What first made you fall in love theatre?

[Gmerchant123]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 10:52pm

It was sixth grade and I my first show, Tarzan, I played James father (Porter), I absolutely fell in love with the arts and as cheesy as it sounds it really changed my life! What's your story???

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 10:56pm

I had an aunt who decided I was to be the one in the family raised with a sense of culture, so she dragged me to opera and ballet and theatre — and among them was a touring production of DOLLY with Mary Martin. We were in the next to last row of the orchestra, and I still vividly remember the audience giving the train a standing ovation. I was maybe seven or eight at the time, but it was a life-turning moment.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 11:10pm

I was introduced to Braodway through my parents' library of original cast albums: CAROUSEL, DAMN YANKEES!, GYPSY, FUNNY GIRL, and naturally THE SOUND OF MUSIC. I was taken to see the movie versions of SOUND OF MUSIC and MY FAIR LADY proving I would sit still for the entire show. So, next I was taken to a community production of OKLAHOMA! followed soon after by FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. By my early tens I was reading every book on Broadway musicals available at our local library and using the library's collection of cast albums to augment our own.

Theater has always been a special experience for me and when the shows are good, it can be exhilarating.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 11:14pm

First theater-related memory: my folks explaining the lyrics "Gee, Officer Krupke, Krup You!" from the movie we'd just seen --and WEST SIDE STORY opened in 1962 when I would have been 6. They took us to FIDDLER on Broadway 5 years later.

For Hanukkah when I was 13, my folks surprised me with the 2-record album of MAN OF LA MANCHA, including a ticket for the touring show inside the jacket. The next summer I was designing sets for my camp production of WEST SIDE STORY and never looked back.

[Emma White]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 11:19pm

My dad used to play Godspell all. the. time. and I was obsessed with "Alas for You."

Then I discovered Wicked and I was like "wow, I like this Schwartz guy."

And then I discovered the great musicals out there... and to be honest, I don't know why I like theatre. I just do. I couldn't live without it.

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 11:30pm

I was raised on the videos of Annie (1982 version) Mary Martin Peter Pan (1961) and Rodgers and Hammersteins Cindrella (both Lesley Anne Warren and Brandy) and then it took off from there.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 11:36pm

Our home was a few blocks behind the local summer theater. This was before air conditioning was common, so the theater kept its doors open and I slept with my bedroom windows open. Every night I'd head to bed early so I could hear shows like FIORELLO, IRMA LA DOUCE and FLOWER DRUM SONG because sound seemed to travel well in the night air. I eventually started going to the shows and the rest is history.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 11:46pm

Lovely image, Miss Dollypop-- seems you're younger than I'd have thought from the way posters have spoken of you...

[K8eeyore]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 11:49pm

My parents made the really bad mistake of bringing home the cast album of ANNIE when I was seven or eight. Instant obsession. But they also had a pretty big collection of other cast albums, so I was able to branch out from there.

[Xman8]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 11:53pm

I used to think it was The Producers that opened my eyes to musical theatre... me begging my parents to take me to New York and finally a year after graduating I cashed in on my graduation present and went to New York, of course I would of naturally chosen to see The Producers but I somehow decided to see Spamalot in it's first year on Broadway. And the rest was history. It wasn't until I took of retrospective of my music education that I pinpointed the exact moment and it was when I was 6, now I know this doesn't constitute as musical theatre but it was definitely the closest thing to it. I am talking about liking Grease the movie and Beauty and the Beast. I saw the latter in theaters the year it came out and I saw Grease around the same time and remember visiting some family friends in Spain and seeing it on TV. In elementary school the first song I ever learned was Do-Re-Mi from Sound of Music a mirror to the Von Trapps because we had to learn how to sing it.

[AngelorPhantom1359]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 12:04am

My first exposure to musicals was my Granny playing South Pacific at her house. To this day listening to "Cockeyed Optimist" brings my long absent Granny back to me.

Also, my mother constantly played the Evita LP with Patti LuPone, which probably explains my love for that woman and the show.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 12:16am

Seeing the revival of "Kiss Me, Kate" in 2000. I had been raised on Disney and always liked theatre, but that was the show that made me fall in love.

[Huey's Pop]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 12:49am

My mom took me to see Guys and Dolls (the play, not the movie) at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles about 53 years ago. I remember we sat in one of the balconies. I was hooked.

Updated On: 4/6/13 at 12:49 AM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 1:14am

My parents had a weird collection of cast recordings. Two by Two and The Rothschilds are the two I remember most distinctly. For whatever reason I loved listening to them. And acting them out...only using the liner notes and recordings as my basis.

I'd performed as an elementary student in several shows just as something to do. It wasn't until I was given a solo in 4th grade and got applause for "just me" that I was hooked.

[denali.fire]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 2:10am

The girl I was dating and Barbara Harris in On a Clear Day.....

BTW it poured rain as we were going to the show right after dinner at Mama Leone"s

[SweetLips]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 3:45am

We didn't have theatre,was before TV,only radio serials and records.A 'mate' and I would dress up,I would get in the laundry basket wearing something 'eastern and a veil' and wriggle out of the basket as my friend pretended to be a snake charmer as we mimed to the record of 'In a Persian Market'.There was no looking back after that, especially when I was taken into the city to see Bye Bye Birdie.

[PlainMushroomWit']

Posted: 4/1/13 at 7:00am

I fell in love with musical theatre during the first scene of the first show I ever saw live. Right before my 8th birthday, my family saw the original B'way production of SHENANDOAH with John Cullum. As soon as "Raise the Flag of Dixie" started, with the two groups of soldiers singing, I was hooked. The 2nd show I saw was the revival of FIDDLER with Zero Mostel. That just sealed the deal for me.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 8:02am

Dreamgirls. Imperial Theater. 1981.

[madbrian]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 8:03am

I was lucky enough to go to the best high school in the country, and rather than the typical class trips, they had what were called 'X-Days'. On X-Days, the school sponsored trips to diverse cultural events and activities around NYC, including museums, tours, and matinee performances of Broadway and off-Broadway shows. In the fall of my freshman years, just a few weeks into my high school experience, I participated in my first X-Day. I had never been to a theatrical performance of any kind before, and to this day I don't know why, but I chose a matinee performance of A Chorus Line. So, I hold Kelly Bishop personally responsible for the incalculable amount of money I've spent on theater in the past 37+ years.

[FlowerChild67]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 4:03pm

Honestly, I don't know. I just grew up around theatre, and I have a vivid memory of being 4 years old, talking about how I wanted to be a Broadway star... So, yeah.

[theaterfan862]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 4:58pm

Growing up my family was very poor and there was no time or money set aside for anything else but the bare essentials. It also didn't help that my family is Hispanic and didn't pay attention to anything that was not Hispanic. I ook it upon myself to seek out new things and that is when I stumbled on the movie Singing in the Rain. I cried the first time I saw Gene Kelly sing in the rain. I was changed forever!

[DEClarke]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 10:50am

I had done classes and been in shows at my local community theatre in Baytown, TX; however, I wasn't hooked on the art form. I was having fun and enjoying it, but not sold.

Then as a young lad in 2nd and 3rd grade, Houston's TUTS has a perfect trifecta of shows I got to see. These were their 1993 performances of HELLO, DOLLY! (starring Jo Anne Worley as Dolly), FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and their World Premiere of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (with the complete OBC). After seeing those three shows, I was perfectly hooked for life!

[egghumor]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 10:53am

theaterfan862, I love your story!

[theaterfan862]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 11:03am

Thanks a lot egghumor! Tell us your story.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 11:04am

INTO THE WOODS - 1989 - PBS