What is the best show you have ever seen?- Page 2

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 3:09pm

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE

I'm tempted to say the Mendes' CABARET as well but if I'm forced to say just one, it's CAROLINE and I think it will always be CAROLINE.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 3:18pm

I didn't see Rex Harrison, he was already gone. In fact, I saw the show about 1 week before Julie left. I saw the London production, in late July of 1959, while visiting my grandparents. We were still in London, when Anne Rogers took over the role. The show, as directed by Moss Hart, couldn't have been more different in pacing and tone, than the film. Seeing that show actually changed my life. The film version remains my least favorite film version of a Broadway musical, because it contains none of the thrill of the production I saw. In the hands of George Cukor, it just lies there. I've never seen a show, since, that had three show-stopping numbers. Three! Standing ovations (back in a time when they were extremely rare. Today people give standing ovations to the Real Housewives of New Jersey!), for "The Rain in Spain", "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "Get Me to the Church on Time". That last number was a remarkable dance number (it's nothing but a bit of prancing around in the film). It was breathtaking! Julie Andrews was just remarkable, and clearly the star of the show. The show was funny and lots of fun, with wonderful sets (a revolve!) and great costumes. Most shows have not stood up to the excellence of MFL. One distinct memory is what Eliza wore to Ascot. She wore a lavender dress, and when she came on to the stage, there was and audible gasp from the audience. It was such a great moment in the show, because she looked so different from the rest of the cast. I mostly remember that moment, because of the film. When I saw the film in 1964, I was perplexed by the decision to put Eliza in the same black and white as everyone else. Of course, that was only a small example of what perplexed me about that film. I loved everybody and everything about that show.

[AngusN]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 4:16pm

MUSICAL: 'MARTIN GUERRE', I know a lot of people with wonder why, but I just connected with this show the first time I watched it. The music, set, choreography all captured the spirit of the show so beautifully.
'END OF THE RAINBOW' came a close second, but that was mainly due to Tracey Bennett's unbelievable performance.

PLAY: 'KILLER JOE' I recall watching this play when I was just 18 and being in awe at just how powerful and moving theatre can be.

[brad3]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 4:25pm

MAMMA MIA!
Aida
Beauty and the Beast
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels!
South Pacific!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 4:55pm

"MAMMA MIA!"

LOL

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 5:08pm

THE NORMAL HEART

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 5:09pm

Musical: My Fair Lady

Play: Mary, Mary/ Forty Carats

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 5:48pm

Musical: I think Grey Gardens. Four years after it closed and I'm still devastated and enthralled by it.

Play: The Normal Heart, or the recent production of Angels in America at Signature.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 7:48pm

I am so sorry to not have seen Caroline, or Change. I only recently got a hold of the cd -- thanks to so much talk of the show fron another thread -- and I'm loving it.

[Q]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 8:42pm

JohnBoy - thanks for that reply. Interesting that when you saw it, it was all about Eliza (thanks to Julie?) It really is arguably Henry's show - considering the 'learning curve' of the character.

Another question, though . . . were there one or two revolves? I'd always read and heard about two (on Broadway,) but perhaps it was different in London.

And, dramamama - CAROLINE was truly moving, at least as presented in LA. We ate it up out here!

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 9:06pm

The 1999 revival of Kiss Me, Kate, with ALNM with Bernadette and Elaine a close second.

[shomeika]

Posted: 7/18/11 at 12:32am

Next to Normal (Alice and Robert).....with Mazzie in a close second place.

[bandit964]

Posted: 7/18/11 at 1:16am

Play: Doubt / August Osage County (I just can't choose)

Musical: Xanadu

[rahack]

Posted: 7/18/11 at 9:22am

the triple crown winner Fiorello! a musical that is sadly forgotten today and the origional Cabaret also at the Broadhurst. the best play would be The prosecution and assassination of jean-paul marat as performed by the inmates at the asylum at cherronton(sp)under the direction of the marquis de sade at the martin beck by the rsc

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 7/18/11 at 12:39pm

The special performance of A Chorus Line the night it became the longest running show in Bway history.

[Xman8]

Posted: 7/18/11 at 1:01pm

I've only been seeing the theatre for 6 years already.

But as far as I've seen.

