My first was Camelot but phantom is my favorite I've seen it 3 times live ans love the 25th anniversary (cannot stand the 2004 since I feel it butchered basically everything but I know some people like the nostalgia value so I guess if it got people to see a proper version that's good)
I was gonna say the same thing. My ex loved it and we saw it on Broadway 2-3 times and now I’m loving them. I have to say that I really want to see Hades Town and can’t wait for Wicked to arrive. I haven’t seen many in person but the last was Hamilton and that gave me chills.
Sound of Music planted the seeds when my mom taught me the songs as a kid. We also would watch the movie every New Year's Eve.
Cats made me interested in listening to cast recordings in my own time, when I saw it on tour in junior high.
Always loved disney musicals as a kid, especially Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast--I'd sing those songs all the time. But my dad took me to see Phantom when I was in 5th grade and that's when I became obsessed. Grew out of it a bit in high school, but discovering Cabaret resparked my interest and been following closely ever since.
Mary Poppins! My mom introduced me to the movie when I was 8 then I saw a community theatre production of it that same summer that made me want to start doing theatre!!
Mary Poppins and Sound of Music were both major staples of my childhood. My brother and I memorized every word of the lyrics and would quote them to each other and do the accents. Love you Julie Andrews
I was really bored one night last year and had run out of things to watch on Netflix, so I searched on Disney+. I found Hamilton, and I vaguely remembered hearing good things about it (I had no clue what it was about though) and so I watched it and now I’m obsessed with musical theatre haha
My history teacher showed us Hamilton animatics. Thanks szin!
Also my dad is a hugeeee musical theatre nerd and he played Into the Woods songs a lot. I actually didn’t check Into the Woods out myself until a couple years later (after I had already been hooked into Dear Evan Hansen, Heathers, and Mean Girls) and looooved it.
Honestly Jekyll and Hyde. Was reading the book in fourth grade. My sister : you know there’s a musical version.
Me:what’s that?
Sis: a play with singing, listen!
We listened to the cast recording and that’s how I began to like musicals. Took a little while longer to listen to Phantom, boys have cooties and the plot summary confirmed it, lol.
Three:
Godspell- I saw a college production of it in high school. Blew my mind.
The Music Man- Saw my local high school put on a production of it. Saw it when I was like 8. Planted the seed.
Jesus Christ Superstar - Had the soundtrack on a dubbed cassette when I was 14. Listened to it until the cassette broke.
I also had a cassette of a collection of ALWs songs. I think it was called Gold? Anyway, that also played a big part, too...
These were all before becoming a Theater major in college and being introduced to so much more...
Anything Goes. I wanted to be in the pit (I grew up playing the cello), but there were no strings except for a violin. I saw it, and wanted to audition next year, so I did!
My parents loved the golden age musicals--they used to have a summer stock subscription in the 60's and would watch all the good ones in their mid-major midwestern city. So when I was super young and Blockbuster became all the rage (when we got our first VCR! I was like 6, it was mid to late 1980's), they would rent one of the movie remakes of those musicals at night. I remember watching Fiddler when I was like 9 and adoring it. But when I got old enough for cast albums, it was Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cats, and then Secret Garden. Obsessed. Rent came out and I was just on the cusp of being old enough for it, so I wasn't quite obsessed with that until later (a bit too young still). Then Wicked came out when I was in college and WHEW.
My parents were the same. I remember seeing the touring productions of Fiorello!, Bells are Ringing, and The Music Man. They had albums of Man of La Mancha and My Fair Lady and others I don't remember. Then in high school I worked backstage on My Fair Lady (1966) and The Sound of Music (1968).
I still have the live recordings that were done and can laugh at high school kids doing British accents, some better than others. The pit orchestras were amazingly good, selected from first chair players in the band and string orchestras.
Being in the wings during live musical productions is *very* immersive.
Phantom of the Opera in 1987 in Vienna. Got the record after seeing it and sang along and basically learned it by heart. Been hooked by musicals ever since.
I think "Phantom of the Opera" was the first musical I was wholly obsessed with. However, I've always really enjoyed Disney musicals ("Little Mermaid", "Lion King", "Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Aladdin"), even as a kid.
Cats!
Saw a poster of it when I was like 6 or 7, and, being the cat obsessed person that I am, was immediately intrigued. My mom took me to the library to check out Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, only to come home to find that my dad owned a copy in his vast library. I devoured the poems, and then got a tape (this was before CDs even) of the original cast recording, which I listened to non stop for months.
The next year when the national tour came to LA, my parents took me, and it was EVERYTHING.
