What is the best Stage Performance You Have Ever Seen? — Page 5

Cherry Jones - Doubt

I'm enjoying reading these, especially since most responses seem to be from people who are old enough to have actually seen some of the greatest performances of the couple of decades (I opened this thread expecting it to be mostly Elphabas and Evan Hansens).



I'll bite:

Denis O'Hare in An Iliad. I've seen many great performances on Broadway and in Chicago, but I saw this one-man show on tour and...wow.

The Distinctive Baritone said: "I'm enjoying reading these, especially since most responses seem to be from people who are old enough to have actually seen some of the greatest performances of the couple of decades (I opened this thread expecting it to be mostly Elphabas and Evan Hansens).



I'll bite:

Denis O'Hare in An Iliad. I've seen many great performances on Broadway and in Chicago, but I saw this one-man show on tour and...wow.

Funny that you mention it, but I felt that I could tell the ages of people based own their choices. For older people, like me, there are some performances that I have seen that I think are historic; three of the four I picked were a thousand years ago...leading one to conclude that I am a close relation to After Eight, who I have come to believe thinks everything past 1970 or so is garbage.

I like too think that is not the case with me, and does not mean that I think that anything remotely recent was not up to snuff. My second choice for female in a play would have been Cate Blanchett for Streetcar, somewhere in the 2010s. I actually chose Dewhurst for what I truly believe was a legendary performance. Similarly, I chose James Earl Jones for a play that was presented about 50 years ago (OMG!!), but I do think that Brian Cranston was incredible 45 years later in the same theatre, if not quite as great as Jones' performance (or Derek Jacobi's in Cyrano, which someone else mentioned).

I admit bias around the women in a musical. I have seen some excellent performances by women in the past 15 years (to set an arbitrary limit on 'recent'. To me, the only performance in a musical that I would rank even close to Lansbury in (take your choice) or Barbara Harris in The Apple Tree or Carol Channing or Pearl Bailey in Hello, Dolly or Patti Lupone in Evita or Mary Martin in I Do! I Do! or Patricia Routledge in Darling of the Day (32 performances!!!, no less) or Katharine Hepburn in Coco (she deserved the Tony by a mile over Lauren Bacall, who was excellent) or Gwen Verdon in Sweet Charity and Chicago or Chita Rivera in Chicago was, maybe, Patti Lupone in Sweeney Todd or Donna Murphy in Hello Dolly or The King and I; and, as good as they were, I do not feel they were a match for those performances from the 60s -70s - 80s. (Note: I should mention that Alice Ripley's voice was shot (hoarse and flat) when I saw her in NTN; I assume that Tonya Pinkins was also having an off-night for the same reason; and (although I love Bette Midler), I was on the fence with her singing...she just seemed too be giving a lazy performance when I saw her, although the comedy and warmth came through loud and clear; and I somehow missed Christine Ebersole in Grey Gardens).

Re male in a musical, I think Nathan Lane, who I chose in that category, is reasonably near-term, given that the second best (Christopher Plummer in Cyrano) was probably 40 years ago at this point. I also feel strongly that, more recently, Ben Platt and Hugh Jackman gave top 5 male in a musical performances in a lifetime of theatergoing. Add Richard Kiley for Man of LaMancha, and you have it.

I guess the point is that young people are picking performances based on anywhere from a very limited number of years viewing to 10 or 15 years, while old farts like me are picking from decades more (in my case, I have been seeing shows regularly since 1964, along with a (very) few that my parents took me to see before I was even 10 or 11. Our advantage is that we have seen performances they can only dream of having seen; and, actuarially, they get to see a lot more future legendary shows than we will; and as they do, their 'choices' are going to change as they have more performances under their belts.

Cynthia Erivo in The Color Purple (above anything I have ever and will ever see)

Jessie Mueller in Waitress

Ben Platt & Rachel Bay Jones in Dear Evan Hansen

Leslie Odom Jr. in Hamilton

The Distinctive Baritone said: "Jarethan -

I’m jealous that you have seen so many legendary performances! I’m only 36, but sometimes I feel like an old man since it seems the majority of posters on this board are in high school or college. Granted, I myself joined when I was in college, when BWW first came to fruition.

I wonder what performances during my lifetime will eventually become legendary. The only one that seems to have been long enough ago to stand the test of time is Alan Cumming in Cabaret in 1998 or whatever it was. (Denis O’Hare was in that production too, turning the thankless role of Ernst into something quite memorable.)


It is interesting to theorize. I certainly think that Nathan Lane's performance in The Producers will be legendary. Ditto, James Corden for OMTG. Bette Midler, my reservations notwithstanding. Elaine Stritch for In Liberty. Glenda Jackson for Three Tall Women? Mark Rylance in Jerusalem? Ben Platt? Hugh Jackman? Audra for Lady Day? Elaine May for Wavily? Vanessa Redgrave for LDJIN?



IMO some great performances are too recent to consider.

Michael Jeter, Grand Hotel; Carol Channing, Hello Dolly; Lea Salonga, Miss Saigon; Gregory Hines, Jelly's Last Jam; Glenn Close, Sunset Boulevard; Tony Yazbeck, On the Town; Angela Lansbury, Blithe Spirit; Carmen Cusack, Bright Star; Kristen Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century; Stockard Channing, Six Degrees of Separation; Chita Rivera, Kiss of the Spider Woman; Jessie Mueller, Beautiful; Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen

Theatregeek811 said: "Kaley Ann Voorhees in Phantom of the Opera. I'm so thrilled that she's finally going to be the main Christine!"

SAME. Kaley is utterly fantastic.

Ramin Karimloo as JVJ Les Miserables... twice. Bring Him Home... ugh so good!

NGL that whole revival cast was down right stellar. One of my biggest upsets was that they didn't do a cast recording.