Musical: Fiddler on the Roof tour with Topol it was such a delight to see Topol as Tevye the greatest way to pop my Fiddler cherry. I enjoyed it amazingly.

Play:a tie between Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino and Equus with Daniel Radcliffe.

[algy]

Posted: 7/18/11 at 1:02pm

JohnBoy2 - Thanks for your memories of My Fair Lady. My Grandad saw a lot of the golden age musicals in London - including My Fair Lady - but he wasn't great about describing what they were like - except that they were brilliant, and "better than what you've got now"! His favourite was South Pacific, but he also loved Oklahoma and still remembered all the words, even when dementia meant he couldn't remember our names - I know because I used to take my ipod to the hospital and put it on for him (imagine an 86 year old in headphones singing oh what a beautiful morning!).

ETA - as the best show I've ever seen, Twelfth night at the Globe with Mark Rylance or Wind In the Willows at the National (I was 10 and it was the most magical experience I'd ever had and it has stuck with me) and for musicals - the Recent La Cage Revival or the Sunday Revival of a couple of years ago. Both in the West End with their London casts. Updated On: 7/18/11 at 01:02 PM

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 7/18/11 at 1:22pm

rahack, I love FIORELLO! One of the best shows, ever!

As for the theater where I saw MFL, I don't recall the number of revolves. I do recall that the stage had lifts, that also were used.

I suppose Julie came off as the star of the show, because she was. By the time I saw MFL in London, the OCR was the biggest selling album (any genre) in history. Julie had appeared on every television show and starred in CINDERELLA, plus she had done Eliza for 3 1/2 years. Her name was first and biggest on the marquee Everybody was there to see her. There wasn't a moment in the show that she didn't own. It really is a shame that performance wasn't captured. I don't mean in the movie version, because that was not the same thing. I mean the performance in that production. It was one of a kind. No one has ever come close to duplicating her Eliza.

[once a month]

Posted: 7/18/11 at 1:46pm

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby with Roger Rees and the RSC in 1981.

Loved it so much I saw the revival in 1986 (I think).

Each time I sat through the production in one day. It was a nearly 9 hour marathon.

[mamaleh]

Posted: 7/19/11 at 9:05am

All elements considered, the original '71 Broadway production of FOLLIES back in my student days takes the prize. Absolute heaven, start to finish.

Close behind because of the once-in-a-lifetime performance of Hugh Jackman: THE BOY FROM OZ. (By the way, his one-man show in Toronto that just ended its limited run is way up there, too: heartfelt, exuberant, and radiating sheer joy. The S.F. version was good; TO's out of this galaxy. So happy I caught it five times.)

[EvelynOakleigh]

Posted: 7/19/11 at 9:17am

Next to Normal was just such an amazing show, there's no other way to describe it for me. And with Alice as Diana, perfection. I also LOVED the revivals of ALNM with Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury, just getting to see Angela on stage was worth the price of admission for me, and Anything Goes with Sutton Foster I just couldn't stop smiling the entire show.

The best regional show I ever saw was a production of Into the Woods by a theatre company called Lucid by Proxy, it was done in a warehouse and it was just amazing. Updated On: 7/19/11 at 09:17 AM

[dented146]

Posted: 7/19/11 at 9:58pm

I go back a way and youth is impressionable.

I pick Bye Bye Birdie in 1960 with Dick Van Dyke, Chita, and Paul Lynde. I don't know if it was actually thr best show but if I could pick one to see again that's it. It was a blast. The 1972 production of Jesus Christ Superstar in London was fabulous.

The recent revival of South Pacific was terrific and compares favorably to most of the things I've seen.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/19/11 at 10:28pm

I can't pick one. There are a few.

The original Broadway production of "Sweeney Todd"
"Caroline or Change"
DCTC's production of "Sylvia"
DCTC's production of "A Prayer for Owen Meany"
The original Broadway production of "A Chorus Line"

Updated On: 7/24/11 at 10:28 PM

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 7/19/11 at 10:44pm

Hands down the revival of Ragtime. The most deeply moving and beautiful production I've ever had the great pleasure to witness, and I've gained some of my best friends through the fan base and creative side of the show.

[binau]

Posted: 7/19/11 at 11:14pm

Musical: next to normal with Mazzie...

Play: August: The steppenwolf August: Osage County