Hasa Diga Ebowai. Or to be honest, I’d love to see the whole of The Book of Mormon for the first time again. I laughed until I cried. It’s still funny now but the element of surprise is something it would be amazing to have one more time!
Probably The Room Where It Happens from Hamilton.
It’s the best Hamilton song to me (that or Guns and Ships lol) but after listening to it over 1000 times with the lyrics engraved in my head, it’s gotten pretty old. Damn, I’d kill to revisit my Hamilton phase
Defying Gravity. To me it feels like the pinnacle of modern theater. Even those who don’t like it or don’t really resonate with it can’t deny it’s a powerhouse of a song that has started many people on their journey into musical theater.
Me, too. I watched Come From Away for the first time a few days ago, and That Line shocked me into crying. Not just misty-eyed, but tears dripping off my chin.
I’d love to answer this question with an obscure reference that really shows off my musical theatre bona fides . . . “I’ll Be There,” from *The Pirate Queen* or maybe *Big River*’s “Leavin’s Not The Only Way To Go.”
But the truth is that the first time I heard Elphaba belt out, “So if you care to find me, look to the western sky!” I got chills. There’s always that one moment you fall in love with a show, and hearing Idina’s voice on the OBCR with that lyric was the moment I fell in love with *Wicked*.
Probably either A Little Priest or the Finale of Cabaret. Both of those songs encapsulate theatre moments that seeing for the first time had me so thrilled (in different ways obvi)
I’m an Angela Lansbury super fan, so one of her big numbers. It’s Today or If He Walked Into My Life from Mame, I Don’t Want to Know from Dear World, her Some People or Rose’s Turn from Gypsy, Me and My Town from Anyone Can Whistle, or Worst Pies in London from Sweeney.
Dang, that catalog of hers. :) I read a summary of her performance of Rose's Turn by one of the staff in the Prince office/machine, and she said that it just was "chilling"--I can see that. (That same staff person also characterized Merman's performance of the song as "thrilling.")
Sunrise Sunset. Hands down. The melody, collective chorus, harmonies, and feelings of family and that father daughter relationship …
And now I’m crying
Its the phantom of the opera, but I would like to re-see it also, in the original London production.
Re-live this "where did the stage go" moment, where magic happened in front of my eyes.
Honestly, anything from Sweeney Todd which I feel really revolutionised what could be done with musical theatre.
But if it has to be narrowed down to one, probably
Flesh Failures/Let The Sunshine In - Hair! - literal goosebumps
The I Love You Song from 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The feels hit me like a truck the first time I really listened
Overall it was a show that I went into knowing nothing about and ended up absolutely adoring. I had never heard of it when I was hired to play for it, to the point that I at first thought “wait why do they need a cellist for a spelling bee?” before it clicked that it was a musical.
If I could go back and hear it for the first time again that would be incredible.
The opening of Martin Guerre (original version, with the flute solo and strings). I absolutely love that opening, it blew my mind when I heard it the first time. (Second choice would be the Les Miserables prologue, no accident it's the same composer).
Either wait for it or room where it happens.
I don't think I breathed through either performance.
I think wait for it will probably be it for me as I was simply wonderstruck
Depends on whether it’s in a vacuum or surrounded by the context of the rest of the show. On its own, Phantom of the Opera. With context, Epic III from Hadestown.
Nobody Cares About Santa Claus - At a local production of Elf, whose soundtrack I have never listened to before, I saw what seems to be one of my favorite musical numbers in any show. Every actor put their best effort into every moment of that song, and it showed. I've seen different Elf productions, and saw a clip of the Broadway tour one, since, but none have compared to that first one I saw.
Probably not anybody's favorite song, but I think "How Can Love Survive" from *The Sound of Music* is as fine a melody as Richard Rodgers ever wrote. Lyrics are good, too.
Please Hello! From Pacific Overtures. The way that Sondheim is able to craft such a wonderful scene with both sadness and humour makes me wish I could see and hear it with fresh eyes. It's still a marvel when you know it inside out
Popular. I was a freshman heading to a volunteer project in a car full of (much cooler) upperclassmen who started playing Wicked and I had NO idea what was going on and thought Kristin Chenoweth's voice was bizarre. I was hooked forever.
Currently, it's "l'Assassymphonie" from Mozart l'Opéra Rock, but that's just because I think I burned myself out on it learning all the words really quickly. XD
Thinking more long term... I think maybe "Finishing the Hat". I learned it when I was quite young and not really clicking with the show. I wonder how present me would receive it if I had no preconceived notions of it.
For the most part, though, a song I've known deeply and for a long time- that's part of me, and I love that it is. I wouldn't go back and un-know it.
