how'd your first broadway play influenced you

idk if anyone's first broadway really CHANGED their life really drastically, but all i know is that once i saw aida my entire view on music changed and i started liking both heavy metal and broadway(broadway more) and all my friends thought that was weird cause they're such diff music but now i'm rambling and i just want to know how your first broadway play changed your views on music.

I saw my first musical on Broadway when I was 5 and it changed my life because it convinced me to become an actress.

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My first Broadway musical was HIGH SPIRITS starring Bea Lillie and Tammy Grimes. Tammy Grimes played this ghost named Elvira who was accidentally brought back from the grave because Bea Lillie played this Medium called Mme. Arcati who was always getting thing mixed up and was singing love songs to her ouija board, so that left Elvira flying around in Givenchy gowns which really impressed me because it was soooo amazing.

I went home and found that my mother didn't have any Givenchy gowns that I could wear because she always did her shopping at E.J. Korvettes and they didn't carry the Givenchy collection. So I borrowed my Aunt Fulvia's old wedding gown and wore it on the fire escape singing "Home Sweet Heaven" (making up the lyrics when I didn't know them) and old Mrs. Mondato called my parents and said they were raising a "degenerate". She was even more upset two days later when I turned the clothesline into a flying rig and soared passed her bedroom window wearing that same wedding dress singing "Faster Than Sound". It was even more amazing.

Ah, those were the days!

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Updated On: 12/28/03 at 04:42 PM

Glad I'm not the only middle-ager here.

I believe I saw a production of Mozart's "Magic Flute" at the old Juilliard building on 122nd St. sometime in '62 or 63 but I could be wrong about the year. Sometime in '62 I was also taken to see "How to Succeed..." but, at age 7, I don't have very strong memories of it (though I vividly recall the movie version in '67)

The first on-Bway musical I actually have memories of is "Ben Franklin in Paris" with Robert Preston (same, year, I recall as High Spirits, '64). However, earlier that year I saw a review featuring Tom Glazer's "On Top of Spaghetti" by the Paper Bag Players. (Tom, btw, sadly died this year.)

But the event that really did it for me was seeing Man of La Mancha at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre in late '65. I think it was one of the preview performances before the opening. I recall to this day that my Mother actually injured her hand and burst a blood vessel or two from applauding as hard as she did.

Being involved in an artistic effort that could so affect human emotions became a strong desire from that moment on.

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growing up way down south, my first "Broadway" experience was a tour of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (actually, i've written before about a tour of A CHORUS LINE, which i saw around the same time, not sure which one was actually the first). i liked CHORUS LINE but it didn't really change me that much...i had seen highlights of it (recalling Priscilla Lopez precisely) on The Carol Burnett Show. But i had seen nothing like SUPERSTAR; i was left wondering why music in my own church wasn't that exciting. It sort of invigorated my interest in music and particularly choral singing...i got more involved in the church music program and youth program at the same time a very dynamic youth minister joined the staff. There was drama, cut-down musicals, cantatas, puppets, ministry tours, you name it. i had avoided chorus at school as it conflicted with other electives i wanted and sports, but i gradually started taking chorus as my piano lessons also really kicked into music theory and not just "pieces". i can remember thinking how much fun that cast seemed to be having, and being amazed at the power of the piece (there was still some controversy over it). Luckily our church supported it and organized a trip to see it. The production, even for a tour, really galvanized me. i had not been exposed to people making a living, much less a social impact, with music. i think i thought of it as a hobby or something only people from higher social classes did. It even made me listen to an older brother's rock albums differently...before i had only really liked the Beatles and the Carpenters (really dating myself there).

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Uhm...well- I fell asleep in my first Broadway show...and my second one was Cabaret at age 9...and then Miss Saigon at age 9...I think thats the show that really got me interested in theatre. I saw it in either 98 or 99...with Lea Salonga- and after that I wanted to be Lea Salonga...not that I'm Philipino or anything- but after that I was really hooked.