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Post by horton on Mar 20, 2020 0:01:52 GMT
Whilst we're waiting for life to move on, how about celebrating our favourite musical memories?
Who has the longest memory?
Not my earliest, but I remember the sheer, sheer joy, wonder, showbiz and warmth of Michael Crawford's Barnum at the Palladium (before the transfer to VP). And when he rope-slid from the circle down to the stage- what a finale. Whilst other stories might circle the old chap, I will be eternally grateful for the show MC put on that evening- he made some look effortless that all subsequent Barnums have struggled to match, even with very visible effort.
Not my favourite musical, but probably the best musical comedy performance I ever saw (though I may have forgotten someone else).
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Post by sf on Mar 20, 2020 0:08:14 GMT
Julia McKenzie, Bob Hoskins, and Julie Covington in Guys and Dolls at the National in 1982. Not my earliest memory of going to the theatre, but I thought it was magical. My mother took me, probably on a day-trip from my grandmother's house in Suffolk (much closer to London than home in Greater Manchester); I'd have been about nine.
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Post by alece10 on Mar 20, 2020 6:17:14 GMT
Well no surprise to many but it's the joy of 42nd Street and the everlasting moment when the staircase appears. I still get tearful every time I think about it.
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Post by schuttep on Mar 20, 2020 9:21:38 GMT
Here's one of my happiest and oldest memories - from 1974:
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in a local professional production at the Crucible in Sheffield.
At the end, when Joseph enters in his "chariot of gold" he entered in a gold Aston Martin car! Perfect!
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Post by Mark on Mar 20, 2020 9:43:55 GMT
Hello, Dolly! on Broadway.
Every Single Time
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Post by HereForTheatre on Mar 20, 2020 9:49:41 GMT
I have a few. Seeing In The Heights for the first time. Seeing Dreamgirls with Amber Riley and being completely blown away. Then probably the first preview of Come From Away, which felt very special. Oh and there was a trip in 2017 to London where i saw Adrian Mole at the Menier and TCAABR and i just had the loveliest time, i always remember it. I don't know what particularly made it feel special but i always count that as my best theatre trip to London.
I have to say the longer i've been going to the theatre the less of an event or special occasion it's become. I still absolutely love it obviously and it's my main hobby but it feels a bit run of the mill now and it feels sometimes a bit like just ticking things of a list. I love thinking back to a few years ago when i'd be excited about seeing something for weeks and it felt special, especially if it meant a London trip, and they are the shows and trips that still stand out. (is it just me who feels that way btw?)
I often wish i could get that feeling back and funnily enough having this imposed theatre break for the next few months might do it!
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Post by Paul on Mar 20, 2020 10:25:56 GMT
Victoria Palace "Annie" one Christmas. Fascinated and captivated by it all. The rest is history... The UK tour of Annie, many years ago had me fascinated and captivated too. When those buckets hit the stage I was sold on a life of musical theatre addiction.
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Post by stepha on Mar 20, 2020 10:46:48 GMT
What a lovely thread!
Les Mis at the Palace in '97 - having spent years listening to the OLC in the back of the family car - Mum, Dad, me and my sister singing along (Dad would turn the sound down to listen to me and my sister belt out the profanities..), it was our first family trip to the West End.
I cried from the first note to the last (and probably the 2 hour journey home).
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Post by tonyloco on Mar 20, 2020 11:26:02 GMT
Horton asks 'Who has the longest musical memory?' and regular readers will know it is probably me, with my frequent references to being knocked out by 'Annie Get Your Gun' in Sydney in 1947/48 starring Evie Hayes. I was all of 11 years old but I can still see and hear the whole show in my mind's eye, although I did see it about six times – my theatre-loving mother was very accommodating about taking me to see shows like that!
Before that, I have vague memories of the wonderful variety shows at the Tivoli with jugglers, acrobats, comics, singers and a line of Tivoli chorus girls who seemed like wondrous, glamourous creatures from some magic land of singing and dancing. And before 'Annie Get Your Gun' I still have clear memories of seeing 'The Desert Song' and 'White Horse Inn', the latter with its revolving stage that presented four or five separate scenes and then revolved at the end of the performance to show each of the sets in turn. There was also a rain storm where water fell just behind the footlights into a gutter across the stage. This seemed like pure theatrical magic to a small child aged about 9 or 10 – not to mention the cast singing and dancing behind the rain while holding up umbrellas!
