This weekend we went to New York City to visit my daughter Kelly and her boyfriend Greg, and my other daughter Tracey who also traveled in from Connecticut to be with us. Since we’ve been to NYC a few times, we didn’t need to do touristy things. I told them I’d like to visit Central Park, which I’d never really been in, and that I wanted to go to one of the organic restaurants listed here (we went to Gustorganics), and the one REALLY fun thing we were going to do was to finally see the musical Wicked.
It was Greg’s first time at a play/musical. Which started a conversation of how many we’d been to. I thought a half dozen, Andy thought about 10. So we started rattling them off, and kept thinking of more we’d seen after we thought we’d listed them all. It was kind of fun reminiscing. Here’s the list….
On Broadway:
Cats, where we sat in the front row and the cats pawed at our feet. That was fun, and the costumes were great, but it’s probably my least favorite musical.
Baby. I don’t know if anybody else ever saw this, it was in NYC when we were first married.
Zorba the Greek. Andy remembers this, I barely do.
Wicked. Wasn’t a huge fan of the music. But I loved the story, and this play has my favorite character of all time – Glinda the good witch. She was so funny!
In Boston:
Annie. This was the first musical I ever saw. Before I knew Andy.
The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Ballet, yup, but I wanted to list them. Let’s just say that I enjoy musicals better than ballet.
Les Miserables. Both Andy and my all-time-favorite musical. I believe we’ve seen it twice, perhaps once on Broadway. But neither of us can remember. I do know that I’ve watched the cast perform on public television, and saw the both the Liam Neeson and recent Anne Hathaway movie versions. Plus we own a CD of the soundtrack.
Phantom of the Opera. You really can’t beat an Andrew Lloyd Weber musical. Nuff said.
In Providence:
The Lion King. BEST EVER COSTUMES! Better than Cats.
Local theater:
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. Speaking of Andrew Lloyd Weber…the fun fact about this one is that it starred John Stimpson, who we know from town, as Joseph. And he was really good! The whole show was.
South Pacific. There’s Andrew Lloyd Weber, and then there’s Rodgers & Hammerstein. Both create music that you want to listen to again. We saw this one at the New London playhouse in New Hampshire, which is a neat place to see a play.
Chicago. Good music, not a fan of the subject matter. We saw this one at the Hanover theater in Worcester.
Jesus Christ Superstar. I had wanted to see this as a kid and my mom had mysteriously backed out of taking me. I think I know why now, after seeing the show. It was set in current times and was not what I had expected, after having seen the movie that was made of it. But it was good, it starred the daughter of friend’s good friend as Mary Magdeline, and I love the music! Oh yeah, that’s right. Andrew Lloyd Weber….
To Kill a Mockingbird. Also at the Hanover theater, although not a musical.
Hair – Andy reminded me that we saw this, I only vaguely remember it, and not sure where we saw it. Guess it didn’t make a huge impression, huh?
Once Upon a Mattress, Death of a Salesman (maybe?), Grease – these were all put on by Wachusett High School, which has a GREAT theater department.
Godspell – Andy has seen this, I haven’t. This was before we met.
So, wow. Even if you just count the major city productions, we’ve seen 8. But we’ve seen more than that. Never even realized.
Now we just need to see STOMP!