I believe it was either The Lion King or Beauty And The Beast when I was 4 or 5. The other one was right after the other though because as others have said - I was hooked!
My first Broadway show was THE LION KING at the New Amsterdam Theatre in January 1999.
But when I was a child my mother would take me to see shows at the Valley Forge Music Fair (which was torn down in 1997), and she tells me that I would always sit there, completely quite and 100% enthralled.
Understudy Joined: 9/1/09
My first show was a community theatre production of Bye Bye Birdie. My first on Broadway was The Scarlett Pimpernel.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
First Broadway show: Original produciton of OLIVER - 1965. I was 5 years old.
Previously, I had seen local children's theatre productions, in which a curtain would open, revealing the set. At the end of the scene, the curtain would close, and the set would be changed behind it, with maybe a short "in one" scene in front of the curtain. Then the curtain would open.
In OLIVER, the scenery changed RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU while the show was going on! The entire center secion of the set revolved! Stuff flew in and out WHILE THE SHOW WAS GOING ON! This was mind blowing!
Of course, that kind of scenery is common now, but it was a big deal in 1964.
I went to NY for the first time when I was 10. We went for 1 week and i saw 5 shows. By default, my first Broadway show was THE BOY FROM OZ starring Hugh Jackman. I stage doored. He called my mom "ma'am.". :)
My first Broadway show was Rent. I had heard so much about the show and couldn't wait to see it. From beginning to end, I was in awe of the talented cast. It got me hooked on theatre.
I was 13 when I saw my first Broadway show, Dancin'. I remember that I really liked it. It was on a school trip from Miami.
(Funny, the only Broadway marquee I have a picture of from that school trip was Evita.)
Right after that, my mom and I got season tickets to Miami Beach TOPA. The first show there was the tour of La Cage with Peter Marshall.
First theater production-High school production of My Fair Lady when I was 10.
First Broadway show-Mamma Mia! in 2007. No, I am not ashamed to admit I saw it and liked it.
Thanksgiving weekend 1966 -- my first trip to NYC as a college student of theatre.
I saw the matinee of Mame on Wednesday. All I knew about it was that it was a new show by the writer of Hello, Dolly. That night I saw Hello, Dolly (Ginger Rogers). Soon after that they passed the law that no one be allowed to see two Jerry Herman musicals in one day. I could hardly wipe the grin off my face.
The next day, Thanksgiving, I saw Ethel Merman in the Annie Get Your Gun Revival just moved to the Broadway. That weekend I also saw Helen Hayes, Will Greer, and Rosemary Harris in School for Scandal. And I saw Funny Girl with Mimi Hines.
Understudy Joined: 6/7/10
Sondheim on Sondheim...Barbara Cook was surprised when I told her, lol.
"The Wiz" with the original cast.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/19/03
April 29, 1981...Fifth of July with Richard Thomas, Jeff Daniels, Swoosie Kurtz and Amy Wright.
I was 20.
Avenue Q at the Golden.
My armrest came off.
Thoroughly Modern Millie with the original cast. Saw this with my high school a few weeks after 9/11.
Broadway Star Joined: 9/15/04
I saw CATS when I was 5 and literally threw up at intermission -- my parents still joke that I had good taste in theater since birth.
I saw Cats when I was six, and during "The Naming of Cats" when the cast crawls out into the audience, one of the male cats rubbed up against my leg and my parents still joke with me that that was the moment I turned gay.
My first Broadway show was The Secret Garden, when I was 8, in early 1992. I remember my parents being upset because Mandy Patinkin was out that night, but that of course meant nothing to me at the time.
I loved the show and often re-enacted it in my bedroom afterwards while I played the cast recording. Looking back, I don't understand how my sexuality was ever in doubt to my parents.
Understudy Joined: 10/31/09
July 1997- Graduation trip with mom, who used to live in new york...
Les Mis
Beauty and the Beast
Phantom
Rent (crappy seats)
1776
Cats
Rent(4th row, cause mom felt bad cause it was the whole reason for the trip)
Good trip.
I saw Beauty and the Beast when I was 4. I remember that the dancing rug (was there a dancing rug? maybe it was a napkin) fell on his/her back during Be Our Guest and got right back up and continued dancing, which was for some reason fascinating to me at the time. I was completely enthralled by the show, and I've been in love with theater ever since. :)
First shows I saw were on tour: CATS, LES MIZ, PHANTOM
First show I saw in NYC: SUNSET BLVD. w/ Glenn Close -- summer of 1995 -- a h.s. graduation gift! I will never forget it: going up the escalator into the Minskoff looking over Times Square, Close's big numbers, and I will never forget the final image from that production.
Also saw BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, MISS SAIGON, the Hal Prince SHOWBOAT, and LES MIZ on that first trip.
After that trip to NYC I was hooked and have been many times!
Will be returning next weekend yet again. :)
Understudy Joined: 7/12/07
Broadway: Funny Girl with Barbra
Pre Broadway Hello Dolly at the National Theatre...before they put in "Before the Parade Passes By"
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
My first Bwy show was SHE LOVES ME with Barbara Cook and Daniel Massey. I think it was 1963. It was quickly followed by HIGH SPIRITS with Tammy Grimes and Bea Lillie.
Videos