AIBU to ask what is the best theatre show you have seen?

@MrsMitford3 Sian Brooke was Ophelia. Brilliant production.

Did anyone else see Nicole Kidman in Photograph 51? I loved that. Apparently it was 2015 so I was knee deep in toddlers- so I’ve no idea how I made it there but so glad I did.

OMG I loved Spamalot !

Mark Rylance in Jerusalem. Brian Dennehy in Death of a Salesman. Both absolutely stunning.

Judi Dench in the Cherry Orchard in London in around 1989/1990. That is a performance that will stay with me forever.

Followed by Mark Rylance as Hamlet at around the same time.

I've been lucky enough to see a lot of great theatre since then, and indeed some wonderful musicals, but those two performances are the ones that really stick in my mind.

I just love Dame Judi. She is an incredibly talented actress and I think I could watch her in anything.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.... absolutely beautiful. We were lucky to see it in a very small local theatre before it went to the West End.
Beautifully simple, very well done. Music by Passenger. Mark Addy and Jenna Russell were brilliant. Had read the books beforehand which i think made it even better.
Also loved War Horse. Having owned horses i was totally mesmerised by the puppeteers. They had the movements to a tee and what a great story.
Have a bit of a thing for Joseph as it was the first time i went to the theatre as a child... have the Lloyd Webber soundtrack on vinyl and still know all the words !

I love the theatre-
A production of Jude the Obscure I saw years ago. It had minimal staging- just a big wooden door frame but was so powerful.
More recently Tracy-Ann Oberman as Shylock in Merchant of Venice.
As for musicals I saw Miss Saigon in the West End in the early 90’s and it just blew me away.
More recently I was surprised how good Dear Evan Hanson was, went with low expectations but it was fantastic.

i saw that too! Fiona Shaw fan here.

I had forgotten about that bit/suppressed it more like! Absolutely horrific and her energy was terrifying.

Thank you everyone who has reminded me of Iphegenia in Splott! One of those performances that you almost can’t breathe while watching. Which also reminds me of Grounded at the Gate Theatre - another one woman show with a truly devastating performance from Lucy Ellinson.

Hamilton

Edward Scissorhands the ballet

Top Hat

Phantom of the opera

Controversial but love never dies with ramin karimloo and sierra boggess

Aw I'm glad someone else enjoyed Iphegenia in Splott! I heard it on the radio first and was transfixed, sat in a car park and was late to meet a friend because I had to hear the end. I then saw it in London and wow!

The P&P play is Pride and Prejudice (sort of) and is hands down my favourite thing ever. I saw it before covid then many times afterwards with several casts, and will be seeing it again when it tours again this autumn. I adore it.

Jodie Cromer in Prima Facie for best play. Absolutely sensational.

Imelda Staunton in Hello Dolly for musical. I could watch it over and over.

ooh also saw Benedict Cumberbatch's Hamlet-trying to remember who Ophelia was...

How did I forget Jerusalem. Mark Rylance a genius.

Also remember going with a group of friends to see Spamalot.
We thought very funny and the tourists in front of us found it less so.
The less funny they found it the funnier we did-and DH bought me the coconuts to clap like a horse galloping at the interval.
Best to draw a veil over the rest 😂

Oh my gosh, DD and I would have been all over that!

Saw the original Rocky Horror Show, with Tim Curry and Richard O’Brian at the Royal Court Theater”s Theatre Upstairs in the 70s. He was incredible, great voice and a really enjoyable, innovative — for the time — production.
We also saw a rock-opera version of MacBeth, From a Jack to a King, at around the same time. (It was a bit of a thing in the 70s)

Another vote for Jerusalem. Bloody amazing.

Also both Benedict Cummerbatch’s and Ralph Fiennes (yes, I’m that old) Hamlet and Ian McKellen’s King Lear.

Tracy-Ann Oberman in The Merchant of Venice. I’m a real fan of her’s and am off to The Holy Rosenbergs next week.

Also, I love classical theatre and Sophie Okonedo in Medea was amazing.

Book of Mormon- funniest thing EVER

Stranger thing first shadow (on Broadway)- Amazing, best special effects I’ve ever seen in a show.

OMG I was sobbing at the end
It is one of the great performances of all time

I can’t possibly single out one play from the hundreds I’ve seen but a few which really have stayed with me (as well as the above, I will watch anything by Gary Owen I think he is fabulous particularly with Rachel O’Riorden directing, loved Ghosts and Romeo and Julie)

August, Osage County at the NT
Robert Icke’s Hamlet with Andrew Scott (also had me sobbing!) and Oedipus
Jerusalem
Shifters at The Bush (transferred afterwards)
Follies at the NT with Imelda Staunton

For those who liked One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest it’s on at the Old Vic soon

I saw that Pride and Prejudice at my local theatre-was brilliant!!!

Edited to say I saw Warhorse-also in a local theatre production with DS as he was studying it as school-think he was around 13.
Very very underwhelmed.
Not a big puppet fan anyway and the film nearly destroyed me but the play left me pretty cold.

This was just absolutely mind blowing, seen it three times now and every time Im just totally mesmerised . How she bought so many people to that stage is beyond me

Good - David Tennant . OMG absolutely terrifying. Sharon Small would have won the award for best actress only she was up against Jodie Comer

Two very powerful plays

Musicals are my favourite. Les Mis - every day if I could but the best has to have been Tina

I agree, it was emotionally draining enough being in the audience and knowing the play very well. I can't even imagine how she did it more than once.

I don’t know how she did that every night.

Helen McCrory as Medea. Just mesmerising.

Mark Rylance in Twelfth Night, with Stephen Fry as Malvolio. Very funny.

Oh my goodness, totally forgot Jane Eyre at the National Theatre - saw it 3 times - absolutely breathtaking! ❤️
Edited to say it was a Bristol Old Vic production.

The Merchant of Venice with Henry Goodman as Shylock. It was at the National Theatre theatre circa 2000. His performance left a lasting impression on teenage me.

More recently ‘my neighbour totoro’ it was lovely to escape the world for a couple of hours.