What was the first show you ever saw?

haha I'm rolling up my sleeves now! I'll write something when I get to work

Sooooo I had the good fortune to have parents who love live theater almost as much as I do (though mom favors plays and dad favors musicals - I love both, a LOT). Which means I can't remember what my first show was, because they took me to as much as they could (which was mostly community theater and non-equity tours, growing up).

But I DO remember the year I fell in love with theater permanently. Seventh Grade was a bad bad time, and my mom thought of two things that helped tremendously - she took me to audition for the local community theater (which always included one show with kids in it each season), which was doing How to Eat Like a Child, an ensemble piece, of comic scenes and songs (no plot) by Nora and Delia Ephron. I'd had almost no friends all year, and suddenly I had a group of 17 other kids who all wanted to play. It was amazing, and that has remained one of my favorite aspects of putting on plays - the sense of community of the cast/crew who are telling the story together.

That same year, my sister was at her first year of college, at Columbia in New York. Mom suggested I go visit her for spring break, and she took me to my first Broadway show - The Scarlet Pimpernel. I didn't know there was this much talent out there, live and right in front of me. When Percy and his troupe sang "Into the Fire," I almost couldn't handle how gorgeous it sounded, even apart from the amazing spirit behind the song itself. The story was so heroic, the music was lush, and I was completely and utterly hooked. The next day my sister had class in the morning, and I spent my time in her dorm room listening to the CD we had just bought in the theater, memorizing my new favorite show ever omg.

(I'm about to date myself but oh well). That year at school all the girls were in love with the Hansen brothers - they even had scrapbooks. I, instead, obsessed over Pimpernel, its entire cast (even the swings), and everything about it - I bought the novels, rented the movies, all of it. It was the very early days of the internet (geocities, oy), and when mom would go to the library, I'd tag along to log onto the computers and read all the fan sites and look at all the pictures.

It's no exaggeration to say that acting in my first show and seeing my first Broadway show in the same year changed my life forever. Pimpernel, in retrospect, is not without its flaws, but oh man was it the perfect first show for me to see. I still love it. I even got a tattoo of a pimpernel on my ankle when I turned 18.

I don't act that often anymore (I mostly write), but I am still a complete theater junkie - it helps that I live in New York and have access to so much good quality theater to watch. I see over 100 plays a year - usually catch all or nearly all of each Broadway season, and try to catch the highlights of Off-Broadway as well.

I've actually been contemplating writing an essay/blog post about the best theatrical experiences I've had, and maybe this will prompt me to do it. Pimpernel will definitely make that list.

aprendiz de maestro! it's a theatre series (with its main goal being teaching children more about classical music n art -in a "this isnt just for the rich ppl" typa way) and i can't tell you exactly what the first episode i ever saw was but i watched it every month and it always made me feel somewhat magical and just plain happy <3

and it still remains one of my faves after all these years! i haven't seen it in a looooong time but i rmr it always feeling/sounding very pure and light when i was a kid and i think thats one of my greatest childhood memories