Your Strongest Memories of Your First Broadway Show — Page 2

The King and I Revival 1996

I remember there being 2 huge elephants on either side of the stage and the bed moving offstage on its own. I was young so this fascinated me.

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My first show was PETER PAN with Sandy Duncan. I was five. I wanted to fly soooo bad I was just in awe of the whole expierience. I was hooked forever

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The first time I was in NYC I remember it was January in the 1990's it was the year of one of the first huge snow storms. I remember we had gone up to get one of my friend's furniture back. He lived in NYC for a while, and his roommates were moving out of their old apartment, and they had been using his furniture. Well after a long continuous ride from St. Louis I remember I slept the last part of the trip up there. I remember my friend woke me up and I looked out the front window and saw HUGE snowflakes falling down in front of the lights of Time Square. Well we immediately got tickets to see Sunset Blvd. with Betty Buckley. I was amazed that I was actually seeing Betty Buckley. I too remember how small I thought the theatre was, I was used to the Fox theatre here in St. Louis, and this one was soooooo small. I also was amazed with the huge staircase, and watching it rise with BEtty on it while the New Year's eve scene rolled out underneath. Then the final scene with Betty Buckley, how impressed I was with the technology, and Betty's acting. Wow.

My first Broadway show was Beauty and The Beast back in 2000.
I remember it was March and kind of cold. I remember that Stephen Blanchard was The Beast and Andrea McCardle was Belle and I remember being way far back but still being able to see all the colors and costumes and being in awe of it all. I remember screaming when the wolves attacked. I just remember all the whole time thinking as if it were a dream. I also remember getting the Beauty and The Beast t-shirt with the embrodered rose on it {which I still have}}

My first Broadway show was My Fair Lady in 1960. I was a kid visiting NYC from LA. I was supposed to see Bye Bye Birdie with my young cousins but I refused to see a "kids show" and talked my aunt into trading shows.

When we got to the theatre I developed a terrible bloody nose and remember being very uncomfortable sitting with tissue stuffed in my nose.

Two days later my lovely aunt let me see Bye Bye Birdy with my cousins and, of course, I loved it.

I was a late comer to Broadway...my friend had purchased opening night tickets to Will Rogers Follies (1st National Tour)in SF. Original Broadway cast (sans Cady Huffman, I believe). It was 1992 and I was about to have back surgery. I had never seen a Broadway musical and remember turning to her at intermission and saying something about never wanting the show to end, it was so beautiful. It had ended act one with "Diamonds for Mrs. Rogers" and the chorines were all dressed as jewels and it was stunning.

It made quite an impression on me and I love the show still.

After the show, we ran into Tommy Tune outside trying to hail his limo or a cab. A first stage door experience, and I was too in awe of him to say a word. I would talk to him later, after Tommy Tune Tonite though...

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Les Miserables- April 18th, 2003.
I had some attachment to this show and don't know why it appealed to me. I remember watching the 10th Anniversary concert tape at my Grandma's a lot and asked my dad to take me before it closed.

So I remember my exact spot in the last row and the Prologue with the chaingang, the turntable and seeing the various people onstage during that part and Lovely Ladies, the big set with the bridge and the cafe scenes and there being gates. Yeah lol, this was like 3 years ago and this was some of the extent to my memories seeing the show. I remember a lot about that day and details, but not of the show. I remember really liking it a lot and being satisfied that I saw the show a month before closing with the original Javert.

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First Broadway show was August 3rd, 2003: "Aida".

I sat somewhere in the middle-to-back of the mezzanine/loge area. I remember thinking how terribly far back I was and how I hoped to God I'd be able to see things and there were so many people and I'd never seen so many people in one theatre before and--

...and then the lights went down. I remember the wall of sound coming at me, the clarity and perfection of the music so clean and bold that it felt like a dream. I remember the lighting being too beautiful to understand, and the way the set moved, and the way the people moved on the set... all of it was unreal to me.

I remember not being able to breathe. I remember my mouth falling open at how effortless it all seemed. All of it.

