What Original Broadways Have You Seen With Megastars

[markfp]

I will always remember the first show I ever saw on Broadway. It was the two-character musical I DO! I DO! which starred Robert Preston and Mary Martin. What a way to be introduced to Broadway shows.

[sagebrush]

I will always remember the first show I ever saw on Broadway. It was the two-character musical I DO! I DO! which starred Robert Preston and Mary Martin. What a way to be introduced to Broadway shows.

Wow, you're lucky, markfp. I've never seen a show on Broadway, but I've seen a few Broadway touring companies with some famous names.
I saw Michael Crawford in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in Los Angeles, and also Robert Guillaume in the same role at the same theater, and Raul Julia in THE MAN OF LA MANCHA in San Francisco.

[HoldenIsHere]

Alas, I was not old enough to see most of these stars perform on stage. I have to make do with fuzzy Tony awards clips (after they went national in the late 60s) or clips from Ed Sullivan on YouTube, or the taped stage shows, for the few that got that treatment. In fact, I just watched Pearl Bailey & Co. from a Tony Awards ceremony just the other day, when she received a special Tony.

I have seen newer productions with original casts, but not many. It is hard for us out-of-towners to sometimes get to the big city before their contracts end. Some of these are obviously not the original production, but were runs with the original revival casts, rather than replacements. Even so, many times the replacements have just as much "star power," as when Bernadette Peters stepped into Hello, Dolly!

• Hello, Dolly! with Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce

• Dear Evan Hansen with Ben Platt

• Company with Patti LuPone et. al. just before it closed

• War Paint with Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersol

• Bandstand with Laura Osnes

• A Doll's House, Part 2 with Laurie Metcalf

• A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder with Jefferson Mays

• Music Man with Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster and Jefferson Mays

• Into the Woods (2022) with lots of A-listers. I saw this the first week it opened on Broadway. It's somewhat of a casting carousel.

I had tickets to see Patti LuPone in COMPANY in August with the hope of seeing that show during a visit to New York City, but the show closed in July after winning a few Tonys!
I had the opportunity to see Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole in WAR PAINT during the show's out-of-town try-outs in Chicago, but I ultimately missed it.
I would love to see Patti LuPone live!
Christine Ebersol graduated from the same high school as I did but decades before me.

[txfilmfan]

Alas, I was not old enough to see most of these stars perform on stage. I have to make do with fuzzy Tony awards clips (after they went national in the late 60s) or clips from Ed Sullivan on YouTube, or the taped stage shows, for the few that got that treatment. In fact, I just watched Pearl Bailey & Co. from a Tony Awards ceremony just the other day, when she received a special Tony.

I have seen newer productions with original casts, but not many. It is hard for us out-of-towners to sometimes get to the big city before their contracts end. Some of these are obviously not the original production, but were runs with the original revival casts, rather than replacements. Even so, many times the replacements have just as much "star power," as when Bernadette Peters stepped into Hello, Dolly!

• Hello, Dolly! with Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce

• Dear Evan Hansen with Ben Platt

• Company with Patti LuPone et. al. just before it closed

• War Paint with Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersol

• Bandstand with Laura Osnes

• A Doll's House, Part 2 with Laurie Metcalf

• A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder with Jefferson Mays

• Music Man with Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster and Jefferson Mays

• Into the Woods (2022) with lots of A-listers. I saw this the first week it opened on Broadway. It's somewhat of a casting carousel.

I had tickets to see Patti LuPone in COMPANY in August with the hope of seeing that show during a visit to New York City, but the show closed in July after winning a few Tonys!
I had the opportunity to see Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole in WAR PAINT during the show's out-of-town try-outs in Chicago, but I ultimately missed it.
I would love to see Patti LuPone live!
Christine Ebersol graduated from the same high school as I did but decades before me.

I spoke to Ms. Ebersol very briefly at a TCM Film Festival some years back. It was the only one where we have had opening night tickets. After the opening night film screening, she was heading back to her room at the Loews, as were we, and there was some chit-chat waiting for the elevator.

