What is your 10 Best & 10 Worst Theatrical Experience (Season '06-'07 only

TOP TEN BEST

1. Mary Poppins flying over the audience
2. "Around the World" in Grey Gardens
3. Finale "One" from A Chorus Line
4. "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast
5. Overall, the magic in Mary Poppins
6. Wicked's "Defying Gravity"
7. "I Have a Dream" from Mamma Mia
8. "Fantine's Death - confrontation" during the duet from les miz
9. The entrance of Elphaba in Wicked
10. The entrance of Elle in Legally Blonde


TOP SIX WORST (I don't have 10)

1. Daphne Rubin-Vega in Les Miserables
2. "So Much Better" from Legally Blonde
3. Laura Bell Bundy in Legally Blonde (overall)
4. The Producers (way overrated)
5. Les Miserables Finale (very very weak in my opinion)
6. Jersey Boys (very overrated in my opinion)

Hmmm... Let's see... (In Letterman-style reverse order)

10 Best...

10 ~ No Child... ~ the first time I saw it. I was in Teaching Fellows boot camp and seriously in need of inspiration.
9 ~ Wicked ~ with my friend Kristen. She'd never seen a Broadway show before, and she won the lotto, so we were front and center.
8 ~ A Chorus Line ~ the original production (not cast, but production) was my first ever Broadway show, so it holds a special place in my heart.
7 ~ The Pirate Queen ~ the second time I saw it. Not only was it better than the first time, I met up randomly with an old friend at the stage door.
6 ~ Eve Best in A Moon For The Misbegotten
5 ~ Coram Boy ~ both times I saw it.
4 ~ 110 In The Shade ~ all three times I've seen it so far.
3 ~ No Child... ~ with an audience composed entirely of teachers.
2 ~ The Year of Magical Thinking ~ the first time I saw it. I was literally shaking at the end, and I immediately called my parents and told them to get their calendars together and figure out a weekend they could come up and we'd go see it.
1 ~ The Vertical Hour ~ every single time I saw it.

10 Worst...

10 ~ Missing out on getting to take my parents to see The Drowsy Chaperone or The Vertical Hour when they visited in November because they insisted they didn't want to see a show. Then at 3pm on Saturday decided they did. Parents, meet TKTS.
9 ~ The bus groups STILL being seated 40 minutes into The Color Purple. VERY distracting.
8 ~ Trying the Avenue Q lottery a bunch of times and never once winning it.
7 ~ Spending $50 on the TDF ticket draw thingy at the BC/EFA Flea Market and not winning ONE envelope while people I saw around me spent like $5 and won on every ticket. Boy did I feel unlucky that day.
6 ~ Coram Boy closing. And not offering rush or discounts for their closing performance.
5 ~ Spring Awakening ~ IMHO, very overrated. I'm glad I only paid student rush for it. (Yes, I'm a full-time grad student with legit ID as well as being a first year teacher.)
4 ~ Company ~ I just didn't get it. The music was ok, but I didn't GET it. "Another Thank God for St. Rush" moment.
3 ~ The closing date of The Vertical Hour being moved up and losing the front row center ticket I had for the 4/1 closing.
2 ~ Talk Radio ~ couldn't stand it. Didn't see what the big deal was. Couldn't make myself care about ANY of the characters.
1 ~ Walking down 45th and seeing "The Evil Clown Sign" (the poster for Deuce) on The Music Box marquee.

---

Updated On: 5/28/07 at 05:14 PM

nealb- I must agree with you with "Wicked" being one of the WORST THEATRICAL Experience !

I'll narrow it down to five.

BEST
1. Grey Gardens- just the whole damned show
2. Victoria Clark's "In Buddy's Eyes" at The Encores Revival of Follies
3. Esparza's "Being Alive"
4. Donna Murphy's "Could I Leave You?" at Encores' Follies
5. Frank Langella as Nixon

WORST
1. The Pirate Queen- May it rest in pieces someday
2. Legally Blonde- Ditto
3. Having Les Mis back on Broadway
4. Spring Awakening's success
5. Gosh, I can't think of one. I would say Deuce, but I loved Lansbury and Seldes. I guess I can say seeing two great ladies of the American theatre in such a bad play.

I must add one thing and this is worse than anything I've seen this year- the Grease reality show. What a load of garbage! I hope the show is a miserable failure that puts David "Schmuck" Ian in hock. I hope that Jim "I wrote one piece of crap but I think I'm freakin' Sondheim" Jacob is never welcomed back to Broadway. I can't wish ill on Kathleen Marshall because she is nice, she is talented, but she's making a terrible mistake. I hope it's a miserable failure. Michael Riedel, I can't wait to read your nasty columns on the show this summer.

