AIDA for me. it was the one that really kick-started my on-going broadway/theatre obsession. and i am thankful to it!
there's a high school around me doing it in march that i'll probably go see. their theatre dept. is supposed to be top-notch so hopefully it'll be a worth-while trip!
Always will be A Chorus Line. Nothing is better.
I still make the opening number part of my morning workout routine. I have an entire wall devoted to ACL stuff. And no matter how many times I see A Chorus Line(on Broadway or elsewhere) or how many times I'm in A Chorus Line, I can't get enough of it.
When I was in Middle School my friend sang Castle on a Cloud in a chorus medley as Little Cosette with the high schoolers. I loved the song. That began my love of musicals 18 years ago.
Other than wanting to see Celia and check out Daphne, I have no desire to see the current "WAY TOO SOON" revival. I don't like the way they are billing it as "more intimate" with a smaller ensemble and scaled down orchestration. Let's get real, it's to SAVE MONEY. You don't scale back on a masterpiece to be cheap and then say it was an "artistic" decision.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if you are going to bring it back and change it - at least lets get some true artistic ideas and changes - other than Cosette's dress!
Sorry guys - it just irks me. It JUST CLOSED!!!!!!!!!!!! Why bring it back as a bargain basement "revival."
Just my opinion - I passionately love Les Miz cause it started it all for me.
The first show i was obsessed with was indeed CATS. That was because i was in it and that's all i was hearing. Its a great show though and i love it but Les Miz has now stolen my heart!!
Even though I love so many shows and saw "Sunday in the Park with George" on Broadway three times and spat at the TV screen when Jerry Herman won for Best Score and was depressed for many days when it didn't win for Best Musical...
My truest obsession was "Grand Hotel." I saw it two nights in a row after it opened. I was in awe. I went to the stage door after the show and they all walked right by me: Karen Akers (so tall), Jake Krakowski (so huggable), but they were such an incredible ensemble cast that I felt that if I spoke to any of them, I would be insulting the rest of them.
This was a year or so before the cast album came out, so I tracked down as many bootlegs that I could. (I would still love to have one of the show as it opened in Boston before the Maury Yeston songs were added.)
When they had the audition announcements for the national tour, it hurt my heart that I couldn't try out for it. Even though I am not a dancer and too young (at the time) to play Kringelein. Though, I did find a part for myself in the show. The desk clerk waiting to hear about his child being born. He was about my age. There was nothing to say that he couldn't be heavy-set. And he only danced in "Who Couldn't Dance With You."
Well, living in Pittsburgh, I wasn't able to get to the auditions in New York.
When the tour came here, I saw it two nights in a row, again! I got one set of tickets for me and my sister and then the guy playing Kringelein used to date the friend of a friend of mine and we got house seats!
And during the show, I watched the guy who played the desk clerk and thought, "I could play that part as well as, if not better than you!"
There have been a couple of local productions of it, but I haven't gone to see them. That show was such magic...
Wicked.
I'm better now though, I swear! But yes, I've seen the tour during its first Dallas engagement.
My Fair Lady. I saw a production of it at a local theatre and it was excellent.
It's still one of my favorite musicals.
"Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, men recognize that the human race has been harshly treated but it has moved forward." - Les Miserables
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
I have tickets for the National Tour on June 9.
Updated On: 7/25/09 at 03:35 PM
My first obsession was CAMELOT because I listened to the cast recording and developed such a crush on Richard Burton and his beautiful speaking voice (he couldn't really sing all that well, but who cared?). Because the show starred Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet, it was hard to get tickets to it, but my father paid a fortune and got us seats. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Just as the lights went down, the ominous spotlight and announcement in front of the curtain - horrors! But no, Burton had fallen backstage and had a black eye but still performed that night.
Everyone was wonderful but Burton was amazing. At the end, as he began the reprise of the song, Camelot ("Each evening..."), I think everyone was in tears, and even my dad looked a bit misty eyed. This was before the association of that song with JFK so it was not hampered by political or tragic overtones - other than those of the story of Camelot itself.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Les Miserables and Mamma Mia.
well i saw beauty on a class trip because one of my friends and classmates was chip! Then i didn't know what i wanted for my birthday, and my cousin had a tdf account. I was going to see sweet charity but the we were unavaible evry day they had it. so iwent to chitty chitty bang bang and loves it. then as time went on i saw hairspray, wedding singer, wicked, apple tree, lion king, mary poppins, fiddler on the roof, little shop of horrors, dance of the vampires, sweeney todd, tarzan, the grinch, and into the woods.
Updated On: 1/1/07 at 02:22 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/06
I think my first obsession was "Annie Get Your Gun," purely because of my love for Bernadette Peters. I was in middle school, and got to see it once on Broadway (my first Broadway show) and saw the touring cast when it came to Orlando.
However, I suppose my first tangible obsession (I have to admit it to myself) was Wedding Singer. I live in NYC now and am able to feed my theatre love- somehow (i.e. skimping on meals and other things to constantly see shows). It was the first show that I really kept going back to see (AGYG being the only show I had previously seen multiple times). It was a really difficult semester in many ways and WS was always guaranteed fun! I didn't go crazy with the viewing as my grand total was 10 (SR), but I really did appreciate the reprieve from reality that it offered, as well as the kindness of the cast. :) I was surprised by my investment in the show but whatev! It's over now and I will have good memories.
I really look forward to seeing other shows, either for the first time or again. I think I'll take another trip back to Company...
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