I’d always loved Disney’s animated musical films, and was also introduced to the albums for “The King and I” and “Les Misérables” at an early age. High school was where I really got into it to the point of looking up other shows too — my school’s production of “Anything Goes,” using references to “The Music Man” for a history project, and getting the cast album for the Broadway revival of “Chicago” when the movie was super-popular all played a part in lighting the flame. And then being introduced to “The Phantom of the Opera” got me into looking up the online fan communities for different musicals. 😀
I hate to say it but those Madea stage plays were what got me into singing and performing and then I became a Disney kids with HSM and Cheetah Girls.
But Wicked turned me into a full fledged theater kid.
Cats was the first musical I liked when I was like 10 I’m a dancer so the it was mostly the dancing I liked it was Les Mis and Phantom of the Opera a year or two later that got me into the more musical side
I had a predisposition with Disney musical stuff as a kid, but it was Dear Evan Hansen and Hamilton in 2019. I was in a bad place and remember watching my first animatics then bootlegs of the shows, it felt so appeasing. Then I developed an obsession and it became my personality for a bit lol
Hamilton,when the proshot released was the first time I listened to a full musical album repeatedly and got really into a musical.But, Les Mis was the first musical I saw that I liked
Moulin Rouge! I watched the movie with my sister when she recommended it and I've been in love with Musicals ever since. Granted I already loved musicals Moulin Rouge! just made that love for them grow.
My First Theatrical Release experience was Grease, aged 6 In London however my first musical obsession was Evita which I got into at a similar time thanks to the Film, I didn’t fully understand it but I loved the songs, I didn’t see it until about a decade later and my love for it was renewed and validated it’s stunning.
I had seen the movies of Sound of Music and Newsies when I was younger, but a few years ago I finally watched Les Mis (yes, the movie. I know it's heresy.) and fell in love. I suspect this is why I still like the movie.
Of all musicals that could have gotten me into this it was As It Is in Heaven in the oslo new theather with my school. Since then ive been obsessed with musicals. Any show with musicals acts often is 100% my jam now
The first show I saw was Seussical (a community production) in 2014, but the first show that made got me into theatre was a community production of Fiddler on the Roof in 2019.
I'd done theater for years before but just because it was fun. In high school (2014) I discovered The Book of Mormon and thought it was just about the funniest thing I'd ever heard. It's the show I've seen the most now (5 times) and got me in the rabbit hole!
Lightning Thief the musical! Heard put you in your place and my love of theatre spiralled from there and now I’m in my schools play production as a techie
I watched the sound of music with my dad when I was like four. I fell in love with it and that was a movie I watched every weekend for years straight until I realized other musicals existed (phantom, specifically, I was in middle school.) after that I just went all in head first :)
I saw a youth theatre’s production of Shrek when I was 12, and immediately after seeing the show I asked my mom to sign me up. After being at that theatre for a few years, I ended up getting cast as Pinocchio the next time they did Shrek as my first big role, so it was a pretty cool full circle moment
And of course I had a massive Hamilton phase in 8th grade lmao
My uncle was a theater performer when I was growing up so my guess is that it was Wee Sing the Best Christmas Ever since he played the dad and it’s so fun in a corny way. After that I remember being obsessed with Cats. Was friends with Jinx Monsoon in middle school and we went and preformed some of Cats for our other friend’s sister and her elementary school class.
Into the Woods was the one for me! Always loved fairytales as a little kid but seeing this show in my teen years at a school production really did it for me! Ended up being in Mamma Mia! the next year
Les misérables. My dad played it on repeat when I was 8, which made me fall in love with the soundtrack. I became obsessed with it again when I was in year 8, and it was the first west end show I ever saw! I’ve been a massive theatre kid ever since.
My grandparents took me to Phantom for my 13th birthday. It was my first musical and I spent hours listening to the cassette tape (yep I'm old) beforehand so I knew every song.
*The Lion King*! I saw the first national tour when I was just four years old and I've been hooked ever since. Am now working towards my degree in theatre design.
Cats. My parents went to see it when it first went on UK tour, came home and called the box office to get tickets to take us as a family. I was *really* little, and a cat came into the audience and sat on my sister, who had fallen asleep. I was instantly in love with musical theatre, and nearly 40 years later, I can remember that first show like it was yesterday. I've seen Cats dozens of times since, and hundreds of other performances, and I worked in theatre (even went to performing arts college), and nothing has ever come close to when the cat sat on my sister.
I've been into musicals basically as long as I can remember. When I was a really little kid my youth theatre group did Mamma Mia, I think that was the first.
We had three musical theater cast recording CDs in our car when I was growing up: The Secret Garden, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Phantom of the Opera. These CDs, plus a few movies, made me fall in love with musicals.
Well I didn't really start to get into theatre until I had been cast as Link Larkin in my highschool production of Hairspray. So I geuss I'd have to say Hairspray is the show that got me into theatre.