After 'Annie' the most memorable musicals in Sydney during the 1950s were 'Call Me Madam' with Evie Hayes and 'Kiss Me, Kate' with Hayes Gordon and Maggie Fitzgibbon.
Well, I was asked!
PS We will never get a chance to see the version of 'Annie Get Your Gun' that so bedazzled me because it is now politically very incorrect and has been sanitised to remove songs like 'I'm an Indian Too' which seemed a lot of innocent fun back in 1948, when small children played 'Cowboys and Indians', and 'Red Indians' were the villains in so many Hollywood Westerns and serials.
Sorry for rambling, but it gives me something to do while I am self-isolating.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2020 12:20:01 GMT
First time seeing Starlight Express in the 80s when I was 11 (resulting in MT obsession for life). Last night of Starlight Express at the Apollo Victoria in 2002.
(Surprising literally no-one!)
Great idea for a thread :-)
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Post by robertb213 on Mar 20, 2020 12:23:48 GMT
I have to say the longer i've been going to the theatre the less of an event or special occasion it's become. I still absolutely love it obviously and it's my main hobby but it feels a bit run of the mill now and it feels sometimes a bit like just ticking things of a list. I love thinking back to a few years ago when i'd be excited about seeing something for weeks and it felt special, especially if it meant a London trip, and they are the shows and trips that still stand out. (is it just me who feels that way btw?) I often wish i could get that feeling back and funnily enough having this imposed theatre break for the next few months might do it! I completely agree with you, I'd been feeling the same about my theatre-going turning into a list-ticking exercise, and I hope that this downtime makes the flame reignite once we can jump back into that world again!
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Post by Being Alive on Mar 20, 2020 12:44:11 GMT
Seeing Bette Midler do Hello Dolly.
It really was 3 hours of HAPPY. and seeing the Divine Ms M in the flesh was pretty amazing.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2020 12:45:20 GMT
I stopped going to the theatre as much a few years ago and to be honest its one of the best things I've done. I value it and appreciate it so much more now and have the enjoyment of it back far more than when it was 'routine'
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Post by tonyloco on Mar 20, 2020 13:22:38 GMT
I have to say the longer i've been going to the theatre the less of an event or special occasion it's become. I still absolutely love it obviously and it's my main hobby but it feels a bit run of the mill now and it feels sometimes a bit like just ticking things of a list. I love thinking back to a few years ago when i'd be excited about seeing something for weeks and it felt special, especially if it meant a London trip, and they are the shows and trips that still stand out. (is it just me who feels that way btw?) I often wish i could get that feeling back and funnily enough having this imposed theatre break for the next few months might do it! I completely agree with you, I'd been feeling the same about my theatre-going turning into a list-ticking exercise, and I hope that this downtime makes the flame reignite once we can jump back into that world again! Gosh, that surprises me. Looking back over a period of some 70 years of theatre-going, albeit with long gaps when I was playing piano most nights, I don't think I ever felt it became routine. If I wasn't enjoying a show I would leave in the interval, but for those that I did enjoy it always remained a special experience and I would try to go back and see my favourite shows more than once, although this was often not possible at places like Chichester, Wimbledon or Richmond.
And my many visits to 42nd Street recently just confirmed that my love for musicals hadn't diminished and I was still getting plenty of bang for my buck night after night at Drury Lane!
But maybe it is the more frequent going to the theatre just to tick off seeing the latest shows that may become routine, and as I got quite aged I was no longer able to do this anyway.
However, each to their own and that's the fascination of a forum like this where we can all express our differing views!
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Post by jaqs on Mar 20, 2020 14:53:36 GMT
Mine isn’t a particularly old one but the first preview of Hairspray, I loved every second and went back the next night.
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Post by The Matthew on Mar 20, 2020 16:26:44 GMT
Seeing 42nd Street for the first time back in 1986. It was my first West End musical and the way the curtain swept up at the start has stuck with me ever since. There's all sorts of technology in theatre these days but there's something about the elegant simplicity of a flown cloth that has a special pleasure for me.
Going to see A Little Night Music at the Theater 't Eilandje in Antwerp in 2001. It was the first time I'd even been abroad completely alone and when I got off the train at Antwerpen Centraal I realised I'd left my map at home and had to navigate my way to the hotel entirely by memory. One of the best productions I've seen, even in a language I don't speak. Great trip, great show, great Belgian beer in the bar with the cast afterwards.