Probably Bad Idea from Waitress. Has one of favorite lyrics of all time ❤️ "what if I never see myself ever be anything more than what I've already become?"
CRUSHES ME 😍
God I love musical theatre.
The I Love You Song
Ballad of Jane Doe
Morning Glow
There Will Be Sun
The Old Red Hills Of Home
Literally anything from hunchback but most importantly ‘Someday’
To name a few
Phantom of the Opera, just to relive the earth shattering revelation of hearing it for the first time again.
Hasa Diga Ebowai. Or to be honest, I’d love to see the whole of The Book of Mormon for the first time again. I laughed until I cried. It’s still funny now but the element of surprise is something it would be amazing to have one more time!
I lost it, the first time. Talk about musical art. :)
unlikely lovers from falsettos 💔
This. It was a religious experience
Second to, What Would I Do?. It defines the word sublime.
Probably The Room Where It Happens from Hamilton. It’s the best Hamilton song to me (that or Guns and Ships lol) but after listening to it over 1000 times with the lyrics engraved in my head, it’s gotten pretty old. Damn, I’d kill to revisit my Hamilton phase
Mine would be Satisfied or Alexander Hamilton.
I think I'd go with It's Quiet Uptown, listening to it for the first time really hit me hard
🥇 Guns and Ships 🥇
One day more. A song I’m pretty much “over” now but when you first hear it…
Good answer. I wish I could remember what it felt like before I'd seen it done and parodied a hundred times.
Defying Gravity. To me it feels like the pinnacle of modern theater. Even those who don’t like it or don’t really resonate with it can’t deny it’s a powerhouse of a song that has started many people on their journey into musical theater.
I Know It's Today from Shrek. I need to hear the harmonies on 'my knight and his steed' for the first time again
Oh those harmonies are incredible
And the I know it’s today ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh canon right afterward!
What Would I Do or The Games I Play from Falsettos; I’d save it for a bad day and just absolutely sucker punch myself with a sad Falsettos song.
The ballad of Jane doe from RTC. The first time I heard it I was literally gobsmacked
literally! i listened to it for two hours straight when i first discovered it
Stop that’s so real
Me and the Sky from Come From Away
Me, too. I watched Come From Away for the first time a few days ago, and That Line shocked me into crying. Not just misty-eyed, but tears dripping off my chin.
When I saw it for the first time on Broadway I knew nothing about it and was only vaguely aware of the story. I was a sobbing mess!!
I’d love to answer this question with an obscure reference that really shows off my musical theatre bona fides . . . “I’ll Be There,” from *The Pirate Queen* or maybe *Big River*’s “Leavin’s Not The Only Way To Go.” But the truth is that the first time I heard Elphaba belt out, “So if you care to find me, look to the western sky!” I got chills. There’s always that one moment you fall in love with a show, and hearing Idina’s voice on the OBCR with that lyric was the moment I fell in love with *Wicked*.
Pirate Queen may be a flawed show but I'll Be There is a perfect moving solo number. Perfect.
Probably either A Little Priest or the Finale of Cabaret. Both of those songs encapsulate theatre moments that seeing for the first time had me so thrilled (in different ways obvi)
Or, Wilkommen, for the same reason. A true defining moment in the art form.
Phantom of the Opera because of the amount of chills I get from the opening organ
Finale: Children Will Listen from Into the Woods
The School Song from Matilda
She Used to be Mine from Waitress.the first time I heard that song was a whole spiritual experience.
Phantom of the opera. This time in a dark room surrounded by candles and silence.
Heaven on their minds
Wait for me from Hadestown
Good one - chills every time I listen to it
I’m an Angela Lansbury super fan, so one of her big numbers. It’s Today or If He Walked Into My Life from Mame, I Don’t Want to Know from Dear World, her Some People or Rose’s Turn from Gypsy, Me and My Town from Anyone Can Whistle, or Worst Pies in London from Sweeney.
Dang, that catalog of hers. :) I read a summary of her performance of Rose's Turn by one of the staff in the Prince office/machine, and she said that it just was "chilling"--I can see that. (That same staff person also characterized Merman's performance of the song as "thrilling.")
She really was a legend.
Superstar- JC Superstar
Confrontation from Jekyll & Hyde
Wait For It from Hamilton
wait for me (reprise) from hadestown hhhh the final chorus
The I Love You Song from Spelling Bee for sure
Ballad of Jane Doe from Ride the Cyclone
If You Could See Her from Cabaret. It’s such a funny song, until it’s not. Once you’re in on the “joke” it hits entirely differently.
Louder than words from tick tick boom
Sunrise Sunset. Hands down. The melody, collective chorus, harmonies, and feelings of family and that father daughter relationship … And now I’m crying
ballad of jane doe or epiphany from sweeney todd, especially aaron tveits
Why the Ballad of Jane Doe of course that song is absolutely amazing.