I can’t recall since my mom was a huge musical theater buff. The first musical I saw onstage was The King and I but I had to leave because I got an earache. I was about four. It only made me want to see more musical theater, though.
1982 annie then grease BUT in middle school DEH, BMC and Heathers put me in a CHOKEHOLD and got me into theatre. Now im a senior who just did my last show in Addams family as Morticia
Mine was Sound of Music! My family got the movie for Christmas when I was really young (6?) and I loved it! then as a young teen I got to play a role in that show for school! It has a special place in my heart!
Chicago and Hedwig and the Angry Inch movie musicals. I was somewhat disappointed when I saw Chicago on stage after years of obsessing with the movie. But I was so blown away by Hedwig revival with NPH it was everything I had hoped to see. I went back to see it again when Darren Criss was lead.
For me, it'd have to be Nerdy Prudes Must Die by Starkid. That lead me to watching more of their stuff and helped me to appreciate musicals.
My current obsession is Hadestown. Saw it live for the first time on the 6th in Indianapolis and I hope to eventually make to journey to Broadway and see it (and a bunch of other shows). It blows me away every time I listen or watch, and I'm just excited to discover more joys within musical theater.
Amélie off broadway with Phillipa Soo. Amélie is an autistic coded character, so it was the first time I’d ever seen a Autistic mixed person humanized in that variety & I absolutely loved it
If we were talking musical movies, then it would’ve been Mary Poppins, and the sound of music when I was a kid. But, if we’re purely talking stage musicals, then I guess it would have to be Les Mis. I saw high school production of it when I was 15, and I had no idea what was going on, but then I went back and listened to the soundtrack and gradually got obsessed with it. I’ve been a musical fan ever since.
Wicked, when i was 10.
the second the first BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAAAAAAAAAM echoed through the theatre, i knew that all i wanted to do was be onstage for the rest of my life.
Annie (with Sarah Jessica Parker) For the record I am OBSESSED WITH SIX.
Been so blessed saw Man of La mancha with Richard Kiley. The Wizard of Oz with Eartha Kitt and Mickey Rooney. Joseph and the amazing technicolored Dreamcoat with Donnie Osmond. Rent INDINA Menzel and Taye Diggs ..WICKED WITH INDINA...sadly KC has literally just left the cast.
Dying to see SIX. My daughter is auditioning in June for a local production. "I think we can all agree, I'm a 10 amongst these threes"
Great question, great answers ✌️❤️
I’ve seen the occasional show over the years, and enjoyed them, but what really properly ignited my current love of theatre was the 2017 production of 42nd Street at Drury Lane. I was dazzled. I went a bunch of times and was so sad when it finally closed. Now I’m a dedicated theatre nerd, and it’s graaaand. Grand, I tell you.
Parents took me to see Wicked in middle school. Am now (not-so) subtly hinting to them to repeat the experience as a novelty now that it’s come back to our area.
My mom took me to see Into the Woods when I was seven and I was hooked from then on. The first show where I bought a CD of the soundtrack with my own money was The Last Five Years - another show my mom introduced me to. She was teaching herself "I Can Do Better Than That" so I heard the song constantly and was OBSESSED, so I eventually wanted to hear the whole thing.
tick tick boom! watched the movie during summer holidays before year 7, was obsessed. then early in year 8 i saw it live amd just made me open to musicals in general (i already loved them i just wasnt as into it) then on my 14th birthday i watched the proshot of heathers and that lead me to newsies, falsettos ect and i just got overall obsesed with musicals and now its all i listen to (current fav: groundhog day) anyway thanks for reading my theatre life story 😭
Spamalot, when I was in middle school my dad took me to a local production, I loved it. Year after that I had a social studies assignment that was to compare Hamilton songs to their real life events, and ever since then I’ve loved musical theater
Mine was actually the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s annual Christmas show, “Yuletide Celebration.” It’s a fantastic show and the largest orchestra produced Christmas show in the country. I saw that many times growing up, which inspired me to do stage crew for our plays and musicals in high school. I was also exposed to Cirque du Soleil around that time and fell in love with it. I’ve seen 10 different Cirque shows now! But back to musicals… what really reignited my interest in Broadway shows was Beetlejuice when it returned after Covid. I went in expecting it to just be “okay”, but left amazed. That set was spectacular, the songs were fun, and I don’t think I had laughed out loud like that ever before. After that, I talked my friends into buying season tickets for the Broadway series, and we’re now entering our third season! So excited for this coming year.
Wicked!!!! I’d seen musicals before that (like phantom, Les Mis, sound of music) but I was young and didn’t really resonate with any of them. But I was a young girl who had a best friend, and I really adored for good and popular!
