What is the BEST Show You Have Seen on Broadway

[BeingAlive44Ever]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 4:08pm

I saw a subject on the worst, and thought this was natural to make. There have been some really exceptional shows on Broadway! Here are my personal favorites. 

Musicals: Hedwig with John Cameron Mitchell and Lena Hall (I saw a Crate Show, which to me just made it even more unbelievable), though the recent Merrily We Roll Along revival is a rather close second. John Cameron Mitchell embodies Hedwig in a way I have never seen an actor embody a role. You believe every single thing he does because his level of commitment is so incredible. A lot of the time, knowing an actor's name and career so well, as I do with him, especially with earlier exposure to them, and especially with somebody whose singing voice is as distinct as his, it's immersion breaking to see them in a show. No. Not for a second. It was the most incredible performance I have seen on stage. If any replacement had to win a Tony, I'm so glad it was him. If you know, you know. And I don't think I need to explain Lena Hall. She was just flawless. 

Plays: Leopoldstadt. This is a huge recency bias thing, definitely, but for me the experience of such a show being on Broadway with that huge cast and especially reuniting Brandon Uranowitz with Anthony Rosenthal... It was so emotionally fulfilling and incredible to me. I think everybody know at this point that Brandon Uranowitz is going to be a legendary icon of the theatre world, and I need not explain how effortless and mind-blowing his performance of this incredibly heavy material was. Tom Stoppard ability to mix existential terror with often absurd but never tasteless humor is ever on display in Leopoldstadt and I really do believe it is his best play ever. ... Otherwise, probably the Angels in America revival with Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane. 

Special Theatrical Events: La Boheme. I saw it with Alfie Boe. It's the most beautifully composed piece of classical music of all time. I really love it more than anything, and I'm a huge opera nerd. Puccini is so brilliant, so beautiful, even the songs he wrote in the beginning of act three of Turandot right before his death have become so timeless. But nothing will ever dethrone La Boheme. Alfie Boe is one of the best living Lyric Tenors and La Boheme on Broadway was like nothing else that's ever been there. Maybe it wasn't the best production of La Boheme ever, but it is certainly my favorite production of an opera ever on Broadway. ... Second place is probably one of Kristin Chenoweth's concerts. I love her more than life. 

Feel free to gush about your favorite ever productions and performances on Broadway! Here's a few individual performances that I didn't talk about here that I loved very much: 

Harvey Fierstein in Hairspray, I saw him during his brief return at the end of the show's run, I thought it was absolutely brilliant. 
Kristin Chenoweth in On the Twentieth Century, maybe the most baffling Tony loss of all time because she was amazing. 
Christian Borle in Falsettos, I feel this is his best role ever. A lot of people don't like how it's a lot more grounded and not as big and showy as his other roles, but, just like with Jonathan Groff in Merrily right now, which I also feel is his best role, the emotional depth he brings in this role outweighs any previous vocal display or comedic role he had, for me at least. 
Alan Cumming in Cabaret, I saw the most recent Alan Cumming revival, he was perfect. I do not think there could possibly be a better Emcee. What's crazy is that I also think the same thing about Joel Grey (though I was not alive to actually see it on Broadway, I hear it was every bit as good as in the movie in which he was stellar). I have not seen the Eddie Redmayne revival (on Broadway, I saw him in London and thought he was good but not nearly as good as Alan Cumming), but I'd be shocked if he wasn't completely overshadowed by the performances of these two men. 

Updated On: 5/23/24 at 04:08 PM

[Malinda5000]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 5:18pm

Finally…

a thread I can sink my teeth into even though I’m on my third pair…

The Wiz 1975

Ain’t Misbehavin’

Peter Pan (Sandy Duncan)

Sophisticated Ladies 

Dreamgirls

Sunday In The Park With George 

Black And Blue

Jelly’s Last Jam ( Gregory Hines)

Phantom Of The Opera 

The Lion King

The Light In The Piazza

Caroline Or Change. (Tanya Pinkins)

The Producers

The Life

The Color Purple 2005  (LaChanze Then Fantasia) 

The Color Purple 2015

(Errivo/Hudson/Brooks) Then (Errivo/Headley/Brooks)

Hairspray 

Sister Act

Ain’t Too Proud

Hello Dolly (Bette Midler)

 

Updated On: 5/25/24 at 05:18 PM

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 5:21pm

Musical: Hello Dolly with Bette

Play: Death of a Salesman (both the PSH and Wendell Pierce revivals)

Updated On: 5/23/24 at 05:21 PM

[Huss417]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 5:27pm

If we are basing this on one show only mine is the 1981 Original Production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. All these years later nothing has come close to it.
 

