I grew up listening to "Grease," which was on my mom's favorite albums and movies so I think that influenced me a lot. I think the movie that locked me into really being interested in musicals though was "Singin' in the Rain."
Phantom of the Opera in 1996. I was there with my Grade 5 class. Just watching the chandelier rise from the stage to it's place in the middle of the theatre. Masquerade is still my favourite broadway song.
I got hooked when my friend was playing "On My Own" from Les Miz on the piano. I loved it and borrowed her cast recording for months, seriously. After Les Miz was Hedwig, and then Rocky Horror, and then RENT, and then I was completely hooked. That all happened about 5 years ago.
"Who says you can't bend over backwards and eat bugs if you want to? I guess the bugs would probably say you can't do that that, but assuming that they are willing and consenting bugs, then there's no problem. Let's wig out eating bugs."
-RuPaul
I used to be mysteriously drawn to the Dream Cast 10th Anniversary Les Mis concert and watched it. Thats the earliest I can remember me liking anything and I eventually got to see it years later a month before it closed on Broadway, it was my first show. Les mis basically shaped my interest in musicals
I went to see Chicago when it toured in Columbus, Ohio. My grandmother, who I am very close with took me for my birthday. The stars were Jasmine Guy, Charlotte D'amboise and Obba Babatunde...it was amazing and I was hooked from then on.
"I hope you're all happy, keeping Alan off the team. Couldn't you, for once, open your minds and hearts and hear something that he couldn't see? I, for one, am glad that Alan is blind, so he can't see what, I am so sad to say, you can't hear." -Jerri Blank
My cluster in Middle School all took a trip to see the original tour of Aida. By the end of that show I was blown away. It was so spectacular and unlike anything I had seen before. I went and bought the CD after the show and listened to it all the way home and then for about 2 months straight. Ever since then I have been hooked on theater and a diehard fan of Sherie Rene Scott.
"The hallmark of aristocracy is responsibility. Oh brother, that got me, that did me in!"
I was obsessed with the movie version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella when I was like, 8... but the first show I was really obsessed with as a stage show was... Cats. It was my first cast recording ever purchased... and I don't think I've bought another CD since.
(And now my favorite musical is Assassins. Go figure.)
It was Rent for me. Before Rent I had only seen one musical ever (besides movies and whatnot.) I went with my friend cause I felt bad for her. Haven't really looked back.
Well the first time I remember hearing musicals was when my family would be in the car for a long time, my brother and I would be sleeping, and my parents would be playing the tapes to Miss Saigon and Les Mis. This was years and years ago. Then, when I saw Les Mis for the first time, I was hooked. It was touring and in Atlanta, and I made my parents buy tickets for the next week after I saw it once.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
Well, if anything, Phantom of the Opera turned me off of musicals. It was the first one I had ever heard, because my uncle used to turn off all the lights and play it, and it scared the pants off of me.
But then, I started to like it a lot, and I even went as the Phantom for Halloween at the age of like eight.
But I didn't really bother for a while until I went to see a regional production of Guys and Dolls and was blown away. I still love that show to this day.
first show I saw: Phantom of the Opera tour (scared me so couldn't really be classified as hooking me)
However, this was the first cast recording ever perchased, first one to really stick out for me. Followed closely by Les Miserables (first show to see and throughly enjoy), Wizard of Oz (first musical I acted in), Wicked (read book years before play came out and cd has never left the cd player since I recieved it), RENT (first Broadway show to be seen on Broadway on my first trip to NYC).
What good is a life,
With no one to share,
The light of the moon,
The honor of a swear?
"Stop! You're Killing Me" got me hooked. This was in the early 70's. It was my high school's production. The opening song was "A Great Night For A Murder". (I hum the song to this day) I have been trying to find the music to it for years and can't. If anyone here is familiar with it, let me know if the music can be purchased anywhere!!!
It was my first trip to NYC, Tony weekend, 1996. I saw OC of Rent on Friday, and Nathan Lane in Forum on Saturday. Between those two shows, I was HOOKED!!!!!!!!
The year was 1975 (how many of you were alive then?) the show? a 5..6...7..8... "A Chorus Line" I was 12.
"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."
Conan O'Brien
Seeing the Grease revival when I was 9 was what first got me interested in Broadway, but it wasn't until I saw Rent for the first time last October that it went from a hobby of seeing a few shows a year to something that truly hooked me.
"There was this one time an alarm went off - it was in the middle of '24.' That's just wrong. Everyone knows everyone was watching '24' at that time."
--NYU student quoted in the Washington Square News about students ignoring the frequent fire alarms in dorms
I begged my parents for years to take me to see it again. They refused. Then I saw the PBS airing and thanked them for not taking me back. It was a terrific gateway though. I also grew up listening to Starlight Express.
The shows that kind of cemented my love of musical theatre were Grease, The Sound of Music, and The King and I.
Seeing Cats when I was 4 was what got me hooked onto musical theatre in general.
However, the first specific show I got hooked onto was Rent (when I was 18 ). The weird thing about that was that I didn't fall in love with it when I first saw the show. I gradually grew to love the cast recording a few months later and only really enjoyed the show the second time I saw it.
I was about 4 when I began watching movie musicals and Mary Poppins, Sound of Music and Wizard of Oz were my obsessions! I remember when I had the chicken poxs and all I watched for a week was mary Poppins and the Sound of music interchangably. The first show I saw was Cats but don't remember if I liked it or not. The second show I saw was the King and I (w/Donna Murphy) and was in love!!! I've loved broadway ever since. The first show I remember being emotionally involved in was Ragtime. I walked out of the theater sobbing at the thought of Coalhouses death and was so overcome, I just remember asking my parents, practically begging for the cast recording.