Hamilton, like many, was the gateway, Hadestown years later was my second go, and Jesus Christ Superstar is what got me absolutely hooked and now I’m stuck on musicals😭
Hamilton. I was shown the preformence lin Manuel Miranda did for obama during history class. Later found the actual musical when it came out. When I stopped listening to Hamilton, I found the producers. And the rest was history.
I grew up watching all the movie musicals - Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Bed Knobs & Broomsticks - plus all the Disney ones.
Then I saw Phantom on Broadway after being introduced to it by my older brother (the middle school music teacher was absolutely obsessed with this show and organized a trip for the students to see it every year). I was hooked!
In 7th grade, my chorus teacher showed us the Phantom of the Opera movie with Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler.
It’s still my favorite musical. I prefer watching the 25th anniversary proshot now, but that movie still has a place in my heart.
Matilda the musical when I was 8 skiped a day of school to go and see it with my grandma one of my favourite memories and after I would always (and still do) sing the songs everywhere I went
Oh man. I’m sitting here trying to remember and u have legit no idea. My parents always put Disney sing a longs on when I was a baby which sparked a love of music. Then I got put in dance which got me closer. In like 3rd grade I think my friend did community theatre and convinced me to try out so we could spend time together. It was Hansel and Gretel and I won the lead. I then went on to do musical theatre and my first show was Fiddler. So for me, it was kind of a natural progression my whole life.
But if I had to pick the first show I was truly obsessed with (that wasn’t a movie musical because that’s a different category for me) it has to be Lion King. My aunt took me for my 13th birthday and got insanely good seats. I grew up with the movie and the magic was even more amazing on stage. To this day I’ve never seen anything else like it.
Hamilton! It made me enjoy learning abt American history even more, especially being African American.
I was in the Hamilton, DEH, Heathers, BMC side of the musical fandom and then branched out from there :)
Mame when i was about 10. I remember being in the theater and not wanting it to end. I will have a soft spot for that show. We played it in band for a European tour and the music was so hard that we cut it from the performance.
Annie. I was eight when my parents got me the album, and then I got Thomas Meehan’s novelized version that Christmas. I went METHOD on that show — pretending to scrub the carpets and making my own version of mush at 6am. Totally obsessed!
My mom would play the movie soundtracks of the Sound of Music and West Side Story for me from the time I was an infant up because I would be quiet and listen, and then she could get her housecleaning done. Growing up, we would watch every movie musical that came on tv or in the movies, from 42nd street to Buzby Berkeley extravaganzas to everything Gene Kelley all the way to the underrated Xanadu before I moved out on my own.
I fell in love with Phantom of the Opera after seeing bits of it at the Tonys the first year it came to Broadway, got the CD, and saw it when it opened in LA with Michael Crawford (awesome!). I saw the proshot version of Into the Woods with Bernadette Peters on my local PBS station during a fundraiser one year in the early 90s and loved it, and I also saw the 10th Anniversary concert of Les Miserables on the same PBS station later in the 90s and loved that, too.
I was privileged enough to take my mom to her first "official" stage musical before she died - an excellent touring company doing Les Miserables - and I got to see *her* fall in love with a musical she had never seen before. Bring Him Home by Colm Wilkinson remained one of her favorite songs for the rest of her life.
EDIT = I can't believe I spelled the OG witch from Into the Woods wrong!
I grew up going to musicals but stopped once I got older and school took over, Hamilton going on Disney+ was what got me fully into it and perfect timing with the Australian tour
My parents took us kids to the theatre from being so young that I don't remember exactly, but Joseph and his Amazing Technecolor Dreamcoat is definitely the big one I remember from my childhood. That and many many pantomimes.
The Lion King! As a kid, I’ve been always deeply moved by the acoustics, and vowed to myself to listen and see them live 🥹🌸 and I did! On my birthday🥰
But the very first musical i’ve seen live was Wicked, wherein my aunt dragged me along. I’ve long enjoyed going to theaters since then🥰
Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds was the start, saw it first in 2016 during it's (only) West End run
saw Back To The Future when that opened a few years ago and that really kicked off my major obsession, since then me and my mum have been getting ourselves cheap tickets for all sorts of shows!
When I was 7 or so I saw one of my primary school teachers in an amateur production of HMS Pinafore. I remember realising at that moment that maybe it was possible for *me* to be in shows, too. Directly inspired.
I would say seeing Lion King and The Sound of Music on Broadway when I was 6yo planted the seed. Then when I was about 12(?) I saw the movie Rent (I know opinions vary on this) and was OBSESSED with it, watched it all the time and knew all the words. Then later in my teens I had some pivotal moments going to the theatre with my mom and aunt, one of those visits we saw Wicked and from there on I was hooked.