And OP you did say the Best Show not shows which are you looking for?

Updated On: 5/23/24 at 05:27 PM

[Zeppie2022]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 6:18pm

Play: Doubt

Musical: Matilda

[sittingovation]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 6:33pm

Easy answer:  the 3389 performance of A CHORUS LINE.  A jaw dropping incredible night in the theatre.  That finale was a "once in a lifetime" theatrical experience. 

[TimeToDither]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 6:44pm

The current production of MERRILY is probably the best thing I've ever seen on Broadway - it's just such a lucky combination of the creatives & cast and the moment in general.

Another best would go to HERE WE ARE as I simply loved its bizarre aspects and both the work and the cast were amazing.

The best performance I've ever seen was Lea Michele in FUNNY GIRL. It was so convincing it almost seemed like she made up the lines on the spot. Not a single wrong not - and only later I found out she skipped the previous day's performance because she had a cold! Just incredible.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 6:47pm

Best Musical: Original production of Follies.  Saw it in Boston and NYC, and I really remember Boy, Can That Boy Foxtrot and Uptown!  Downtown!  (21st. Century: The Producers with original cast).

Best Musical Revival: Gypsy with Angela Lansbury. (21st. Century: LCT South Pacific).

Best Play / Production: Nicholas Nickelby. (21st. Century: The Lehman Trilogy or The Sound Inside).

Best Revival of a Play: A Moon for the Misbegotten ( Dewhurst / Robards).  (21st. Century: A Streetcar Named Desire in DC with Cate Blanchett).

[BeingAlive44Ever]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 7:00pm

Huss417 said: "If we are basing this on one show only mine is the 1981 Original Production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. All these years later nothing has come close to it.


And OP you did say the Best Show not shows which are you looking for?"

Well I list a bunch I love, I just want to hear about what everybody loves! If you just have one, that's great. If you have a ton, talk about them! Positivity is something that online forums lack. I'm also relatively young, all of mine are from the last two and a half decades because whaddya know I didn't exist before that. 

[LuckyDipster]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 8:09pm

I have seen four shows on Broadway.  I enjoyed them all.

[gibsons2]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 8:38pm

Maybe not a show itself,  but I ve had the best experience at a show while seeing one of the very first previews of Hadestown back in March 2019. Palpable chemistry between Reeve and Eva had blown me away, it was electrifying. I wasn't aware at the time they were in relationship, but when I learned about it, it made sense. It was not acting, basically. No other musical had such an effect on me as that Hadestown preview. Pure live theater magic.

[Shubert Alley Cat]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 8:40pm

RAGTIME with original cast

LION KING with original cast

Saw them on back-to-back nights in 1997. Never to be topped.

Now I have seen many other terrific shows but this two-night experience is something I will treasure forever.

[BeingAlive44Ever]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 9:38pm

LuckyDipster said: "I have seen four shows on Broadway. I enjoyed them all."

Oh what were they? 

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 10:17pm

Aida with Heather Headley

Company with Raul

Sweeney with Patti-and also Gypsy  

Play: The Goat

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 10:20pm

Grey Gardens.

[berniesb!tch]

Posted: 5/23/24 at 11:03pm

Hello, Dolly! with Bernadette Peters will forever be my fondest theater memory. 

