Reflected Neon
After last Sunday's Broadway/NYC theater summary, it was more or less inevitable that I'd go expand upon that. This led to some interesting questions about what I should expand it to, but after due thought I've decided to go with shows that were, to the extent that I can recall, touring companies or were otherwise indubitably professional groups. Various community theater groups and such will just have to have hurt feelings. This list is almost entirely musicals, mostly because plays rarely tour and I even more rarely go.
The Dim Past
Cats - ?? - Chester Fritz Auditorium
1993
The Complete Works of Williams Shakespeare, Abridged - 12/05 - Chester Fritz Auditorium - On a side note, I believe this may be the oldest ticket stub in my collection.
1995
Evita - 3/01 - Chester Fritz Auditorium
Jesus Christ Superstar - 8/01 - The Fargodome
Five Guys Named Moe - 12/12 - Chester Fritz Auditorium
1996
Damn Yankees - 1/04 - Chester Fritz Auditorium
1997
The Phantom of the Opera - 4/20 - Playhouse Square (ticket has faded, can't tell specific theater) (first time)
1998
Rent - March (during spring break) - Toronto, theater unknown (first time, how did I lost this ticket of all tickets?)
Beauty & the Beast - 5/09 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
Rent - 7/25 - Whitney Hall at The Kentucky Center for the Arts (Louisville) (second time)
1999
Sunset Boulevard - 2/21 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
Roverdance - 4/08 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk - 3/20 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
Bye Bye Birdie - 5/15 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
Rent - 5/19 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square (fourth time)
Victor/Victoria - 6/19 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
The Phantom of the Opera - 8/13 - Pantages Theatre (Toronto) (second time)
Les Miserables - 8/19 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
Thunder Knocking on the Door - 10/17 - Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square
Rent - 12/28 - The Ordway Music Theatre (St. Paul) (fifth time)
2000
Titanic - 1/27 - Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square
Stomp - 2/05 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
Fosse - 2/23 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
Miss Saigon - 2/26 - Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square (second time)
Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python - 6/18 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square (just as it says on the tin)
The Millennium Musical - 10/06 - Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square
Parade - 10/27 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
2001
Fame - 1/25 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
La bohème - 2/16 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
Rent - 5/17 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square (seventh time)
Stomp - 10/10 - Chester Fritz Auditorium (second time)
2003
Starlight Express - 12/18 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
2004
Rent - 1/06 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square (eighth time)
Sweeney Todd - 12/04 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
2005
The Producers - 1/21 - Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square (second time)
Movin' Out - 2/05 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
2008
Wicked - 2/20 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
2012
Shatner's World: We Just Live In It - 4/12 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square (Shatner's one man excuse to tell stories)
2014
Motown: The Musical - 10/07 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
2018
Steve Martin & Martin Short - 11/02 - E.J. Thomas (their two man excuse to tell stories)
2019
Hamilton - 2/15 - Ohio Theatre (Columbus)
Observations
1- Yes, I have seen Rent a lot of times. Depending on which post you choose to believe, it's either 8 or 9 times. I've been saying 9 times for years, but my lists seem to say 8. I have seven ticket stubs and am absolutely certain about the first time I saw it in Toronto, so I'll say 8, since I know memory cannot be trusted. Also, I somehow haven't seen it for fifteen years...
2- I have seen quite a disturbing number of Andrew LLoyd Webber's works. What can I say? They were almost always popular enough to make it all the way to North Dakota when I was growing up.
3- You can clearly see that the golden age of my theater going was 1998-2001, which covers half of the things I saw on Broadway and all but one of the years where I saw more than three shows outside NYC. That coincidentally covers both years of my musical/soundtracks radio show The Body Electric, but since that didn't start until Summer 1999 that can't be the full explanation. I also did get a lot of cheap student tickets, but as I went through my tickets I saw plenty that were clearly not student prices. Indeed, for many of the shows in that time period I organized large groups of people to attend; I think the collection of friends who saw Les Mis had nearly 20 people in it. I'm not completely sure what happened after that. I certainly started going to more movies and concerts, but aside from a few years of marriage I certainly had more disposable income. Tastes change, I guess, but I still like them and even listen to new ones with some regularity.
