The Broadway show thread where we discuss all things Broadway

[AllisonK]

My favorites (in no particular order):

Les Miz (I've seen it 4 times - the original production once, once in Providence and the revival twice)
A Chorus Line (saw it 2x on Broadway)
Hairspray (saw it 1x on tour and 5x on Broadway - the last time with Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur)
Legally Blonde (saw it once on tour and 8 times on Broadway - including the MTV taping and closing night)
Spring Awakening (have only seen it once - I love the original play as well - we did it my sophomore year of high school)
South Pacific (saw it once last spring - absolutely breathtaking)

I also love Beauty and the Beast (saw it once but it was the last show I was in my senior year of high school), Wicked (saw it twice on Broadway and twice on tour, Annie (saw it once on tour but I've been in it 4 times), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (saw it once in Boston and three times in NYC), Forbidden Broadway (technically off-Broadway but it's HYSTERICAL - I didn't see it in NYC, though - I saw it in Boston), A Catered Affair (this show had gorgeous music), and The Light in the Piazza (only saw it on PBS - gorgeous show).

I'm going to see a show tomorrow - it's a toss-up between Shrek and The Marvelous Wonderettes (Off-Broadway). This semester I also want to see 9 to 5, Billy Elliot, In the Heights, West Side Story and Guys and Dolls (because Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls is playing Adelaide and I love Gilmore Girls).

Shows I didn't like:
Xanadu (loved the cast, the show was dumb), The Phantom of the Opera (loved the ballet chorus though), The Lion King (loved the music), Cats

 

[The LK 4]

I love going to the theater!

My faves are:

Wicked
Hairspray
Mamma Mia
Rent
Avenue Q
Jersey Boys (just saw it Sunday in Pittsburgh, going again the last night they are in town!)
Sweet Charity
Joseph

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was just ok.

I didn't like Cats, Les Miz, Phantom. I usually prefer the more upbeat shows.

Off Broadway - go and see Altar Boyz! I loved this show! Saw it 3x in Pittsburgh and going again in NYC in a few weeks. They have a $20 special right now on tickets if you show up 20 minutes before it starts. Check out http://www.20at20.com/ for more $20 specials.

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

Cats being a complete abomination!

Oh you did NOT just say that! Them's fightin' words..put 'em up put 'em up..

 

[luvtogo12]

My Favorites:

Jersey Boys (trying to get back to see it again).
Mama Mia (saw this twice)
Les Mis

 

[tiggerfan1]

I've never seen a show on Broadway (unfortunately), but I've seen lots of tour performances. These are some of my favorites:


-Thoroughly Modern Millie
-Crazy for You
-The Lion King
-The King and I
-Oklahoma
-The Sound of Music
-Annie
-Sarafina
-Once Upon a Mattress
-Peter Pan (starring Cathy Rigby........this was many years ago)

 

[JARNJ3]

I think it was Michael Damian I saw in Joseph.


I remembered a couple more of my favorites, Tommy and How to Succeed in Business Without Really trying. Saw both of them twice.

That's who I saw in Joseph on Broadway. I absolutely LOVE this show - its my ultimate favorite! I bought the movie with Donny and the soundtrack - and the soundtrack is on my ipod!

Other shows I've seen and loved:

The Lion King
Grease - twice - once with Rosie
Evita - Patty Lupone
How to Succeed - with Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica
The Producers - with Richard Kind
Pirates of Penzance - Maureen McGovern & Kevin Kline
Sweeny Todd - Angela Lansbury
Smokey Joe's Cafe
Into the Woods - Bernadette Peters
42nd Street - Jerry Orbach
They're Playing our Song - Lucie Arnaz and I think Tony Roberts?

(Think I'm star struck?)

Shows I absolutely HATED:

Blood Brothers - Shaun and David Cassidy - I really wanted to like it - but it had Petula Clark in it too - and I kept waiting for her to sing "Down Town." Plus the Cassidy's had horrible English Accents.

Showboat - If I heard Ol Man River one more time - my head was going to explode. That one had Marilyn McCoo

 

[PK Disney Dork]

I dont' see how anyone could hate Showboat! It's a classic! When flash in the pan shows like Wicked and Spring Awakening are long forgotten...Showboat will still be a standard bearer for American musical theatre!

 

[The LK 4]

I can't speak for Spring Awakening, but I wouldn't call Wicked a flash in the pan. Have you seen it? It's very powerful.

 

[LoraJ]

I dont' see how anyone could hate Showboat! It's a classic! When flash in the pan shows like Wicked and Spring Awakening are long forgotten...Showboat will still be a standard bearer for American musical theatre!

I didn't hate Showboat, but I did take a nap during it. Granted, I was getting over a cold at the time. I buy the CD's for just about every show I go to, and I never got that one, guess it didn't impact me much.

I will be listening to Spring Awakening for years to come. And even though I haven't seen Wicked yet, I do have the CD for it and really like it.

 

[MM27]

I see that someone saw Grease on Broadway with Rosie O'Donnell. I was supposed to see it with her, but it was right around the time that they made the switch to Brooke Shields. What a horrible actress she is. She was not good at all, and should be banned from every again singing on a Broadway stage Actually, she should just be banned from singing ever again.

 

[SamRoc]

I see that someone saw Grease on Broadway with Rosie O'Donnell. I was supposed to see it with her, but it was right around the time that they made the switch to Brooke Shields. What a horrible actress she is. She was not good at all, and should be banned from every again singing on a Broadway stage Actually, she should just be banned from singing ever again.

We saw Grease with Lucy Lawless (Zena the Warrior Princess) She was great and had a terrific voice. During the show they took dd up onstage and I have great pictures as we were in the front row. We saw Lucy after the show and she was so nice. That was one of my kids favorite shows too so they thought it was neat to see her on Broadway.