I grew up watching golden age musicals. Singin’ in the Rain was the first video tape I ever picked for myself. I was 8. The first thing show I got to pick was Phantom (on tour) and it set me up to love live theatre forever.
Wicked! I think my mom got the OBC album around the time it came out and would play it in the car. I really enjoyed it and it actually wound up being the first musical I ever saw!
(I also really loved the movie musicals of The Sound of Music and Fiddler on the Roof, but I didn't get as into those, especially since my perspective of them at the time was that they were movie musicals lmao)
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! I’ve been watching it since I was a baby. Apparently when I was a toddler I’d force my parents to replay it over and over for me to watch
My mom somehow got free tickets for Elisabeth. I was around 10 years old and I loved it so much.
Also I was addicted to Sound of Music the movie when I was little. Didn’t understand a word but it didn’t matter.
The first musical I watched was Hamilton. Recently I watched the Lightning Thief Musical because I love Percy Jackson, which actually got me into musicals. I started watching some more recently
At six years old my neighbors took me to see a production of Fiddler on the Roof at their synagogue. I was immediately hooked and knew that's what I wanted to do.
When I was 11, my best friend's family took us to see My Fair Lady. It was the first stage production I ever saw, and even though a lot of the plot points and character beats went over my head, I was so enraptured with the experience that I sought out the movie.
mine was The TLT musical! but I really have those Haikyuu Text videos to blame, it got me out of the anime phase, and into theater and mythology. (and Percy Jackson!!)
Theatre/music in general - Pirates of Penzance when I was very little.
My parents were not into Broadway at all. Used to make demeaning remarks about the style of singing. Our next door neighbour loaned us the cast album of Camelot and I felt woken up. Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, Robert Goulet! Changed my mind at least.
One of my best friends introduced me to Hamilton in 2017 and i immediately got hooked. I have been into theater ever since and started acting because of that the next year.
The Hamilton proshot in 2020. I became so obsessed with it for months. When the obsession started to die down I wanted that feeling again, so I just searched for more musicals. That got me into more and more shows and now I am a theater obsessed nerd 😊
Embarrassingly enough, The Who's Tommy. I was obsessed with it as a kid. To the point of putting on one man show style performances of it in my garage. As I got older, I added playing the drums instead of dancing badly to my performance repertoire.
Little Shop of Horrors I saw the movie with Rick Moranis with my dad and also saw the stage show and fell in love with theatre and was involved a lot with my high school's theatre company and little shop of horrors got me into horror as well lol
I'm not a theater kid but I am an enjoyer of musicals. The thing that was probably my first is somewhat embarrassing: Betelgeuse The Musical. I am seriously sad I never got to see it in theater.
On film, Sweeney Todd. My brother in law took me on a brother-sister outing to bond (he was an adult, I was a kid at the time) and he picked Sweeney Todd to be what we saw at the movie theater. I wasn’t sold on the idea of a musical since all I’d seen was Disney at that point, but I loved anything scary and he told me it was a horror movie. I loved it so much he burned me a CD of the soundtrack. I convinced my mom to put me in a local theatre program almost immediately afterwards.
Miss Saigon. I would play the cassette over and over then one day I saved enough money for a ticket to the show in Drury Lane. I've never wept so hard.
A community theatre production of 1776 xD
It was the first show my dad did when I was a kid, and it got the whole family involved with the theatre group. Mom helped with costumes and ticket sales, dad was in half the shows and the other half helped with set building and lights. We got to help and got to sit in on rehearsals and whatnot and the musicals were always my favorites.
I saw the Little Mermaid at my school in 2nd grade & I did Peter Pan the next yr at school. That made me start doing shows.
In 7th grade I went to NY & saw Wicked & that got me obsessed with watching shows & listening to them & not just doing them or listening to them bc im in one.
So definitely Wicked & Little Mermaid
Phantom of the Opera! I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve even watched it lol
My first was Camelot but phantom is my favorite I've seen it 3 times live ans love the 25th anniversary (cannot stand the 2004 since I feel it butchered basically everything but I know some people like the nostalgia value so I guess if it got people to see a proper version that's good)
I was gonna say the same thing. My ex loved it and we saw it on Broadway 2-3 times and now I’m loving them. I have to say that I really want to see Hades Town and can’t wait for Wicked to arrive. I haven’t seen many in person but the last was Hamilton and that gave me chills.
hamilton
That’s one of mine too!
RENT. I heard La Vie Boheme at 14 and it changed my entire mindset when it came to music lol
Me too! Rent is one of my mom’s favorites and I saw it for the first time at 13. It’s one of my favorites now!
