Posted: 8/8/18 at 2:12pm
Pacific Overtures at the Kennedy Center during their Sondheim celebration. I don't really know what possessed me to see it, but something made me travel hundreds of miles to see it. I'd always really loved the music and I couldn't resist seeing it in Japanese. I've never felt so elevated in the theater in my life. I also never realized how damned GOOD the book of Pacific Overtures is.
Posted: 8/8/18 at 3:55pm
"Gypsy" with Tyne Daly (1991).
A close second: "Hello Dolly" with Bernadette Peters.
Posted: 8/8/18 at 4:17pm
BEST MUSICAL
OBC FOLLIES
HON MENTION: OBC A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, A CHORUS LINE (AT THE PUBLIC)
BEST PLAY
OBC NICHOLAS NICKLEBY
HON MENTION: OBC EQUUS,
Posted: 8/8/18 at 4:58pm
Significant Other is another show that moved me quite a bit, and I didn't expect it to. I felt like I was literally watching my life on stage.
Posted: 8/8/18 at 7:26pm
I am thankful to have been able to attend so many exceptional productions over the years. I usually find that the circumstances of the specific performance can make a significant difference in the overall experience. Those times when you had no idea just how powerful the performance will be. Or those rare moments when you know something very special is happening (especially if you feel it won't ever be quite so magical again).
The thrill of first professional production I saw—Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn in The Gin Game—the overwhelming emotion that two of the best actors ever could create (all the way to the mezzanine of a touring house).
Dreamgirls—original production, my first show on Broadway-- I still flash back to that night every time I hear certain songs from the show.
The perfect setting of seeing shows at the Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario—a magical place when the rest of the world would seems to disappear and magical gems materialize—An Ideal Husband, Lady Be Good, The Doctor's Dilemma (1991), Cavalcade, the still haunting The Children's Hour and a seriously funny (biggest, longest laugh ever—you had to be there) yet dangerous You Can't Take It With You.
And finally, Master Harold and the Boys. A devastating, humbling, and unforgettable play, production, and performance. I am starting to cry just thinking back to that evening.
Posted: 8/8/18 at 9:46pm
Honeymoon in Vegas
Hello Dolly
Kinky Boots
Phantom
Evita
Posted: 8/8/18 at 10:28pm
Posted: 8/9/18 at 12:50am
New Musical: Original 'Follies', which I saw 5 times in the 15-16 months it was opened
Musical Revival: Angela Lansbury Gypsy
New Play: Nicholas Nickelby at the (then) Plymouth Theatre.
Play Revival: A Moon for the Misbegotten with Robards and Dewhurst.
Since the most recent of these was more than 35 years, just to show that I am not a dinosaur, here is a list of the best from the past 20 years:
New Musical: Moulin Rouge in Boston: I loved this show, flaws and all...more than Hamilton, more than Evan Hansen. I fully expect this to be a monster hit when it eventually happens.
Musical Revival: LCT production of South Pacific with the original cast tie with Chicago original cast
New Play: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
Play Revival: A Streetcar Named Desire, with Cate Blanchette, in DC
Posted: 8/9/18 at 2:11pm
First real show I ever saw was Wicked when I was ten years old, and that hooked me on musical theater. It remains one of my favorites, but it's now topped by RENT and Dear Evan Hansen. People like to knock down DEH because it's new and contemporary, but the score and Steven Levenson's book are beautiful. Ben Platt's performance was soul-crushing, in a good way.
