# What B’way (or West End) Show Would You to See?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-b-way-or-west-end-show-would-you-to-see/116056>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 26, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-b-way-or-west-end-show-would-you-to-see/116056 "2002-06-26T16:23:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-b-way-or-west-end-show-would-you-to-see/116056/1 "2002-06-26T16:23:58Z")

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If you could go back in time for an evening—with the right clothes and a good seat!—what show would you have absolutely _killed_ to have seen? For me, I think it’s—

**Anna Held** in _Miss Innocence_ (1908) or _The Parisian Model_ (1906).

_The Ziegfeld Follies of of 1917_ (with Fanny Brice, Eddie Cantor, W.C. Fields, Lilyan Tashman, Will Rogers, and Bert Williams!).

**Ethel Merman** in _Gypsy_ (1959).

_Andre Charlot’s Revue of 1924_ (with Bea Lillie, Jack Buchanan, Gertie Lawrence).

The first night of _Oklahoma_ (1943).

**Savoy and Brennan** in the _Greenwich Village Follies_ of 1920 or ’23.

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**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-b-way-or-west-end-show-would-you-to-see/116056/2 "2002-06-26T16:39:13Z")

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I’m not moving back in time as far as you are, **Eve** , but I’d have liked to see John Cameron Mitchell perform in _Hedwig and the Angry Inch_. Or Jennifer Holliday in _Dreamgirls_(1981)

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**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-b-way-or-west-end-show-would-you-to-see/116056/3 "2002-06-26T17:30:52Z")

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“Sing out, Louise!” - Gypsy has my vote. Ethel Merman doing “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” would have been worth the price of admission.

Also, “Streetcar Named Desire” with Jessica Tandy.

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**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-b-way-or-west-end-show-would-you-to-see/116056/4 "2002-06-26T21:47:31Z")

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I’d see the opening performance of _Rent_, which must have been an incredibly emotional show, given that the author had died the day before (or something along those lines)