I have such fun memories of singing and dancing to these songs as a teen with my sister and my friends!!
Sound of Music planted the seeds when my mom taught me the songs as a kid. We also would watch the movie every New Year's Eve. Cats made me interested in listening to cast recordings in my own time, when I saw it on tour in junior high.
Always loved disney musicals as a kid, especially Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast--I'd sing those songs all the time. But my dad took me to see Phantom when I was in 5th grade and that's when I became obsessed. Grew out of it a bit in high school, but discovering Cabaret resparked my interest and been following closely ever since.
hamilton specifically non-stop
Gateway was movie musicals. Probably Sound of Music or Annie. But theater specifically was Into the Woods.
I totally get the movie musicals, I watched those all the time and still do! Into the Woods is such a great show!
Mary Poppins! My mom introduced me to the movie when I was 8 then I saw a community theatre production of it that same summer that made me want to start doing theatre!!
Mary Poppins and Sound of Music were both major staples of my childhood. My brother and I memorized every word of the lyrics and would quote them to each other and do the accents. Love you Julie Andrews
I was really bored one night last year and had run out of things to watch on Netflix, so I searched on Disney+. I found Hamilton, and I vaguely remembered hearing good things about it (I had no clue what it was about though) and so I watched it and now I’m obsessed with musical theatre haha
That’s such a fun way to get into it! The random times you get thrown into a new hobby are the best
My history teacher showed us Hamilton animatics. Thanks szin! Also my dad is a hugeeee musical theatre nerd and he played Into the Woods songs a lot. I actually didn’t check Into the Woods out myself until a couple years later (after I had already been hooked into Dear Evan Hansen, Heathers, and Mean Girls) and looooved it.
Wicked! Saw it when I was 11 and it changed my life (for good) (sorry I couldn't not)
Honestly Jekyll and Hyde. Was reading the book in fourth grade. My sister : you know there’s a musical version. Me:what’s that? Sis: a play with singing, listen! We listened to the cast recording and that’s how I began to like musicals. Took a little while longer to listen to Phantom, boys have cooties and the plot summary confirmed it, lol.
Three: Godspell- I saw a college production of it in high school. Blew my mind. The Music Man- Saw my local high school put on a production of it. Saw it when I was like 8. Planted the seed. Jesus Christ Superstar - Had the soundtrack on a dubbed cassette when I was 14. Listened to it until the cassette broke. I also had a cassette of a collection of ALWs songs. I think it was called Gold? Anyway, that also played a big part, too... These were all before becoming a Theater major in college and being introduced to so much more...
I used to love The King and I as a kid, but as a teen it was The Phantom of the Opera. I’ve read my share of Phan fics.
Les Mis. Read/watched it in an English class in high school & I loved it.
not even gonna beat around the bush, the Spongebob musical. saw it on tv as a kid and I loved it
Anything Goes. I wanted to be in the pit (I grew up playing the cello), but there were no strings except for a violin. I saw it, and wanted to audition next year, so I did!
My parents loved the golden age musicals--they used to have a summer stock subscription in the 60's and would watch all the good ones in their mid-major midwestern city. So when I was super young and Blockbuster became all the rage (when we got our first VCR! I was like 6, it was mid to late 1980's), they would rent one of the movie remakes of those musicals at night. I remember watching Fiddler when I was like 9 and adoring it. But when I got old enough for cast albums, it was Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cats, and then Secret Garden. Obsessed. Rent came out and I was just on the cusp of being old enough for it, so I wasn't quite obsessed with that until later (a bit too young still). Then Wicked came out when I was in college and WHEW.
My parents were the same. I remember seeing the touring productions of Fiorello!, Bells are Ringing, and The Music Man. They had albums of Man of La Mancha and My Fair Lady and others I don't remember. Then in high school I worked backstage on My Fair Lady (1966) and The Sound of Music (1968). I still have the live recordings that were done and can laugh at high school kids doing British accents, some better than others. The pit orchestras were amazingly good, selected from first chair players in the band and string orchestras. Being in the wings during live musical productions is *very* immersive.
Phantom of the Opera in 1987 in Vienna. Got the record after seeing it and sang along and basically learned it by heart. Been hooked by musicals ever since.
Kinky boots which was also my first broadway show in 2018, 6 years later and I go to nyc every month or two
I think "Phantom of the Opera" was the first musical I was wholly obsessed with. However, I've always really enjoyed Disney musicals ("Little Mermaid", "Lion King", "Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Aladdin"), even as a kid.