I remember not being that impressed with Toni Braxton. And by "not that impressed" I mean I was kind of insulted by how much I didn't like her in the first half. She got better as it went on.

I remember loving Mandy Gonzalez as Amneris, a role that I don't relate to in any way, shape, or form, but have always wanted to play because of "My Strongest Suit," the song that got me into my first musical ("The Boyfriend" at my middle school two years before seeing "Aida" on B'way).

I remember LOVING Mereb and Nehebka even as minor-ish roles.

I remember practically moaning out loud in amazement at the transitions between scenes, how flawless and beautiful they were, and how incredible even the unspoken, unpronounced movements and gestures were.

Even at the back of the house, I literally felt transported by all of it.

And I sobbed my heart out in the finale.

When people say "Broadway is magic" or "theatre is magic"... I remember that night and know that they sure as hell weren't kidding. *shakes head*

My first Broadway show was Beauty and the Beast in July of 1996. Kerry Butler and Jeff McCarthy (sp?) were the leads. I was only 5 so I can't remember much, but one thing stood out for me. It was the when the Beast finished singing "If I Can't Lover Her" and he was standing on the balcony and the audience went crazzzzzy! So me, being five years old followed suit 'cause he must have done something right to make all of those people happy.

My first Broadway show was the revival of 'Annie' back in...May of 1997, for my tenth birthday. I remember my mom and I getting to the theatre to find that our seats were in the second to last mezzanine row. Now, when I was little, I was almost blind, so my mom asked an usher if there were any closer seats that we (or even me by myself) could sit in. Turns out, the right side balcony was empty, so we sat there. I was able to touch the door to the orphanage. I remember the understudy was on for the orphan Pepper, and she REALLY annunciated her words. When she said "Shut up!", it came out as "shuT uP!!!!!" So I thought that was wierd. The Annie (Brittny Kissinger) wasn't the best singer, but oh well, I was 10, what did I know? I remember my friend Mekenzie who played Duffy coming out during the bows with the other orphans and that she was wearing the pink version of Annie's red dress. I met Sutton Foster after the show, the Grace understudy (Christy Tarr), and the Pepper understudy (Alexandria Keisman). Then Mekenzine came out and we had a 'little kid freak-out'. I lost pretty much all the pictures that were taken that day, except for this one of me and Mekenzie: https://www.broadwayworld.com/viewphoto.cfm?id=4388

I also had a little 15 minutes of fame. My mom was talking to this woman next to her at the stagedoor, and they were talking about how I played Annie at my theatre camp the year before. Well, this one lady only heard the part "My daughter was Annie..." and kinda barrelled over to me and asked me to sign her playbills and take a picture with her kids. I told her I wasn't the Annie on Broadway, but she didn't care because her "kids just want to meet ANYONE who played Annie." Then everyone caught on to what was going on, and I must've signed about 50 playbilld haha. I'll post pictures once I dig them out of a box in my garage hahaha.

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My first was Beauty and the Beast. I was really young, but I still remember it. God, what an introduction to Broadway! From the minute the enchantress threw that ball of fire, I was entranced. I will never forget it.

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My first Broadway show was Seussical. It wasn't the first time I went to the theatre though. I had seen shows in amateur and regional productions. Although I lived in New York, I had never seen a Broadway show. I was about 10 or so and I wanted to go, not because of the Seuss thing, but because I saw a high school production of Once on This Island that I loved. Since Ahrens and Flaherty wrote Once on This Island, I wanted to see something by them.
So my parents and I went to the Rodgers Theatre and I remember how disapointed I was. I had seen all of these old movies where people wore evening gowns and suits to the theatre. Behind me was some old lady who looked like she was ready to wash her car. Oh yes, and that old lady hated the show and complained to her companions (her grandchildren) how awful she thought it was.
Onto the possitive things, I enjoyed David Shriner. I really thought Kevin Chamberlin was great. I liked the score. I was 10, so I didn't realize how really bad and episodic the book was.
The next show I saw was the revival of Kiss Me, Kate, which was probably the first time going to a Broadway show met my expectations. People dressed nicely. The sets weren't cheesey looking and the orchestra sounded like an orchestra.