[pmensky]

Posted: 5/24/24 at 12:10am

Musical: Sunday In the Park With George - Original Broadway cast

Play: Death Of a Salesman with Brian Dennehy 

[BentleyB]

Posted: 5/24/24 at 12:58am

First: OBC - A Chorus Line.  2nd: Bette Midler in Hello Dolly

Best Play:  The Ferryman

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 5/24/24 at 1:19am

Musicals only for now:

Fun Home
Passing Strange
Grey Gardens
Matilda
Little Shop (Know the Broadway production was divisive, but a favorite experience)
Beauty and the Beast
Sweeney Todd ('05 was my first Sondheim)
Patti in Gypsy
JCM in Hedwig
Shuffle Along
Sam Mendes production of Cabaret
Bernadette in A Little Night Music and in Hello, Dolly!
DeafWest version of Spring Awakening
Company, enjoyed the last 2 productions equally in different ways
Ragtime (revival, was not around for the original)

And as an honorable mention, dearly departed Phantom (can still scarcely believe it) was unsurpassed in its elegantly balanced direction and design, representing a kind of stagecraft that I am worried we will not see again in this country. Spectacularly simple and simply spectacular.

Updated On: 5/24/24 at 01:19 AM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 5/24/24 at 1:50am

Phantom - my first Broadway show. I was seven years old and I saw it probably about a year and a half after it opened. I went on to see it three more times, and probably would have gone far more had I stayed in New York. It’s probably because of that show that I am in the theater.

Other great memories:

The original Les Miz

Miss Saigon (I know now why it’s problematic, but to a fifteen year-old in the 1990’s it was epic and gut-wrenching)

Jekyll and Hyde - it was great with the original cast before the stunt casting ruined it

The 1998 Cabaret revival with Alan Cumming

Death of a Salesman with Brian Dennehy - the climactic scene between Dennehy and Kevin Anderson, sitting in a theater and hearing audible weeping around me. Life-changing.

Hedda Gabler with Kate Burton

The Elephant Man with Billy Crudup and Kate Burton

Topdog/Underdog with Jeffrey Wright and Mos Def

The Light in the Piazza

The original Parade

The original cast of The Producers

Tbe original cast of The Book of Mormon

 

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 5/24/24 at 5:46am

My first ever Broadway trip ( overseas trip as well ) we had sent in the form from the New York Times to get tickets to The Phantom Of The Opera in June 1988. By luck we got the final performance of Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman together, I was 20. 
 

As for play : The original cast of Angels in America, that was a life changing, earth shattering event. Event is the perfect word to describe it 

[LuckyDipster]

Posted: 5/24/24 at 6:01am

BeingAlive44Ever said: "LuckyDipster said: "I have seen four shows on Broadway. I enjoyed them all."

Oh what were they?"

In order of how much I enjoyed them:

Back To The Future - It was the reason I made the trip from the UK (to see Roger again) so, from a sentimental viewpoint, it was always going to be my favourite.  Quality of writing or anything else was never going to factor into it.  My heart wants what it wants.

Merrily We Roll Along - My head knows that this was a masterclass and had I not been a major RB fangirl, it would have been my number one.

Once Upon A Mattress - I had never heard of this show prior to booking these tickets, but there were a few people in the cast who I was excited to see.  It was a lot of fun and I was very impressed with Sutton.

Gutenberg! - It wasn't quite as amusing as I thought it was going to be, but still a very good show and they were working their socks off.

[The Other One]

Posted: 5/24/24 at 6:29am

Play: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby (1981)

Musical: Follies (1971)

[Lot666]

Posted: 5/24/24 at 8:50am

Come From Away
Groundhog Day
Jagged Little Pill
The Lion King
Matilda The Musical
Parade
The Phantom of the Opera
Sunset Boulevard

[broadway86]

Posted: 5/24/24 at 9:22am

Ooof. So many come to mind...

August: Osage County (Estelle Parsons, Amy Morton)

The Ferryman (original cast)

Cabaret (Alan Cumming, Emma Stone)

Blithe Spirit (Angela Lansbury)

Merrily We Roll Along (Groff, Radcliffe, Mendez)

The Inheritance (Burnap, Soller)

Doubt (Jones, O'Byrne)

The Pillowman (Crudup, Goldblum)

Hello Dolly (Midler, Hyde-Pierce)

Angels in America (Garfield, Lane)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Turner, Irwin)

Nine (Banderas, Masterson)

Chicago (Neuwirth, Ziemba)

 

Barely scratched the surface, but that's a few that I can still remember vividly.