Your favorite type of performing art

I'm

stumped.....

The performances I've seen don't fit into the categories!

Madison Square Garden.....The

Rockettes, Barnum and Baily Circus (saw that show about seven times ~ awesome), Icecapades.....

I was privileged

enough to get third row seats (gratis) from the producer of 'Riverdance' - (family ties - not that I'm braggin or anything

)

I've said it before.....My mouth was hanging open during that entire performance. The music is what did it for

me. (Yes, I have the cd and it takes me right back to the actual show.)

An opera I would love to see simply because I

love the music is 'La Boheme'. But, give me any symphony orchestra and I'm a happy girl.

I have three very

memorable experiences with musical theater:

1. Attending the final performance by Ethyl Merman in "Gypsy" at the old

Biltmore Theater in L.A. Incredible.

2. "Hello Dolly" with Carol Channing on stage -- when the entire train came on

stage leaving Yonkers, I was with the audience in applauding until my hands hurt.

3. Sondheim's "Company" with Elaine

Strich belting out "The Ladies Who Lunch" and bringing down the house.

I would love to

have seen 'Hello Dolly' ~ I think Carol Channing is absolutely charming. Such a sweetie-pie.

Douglas and I have wanted to see 'The Nutcracker' for years now ~ the waiting

list (even in our small community) is huge! Is it really worth the wait?

Comedy is my best
I

have always had a thing for good stand-up comedy, but it has to be good.taking into regard what i just said, I had the

opertunity to see "Hello Dolly"and have never looked upon preforming arts in the same light.

In the music is where the

power lies. it's what brings it all home for me.
Although there is not much in the line of good arts in S.A., we do

ocassionally get a good musical or opera which is worth it's weight in gold.
as for the avalability, South Africans

aren't much for extravagant Euro-drama, they like to keep to themselves and their own traditions, so that is not a

problem.
I feel for you lot who have to wait in long lines and lists to get tot see "The Classics".

Pharon ~ a man after my heart.....

Comedy.

Oh my.

My

passion.

I paid a ridiculous amount of money for my sister, her husband, me and a friend to see Steven Wright in

'concert'. All I can say is that the ridiculous amount of money would be spent again.....I have never laughed so hard in

my life.....

Jespah- I just realized. In your poll you left out my favorite performing art- symphonic, and other kinds of musical concerts.

baroque chamber music

modern dance - the Mark Morris direction

re-stagings of Lully era opera



nothing pre-fab or multi-performance for me

I like drama-musicals like Phantom. I saw Jolson in Toronto some years ago which was very special, because the guy that played Jolson sounded just like him. It was also a interactive show where the audiance was invited to join in the singing. It amazed me to see so many Canadians familiar with Jolson's songs. I saw that show by accident, because I intended to go see "beauty and the best," suggested by our tour guide, but it was closed for the day. I walked to the next block, and Jolson was playing, so I went to see that instead. I had an excellent seat, and really enjoyed that show. c.i.

Voted For Drama But
Really I like them all. Anything that will take my mind to a different place and time and introduce me to new character, people, and music, is a wonderful experience and I so admire the people who not only have the talent to entertain but the ability to do it in public for all of us to enjoy.

Talking to my parents a while ago, we were reflecting on a trip to New York about 30 years ago. We went to see Hello Dolly on Broadway, starring none other than Phyllis Diller.

Thank goodness, I had other Broadway experiences that kept me from staying away from the theatre after that.

We are lucky when it comes to stage performance. We live within 15 miles of downtown Chicago. Most of all we love dance performances like Fosse and Forever Tango. We like drama, comedys, musicals, the CSO, ballet, and like to go the Stratford in Ontario (Nothing like 6 plays in three days).

I used to be a stage manager in theatre, so I've seen a LOT of plays! But my favorites are definitely musical comedies.

Maximillions! great to see you!

Hazlitt, Stratford and the Shaw Festival are wonderful experiences. A week's worth of theatre, just hours apart.

Hi: I prefer stage musicals, but I saw Henry Fonda in Mr. Roberts and it was sensational. I saw Shirley MacLaine ( an Unknown at the time) perform in Pajama Game, and she was great. The audience was very disgruntled when Carol Haney bowed out due to illness, but MacLaine was superb and got a standing ovation when she performed Steam Heat. I saw Shirley Jones (an understudy at the time) in Oklahoma, and shortly afterward she got the movie role. --- But, I'm gabbing too much. If Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera are musical comedies, I'll vote for musical comedy.

GAB ON, RAGGEDY!

It's fun to know someone who watched history happen! And I mean that in the nicest possible way...

Oh, thank you Macsm, and I know you mean that in the nicest possible way because you would never say anything unkind. And since you're interested in history, and I love to gab, let me tell the story here about the time I saw Edwin Booth perform Hamlet on stage shortly after Lincoln's assassination -- Nah, I'll save that for another day.
But I did see Tyrone Power and Tallulah Bankhead in a play, and Mary Martin in Annie Get Your Gun (to a standing ovation) and that was a sight to behold.

my favorite live performance was of a tiny (20 minute) play entitled THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, directed by its author Samuel Beckett in New York. In the play, two hooded men sit at a table in the shadows, one reads a few words from the Book of the Dead, and the other moans with deep understanding. a minute of silence, then another sentence, another moan, and so on. Minimalist? Profound? Deeply entertaining: definitely.

I find it impossible to pick a favorite from opera, ballet, and musical theater. I have had rapturous moments from each. I say musical theater rather than musical comedy since none of my favorites are in the comedy category. Those favorites are "Caroussel" (I will never forget the scene where the daughter is dancing alone on the beach and "You'll Never Walk Alone" is sung); "West Side Story" (best scene when the body of the murdered Tony is being carried while "There's a Place Somewhere" is being sung); "A Chorus Line" (the charm being in the individual stories being told in song, not in the core plot); and finally "Les Miserables" which had me screaming for more when the final curtain came down after four hours of having my emotions at a peak.