The final night of Evita at the Adelphi in 2007. The applause just didn't stop, and close to ten minutes later the somewhat bemused cast came back on stage for a final bow. I've never seen a response like it.
And a rather low-key one: On the second cast change of Avenue Q when they pass the hat around I put a squeaky rubber chicken in it. Later in the show I discovered that it's amazing how clearly you can hear someone in the wings playing with a squeaky rubber chicken.
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Post by BoOverall on Mar 20, 2020 18:13:53 GMT
So many over the decades but my highlights are:
- the final performance of the original London run of Aspects of Love: saw it so often in those days and it’s my favourite ALW score. Oh and that set.....beautiful, evocative and just right.
-Emma Thompson after a performance of Me and My Girl at the Leics Haymarket in the early 80s, spilling a glass of wine over me at their bar when I was a young thing. Bless her, she even bought me a coke and my parents a bottle of wine to apologise.
- The filmed performance of Light in the Piazza in NY. Went to the show knowing nothing much about it but it was far and away the theatre highlight of that trip.
- a preview of Love Never Dies with ALW present. I said to him I loved the music (it’s still to my mind a ravishing score) but that ending needed badly tightening up...I even suggested to him Christine dies a bit quicker rather than that scene dragging out so much. Had the Lord listened to me..........🤣🤣
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Post by Fleance on Mar 20, 2020 19:09:51 GMT
My first three shows on Broadway were musicals. I was very young, but I will never forget them. The first was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, at the very end of its run, with Dick Shawn in the lead. A great score, but the number that particularly engaged me was "Impossible." The second was Barbara Streisand in Funny Girl, where as a young teen I was bowled over by "Don't Rain on My Parade." And the third, that same summer of 1964, was 110 in the Shade, where Inga Swenson singing "Raunchy" shocked me with the lyrics "I'll be so raunchy, sippin' Dr. Pepper mixed with booze, shakin' my cabooze..."
One of my most memorable London musical moments was Denis Quilley as Vera Lynn in Privates on Parade.
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Post by poster J on Mar 21, 2020 11:26:59 GMT
The recent 42nd Street revival - both the first time I saw it (an evening made even better by an excellent gig from Rachel Tucker straight after) and the closing night. I've never felt an atmosphere quite like that last night, and to be in the front row with a whole load of other theatreboard people was special.
Wicked holds a special place in my heart as it was my first West End show. I'll never forget Rachel Tucker's last ever performance in the show.
The first time I saw Come From Away - no explanation necessary!
Being at the closing night of the original run of Les Mis last summer was special, as was the final night of We Will Rock You (yes, I unashamedly loved that show!)
Some of my favourite memories are also the first times I visited a lot of the smaller fringe theatres - the Menier, Southwark, the Donmar, Hampstead and the Bridge.
And also just the privilege of getting to see so many great actors on stage, always gives me a thrill.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2020 12:18:03 GMT
HereForTheatre robertb213 @rnc I totally get where you are coming from. Remember when I was a teenager I'd see a West End musical once, max twice per year. The anticipation, excitement, sense of occasion and reflection afterwards was incredible. Am in my 40s now and would deffo describe theatre as my main hobby. Am lucky now to be able to afford to see one or two shows a week rather than a year! And it goes without saying that I still love it. But sadly it is often routine and that sense of total unparalleled excitement is definitely not there anymore. And sometimes it can feel like a list ticking exercise. For example I kinda feel I should see all the big West End shows. Funnily enough, I have been thinking last year or so would be good to cut down really. As an example I have seen shows in the last year that I kinda knew wouldn't necessarily be my thing (Waitress, Big, Come From Away) and I was going to book for City of Angels, even though I really don't like the CD! So anyway, I do think one positive of this enforced break is that it forces you to press the pause button and take stock. I could never go without musicals, but once this period is over, I will be a bit more selective and not see things just cos they are there - and I do think that will bring the spark back :-)
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Post by crabtree on Mar 21, 2020 12:31:10 GMT
This eight year old's life was transformed at Drury Lane in 1964, I think, with Camelot, with Laurence Harvey and Elizabeth Larner. The scenic splendour of the first scene looking like a snowy Book of Hours with everyone in ermine, skating and sledging, and then transforming into the gold court. Wow. Do I remember someone being burnt at the stake? Or at least nearly being burnt. Camelot is most definitely not my favourite musical, but it threw open a door that has never been shut, and certainly developed a love of a good transformation scene - I was transformed truly.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2020 12:47:57 GMT
Whilst theatre is one of my favourite hobbies, I have to admit that I’ve had to take a step back from it over the last few months. Not because I dislike it or have grown bored of it, I just needed a break from it - I don’t think I’ve been yet in 2020.... and of course now I can’t go I’d quite like to go. I think going to the theatre became too routine and after a pretty extensive decade of trying to see as much of everything that I could I just needed to press pause on it all.
