Your greatest theater experience....

To add to the trend of "Your favorite this" and "The worst that" threads, here's a question on my mind....

What was your most amazing theater experience to date? Not performing but as an audience member. A show/number/performer that left you speechless, in awe so to speak. After all, these are the moments that convert theater-goers into theater-lovers. Well, at least in my case. I could name a few of my own.

With such a diverse crew around here, I am curious to hear all of yours....

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Updated On: 8/20/04 at 11:22 PM

Ouch.

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The Normal Heart-(play)
I went twice and RAUL ESPARZA blew me away.
It was a riveting play.
Avenue Q (Musical)
The first time I saw Avenue Q, I loved it. The third time I saw it the more I realized that it has become my all time favorite musical. It is touching. It is clever. It makes you laugh. It makes me cry. It is brilliant and biting at the same time.
I LOVE IT.

Updated On: 8/20/04 at 11:27 PM

That's a hard question, because the wonderful experiences I've had at the theatre have been so different from one another, it's hard to choose one.

But I would say that seeing this year's "The Normal Heart" was earth-shattering for me. I've never been so shaken up by a play before, I left the theatre trembling.

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The Normal Heart made me tremble and cry on a public bus in front of strangers.
It was very embarrassing.

Hee hee, I finally read my copy of the play today. Still hits me hard, particularly Ned's last speech, and his powerful litany of famous gay men a few scenes prior.

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Raul was incredible. He moved me. I did not cry much in the theater but as I left the public the tears were pouring down my face and I could not stop. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.
People were staring at me. An older woman came over and offered tissues.
I wanted to crawl into a hole.

When I was seeing "The Normal Heart", I made a very conscious effort not to cry. But by the time the lights dim for the last time (with Raul's devestating cry ripping through the air), my composure just collapsed. That's never happened before.

(Maybe we should start a new thread, I think we're hijacking this one! )

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My family took me to see POTO summer before college. I was so excited just to be there that I cried five minutes before it started and through the entire thing - it was beautiful. Same thing with Les Mis, which I saw in England. I sobbed like a baby. Something about these classics just hit the soul I guess.

I think that my heart aches and breaks every time I get the chance to be in the audience of any show, good or bad, because it confirms that there is nothing in the world that can top the feeling of being on stage.

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I don't even know. I'd have to say Ragtime was one for me. I was so in love with the show from just the recording and getting to see it live was just a crowning moment in my life.

I guess for me it's just sitting in a Broadway theater before the show, reading my playbill, listening to the orchestra warm up and just breathing it all in. There's such a magic to it.

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Wickeds opening night. The Gershwin was packed with stars and the show was a knockout. Uproarous laughter, applause, and tears reached everyone at some point of the show. Idina (who was basically unknown) really impressed me to say the least. Her performance on opening night stole the show even from Kristin Chenoweth, who was also hysterical and excellent. Idina made such a convincing transformation from generous and kind to wicked while Kristin Chenoweth set wonderful bounderies for her character, showing her underlying persona, below that bubbly, cutesy attitude there was a vain and jealously greedy person. The show was flawless and it made me go back two more times, which isnt bad. LOL. A wonderful, remarkable theatrical experience.

And...

The 2004 Tony Awards. Another star-studded event. Not only did I get to go to the awards ceremony, I went to the Wicked after party and met Idina, Kristin, and LBB. It was an unforgettable evening.

i saw Miss Saigon when i was pretty young...probably TOO young to be seeing it but i was a pretty mature kid. i was probably 7 or 8. i just remember the helicopter scene and being in awe.

I saw the 1st nat. tour of Beauty (before they took away all of the AMAZING stuff).That was my 1st real production that I saw. Then I saw the AMAZING Sutton Foster in Millie. It was my first Broadway show. One reason it means so much to me is because she is from a small town in Georgia like me.It showed me that evan though I'm from a small town, I still have a chance at makeing it!
Also, seeing and meeting Idina Menzel was HUGE for me!! Because I LOVE HER!!!!

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