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

[IVantToBeAlonee]

It’s National Theatre Day today.

For me, I think Nye, staring Michael Sheen is the best I’ve seen, thus far. Though, my answer is subject to change since I have a few shows coming up soon.

What is the best theatre show you’ve ever seen?

Favourite has always been Les Mis since I first saw it 25 years ago.

I saw Harry Potter and the cursed child last year and was really impressed by the traditional theatre trickery.

Anyone seen Austentatious? Wondering whether it’s worth going a bit further afield to catch this as isn’t not on near me

We have tickets!

I bought a ticket last minute on the train down to London, did not know what to expect but just wow!

Hope you do get to see it one day

Miss saigon. Ghost. Phantom of the opera. Les mis.

Sweet Charity came to Manchester around 8 years ago, starring Kaisa Hammarlund as Charity, it was really great.

Oh and I love Punchdrunk too - I missed Masque sadly but Drowned Man was incredible.

Iphegenia in Splott is on Audible! Not the same as seeing it, but it is remarkable even if you can't see her.

Did you see it at The Lowry? It was fantastic wasn't it.

So many
Medea with Helen McCrory (plus I met her whilst decompressing in the pub after the performance, she was so lovely and asked if I'd seen it on my own hence needing a large drink!)
Anthony & Cleopatra with Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench at the National (it was my least favourite A level text but this play changed that)
His Dark Materials at the National with Anna Maxwell Martin as Lyra
Titus Adronicus circa 1987 in Stratford - just the play had my jaw on the floor
Macbeth with James McAvoy at the Trafalgar Studios
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest with Christian Slater
A Streetcar Named Desire with Gillian Anderson at the Young Vic

Musicals
Hans Christian Anderson with Tommy Steele (mid 70s, I was a small child and stood up through the entire performance not entirely believing that such magic could exist)
Come From Away
Les Miserables - I've seen in about 20 times and would happily watch it again and again

Oh, the productions I would see if I had a time machine should be a new thread in its entirety! I have a list full of them…

Home I'm Darling with Catherine Parkinson and Richard Harrington. We saw it a couple of nights after it opened on its original run so didn't know what to expect. It was fantastic. At that point it was in a small auditorium, we were in the front row so felt like we were on the set with them.

Our Town with Michael Sheen was amazing, we saw that a few weeks ago and were blown away.

Blood Brothers is a bit of a perpetual favourite, I think I have seen it about 5 times altogether over the years.

I am very envious of the people who saw Prima Facie. I watched it on National Theatre at Home and would love to see it live.

Jerusalem with Mark Rylance

I was SO desperate to see that His Dark Materials production! I never did, but even now I always think of AMM as my Lyra. I did see the Bridge production of La Belle Sauvage though, and absolutely adored it.

I have to say The Rocky Horror Show. It''s a great experience before you even see the show.

It's a difficult question because human nature is to remember things you've seen more recently.

For an individual performance, Branagh in Ivanov in 2008 (Michael Grandage) was pretty spectacular rather than the whole production.

Recently Simon Russell Beale in Titus Andronicus was fantastic.

Glenda Jackson as Lear was pretty remarkable more so given her age, the size of the part and the fact she hadn't done stage work for years.

For musicals, I saw Something Rotten on Broadway which I really enjoyed. It's hilarious. If you've never seen it the plot is that Shakespeare is superstar in Elizabethan England and the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel, theatrical failures, are trying to compete and decide to invent the concept of a musical. The song A Musical is where a soothsayer comes up with the idea - it has loads of musical references to other musicals. If you like musicals you may enjoy trying to spot the clever musical nod references:

This video gives some of the answers but not all of them.

Saw a production of Cold Comfort Farm in the Watermill theatre nr Newbury back in the 90s. It was really different whereby the audience moved around from in the theatre to outside and back in.

Wasn't it though! Just astonishing, the energy and the charisma of her - you really couldnt take your eyes off of her! I had been roped in at the last minute by a friend who ended up with a spare ticket and knew I liked greek and roman history and mythology. It was a great decision to go along with him.

Mercury Fur in a warehouse by Middle Child in Hull. It was an immersive experience. An ambulance had to be called as someone collapsed at the end, no one was sure if it was real or not, it was. It was a very shocking and powerful performance I will never forget.

It's interesting to see so many mentions of various productions of Hamlet. I've seen lots of Hamlets - Branagh twice (87 and mid 90s) and Mark Rylance, and a Welsh one, and someone else, and the Maxine Peake one, and I remember enjoying them at the time - except the Maxine Peake one which I detested so much it's become a running joke with my theatre friend. I wonder if Hamlet is a young person's play, because now I wouldn't see any production of Hamlet if you paid me any money, the character annoys me so much (like Houlden Caulfield).

It’s crazy that so many of us have seen Les Mis multiple times and want to see it again! What a show.

Many of my favourites have been mentioned here already - To Kill a Mockingbird, Prima Facie, some memorable RSC performances dating all the way back to the 90s.

Another one that has stayed with me is Kneehigh Theatre's Brief Encounter. DH and I saw the original tour probably getting on for 20 years ago I think, and we were blown away. Much more recently we saw an amateur production of the same play (same script) at our local community theatre - which was very different, obviously much lower budget etc, but still absolutely brilliant in a different way. We go quite often to that theatre and that is without a doubt the best thing we've seen there

My personal favourite was Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Blvd. When she was announced, there was a lot of scepticism, which was astonishing to me because she’s so obviously talented. I loved seeing her basking in the triumph of pulling it off.

Seeing Paddington walk out on stage is a moment that will stay with you.

I think that Georgina Onuorah is a star to watch. I saw her in ALW’s Cinderella, and she was great, but then I saw her in a fairly controversial production of Oklahoma, and she blew me away.

Les Miserables, the 10th Anniversary Concert- they call it the dream cast for a reason.
Rachel Zegler in Evita. Watched the balcony scene from outside at the matinee, then went to the evening performance. Definitely goosebumps for both inside and outside the theatre for Don’t cry for me Argentina.
Hairspray just after the theatres had opened after covid. The atmosphere was incredible as both performers and artists were just so thankful to be seeing/ performing live theatre again.

I'm fortunate to seen a lot of great stuff.

My favourite plays are "Ink" (put me off The Sun even more than before), and "Dear England" (brilliant, and I don't even like football!)

I saw a brilliant play at the Edinburgh Fringe about a decade ago about Jimmy Saville. Alistair McGowan was great. Disturbing.

The best musicals I've seen over many decades include The Hunting of the Snark, Napoléon, Come from Away and I'm very fond of Wicked.