 

[LoraJ]

I see that someone saw Grease on Broadway with Rosie O'Donnell. I was supposed to see it with her, but it was right around the time that they made the switch to Brooke Shields. What a horrible actress she is. She was not good at all, and should be banned from every again singing on a Broadway stage Actually, she should just be banned from singing ever again.

I saw it with Rosie. I'm sure she was better than Brooke, she was funny in the role, but that production wasn't that great. I saw the new production over the summer with Taylor Hicks. I liked that version better.

 

[johnsontrio]

Ah now this is a topic near and dear to my heart...generally because it's how I make my living!

Let's see my favorite musicals...ok this will be in no particular order...

Urinetown the Musical!-Possibly one of the smartest and most complete shows written in the past decade! Brilliantly funny and a score that rivals anything ever written.

The Fantasticks!-It's musical theatre in its purest form. It's a smple love story with strange twists and an ending that leaves you smiling.

Showboat-It amazes me how a show as old as this one can still be so socially relavent! A lush score that has never been matched!

Sweeney Todd-This is Sondheim's magnum opus! Nothing compares to the dark complexities show this brings to the table. I am talking however about the original incarnation of the show and not the joke of a revival a few years ago.

Big River-Mark Twain's best book combined with the originality of the score by Roger Miller...just good and deep stuff.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying-Quirky...catchy tunes with a very campy story...what's not to love?

As far as plays go...no explanations...just here they are...

The Changling

The Foreigner

The Diviners

End Game

Six Degrees of Seperation

I've never been a fan of anything Andrew Lloyd Webber has ever written. Most of his shows are extremely repetitive and tend to lose steam by intermission. Cats being a complete abomination!

Like I said...live theatre is how I make a living...as an actor and director...so threads like this are great!!!

I can't believe this thread is now 5 pages long and there is only one other person that cited Big River as a fav. I saw that on Broadway in 1986? and still listen to the soundtrack. Roger Miller wrote some hysterically funny and poignantly touching lyrics for that show and since it's based on an American classic, what could be better? I wanted to see the revival in which the characters sang and also signed the entire production, but didn't get the chance.

That same trip we saw a dreadfully boring drama that I can't even remember the name of.

Living in the Detroit area we are very fortunate to have Stratford, Ontario within distance for day trips. We have seen fabulous productions there including Romeo and Juliet, My Fair Lady, The King and I, Anything Goes, Guys and Dolls and enjoy the intimacy of those theaters. We also have been able in the past to travel to Toronto and Chicago for theater as well as seeing touring productions at local venues in Detroit.

We have seen both Michael Damien and Donny Osmond in Joseph.

We are really looking forward to Jersey Boys coming this fall 2009. And we are psyched about seeing Movin'Out again soon, not too many mentions of that show here on the DIS either.

Recent highlights have been seeing Chaz Palminteri do his one man show A Bronx Tale. It's hard to imagine how he could do a one man show for 90 minutes and keep your attention. It seemed like 15 minutes (I had not seen the movie beforehand so I didn't know the storyline) and I could easily see it again. We were fortunate to meet him briefly after the show. We enjoyed Wicked but I think it suffered from being at the Opera house, sounded like hearing it through speakers instead of from the orchestra, no goosebumps when the overture started. The costuming and staging seemed to me to be the strong points of Wicked along with the originality of the story. As a friend told me, you'll never watch The Wizard of Oz the same way again.

And not fearing flames, I state that I would not care to see 42nd Street or A Chorus Line again and that we loved Whistle Down the Wind

And to the OP, great thread!

 

[MissMet]

Some of my favorites are Chicago, Jersey Boys, White Christmas & Mary Poppins.

I have front row, center for wicked in two weeks. So I'm excited about that & I'm even more excited to see Guys & Dolls in march.

 

[sharonW]

My all-time favorite B'way show is Jersey Boys. Loved it so much that I have seen it twice, and would love to go back again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGTvAaS0nAE

Fast forward the link a bit....alot of talking prior to the performance.

AGREE!! I have seen it 5 times and still have
not had enough!!!!

 

[sharonW]

Some of my favorites are Chicago, Jersey Boys, White Christmas & Mary Poppins.

I have front row, center for wicked in two weeks. So I'm excited about that & I'm even more excited to see Guys & Dolls in march.

WOW!!!! How did you manage to get front row???

 

[DISshopkeeper]

I saw 42nd St in the front row, and I didn't really like being that close. I found myself mesmerized by the actor's dancing FEET! Almost couldn't stop watching their feet! Won't sit front row again.

 

[doodle]

Thanks OP for the topic - favorite of all time has to be Wicked - it made me laugh, gasp, think and cry........

 

[MissMet]

WOW!!!! How did you manage to get front row???

I went through a ticket liquidator. I only had to pay $20 over face value & I bought them last week for Feb 4. I could have gotten six front row, center, but only needed three.

I saw 42nd St in the front row, and I didn't really like being that close. I found myself mesmerized by the actor's dancing FEET! Almost couldn't stop watching their feet! Won't sit front row again.

I do not generally go for orch front row, I am a front row mezz kinda girl, but this was a gift for a friend & he loves front row orch. Plus in the Gershwin theater they took out two rows for the orchestra pit for wicked, so we're the first row, but actually three rows distance from the stage. We'll see if that makes a difference.

 

[JenM]

I'm going to see a show tomorrow - it's a toss-up between Shrek and The Marvelous Wonderettes (Off-Broadway). This semester I also want to see 9 to 5, Billy Elliot, In the Heights, West Side Story and Guys and Dolls (because Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls is playing Adelaide and I love Gilmore Girls).

I loved Billy Elliot! I haven't seen it on Broadway yet, but I saw it in London twice. It was amazing, some of the best dancing I have ever seen!