IMO, LuPone was much better in Company than War Paint. Her accent in War Paint was so thick, I only understood about half of the lyrics. Even after numerous listens, when they play on SiriusXM's Broadway channel, I can't catch all of the words.

[Swithin]

A megastar I've seen on stage often is Ralph Fiennes. I first saw him as Cobweb in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Decades later, when I worked with him, he told me that a friend told him he was "the definitive Cobweb."

I've also seen him in Ring Round the Moon, Romeo and Juliet, The Man Who Came to Dinner (as Bert), Fathers and Sons, Ting Tang Mine, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Troilus and Cressida, King Lear (as Edmond), Henry VI, Brand, The Tempest, The Master Builder, and, most recently in New York, in Straight Line Crazy.

As you can tell, I like his work, which is why I was particularly thrilled when I was able to work with him.



Ralph Fiennes and Sarah Woodward as Romeo and Juliet, Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, 1986.

[LawrenceA]

I've been a fan of Fiennes' film work since first seeing him in Wuthering Heights with Juliette Binoche. It's impressive that you've seen him on stage so many times, Swithin.

[Swithin]

I've been a fan of Fiennes' film work since first seeing him in Wuthering Heights with Juliette Binoche. It's impressive that you've seen him on stage so many times, Swithin.

I forgot to include Antony and Cleopatra, which I saw at the National Theatre a few years ago (2018).


Sophie Okonedo, Ralph Fiennes in Antony and Cleopatra

[KayFrancis]

I was a very little girl, under 5 years old my parents took my sister and I to see Mary Martin in Peter Pan.
I saw Ben Vereen in Pippin, my best friend's brother producted Pippin on Broadway
I saw Oliver can't remember who starred in it
I saw Equis with Anthony Hopkins
I saw A Little Night Music with William Daniels, Glynnis Johns.
I'm having a senior moment because I know there were other Broadway shows I've seen

Just as another special event, I saw Frank Sinatra at his Madison Square goodbye concert

[TheGayDivorceé]

Love reading what people have seen. Have somehow never been to New York City, so can imagine the excitement of seeing a show on Broadway. Or even off Broadway!

Did see Terrance Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave in Lady of the Lake in London in 1979. Saw Evita that same summer in London. In the early '90s I was wandering around London and a theatre was selling inexpensive tickets to the premiere of Sunset Boulevard with Patti LuPone. Maybe it was the week before the official premiere. Andrew Lloyd Weber was sitting a few rows ahead. Sad the brouhaha that happened with all that, but I thought Patti LuPone was great in the role.

At the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego saw Jon Voight in a Shakespeare play, late '60s. Saw Phoebe Cates in two Chekov plays at the La Jolla Playhouse. Can't remember the play, but saw Tovah Feldshuh at the Old Globe outdoor stage in 1981 or so, and she was wonderful. Must look that up!

[Detective Jim McLeod]

Christopher Plummer and Glenda Jackson in Macbeth 1988
Alan Arkin and Elaine May in Power Plays 1998
Lea Salonga in Miss Saigon 1999
Julie Harris in Lucifer's Child 1991
Ed Asner and Madeline Khan in Born Yesterday 1989
Paul Winfield, Ruby Dee and Denzel Washington in Checkmates 1988
Topol in Fiddler On The Roof 1991
Maggie Smith in Lettice & Lovage 1990
Patrick Stewart and Kyle MacLachlan in The Caretaker 2003
Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Death Of A Salesman 2012
Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross 2012
Annette Bening in All My Sons 2019

[Swithin]

Christopher Plummer and Glenda Jackson in Macbeth 1988
Alan Arkin and Elaine May in Power Plays 1998
Lea Salonga in Miss Saigon 1999
Julie Harris in Lucifer's Child 1991
Ed Asner and Madeline Khan in Born Yesterday 1989
Paul Winfield, Ruby Dee and Denzel Washington in Checkmates 1988
Topol in Fiddler On The Roof 1991
Maggie Smith in Lettice & Lovage 1990
Patrick Stewart and Kyle MacLachlan in The Caretaker 2003
Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Death Of A Salesman 2012
Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross 2012
Annette Bening in All My Sons 2019

Early in its run, I went up to the Drury Lane box office to buy a ticket for a Wednesday matinee of Miss Saigon. The woman at the box office said, "If you go to the Wednesday matinee, you won't see Lea Salonga!" I wanted to say, "Who the hell is Lea Salonga?," but she sounded so earnest, I purchased a ticket for an evening performance.