Going to see as much as I - and indeed we - do, I think I can become desensitised to the spectacle of it all at times. I can still recognise talent and great little moments in everything I see, but I think you become expectant of a certain standard and over time it can become easier to note why something isn’t working... but also when something really special comes along, it really is special.
One of those moments was Glenn in Sunset. I was having a crappy day, didn’t really want to go and the whole thing just cheered me up no end. Having a real movie star in the role I think really helps buy into Norma and the whole ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye’ was just magical.
Another one would be Company. I went into it not knowing what to expect but for it was one of those shows that starts strong and builds so it ends in an even stronger place. Musicals like that are a joy to watch because you start to suspect it’s going to be something special and as it builds and gets there it’s just a pleasure to watch.
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Post by daisy24601 on Mar 21, 2020 13:49:28 GMT
I was listening to Memphis a couple of days ago and thinking back to how much I thought about it after the first time I went. It really stuck with me. I saw it again and again and never got bored of it. When I think of 2015 I think of Memphis. Happy times.
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Post by Scswp on Mar 21, 2020 14:19:48 GMT
Lots of happy musical memories for me. Too many to list really, but definitely seeing LuPone, Buckley and Paige in the 1990s epic take on Sunset Boulevard made for special memories. The set, the costumes, the seeing of these three musical divas in the role (I was young and had never seen anyone ‘known’ in anything I’d previously seen!) The world was a ‘bigger place’ before the Internet and I’d heard of LuPone and Buckley only via Dress Circle/cast recordings of well-known musicals. I’d obviously heard of Paige. To see these ‘names’ and to hear these voices that I’d grown up knowing (but not necessarily knowing what these stars looked like - except Paige) was a thrilling experience for a (not yet) gay young man! None of the ladies disappointed! There are lots of other memories, but Sunset has always been my fave. Oddly enough, I saw Glenn at the Coliseum years later and she actually disappointed me in the role - maybe I was too far away from the stage.
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Post by macksennett on Mar 21, 2020 15:28:40 GMT
Totally relate to what Dom says about not feeling the same sense of totally unparalleled excitement now I’m in my 40s as to when I was seeing shows as a teenager or in my 20s. Yes the anticipation beforehand and reflection afterwards was incredible! I wish I could get that all back!!
Also empathise with what Scswp says about seeing Betty Buckley in Sunset Boulevard and hearing about the American stars through Dress Circle. The world certainly did seem a bigger place in those youthful days!
My happiest West End theatre memories were the first shows I saw...Miss Saigon at Drury Lane, Betty in Sunset and the exquisite She Loves Me at the Savoy. Happy memories!
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Post by teatowel on Mar 21, 2020 20:22:28 GMT
A recent memory at Bristol Old Vic, and not exactly a musical: Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of).
My parents were visiting at relatively short notice & so I bought some tickets last minute as a nice thing to do with them. I had seen it in a preview, and thought they might like it (they are normally a tough crowd to please). There weren't that many seats left except right at the front row of the stalls in the centre.
As I had enjoyed it so much first time round, I wrote a note for the cast saying how much I had enjoyed their performance and the show, and was going to drop it off to the theatre staff beforehand, but then I saw one of the actors going in so gave it to her instead. (I'm not sure what made me write the note as I'd never done anything like that before, but felt I ought to show some appreciation).
I had never sat in the front row of a show before and it was another dimension of brilliant. It was so hilarious, and I could see my parents totally cracking up.
During the interval, as the crew were setting the props for the second half, a stage manager came up to the front of the stage and gave me a programme signed by the cast! At the curtain call, it was an instantaneous standing ovation by everyone: as they were leaving the stage after the curtain call, the actor who played Lizzie Bennet paused to shake my hand!
