Attending the theatre-do you?

This upcoming weekend, many of my students and a dedicated colleague will be putting on a play and that got me thinking-when was the last time you attending a theatre production? The wife and I drive an hour and a half to see our old university's theatre department put on several productions during the spring. The best one that I've seen so far was Neil Simon's Rumors. So, do you go?, if so, what have you seen?

During my high school years I saw a big production in Melbourne each year - it started with my school taking us, but I loved it so much that I started going to shows with my parents and later with my friends. I just adore the theatre - there's something magical about seeing a live performance done 'just for you'. I haven't been recently because I've been in small-town Canada for nigh-on 4 years now, but some of the professional productions I've seen include:

The Nutcracker
West Side Story
Beauty and the Beast
The Mikado
HMS Pinafore
Les Miserables
Pirates of Penzance
The Three Muskateers (ballet)

I also saw some less professional shows, including Jesus Christ, Superstar, which I just loved, as well as Much Ado about Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew (both outdoor performances in the Gardens - lovely!).

I haven't been to professional theatre in a while as it's just too much money right now. I go to a few semi-professional or local performances each year depending on what is playing and how good the Rep Group is. The last thing I saw professionally Blue Man Group (not even sure it counts) in Boston a couple years ago. I've also seen the following done professionally:

Cats - Broadway
Phantom - Broadway cast @ PPAC (Providence RI)
Tommy - London
Les Miserables - London
Blood Brothers - London
Dracula - York (I think)
As You Like It - RSC (Stratford-Upon-Avon)
The Nutcracker - Zeiterion Theatre (New Bedford MA)
A Christmas Carol - Trinity Rep (Providence RI)

There's not much going on here where I live, but the last productions I saw were 'Hamlet' and 'King Lear' and the Musical 'Tanz der Vampire' (Dance of the Vampires).

The last thing i saw was Miss Siagon. It was alright. I wasn't aware of the ending so i got a bit of a shock!

I used to go on a regular basis with my parents in High school. However, now it is a bit expensive. Though one ay I will start going again. I have seen:

Cats
Les Miserables
The Secret Garden
The King and I
Sweet Bye and Bye (Best play)
Miss Saigon
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
The Nutcracker
Girl of my Dreams
Brigadoon
Mama Mia
Fosse
Rent
Through the Looking Glass
Phantom of the Opera

I saw Phantom and Cats when I was about 7 years old, and those really got me to fall in love with the theatre. I also saw A Russian ballet performance in St. Petersburg but can not recall the name.

The last one I went to see was 'The Lion King' at the Lyric

Well, I'm from NYC, so whatever I say about this will come off as either boasting or cheating, but I've seen lots and lots of live theater. Most of the Broadways stuff I've seen I got the tickets comped and I really hated the productions.

On Broadway, I saw:

Evita, with Patti Lupone (bad show, but she was great)
Pirates of Penzance, with Kevin Kline (brilliant production), also saw this in Central Park
Cats, orig cast (sucked)
Annie (sucked)
Master Harold and the Boys (best Broadway show I've seen)
Phantom of the Opera , with orig cast (really really terrible, left at halftime)
among others

For several years I saw OB and OOB productions about once a month, mostly avant-garde and absurdist things and 'new' theater like:

Ionesco: The Chairs, The Bald Soprano
Euripedes's Medea, staged by Joanne Akalaitis (!!!)
Ibsen: Miss Julie, The Dollhouse
early Sam Shepard, like Fool for Love (OOB, with Sam in the lead)
Aeschylus's Agamemnon
everything by The Ridiculous Theatre Company with the late, great Charles Ludlam
Genet's The Maids

I've also seen Richard II, A Midsummernight's Dream, and The Tempest, all in Central Park's theater.

I also went through a period of seeking out English Restoration comedies, like The Country Wife.


Lots of original productions on short runs, and of course when I was a kid I went to all the obligatories—Sound of Music, Shenandoah, Oklahoma . . . my school had an annual thing up in the nosebleed area.

The best single staged piece I've ever seen was Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage in a small production in which the players were 'shadowed' by other actors performing in American Sign Language.

I really can't remember everything I've seen.

Oh, once I saw Faye Dunaway in a really tiny theater production in Hampstead, London. Something about a presidential assassination.

BTW, SFG, I think it's really funny that you used the word 'attend' instead of 'go to'. Makes it sound like some kind of obligation or punishment.

Edit: Must include my son's latest appearances in The Music Man, Annie Get Your Gun, and Guys and Dolls.

I knew I missed one - Fame. The only professional production where I came away feeling a little disappointed.

Hey, novella. Don't suppose you ever went to see Paul Simon's The Capeman? I know it didn't last very long and bombed dismally... I love the soundtrack though.

Novella,

I saw the travelling production of Evita and enjoyed it quite a bit. Of course, my grandmother kept chatting through the entire play about how she had known Che.

The wife and I usually go to a couple of summer stock shows every year. I'd love to see more -- wish it weren't so darn expensive to see the bigger shows.

Oh, yeah. In summerstock recently I saw My Fair Lady and Joseph and the Amazing blah blah, mostly because I knew people in them.

My sis in law used to do summer stock on Cape Cod and also lots of Off Broadway. She got called for Miss Saigon on Broadway, but didn't get on. But now she lives in California.

Rigana said:

There's not much going on here where I live, but the last productions I saw were 'Hamlet' and 'King Lear' and the Musical 'Tanz der Vampire' (Dance of the Vampires).

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same here, I wish I lived in NYC or somewhere else. I miss watching ballet, I used to go when I was little with my mom and grandma

technokitty said:

same here, I wish I lived in NYC or somewhere else. I miss watching ballet, I used to go when I was little with my mom and grandma

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I will be moving away from here as soon as possible after finishing school..
Anyway, I forgot to mention 'Fosse' and 'The Lion King', both Musicals.

oh i love going to the theatre....
i saw
dance of the vampires (3 times)
lion king
the hunchback of notre dame (sp?)
12the night (by Shakespeare)
midsummernightsdream
usw...