... ;]
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/28/08
Oddly enough it was Lea Salonga performing A Whole New World on the Oscars. I found out she was in Miss Saigon and I was hooked on musical theatre since. I saw Miss Saigon in '93(one week after Lea left) and I never seen a show since until last year when Lea was in the Les Mis revival. Now I'm hooked on Wicked and Legally Blonde but I love all shows and basically go to NYC to see shows just about every weekend.
Wicked (yeah i'm a Wicked Fan Girl, whatever)
Then Les Miserables made me lose hope in BW for a while
and then Light in the Piazza cemented my love forever :) :) :)
My mother and father were both in theatre, and I was introduced to it at a very early age. Growing up in Kansas, Mom's cast album to Guys and Dolls was probably the biggest influence for me as a child, plus seeing scrapbook photos, telegrams and Playbills from when Mom was on Broadway herself.
Other cast albums I listened to as a kid were Music Man, Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. And when I was in my early teens, I bought the OBCRs for The Wiz and A Chorus Line, and those, probably more than anything else, got me "hooked."
Seeing the VHS tape of Mary Martin in Peter Pan. When I got the cast album (I was 9), I'd stand there pretending to conduct the orchestra during the overture.
"Then Les Miserables made me lose hope in BW for a while."
Um, why?
My first musical was Mary Poppins. Then I got hooked on Jesus Christ Superstar. Finally, Les Mis was the show that really made me a die-hard Broadway musical fan.
I always LOVED watching movie musicals when I was little like The Wizard of OZ, The Sound of Music, Annie, and Grease, but when I saw Hairspray perform You Can't Stop the Beat at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade my eyes were glued on the the tv. I had no idea what it was but I was simply in awe. Then for my birthday 2 months later I got the cast cd and it was a done deal.
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