Broadway Shows and Off Broadway Shows

Paladin1950

Paladin1950

Still love 50's & 60's music!
Location
Mohawk Valley, NY
When I lived in New York City in the 70's and 80's, other than going to concerts and old Yankee Stadium, there was nothing I loved more to do than taking in a Broadway musical, and also some comedies and dramas. My favorites were the 5 revivals of my favorite musicals: My Fair Lady, Oklahoma!, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, The King and I. Yul Brynner was the star of The King and I, and Zero Mostel played Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.

I also saw Anthony Perkins in Equus, and Al Pacino in The Basic Training of Pavel Hummel (possibly the least enjoyable play that I saw on stage). Also Robert Duvall in American Buffalo.

But it was the musicals I loved the most. Oklahoma! was my personal favorite, but I think My Fair Lady was the best musical I ever saw. It had more great songs in it than any other musical I ever saw on stage or screen. My favorite song from a musical was Try to Remember from the off Broadway musical The Fantasticks, which ran for 42 years. It opened in 1960 when I was 10, and closed in 2002, when I was 52. I saw it in 1982 during it's 22nd year at the Sullivan Street Playhouse.

I have a feeling if I still lived in New York City, I wouldn't be going to a Broadway show/musical as much anymore, even if I could afford it.
 

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I loved going to Broadway shows! I try to think of which one I liked best, but I liked them all. Peter Pan with Sandy Duncan was outstanding. Very special too because at the end when she took her bows she flew right over us (we were right in the front) and my son was about 8 or 9 and his eyes got so big. I will never forget it.

I saw Evita as my first show then saw it again because it was so good. Same with 42nd Street with Lisa Brown in the starring role. The 2nd time I took my mother to see it and she was badly crippled and we had to walk up the stairs to the balcony because we came on bus trip through the local radio station. I wouldn't recommend doing that with a disabled person. Cats was another awesome show for me though I heard some people didn't like it.
 
Oddly enough, back when I was "Poor Girl" in my 20's, I went to a few Broadway shows. I still have the playbills. I saw Sophisticated Lades with Gregory Hines and the late Phyllis Hyman, Deathtrap with Stacy Keach, who I was very into at that time. I took my son to see The Magic Show with Doug Henning. I also saw Your Arms Too Short To Box With God and Mama I Want To Sing, the latter which was off Broadway.

Another off Broadway play I saw twice was Time For Coming Out (no it was not about being gay) for which my BFF wrote the score. Her good friend Hazel Smith wrote the play. So happens that Hazel and Vy Higgenson, who wrote Mama I Want To Sing, were good friends. Vy wrote the play about her sister Doris Troy (remember the song Just One Look).

I also saw live entertainment, such as The Jewel Box Review and concerts at The Apollo Theater. I saw several popular artists and groups there, including Motown reviews, introducing Little Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye before he hit it big. Others included Patti and the Bluebells (later known as LaBelle) and James Brown. I love dinner theater as well. The first one I attended was decades ago with my mom. I saw Fiddler On The Roof, something I wasn't particularly interested in seeing, but turns out it was a wonderful experience. The last "dinner theater" performance I saw was when our senior center took us to a venue for lunch and we saw Dr. Kay's Motown Review.
 

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OneEyedDiva said:
Oddly enough, back when I was "Poor Girl" in my 20's, I went to a few Broadway shows. I still have the playbills. I saw Sophisticated Lades with Gregory Hines and the late Phyllis Hyman, Deathtrap with Stacy Keach, who I was very into at that time. I took my son to see The Magic Show with Doug Henning. I also saw Your Arms Too Short To Box With God and Mama I Want To Sing, the latter which was off Broaday.

Another off Broadway play I saw twice was Time For Coming Out (no it was not about being gay) for which my BFF wrote the score. Her good friend Hazel Smith wrote the play. So happens that Hazel and Vy Higgenson, who wrote Mama I Want To Sing, were good friends. Vy wrote the play about her sister Doris Troy (remember the song Just One Look).

I also saw live entertainment, such as The Jewel Box Review and concerts at The Apollo Theater. I saw several popular artists and groups there included Motown reviews, introducing Little Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Patti and the Bluebells (later known as LaBelle). I love dinner theater as well. The first one I attended was decades ago with my mom. I saw Fiddler On The Roof, something I wasn't particularly interested in seeing, but turns out it was a wonderful experience. The last "dinner theater" performance I saw was when our senior center took us to a venue for lunch and we saw Dr. Kay's Motown Review.
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I saw The Magic Show also. It was playing at the Cort Theater. Don't remember any of his illusions, but I did enjoy it.
 
The best show I've ever saw on Bdwy was Monty Python, and I was never a MP fan in fact I though their humor was inane. This show had me rolling the entire time.

I've seen a boatload of them including many mentioned above. I did a lot of entertaining in the city and it was always dinner and theatre, however I started seeing shows as class trips from HS. West Side Story and Fiddler on the roof were the first 2.
 
againstthegrain said:
The best show I've ever saw on Bdwy was Monty Python, and I was never a MP fan in fact I though their humor was inane. This show had me rolling the entire time.

I've seen a boatload of them including many mentioned above. I did a lot of entertaining in the city and it was always dinner and theatre, however I started seeing shows as class trips from HS. West Side Story and Fiddler on the roof were the first 2.
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I started watching Monty Python on PBS back in the early 1970's, on Channel 13 in New York City. Nobody has made me laugh more over the years than the British. That's why I have always loved Monty Python, it was like nothing else on American television.
 
I've never been one to frequent stage shows. Mind you I saw ballet troupes and the one where the players on stage interact with the audience with "Oh no he didn't..." It usually comes out round Christmas.

I refused to attend the Nut Cracker with my class. Although, I went often to the National Art Centre for concerts and magicians.

I still remember attending a play just because the tickets had been bought months ago and they didn't want Papa's ticket to go to waste.

There was a popular actor in it and a person back then, known as a Drag Queen. That man was so well made up that it took me a while as a teenage girl to realise he was dressed up as a woman. Whoa!

I've never been to a Broadway show but the ones that @Paladin1950 mentions I've heard off throughout the years. "My Fair Lady" with Barbra Streisand is one I enjoy. The second one, I heard was made as a play, is with Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier, "Gigi". Oh I love that one.
 
I see I made a very stupid mistake in my original post. I just changed it. Yul Brynner was in The King and I. Not My Fair Lady. Ian Richardson played Henry Higgins.
 
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