Posted: 7/18/16 at 11:52pm
First show on Broadway was Wicked, a Fall Break trip with my 13 year old daughter. We also saw Young Frankenstein, Curtains, Legally Blonde, and Mary Poppins that weekend. This became an annual tradition for us, which morphed into several trips a year. This past weekend I saw my 117th show on Broadway (I too keep a spreadsheet). My daughter is still my favorite theater going companion.
Posted: 7/28/16 at 9:46am
BAKER STREET, the Sherlock Holmes musical, on a class trip. It got me hooked. But I think my interest really started as a very young child watching Mary Martin's PETER PAN and Julie Andrews' CINDERELLA on TV.
Posted: 7/28/16 at 11:09am
My first Broadway show was Into the Woods in 2002. I saw it before the Tonys and I didn't really know that was a thing (I was only 9) and I'd loved the show so much so I watched the Tonys broadcast for the first time because I was rooting for ITW. And the rest is history.
Posted: 7/28/16 at 1:38pm
My first Broadway show was Damn Yankees in March 1995 on a high school band trip. I mostly remember being amazed at the production values....how seamlessly the sets moved and were rearranged and the amazing performers. Obviously nothing I had ever seen before was even close to comparing! I think my interest was awakened and I convinced my mom to buy season tickets for our local theater for the 1995-1996 season, and I was able to see so many shows that year to feed my growing love! It was good timing because the theater had just finished a huge renovation and was bringing in a lot of Broadway touring shows. My first tour show was Phantom of the Opera in Oct 1995.
I'm taking my 7 year old daughter to see her first Broadway show in October (Aladdin). I can't wait to introduce her!
Updated On: 7/28/16 at 01:38 PM
Posted: 8/2/16 at 11:51pm
HELLO, DOLLY! in August, 1968 with Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway. It was also my first night ever in New York. Ms. Bailey kissed me from the runway during her curtain call. I was marked for life.
Posted: 8/3/16 at 2:05am
Late comer to Broadway. Wicked in 2010. Phantom was first show in 1995 on tour. I became hooked on musicals by Wicked in 2009 on tour.
Posted: 8/3/16 at 3:09am
The first and only show (do plays count?) I've ever seen on Broadway was Arcadia in 1995. I was 19 and it was my first time in NYC and my boyfriend was a theatre geek and took me. It was very exciting to see "that guy from Dead Poets Society!" in it. I remember enjoying it a lot. Then afterwards we went straight to the subway and saw him, Robert Sean Leonard, skulking around and I wanted to say hi but my boyfriend wouldn't let me.
Before that I had seen Phantom twice on tour in Boston and Miss Saigon twice in London.
Posted: 8/3/16 at 6:08pm
Mine was Phantom in middle school. My mom had a ticket connection and we were in the 4th row. It was magical and I was hooked forever. I used to act out shows in my living room to the cast recordings.
Posted: 8/3/16 at 6:37pm
Cabaret with Anita Gillette. Don't remember if Joel Grey was the Emcee - this was around 1968/1969, and I was about 13. We went with a school theater group, and I remember our chaperones being a bit concerned that the show was too "adult" for us! I loved it though - totally hooked on live theater after that. I can actually remember what I was wearing - a yellow linen dress with bell sleeves, with multicolor braid on the sleeves and hem. Very flower-child-ish. I made it myself!!!
The most memorable moment for me was the Emcee's entrance. Gave me goosebumps.
Saw the show a second time - the recent revival with Alan Cummings and Emma Stone. Took our teenage grandson, a big Emma fan, and he was enthralled. Stood outside the theater in the freezing cold for over an hour so he could get a photo and autograph.
Updated On: 8/3/16 at 06:37 PM
Posted: 8/3/16 at 6:37pm
My first show on Broadway was Les Miserables in June of 1996, with Craig Schulman and David Masenheimer as Valjean and Javert. I was back less than a month later. To date, it's still the show I've seen the most.