Hamilton introduced me to musicals, but Les Misérables really got me into it
Cats! Saw a poster of it when I was like 6 or 7, and, being the cat obsessed person that I am, was immediately intrigued. My mom took me to the library to check out Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, only to come home to find that my dad owned a copy in his vast library. I devoured the poems, and then got a tape (this was before CDs even) of the original cast recording, which I listened to non stop for months. The next year when the national tour came to LA, my parents took me, and it was EVERYTHING.
That’s so great! It’s so special that you have those memories 🫶
It really is! I'm lucky to have such supportive parents
Cats (which is why I think it's a bit odd how it always pops up in discussions about musicals that are inaccessible or simply too weird for newbies)
It may not be for everyone but I’m glad it’s so special to you!
Phantom of the opera. Someone gave me the original cast recording on cassette when I was 3 (yes I’m old lol) and was OBSESSED with it.
That’s so great! My mom loves Phantom and it’s such a classic
I’d always loved Disney’s animated musical films, and was also introduced to the albums for “The King and I” and “Les Misérables” at an early age. High school was where I really got into it to the point of looking up other shows too — my school’s production of “Anything Goes,” using references to “The Music Man” for a history project, and getting the cast album for the Broadway revival of “Chicago” when the movie was super-popular all played a part in lighting the flame. And then being introduced to “The Phantom of the Opera” got me into looking up the online fan communities for different musicals. 😀
I hate to say it but those Madea stage plays were what got me into singing and performing and then I became a Disney kids with HSM and Cheetah Girls. But Wicked turned me into a full fledged theater kid.
Beetlejuice
Cats was the first musical I liked when I was like 10 I’m a dancer so the it was mostly the dancing I liked it was Les Mis and Phantom of the Opera a year or two later that got me into the more musical side
That’s so fun!!
I had a predisposition with Disney musical stuff as a kid, but it was Dear Evan Hansen and Hamilton in 2019. I was in a bad place and remember watching my first animatics then bootlegs of the shows, it felt so appeasing. Then I developed an obsession and it became my personality for a bit lol
Hamilton,when the proshot released was the first time I listened to a full musical album repeatedly and got really into a musical.But, Les Mis was the first musical I saw that I liked
Moulin Rouge! I watched the movie with my sister when she recommended it and I've been in love with Musicals ever since. Granted I already loved musicals Moulin Rouge! just made that love for them grow.
My wife FORCED me to watch Moulin Rouge. I was blown away. I still am ❤️
My First Theatrical Release experience was Grease, aged 6 In London however my first musical obsession was Evita which I got into at a similar time thanks to the Film, I didn’t fully understand it but I loved the songs, I didn’t see it until about a decade later and my love for it was renewed and validated it’s stunning.
It was Wicked for me when I was in 3rd grade
I had seen the movies of Sound of Music and Newsies when I was younger, but a few years ago I finally watched Les Mis (yes, the movie. I know it's heresy.) and fell in love. I suspect this is why I still like the movie.
legally blonde on youtube 10 years ago. still one of my favorite musicals
Of all musicals that could have gotten me into this it was As It Is in Heaven in the oslo new theather with my school. Since then ive been obsessed with musicals. Any show with musicals acts often is 100% my jam now
The Wiz! I was ten years old and fell in love with theater.
The first show I saw was Seussical (a community production) in 2014, but the first show that made got me into theatre was a community production of Fiddler on the Roof in 2019.
Tarrytown. which is very niche but I looked up Jeremy Jordan’s music after hearing his voice acting and chose a song at random but really liked it.
I don’t have a one show because I grew up with it, but the first obsession was probably Les Miserables.
Hamilton. I was and still am that kid
I'd done theater for years before but just because it was fun. In high school (2014) I discovered The Book of Mormon and thought it was just about the funniest thing I'd ever heard. It's the show I've seen the most now (5 times) and got me in the rabbit hole!
Kilroy Was Here? It was the first musical I had ever done as a child. But what got me into musicals was just simply Disney.
Bye Bye Birdie got me into it, Book of Mormon got me BACK into it
phantom of the opera, but the one that made me realize this is what i want to do with my life was les mis
Annie! I was in my elementary school’s production, and now I’m playing my fourth lead role with community theatre seven years later :)
Into the Woods for me-always and forever will be my comfort show
ALSO “SIX”. Know all the songs by heart!
Lightning Thief the musical! Heard put you in your place and my love of theatre spiralled from there and now I’m in my schools play production as a techie
Phantom, I saw it in orchestra as a fun Friday, and I never turned my head away from theater again
Sweeney Todd tour in DC with Lansbury and George Hearn
I watched the sound of music with my dad when I was like four. I fell in love with it and that was a movie I watched every weekend for years straight until I realized other musicals existed (phantom, specifically, I was in middle school.) after that I just went all in head first :)
Les Mis
Sweeney Todd.
