We have movie and music threads, but nothing for the stage... and we must all be weary of politics....

So I will start it off and see if it stays on page one for more than a day.

Dear Evan Hansen. Love this show. Will be going to NYC this spring to see it. Anyone familiar with it? Can expound if there is interest. Kind of apropos to the forum/social media motif, which is why I'm singling it out.

Or post about any other show you've seen and enjoyed. Hamilton is still huge, of course. Can discuss that one, too.

Or School of Rock, or even dramatic theater....

 

Broadways shows are awesome most of the time. It's hit and miss though... The ballet is always lovely.

 

Good luck keeping it on page one but it would be nice to read something on the topic from others.

There aren't a lot of stage shows that I haven't seen over the years and getting to NY isn't always easy but we enjoy our theater here in Alberta and most shows do travel here for limited engagements with the original cast, not watered down versions. To be honest there are far more "Off Broadway" shows worth seeing than the ones on Broadway.

Phantom of the Opera is still my favorite and the 500 dollar tickets included dinner with the cast as well as Andrew Lloyd Webber, which was a trip.

School of Rock is another ALW so how can you go wrong ... if you like a bunch of screaming kids running around the stage LOL.

A little culture never hurt anyone ...

 

Have you read the book by Steven Levenson ???

I think you will really like the performance of Ben Platt in this one ...

Hamilton is on my watchlist as well.

 

So where's your culture, oh wait you own Broadway too, right? Or perhaps you financed them like everything else.

 

I see this thread is already half way down the page so I guess another post is in order since the westcoast cocksucker is following me around the forum like a rabid lost puppy lol.

One show that I was trying to remember but couldn't earlier was "Evita". It was a beautiful production and I still get a lump in my throat when I hear the song "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" ...

 

Loved the Book of Mormon.

 

One thing I look forward to is seeing "A Christmas Carol" annually at the Citadel Theater here.

 

The first Broadway show I saw was when my high school chorus went to NYC. We saw Phantom of the opera. I'm from a small town in WI, so to be in the big city and see and feel the heat from these candles rising out of the floor was really breath-taking. More than ever I appreciate the culture my high school provided. Now, you see so many schools cutting Arts programs. It's really sad.

 

Thanks everyone, and so sorry that I posted and neglected this thread. I got caught up in work and unfortunately will not have time to devote to this until the weekend.

@JPT I have not read the book (by Levenson, on which Evan Hansen is based), but I will be reading it. I am hooked on the selection soundtrack and libretto.

Hamilton I must admit was an acquired taste, because (1) I am not into hiphop, and (2) being an amateur pianist I like to play the music to shows that I like and Hamilton in accompaniment is tediously repetitive and not interesting to play. Had to listen to it many times, and analyze the story and lyrics, to get to like it, but now it is one of my favorite shows. Even though I still do not enjoy playing it on piano, by and large, with some notable exceptions for some of the more melodious numbers, such as "Burn," which is a gorgeous ballad and a crowd pleaser when played.

More to come. Especially on Evan Hansen, because I LOVE the music and lyrics of this show.

 

I've only been to the ballet but I'm dying to see the book of Mormon

 

The only ballets that I know of have brass poles in them, and the type of plays I know of were more of the Times Square types, not Broadway. Fewer lines, more action

Hush....an alias

 

The second play I saw was Miss Saigon. Wow! When they landed the helicopter it was amazing!

 

Miss Saigon, Phantom, Wicked, all great shows.

Evan Hansen is especially poignant with young people, who are so immersed in their social media lives that they tend to neglect real physical friendships.

We like each other antiseptically and figuratively, with clicks, and neglect the effort to like each other as real people.

Social media is the musical's central theme, and it specifically explores the dynamic whereby lonely people make attempts to vicariously experience friendship and make connections through the aether indirectly, by association. Those of us on Facebook see it all the time. A lonely person dies-- say, of brain cancer-- and similarly lonely strangers reach out by claiming to have known that person. Maybe they have posted on the Wall of the deceased, or they have seen an Instagram picture, here for a moment and gone forever, yet in this volatile and transient social world, these brief interactions suffice to qualify as "friendship" and "connection."

A similar tragedy occurs in Evan Hansen with the untimely death of a classmate, and the lonely eponymous character latches on, apparently with no cognizance of the capacity of the act to cause a runaway cascade of events leading to disaster. The connection goes viral and gets away from him, with dramatic consequences.

And in the course of it we learn that Evan himself has dodged his classmate's fate by mere chance; throughout the show, he wears an arm cast, and in the course of the narrative we learn that he has broken his arm by climbing a tree, for the sky, far too high (in the mannter of Icarus reaching for the sun), in pursuit of an imaginary friend who watches impassively as the last branch breaks, casting Evan/Icarus back to earth.

A beautiful, poignant, tragic story. And the music in my opinion is right up there with Phantom and Les Mis for memorability.

 

Part of my primary education back in the 40s and 50s was speaking (elocution), music reading and writing and it followed that all classes would put on plays for other classes to enjoy and critique. Nope, not expensive private schooling but run of the mill Parochial School. I don't know that this experience left me with a love of the theatre but it did leave the notion that stage acting and dancing were a simple part of life. I have enjoyed attending theatrical offerings everywhere I've traveled -- REALLY FELL IN LOVE WITH THE OPERA HOUSE IN SYDNEY. I am upset with how expensive a night at the theatre has become and how lacking in talent most of the "road actors" tend to be. But I managed to find the money when I could still get around. I also very much enjoy the offerings from local theatre companies (seems to be one in every other city or town in Massachusetts) and the high schools. Given my age, I was lucky enough to experience Marlon Brando in his prime (his first Broadway role was in "I Remember Mama", which became a short lived TV series - not with Brando). One of my favorite experiences was Richard Burton's Hamlet. I saw every offering when it played in Boston and New York. What an actor! Thanks for the chance to travel down memory lane!

 

We are truly blessed with the arts in the Boston area, due to all the schools.

For children there are many excellent fine arts summer camps, such as the Charles River Creative Arts camp in Dover and many others. And as wantingnot says, there are many small community theater companies, as well as excellent college companies, such as Huntingon.

We also have the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, which plays with the Boston Pops. Little known fact: while the Pops performers are mostly very well compensated Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians on the off-season, the Tanglewood singers are all volunteers!

Boston's theater district is off-off-Broadway, and for a time it started to go to seed, but it is now in the midst of a grand revival, because Emerson College (a small fine arts and communications school) has bought and refurbished many of the old theaters.

 

I haven't been to a Broadway show since the decision was made to "price out" the middle class. I could afford $40-$50 a ticket (times two). I can't afford $250-$300 a ticket (times two).

It is the same thing with professional sports. Years ago, I went to 10-12 games a year at $8-$10 a ticket. Now I go about once every couple of years at $95 to $125 a ticket.

My salary has increased in that time about 2x, not 9x or 10x.

 

To say nothing of pop/rock concerts!!!

(Dating myself alert) In my teens we used to go to pop concerts for around $30. $50, tops.

Now... well let me put it this way: recently scored Ed Sheeran tickets (don't even know if I'm spelling it right) for ahem... family members, and boy was it painful. Decent seats? $400.

 

My favorite show of 2016 has won the Tony award for best musical. Dear Evan Hansen.

And I still haven't seen it live.