If you could watch any historic theatre performances, which one(s) would you pick?

[AllaMova]

Inspired my a commenter on one of my previous threads (whose username I’ve forgotten - sorry.)

Admittedly, there are so many, which I’d chose including:

Hedda Gabler and Ghosts (both starring Alla Nazimova - my namesake!)

The Glass Menagerie (staring Laurette Taylor)

Hamlet (staring John Barrymore)

The Lady of the Camellias (staring Sarah Bernhardt)

Little Foxes (staring Tallulah Bankhead)

(And many more)

If you go on YouTube there's an amazing interview (from the 50s) with a man who had been a small child at the performance at which Lincoln was assassinated. It's amazing to think that someone could have witnessed this event and then appeared on TV.

Can't link (too dim) but if you put in something like 'TV interview witness Lincoln's assassination' you might find it.

Our American Cousin, Ford Theatre, Washington DC, April 14th 1865.

Quite a night, by all accounts.

EDIT: I see someone upthread got there first.

Hopefully you'd be rich, otherwise you'd have to stand with the paupers who literally threw piss and shit about as a way to heckle the actors.

A lot of history is romanticised.

Seeing Wee Jeanie Krankie fall off the beanstalk at Glasgow's Pavilion in 2004 might have been worth a swatch too.

I saw it this century but yes it's overdue a revival!

When I was about 11 we went on a school trip to see Wind in the Willows at the National Theatre (about 1990). I was absolutely blown away by the set and the way it opened - nothing has ever captured the magic for me and I'd love to see it again.

Not very sophisticated but I'd also like to see Noel Streatfeild in her acting days - I don't think she was particularly amazing but I collect her books and would love to experience that. Maybe the tour with the children who inspired Ballet Shoes et al!

I worked on Return To The Forbidden Planet.

Such fun.

Oh I remember seeing that at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon when DH and I were first going out. Loved it!

Do Not Reverse Polarity (I had the t-shirt!)

No, sorry, it was definitely Rudy! It was a triple bill in Paris of Les Sylphides (awful, 12 Yr old me was furious that the corps all had wrinkly tights), Spectre and Faun.

I didn’t see it on opening night but I did see it a month after it opened. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go, I was never a fan of Michael Crawford, but it was incredible.

More recently, I wish I'd seen Cabaret with Jessie Buckley as Sally Bowles. I love her! And Eddie Red maybe as the Emcee.

Oh dear. Well, I have to admit his legs did get a bit 'rugby prop forward' towards the end of his career.

What a shame!

They were both great, but the production itself is the star, so this version of Cabaret is still worth seeing.

I would see the National Theatre production of Alan Ayckbourn’s Way Upstream where the tank burst.
The Scarborough crew who had premiered it got in touch beforehand and asked if they would like tips on managing using a real cabin cruiser and water on stage and the NT team were like, no thanks, we are the National Theatre and we don’t need any help from a little provincial theatre.

I saw Alec McCowen playing Adolf Hitler in "The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H." at The Mermaid in the early 1980s.
A magnificent performance , he almost had me convinced he was right.
I've never forgotten it.
I'd love to see it again .

I wish I’d seen Jerusalem!

The SJT in Scarborough is such a fabulous theatre, I go often and I love them. I only saw the tv version of Way Upstream and I remember it as excellent and very scary (but I was a teenager).

One of the first plays i ever saw was a touring version of the Norman Conquests in the 80s and it was wonderful.

That would be my choice. That and Leonard Rossiter in The Resitible Rise of Arturo Ui

The RSC’s Nicholas Nickleby. I had a book written by the assistant director and I read it many times.

Patrick Stewart's one man A Christmas Carol.

Saw this. I was incredibly disappointed.

Medea at The National Theatre with Diana Rigg. My guess is it was around 1994.

Oh that was fantastic! I got up at crack of dawn to queue for day seats, twice.

Medea - Just looked it up and it was 1992 at The Almedia Theatre

Yes.