Updated On: 5/28/07 at 06:09 PM

BEST:
1. Grey Gardens (everything about it, but especially Christine)
2. A Chorus Line (except Charlotte)
3. 110 in the Shade (especially Audra)
4. The entirety of COAST OF UTOPIA (especially Jennifer Ehle and Billy Crudup)
5. Journey's End (especially Boyd Gaines and Stark Sands)
6. Julie White in The Little Dog Laughed
7. Christopher Plummer in Inherit the Wind
8. Ruthie Henshall in Stairway to Paradise
9. Kate Shindle and Christian Borle in Legally Blonde
10. Jay Johnson and his puppets in The Two and Only

WORST:
1. The Times They Are A-Changin'
2. High Fidelity
3. Curtains
4. Radio Golf
5. Les Miserable revival (except for Celia and Aaron, I saw Daphne who sucked)
6. The Apple Tree (except for Brian Darcy James, and ESPECIALLY Chenoweth)
7. Spring Awakening (except for the good music)
8. Losing Louie tied with Prelude to a Kiss
9. LoveMusik (except for Donna and Michael)
10. Company (except for Heather Laws, whom I loved)

Best Experiences
1. The brilliant Grey Gardens
2. Julie White in The Little Dog Laughed
3. Donna Murphy & Michael Cerveris in LoveMusik
4. Kristin Chenoweth's "What Makes Me Love Him?" in The Apple Tree
5. Finally experiencing Bennett's genius live in A Chorus Line
6. The Coast of Utopia
7. The final moments of Journey's End
8. Jay Johnson breaking the news to Bob in The Two and Only
9. The Clean House
10. Pablo Schrieber's brilliance in Dying City

---

best:
1. carmello's the winner takes it all
2. i know where i've been
3. hairspray overall
4. springtime for hitler
5. i have a dream
6. when you've got it, flaunt it
7. at the end of hairspray when amber gives tracy the crown
8. hunter foster's leo bloom
9. brooklyn pulver

worst:
1. tony danza's singing voice
2. jerry o'boyle's edna

---

I am interpreting this as 10 Favorite and Least Favorite Theatrical Experiences of the Season:

10 Favorites:
1. Spring Awakening (Atlantic Theatre, off- broadway)
2. [title of show] (Vineyard Theatre, off- broadway return engagement)
3. A Chorus Line (Schoenfeld Theatre, Broadway)
4. Grey Gardens (Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway)
5. The Coast of Utopia trilogy (Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Broadway)
6. Elegies: A Song Cycle (Joe's Pub, reunion concert)
7. Rock 'N' Roll (Duke of York's Theatre, West End)
8. Merrily We Roll Along (Derby Playhouse, Derbyshire)
9. Billy Elliot (Victoria Palace Theatre, West End)
10. Curtains (Al Hirschfeld Theatre, Broadway)

Honorary Mention: Legally Blonde (Palace Theatre, Broadway), Follies (London Palladium benefit), Frost/ Nixon (Gielgud Theatre, West End)

10 Least Favorite:
1. Love With a Twist
2. Burleigh Grimes
3. Kiki and Herb: Alive on Broadway
4. Drumstruck
5. Striking 12
6. Zorro
7. Mimi LeDuck
8. Mary Poppins
9. Les Miserables (West End)
10. The Lord of the Rings

---

This is so easy.

My ten best theatrical experiences of the season were the ten times I saw GREY GARDENS. (The BEST of those ten being when I saw it with my daughter.)

---

OK some of mine are from the UK as thats where im based.

BEST
1.The fab lead (rodgers) in Evita
2.Sit Down Your Rocking The Boat(guys and dolls London)
3.Legally Blonde(so much fun,LOVE IT)
4.The Producers in manchester UK with Peter Kay and Corey English
5.Caroline Or Change
6.Grey Gardens(performances more than the show)
7.Ellis in wicked in london singing Defying Gravity WOW
8.Footloose London(turned out to be amazing and had audiences giving it a standing ovation)
9.Little Shop Of Horrors (Sheridan Smith ,she is Awesome)
10.Drowsy Chaperon


WORST
1.Pirate queen-though it was the best sleep ive ever had
2.One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest-Massive let down
3.Menopause the musical-Actually wanted to shoot the cast
4.Mary Poppins London(whole shown was such a let down)
5.Chitty Chitty Bang Bang(so the car flies yawn)
6.Mamma Mia (made me want to eat my head)
7.Dirty Dancing(is it a play? is it a musical? do i care)
8.Porgy and Bess(ouch)
9.Cabaret London(awful production)
10.Helen Dalimore(wicked London, awful glinda )

---

Best:

Drowsy Chaperone (again)
Grey Gardens
Pirate Queen
Spring Awakening
Mary Poppins (shockingly)

Worst:

Touring Company of Camelot - godawful claptrap.

bwaygal1, if you saw it at least 10 times, it can be your answer too!

---