The Theater Experience

[Madame Adequate]

Have you ever been to see a play performed on stage? Which ones? Did you enjoy it? Do you go regularly? Do you act in or otherwise take part in producing plays? :o

I've been to see a couple of Shakespeare productions on stage, primarily Shakespeare because, well, England and not tremendously far from Stratford, so yeah. I've seen The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as of course Romeo and Juliet because EVERYONE sees that one. It's generally been a rather great experience, unsurprisingly enough analyzing texts of plays plays second fiddle to actually watching professional actors put on a play.

(Romeo and Juliet pls go Tempest 4 lief 420 wreck ships erry day blaze it caliban)

Oh, and I've seen a production of Miller's A View from the Bridge.

[blackmage_nuke]

I saw an adaption of King Lear, it was terrible, but Im not sure it was the performance itself or I just dont like the play.
Ive also seen The Real Inspector Hound, that one was brilliant.

[Faris]

Ooh, love watching plays and musicals at the theatre! Don't get to go often enough

I've seen: Spamalot, Wicked, A Midsummer's Night Dream (it was in various languages), Cyreno (in French, didn't understand a damn thing)... not going to include high school plays, and there are a few more that I do not recall. Dinner theaters are a blast as well. Around here they do a murder mystery show and the actors will interact with the audience!

Played Mrs. Paroo in my high school's production of The Music Man.

[The Man]

I've seen several plays and musicals. I'm not sure I could name them all anymore because I saw many of them ages ago, but I know I've seen King Lear, The Phantom of the Opera, 42nd Street, The Music Man, A Chorus Line, and Young Frankenstein. There are probably at least as many others that I've forgotten about. I also was in my high school's drama club, although I didn't really do much acting (not because I didn't want to, but because I never got cast in any significant parts). I did help quite a lot with sound tech, however.

[Laddy]

Ha, what unsophisticated paupers.

I live the theater experience, doing a wide variety of work, mostly unprofessionally.

My most recent part was in Romeo and Juliet, unsurprisingly, in which I played the Prince. I'm currently in a stage adaption of The Hobbit, as Thorin Oakenshield, not Bilbo like I had initially thought, of all people. I've been getting a lot of praise for that one despite my inital anxiety for the part. I'm loving this role though, despite it taking a toll on me last few days.

[Quindiana Jones]

God damnit.

You're an arsehole, Hux.

[Shauna]

I have seen a few operas and have a few stage shows lined up for the future. Last one I saw was Mozart's Magic Flute. It was pretty cool and steampunky. In February I shall be taking my friend to see some play about Bluebeard. Should be fun.

Trying to become ~cultured~

[Jinx]

I refuse to respond to this question until the thread title is changed to "theatre" like it's supposed to be.

[Shorty]

The title of this thread

I grew up in a musical theater family. The entirety of my dad's family performed, composed, directed and produced plays in Utah and were pretty great working together. My dad would write scripts and lyrics, my uncle would compose the score, my other uncle and his wife would choreograph and my grandmother would produce in addition to running a school for the performing and fine arts. I've been in a few like You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, some Christmas/religious plays like My Turn On Earth and Savior of the World, plays from my family, etc.

I think I have enough musical theater under my belt to last the rest of my life. I liked it, but stage performing scares the trout out of me. I don't think I've done anything since I was like... 13.

[Aulayna]

I've never actually seen a play in a theater.

I really want to see The Lion King and Wicked but plans always keep falling though because people are unreliable.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I've been in a few productions. I love performing in musicals even though I'm not the best actor or singer. It's just fun.

In high school, I was in Beauty and the Beast. Clearly, I was the most important part (I was the baker who yells "Marie! The baguettes! Hurry up!" in that first song). I was also the Constable in The Music Man. God, I hated that musical. I feel like it could be fun to watch, but actually being in it was miserable. I feel like being Harold Hill or a member of the quartet would have made it more fun. I was also in a couple of plays written by people from my school.

After high school, I was one of the suitors in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which was a lot of fun. I was also in the chorus for The Fiddler on the Roof. These were both musicals put on by alumni and family/spouses of alumni from where I went to school, and they turned out pretty fantastic.

I've seen Romeo and Juliet at a Shakespeare in the Park sort of thing. This is one of my least favorite Shakespeare plays, but it was still a lot of fun seeing it performed instead of just reading it. I also saw a performance of Oklahoma. I'm not a huge fan of that one either, but friends of mine were in the production. My favorite live production and the only professional one I've seen has been The Pirates of Penzance. It is a really lively, fun one to watch!

Edit: Oh! And I saw a play called Almost, Maine at my college. It was pretty good as well.

[Araciel]

High school: played in hamlet, the hobbit, and scenes from lord of the flies,

After high school: Played in Grease and Little Shop of Horrors

been to army of darkness, salesman, joseph and the technicolor dreamcoat, spamalot, about a dozen or so comedy improvs...

I'm sure there's more.

[Yeargdribble]

Hell, I essentially do it professionally (just to one up Laddy).

I actually worked a season as an audio guy for The Texas Shakespeare Festival. My wife and I currently work regularly playing (trumpet for me; clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, alto/tenor sax, and oboe for her) in the pit for a local theatre that pretty much only does musicals. We just finished "A Christmas Carol" and we're about to start dress rehearsals for "Promises, Promises" (not familiar with it) next week. We're also doing Spamalot later this season.

I've seen and/or been involved with more than I care to list. I've done most of the big ones like "The Sound of Music", "The Music Man," "Annie," etc. I've also done lots of lesser known, but very interesting shows. Often it's the ones I've never heard of that end up being amazing.

Two of my favorites were shows I'd never heard of. "Chess" was amazing. I really hate how Idina Menzel plays Florence in the "Chess in Concert" version. Our Florence was much better. The show has no happy endings. Nobody really wins. It's a deep show that most people won't like because you have to see it a couple of times to really soak in all of the subtext. Luckily, playing in the pit, though you might miss some spots where you're playing and can't really see the stage, you get to see the show many times and really get a feel for what's going on as well as fall deeply in love with most of the songs. Man, the last song has this delicate little trumpet part at the very end and I was almost always in tears trying to regulate my breathing enough to play it correctly.

The other favorite of mine was "The Drowsy Chaperone." That show is a love letter to anyone who loves musical theatre. It's also one of the funniest shows ever ("The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" is also a riot). I had no idea what it was going in, but it was so funny and fantastic and has a really touching bit at the end. Once again, tears and trying to play don't work well together.


Now I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but the orchestra manager told me we're doing Les Mis to open next season. I'm already worried about that one. I just saw it at the theatre and bawled uncontrollably at a couple of spots. I was trying not to ruin the moment for everyone, but I did let out a couple of heaving sobs and was trying to physically stop them with my hand. I'm not sure how I'm going to maintain my composure enough to actually play during that show.

I love musical theatre and (don't tell the orchestra manager) would probably do it for free. It's awesome to be able to get paid to take part.

[Laddy]

Hell, I essentially do it professionally (just to one up Laddy).

Well, I won a Tony.

[fire_of_avalon]

It's been quite a long time but in college (university) I saw a lot of plays. One of my favorites was a modern King Lear because for the scene where Goneril bangs Edmund both of the actors went up in this steel box that lifted like 20 feet into the air and then moved out over the audience. It was epic.