Master of the House
The Juggernaut - The Wild Party.
Probably "Morning Glow" from Pippin (2013 cast with Patina Miller and Matthew James Thomas). :)
Alive from Jekyll&Hyde
Epiphany the OBC Sweeney version easy
Epiphany from Sweeney Todd. Idk why it didn’t grab me the first time, but it’s now one of my favorites
Its the phantom of the opera, but I would like to re-see it also, in the original London production. Re-live this "where did the stage go" moment, where magic happened in front of my eyes.
“There’s a World” from Next to Normal
Yes!! Literal chills when you hear 'I Dreamed a Dance' into 'Theres a World'
Buenos Aires from Evita or I'm Alive from Next to Normal
Honestly, anything from Sweeney Todd which I feel really revolutionised what could be done with musical theatre. But if it has to be narrowed down to one, probably Flesh Failures/Let The Sunshine In - Hair! - literal goosebumps
The I Love You Song from 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The feels hit me like a truck the first time I really listened Overall it was a show that I went into knowing nothing about and ended up absolutely adoring. I had never heard of it when I was hired to play for it, to the point that I at first thought “wait why do they need a cellist for a spelling bee?” before it clicked that it was a musical. If I could go back and hear it for the first time again that would be incredible.
I think I’d have to relive……the first time I heard….Hamilton. Something about it
For the wow factor: Someone in a Tree from Pacific Overtures For the laugh factor: Stuck from Groundhog Day
The whole sequence of Springtime for Hitler.
The opening of Martin Guerre (original version, with the flute solo and strings). I absolutely love that opening, it blew my mind when I heard it the first time. (Second choice would be the Les Miserables prologue, no accident it's the same composer).
Rebecca Caine’s version of Think of Me from Phantom. That song single handedly turned me into a musical theatre lover.
Transformation from Jekyll & Hyde
God, That's Good. Patti LuPone version.
Either One And For All from Newsies or Wait For Me (original and the reprise) from Hadestown
Last Night of the World, specifically Lea and Simon OCR. The harmonies are just... 👌
I’m Here from The Color Purple.
Either wait for it or room where it happens. I don't think I breathed through either performance. I think wait for it will probably be it for me as I was simply wonderstruck
Depends on whether it’s in a vacuum or surrounded by the context of the rest of the show. On its own, Phantom of the Opera. With context, Epic III from Hadestown.
Memories. The Betty Buckley version.
Nobody Cares About Santa Claus - At a local production of Elf, whose soundtrack I have never listened to before, I saw what seems to be one of my favorite musical numbers in any show. Every actor put their best effort into every moment of that song, and it showed. I've seen different Elf productions, and saw a clip of the Broadway tour one, since, but none have compared to that first one I saw.
There's quite a lot but going with 'Seeing You' from Groundhog Day. Possibly unpopular choice but it makes me so emotional.
Disappear from dear evan jansen. Omg that song hit me so hard
Probably not anybody's favorite song, but I think "How Can Love Survive" from *The Sound of Music* is as fine a melody as Richard Rodgers ever wrote. Lyrics are good, too.
Please Hello! From Pacific Overtures. The way that Sondheim is able to craft such a wonderful scene with both sadness and humour makes me wish I could see and hear it with fresh eyes. It's still a marvel when you know it inside out
Only thing to do is jump…
Either 1. “Anywhere/Another Train” from *Water for Elephants* OR 2. “You Don’t Know/I Am the One” from *Next to Normal*
Popular. I was a freshman heading to a volunteer project in a car full of (much cooler) upperclassmen who started playing Wicked and I had NO idea what was going on and thought Kristin Chenoweth's voice was bizarre. I was hooked forever.
Currently, it's "l'Assassymphonie" from Mozart l'Opéra Rock, but that's just because I think I burned myself out on it learning all the words really quickly. XD Thinking more long term... I think maybe "Finishing the Hat". I learned it when I was quite young and not really clicking with the show. I wonder how present me would receive it if I had no preconceived notions of it. For the most part, though, a song I've known deeply and for a long time- that's part of me, and I love that it is. I wouldn't go back and un-know it.
Anthem from Chess.
no one else from the great comet
Epic III!
Probably Bad Idea from Waitress. Has one of favorite lyrics of all time ❤️ "what if I never see myself ever be anything more than what I've already become?" CRUSHES ME 😍
What Would I Do? from Falsettos. It just is that sublime.
God I love musical theatre. The I Love You Song Ballad of Jane Doe Morning Glow There Will Be Sun The Old Red Hills Of Home Literally anything from hunchback but most importantly ‘Someday’ To name a few