I saw Maggie Smith in (all London):

Snap (a comedy about VD!)
Lettice & Lovage
The Way of the World
Three Tall Women
The Importance of Being Earnest
A German Life

I regret that I never saw Julie Harris on stage, apart from the one time I worked with her.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

Early in its run, I went up to the Drury Lane box office to buy a ticket for a Wednesday matinee of Miss Saigon. The woman at the box office said, "If you go to the Wednesday matinee, you won't see Lea Salonga!" I wanted to say, "Who the hell is Lea Salonga?," but she sounded so earnest, I purchased a ticket for an evening performance.

I saw Maggie Smith in (all London):

Snap (a comedy about VD!)
Lettice & Lovage
The Way of the World
Three Tall Women
The Importance of Being Earnest
A German Life

I regret that I never saw Julie Harris on stage, apart from the one time I worked with her.
[/quote]

Thanks, I would like to hear more about what you thought about Lea Salonga's performance in Miss Saigon, I guess that must have been on the original run, I saw her when she returned to the role after several years, but she was magical in the role.

And what did you think of Maggie Smith, especially in Lettice And Lovage, that is probably my favorite experience in a theater.

And what was Julie Harris like?

[Swithin]

Thanks, I would like to hear more about what you thought about Lea Salonga's performance in Miss Saigon, I guess that must have been on the original run, I saw her when she returned to the role after several years, but she was magical in the role.

And what did you think of Maggie Smith, especially in Lettice And Lovage, that is probably my favorite experience in a theater.

And what was Julie Harris like?

I saw Miss Saigon on March 6, 1990 (checked my diary) and remember enjoying it very much, particularly the performances of Lea Salonga and Jonathan Pryce. But I don’t remember much else about it (apart from the helicopter).

I’ve enjoyed and admired every performance I’ve ever seen of Maggie Smith on stage, from that crazy comedy about venereal disease (Snap, 1974) through A German Life (2019), a one-person show in which she played the 102-year old Brunhilde Pomsel, who had been Goebbels’ secretary. The latter performance was perfect for an aging actress, since the character has lines something like “Oh, I’m forgetting;” or “It escapes me…,” which provide good cover!

I loved Lettice and Lovage, which was a perfect role for Maggie Smith, since Peter Shaffer wrote the part specifically for her. (I knew Peter Shaffer — lovely, erudite man; great writer. If there’s one play of his I long to see on stage, it’s The Royal Hunt of the Sun. I’ve heard Peter talk about it, thrillingly, and I don’t think the film does it justice.)

I saw a revival of Lettice and Lovage a few years ago at the Westport (CT) Country Playhouse. It holds up well, even with actresses who may not be on the level of Smith and Tyzack. One interesting point: When I first saw the play, it ended with Lettice and Lotte pointing a cannon toward the audience and going out to blow up buildings. Peter changed that later; I don’t remember why, but I do know that in the age of terrorism, that would not be a suitable ending for a mainstream play! Smith's performance as Millamant in The Way of the World was also suited to her style, which has been called "mannered" on occasion, but which suits Restoration comedy.

There was a lot of anticipation when it was announced that Smith was going to play Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. Thanks to the film, Edith Evans owns that role; her performance of "A handbag?!!” has been called “The most celebrated line-reading in theatrical history.” Maggie Smith whispered the line, as I recall, and played the role on her own terms. (I’ve also seen Wendy Hiller do it, more in the Evans vein.) But if Maggie Smith avoided Edith Evans’ interpretation in Earnest, her performance in Downton Abbey seems modeled on Evans’ Lady Bracknell).

Julie Harris was one of the great American theater actresses of our time. She was a kind person and wonderful to work with. In addition to her talent, she had a rare knowledge of, and respect for, the history of theater. She was a quick study, too: the thing I worked with her on didn’t have much rehearsal.


Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith in The Way of the World,1984