That was a brilliant evening, which my parents very much enjoyed, and a very happy memory of a favourite show.
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Post by horton on Mar 21, 2020 20:26:49 GMT
I wish I could go back to that sense of awe too. Nowadays, if I'm bored I tend to spend my time pricing scenic elements and figuring out running costs- not quite so magical.
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Post by David J on Mar 21, 2020 21:25:33 GMT
I fell in love for musicals when I saw 2001 UK tour of Beauty and the Beast. I remember that moment when the set turned to reveal the beast's balcony as he sang the climatic bit of that stirring If I Can't Love Her and I was hooked. Added by that thunderous opening of the entr'acte, the same one played when the beast has turned into the prince. Perhaps its a given since it's Alan Menken's music, but I hadn't seen the film yet, only knew parts of it, so hearing it fresh was quite an experience. So much that we went to New York shortly afterwards particularly to see the Broadway production.
Was entranced by Les Miserables watching the 10th Anniversary concert many times before I finally saw the Queens production in 2005/6. Just had to see those barricades turn into place after watching that clip in the concert (though it looked more dramatic than live). Only a shame I sat at the back of the stalls with the low overhead circle, missing Enjorlas fly the flag.
Like Dom, as a teenager going to see west end musical was a treat once a year. It was a half-way birthday present since my birthday is on boxing day.
That way I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Palladium. Watched the film many times as a kid so watching the car fly in the flesh (or wouldn't that be metal?) was magical.
The opening of the Lion King was certainly a moment to remember, especially for me as a child. Shame I don't think much of the rest of the musical as an adult.
Mary Poppins when it previewed in Bristol back in 2004 was a theatrical experience that has never been replicated. So much production values and special effects, culminated with little me watching Bert do the unthinkable walking up the proscenium (yes, even with the wires). By contrast it had one of the most scariest moments in my theatrical watching experience with Temper Temper.
Spring Awakening was an amazing experience with that uproarious Totally F***ed. So was the moment when me and the audience gave a standing ovation just for a song, which was I'm Here sung by Cynthia Eviro in the Menier's Color Purple. Run Freedom Run was also a glorious moment in the St James Theatre's Urinetown. So too the staircase moment in 42nd Street
Wonderful Town has possibly the most bizarre moment I've seen in a musical. Watching the first act end with some Brazilian sailors and the citizens of New York do a conga line out through the auditorium. God I wish that musical could come back.
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Post by david on Mar 21, 2020 22:13:00 GMT
My first experiences of West End theatre were back in 1999/2000. Watching CATS and Starlight Express was just a magical experience. I had asked for tickets for my 21st birthday and walking into those auditoriums and seeing those fantastic sets and hearing those ALW scores was something special.
Watching MAMMA MIA! at the Prince Edward was another special moment. I couldn’t get a ticket for the original cast, but managed to get one for the second cast. From hearing the overture to getting up and dancing at the end, I fell in love with that show and it’s been my number 1 show ever since.
Being sat in the front row of the stalls at the London Palladium on a Saturday night watching Saturday Night Fever. It was my 1st time at the Palladium. A stunning theatre and a great production made for a fantastic night.
Some great experiences over the years with plenty of memories to cherish and to look back on, Hopefully there will be more to come once the theatres are back up and running,
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Post by danb on Mar 21, 2020 22:43:56 GMT
My first experiences of West End theatre were back in 1999/2000. Watching CATS and Starlight Express was just a magical experience. I had asked for tickets for my 21st birthday and walking into those auditoriums and seeing those fantastic sets and hearing those ALW scores was something special. Watching MAMMA MIA! at the Prince Edward was another special moment. I couldn’t get a ticket for the original cast, but managed to get one for the second cast. From hearing the overture to getting up and dancing at the end, I fell in love with that show and it’s been my number 1 show ever since. Being sat in the front row of the stalls at the London Palladium on a Saturday night watching Saturday Night Fever. It was my 1st time at the Palladium. A stunning theatre and a great production made for a fantastic night. Some great experiences over the years with plenty of memories to cherish and to look back on, Hopefully there will be more to come once the theatres are back up and running, ‘Saturday Night Fever’ was really underrated at the time. It looked great, Garcia danced up a storm and there were enough fantastic voices in there to make it feel like a real musical. Still play the cd sometimes.
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