The Dim Past
Cats - ?? - Chester Fritz Auditorium
1993
The Complete Works of Williams Shakespeare, Abridged - 12/05 - Chester Fritz Auditorium - On a side note, I believe this may be the oldest ticket stub in my collection.
1995
Evita - 3/01 - Chester Fritz Auditorium
Jesus Christ Superstar - 8/01 - The Fargodome
Five Guys Named Moe - 12/12 - Chester Fritz Auditorium
1996
Damn Yankees - 1/04 - Chester Fritz Auditorium
1997
The Phantom of the Opera - 4/20 - Playhouse Square (ticket has faded, can't tell specific theater) (first time)
1998
Rent - March (during spring break) - Toronto, theater unknown (first time, how did I lost this ticket of all tickets?)
Beauty & the Beast - 5/09 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
Rent - 7/25 - Whitney Hall at The Kentucky Center for the Arts (Louisville) (second time)
1999
Sunset Boulevard - 2/21 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
Roverdance - 4/08 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk - 3/20 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
Bye Bye Birdie - 5/15 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
Rent - 5/19 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square (fourth time)
Victor/Victoria - 6/19 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
The Phantom of the Opera - 8/13 - Pantages Theatre (Toronto) (second time)
Les Miserables - 8/19 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
Thunder Knocking on the Door - 10/17 - Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square
Rent - 12/28 - The Ordway Music Theatre (St. Paul) (fifth time)
2000
Titanic - 1/27 - Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square
Stomp - 2/05 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
Fosse - 2/23 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
Miss Saigon - 2/26 - Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square (second time)
Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python - 6/18 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square (just as it says on the tin)
The Millennium Musical - 10/06 - Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square
Parade - 10/27 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
2001
Fame - 1/25 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
La bohème - 2/16 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
Rent - 5/17 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square (seventh time)
Stomp - 10/10 - Chester Fritz Auditorium (second time)
2003
Starlight Express - 12/18 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
2004
Rent - 1/06 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square (eighth time)
Sweeney Todd - 12/04 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
2005
The Producers - 1/21 - Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square (second time)
Movin' Out - 2/05 - Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square
2008
Wicked - 2/20 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
2012
Shatner's World: We Just Live In It - 4/12 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square (Shatner's one man excuse to tell stories)
2014
Motown: The Musical - 10/07 - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
2018
Steve Martin & Martin Short - 11/02 - E.J. Thomas (their two man excuse to tell stories)
2019
Hamilton - 2/15 - Ohio Theatre (Columbus)
Observations
1- Yes, I have seen Rent a lot of times. Depending on which post you choose to believe, it's either 8 or 9 times. I've been saying 9 times for years, but my lists seem to say 8. I have seven ticket stubs and am absolutely certain about the first time I saw it in Toronto, so I'll say 8, since I know memory cannot be trusted. Also, I somehow haven't seen it for fifteen years...
2- I have seen quite a disturbing number of Andrew LLoyd Webber's works. What can I say? They were almost always popular enough to make it all the way to North Dakota when I was growing up.
3- You can clearly see that the golden age of my theater going was 1998-2001, which covers half of the things I saw on Broadway and all but one of the years where I saw more than three shows outside NYC. That coincidentally covers both years of my musical/soundtracks radio show The Body Electric, but since that didn't start until Summer 1999 that can't be the full explanation. I also did get a lot of cheap student tickets, but as I went through my tickets I saw plenty that were clearly not student prices. Indeed, for many of the shows in that time period I organized large groups of people to attend; I think the collection of friends who saw Les Mis had nearly 20 people in it. I'm not completely sure what happened after that. I certainly started going to more movies and concerts, but aside from a few years of marriage I certainly had more disposable income. Tastes change, I guess, but I still like them and even listen to new ones with some regularity.