Your greatest theater experience....- Page 5

[check your personality]

Posted: 8/26/04 at 11:28pm

My favorite broadway experience was on my last birthday, this past June 19th...

I had been trying to organize friends to get to come see Millie with me, not just for my birthday, but so we could see the show (again for me) and meet Susan Egan! After all this planning, the majority of my friends couldn't go for various reasons, leaving me with my mom and my neighbor, who is like a brother to me. We set off for NYC anyway, with me thinking that we would stand in the TKTS line for as long as it would take to get to see TMM on my birthday!

So I'm in the broadway store right near the Marquis theater, urging my mom and my friend to hurry up so we could get in line for TKTS. All of a sudden my mom just leaves the store, saying that she wants to go see if she could get some tickets at the theater itself. I just assumed she was checking for cancelled tickets or whatever, and wouldn't have any luck. But she comes back holding a card, which is a birthday card, that says "Enjoy the show!" - all along my mom had had the tickets, she was just making me nervous for hours! I started freaking out in the store, making many stare at me, I'm sure..

So basically the show was FABULOUS as always, and it was amazing to be there so close to the closing performance. And outside at the stage door was one of the best times I've ever had - Susan was sooo nice, she remembered me from a memorable e-mail I had sent her and took about 10 minutes to tell me how much she appreciated my e-mail and how glad she was to meet me, etc. etc.! We got some awesome pics of her hugging me after she found out it was me, and others of us just talking!

Wow, that turned out to be longer then I thought but it was such a fabulous day that I could never shorten my story, so just ignore me if it's too much!

[DancerGirl16]

Posted: 8/26/04 at 11:58pm

My greatest broadway experience was Les Miserables, our cast performed in it and then got to watch the rest....it was one of the most incredible days of my life!

[cutiepie0882]

Posted: 8/27/04 at 12:02am

Wicked on Broadway left me speechless. Laura Bell Bundy and Idina Menzel together were an incredible pair. The singing, the lights, and all the effects were incredible. I mean I totally agree with the reviewer's comment, "If every musical had the Brain, Heart, and Courage as Wicked then Broadway would be a very magical place!"

[Delphine]

Posted: 8/27/04 at 12:03am

My greatest theatre experience was probably RENT. I was suprised to be so moved by it. It was an amazing moment for me that solidified my love for theatre.

[NYBroadwayNY]

Posted: 8/27/04 at 12:38am

Sorry, I have 3. I'll try to make it short.

Saw a touring company of CATS a lonnnnnggggg time ago. This was my first experience with a BW show. It was at the "Memory" reprise, when Grizzy is on the floor, you hear the music building, she slowly, agonizingly, finds the strength to stand, just as the run of the music hits its peak, and belts out the "Touch me. It's so easy to leave me....." line. It LITERALLY, and no kidding, took my breath away.

A year or so after that, I FINALLY talked 3 friends into going to our first trip to NY. I just had to see more BW since CATS. We saw POTO with the OC, including Michael Crawford. The hairs on the back of my neck raised with the Overture. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I just really could not believe that I was so lucky to be there.

And finally, Thanksgiving Night, 2003. In NY for my umpteenth time with a friend. Had nothing to do that night. I had heard that a new musical about the witches of Oz had lottery tickets. I asked my friend about trying for them. We agreed and walked over to the theater. We knew NOTHING about the show. We knew NOTHING about the cast. We only knew that it was about the witches of Oz, that's it. When we got there, there were about 400 - 500 people. I was shocked. We put our names in and began making plans for the evening, since we KNEW we wouldn't win. About that time, they called my name. We got the first two seats, center orch. from the right side. PERFECT. The show started and by the end, I was in tears. Not just because of the emotions of the story, but because once again, I just couldn't believe that I was so lucky to be there. It was as if I felt blessed and honored to have the opportunity to see and hear what I did that night, and so many other nights on BW!

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/27/04 at 5:20pm

I am so upset that I missed Jennifer in Dreamgirls. I had the tickets for about three months before I went. All excited. The month before I went they announced that she was leaving the show. her last performance was the night before I went. I was crushed!

[NuggetMonkeys]

Posted: 8/27/04 at 5:25pm

Caroliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.
-d.b.j-

[artsamore]

Posted: 8/27/04 at 6:36pm

Okay,

On my birthday last December I went to see the "Boy From Oz"(it was my third time). The top of Act Two number, when Hugh is performing at the club setting, Hugh takes a break in the middle of the song to interact with the audience(this is usually where his most outrages fan interactions happen). Well on my night we the "old crowd" as our audience and they hadn't been giving much back when Hugh would interact, SO when the moment came in the song when Hugh hits the crescendo and jumps up from the piano and looks at the audience to find someone to play with, my thought were, " I have to give this guy something, he is working way too hard up there and this crowd is not giving it back." So I yell out YES!!! As he is looking to the audience and sure enough, he seizes the opportunity. First he asks the house to put the spotlight on me( I was sitting in the 6th row of the front mezz) and he says "C'mon here we go!" and we go into the hip dance with the crotch thrust finale together. Then after that happens(the audience is just going crazy at this point) my friend shouts to Hugh, "Today's his birthday!!" and Hugh gets the entire audience to say Happy Birthday to me.

Now the clincher, this was when the Broadway auctions were going on to raise money for Broadway Cares, after the auctions were over(and Hugh has auctioned off shirts and kisses) Hugh points to us in our seats and says "You know what everyone, since it's his birthday, I am going to ask the birthday boy to come back stage and get a picture with me after the show!!! Needless to say everyone in the audience treated me and my freind like celebrities after that!

Go Hugh!!

[mule]

Posted: 8/27/04 at 6:46pm

Tough one but a fun question.

As many have said here, the first time I saw POTO was unreal. It was not my first show but was my first musical. It is just so powerful and moving.

However, the experience that cemented my love for Broadway was the first time I heard Linda Eder and Christiane Noll sing "In His Eyes" in Jekyl & Hyde. I liked that show but I loved that song. They were truly on that night and you could just feel it. I met Linda a few weeks later and flat out asked her about that night. She remembered the performance and confirmed that the whole cast felt great that night and that everyone was "on". She gracefully accepted my compliment while confirming that that was about as well as they could perform that song.

Good question.

[broadwayinthebigcity]

Posted: 8/27/04 at 7:33pm

Since I haven't been to many broadway shows wicked is my favorite.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 8/27/04 at 8:03pm

I will have to say the original production of Annie (my first B-way show; it was definitely a magical experience); and

Ragtime. I had seats in the 2nd row and I was totally blown away from beginning to end. I was so moved, I couldn't even speak.

[jezzebelle]

Posted: 8/28/04 at 12:35am

Les Miserables was the very first show I saw on Broadway. It no longer has the same impact on me as it did way back when, but let me tell you, the first time, everything in that show hit me like a ton of bricks. There is nothing else like the feeling of seeing your first show, feeling all the amazing emotions that go with it and taking in everything. Les Miz will always hold a special place in my heart.

Hairspray was another incredible experience because it made me so happy. I had a HUGE, silly grin on my face the entire 2 plus hours and left the Neil Simon, with my mood completley elevated and in bliss. I forgot about all my problems while the show was going on and it's hard to do that for me. I was shaking, that was how friggin' excited I was. I'm always happy before, after and during HS, but that first time, not knowing completley what to expect was awesome. Especially seeing Kathy Brier as Tracy, Blew me away...it was a great experience.

[TheAudrey3]

Posted: 8/28/04 at 12:42am

Well, I only got seriously into broadway about a year ago, when I got the Millie OCR as a present, along with tickets to the tour. I ended up getting to see the show in March of this year and meeting Susan Egan in the lobby and got to tell her about it, and she signed my playbill. She is so amazingly talented and sweet, and as a fan, I really felt like I mattered. And that's a great feeling.