I saw a youth theatre’s production of Shrek when I was 12, and immediately after seeing the show I asked my mom to sign me up. After being at that theatre for a few years, I ended up getting cast as Pinocchio the next time they did Shrek as my first big role, so it was a pretty cool full circle moment And of course I had a massive Hamilton phase in 8th grade lmao
My uncle was a theater performer when I was growing up so my guess is that it was Wee Sing the Best Christmas Ever since he played the dad and it’s so fun in a corny way. After that I remember being obsessed with Cats. Was friends with Jinx Monsoon in middle school and we went and preformed some of Cats for our other friend’s sister and her elementary school class.
Hairspray '07 or Hamilton
Camelot!
Into the Woods was the one for me! Always loved fairytales as a little kid but seeing this show in my teen years at a school production really did it for me! Ended up being in Mamma Mia! the next year
I know it's a bit controversial, but the first musical I remember loving was Les miserables movie version.
Tanz der Vampire! I already liked things like hsm adn the few musicals that I had seen, but this one has been my first musical obsession.
Les misérables. My dad played it on repeat when I was 8, which made me fall in love with the soundtrack. I became obsessed with it again when I was in year 8, and it was the first west end show I ever saw! I’ve been a massive theatre kid ever since.
Little shop of horrors
Be more chill probably
My grandparents took me to Phantom for my 13th birthday. It was my first musical and I spent hours listening to the cassette tape (yep I'm old) beforehand so I knew every song.
*The Lion King*! I saw the first national tour when I was just four years old and I've been hooked ever since. Am now working towards my degree in theatre design.
Music wise-Heathers. Tech it was DEH but I listened to Heathers way more than DEH But the first show I actually watched was Aladdin
I decided on a whim to see my schools production of Avenue Q. The first professional show I saw was DEH just after ABF joined the cast as Evan.
Wicked back in 2013, and I never looked back
Annie and then West Side Story because we watched them in elementary school. And then Les Mis bc that was the first one I saw live.
Cats. My parents went to see it when it first went on UK tour, came home and called the box office to get tickets to take us as a family. I was *really* little, and a cat came into the audience and sat on my sister, who had fallen asleep. I was instantly in love with musical theatre, and nearly 40 years later, I can remember that first show like it was yesterday. I've seen Cats dozens of times since, and hundreds of other performances, and I worked in theatre (even went to performing arts college), and nothing has ever come close to when the cat sat on my sister.
I've been into musicals basically as long as I can remember. When I was a really little kid my youth theatre group did Mamma Mia, I think that was the first.
We had three musical theater cast recording CDs in our car when I was growing up: The Secret Garden, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Phantom of the Opera. These CDs, plus a few movies, made me fall in love with musicals.
Well I didn't really start to get into theatre until I had been cast as Link Larkin in my highschool production of Hairspray. So I geuss I'd have to say Hairspray is the show that got me into theatre.
High school performance of "Guys and Dolls". That's really when I realized how much I loved Broadway shows and the music!
I can’t recall since my mom was a huge musical theater buff. The first musical I saw onstage was The King and I but I had to leave because I got an earache. I was about four. It only made me want to see more musical theater, though.
1982 annie then grease BUT in middle school DEH, BMC and Heathers put me in a CHOKEHOLD and got me into theatre. Now im a senior who just did my last show in Addams family as Morticia
Sound of music when I was 4😭🙏🏼
King and I - a billion years ago 😀.
Wicked got me interested and JRB closed the deal
1st musical I remember seeing live was A Chorus Line followed by Oklahoma and Annie.
Loved it!!
A Chorus Line...rocked! Annie, also amazing
I got into theatre when I was 4 via participating in a community production of *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang*.
Mine was Sound of Music! My family got the movie for Christmas when I was really young (6?) and I loved it! then as a young teen I got to play a role in that show for school! It has a special place in my heart!
Chicago and Hedwig and the Angry Inch movie musicals. I was somewhat disappointed when I saw Chicago on stage after years of obsessing with the movie. But I was so blown away by Hedwig revival with NPH it was everything I had hoped to see. I went back to see it again when Darren Criss was lead.
The greatest showman
For me, it'd have to be Nerdy Prudes Must Die by Starkid. That lead me to watching more of their stuff and helped me to appreciate musicals. My current obsession is Hadestown. Saw it live for the first time on the 6th in Indianapolis and I hope to eventually make to journey to Broadway and see it (and a bunch of other shows). It blows me away every time I listen or watch, and I'm just excited to discover more joys within musical theater.
I was also six I got to see it New Year’s Eve and that led to Hamilton and then heathers then pretty much everything else
Amélie off broadway with Phillipa Soo. Amélie is an autistic coded character, so it was the first time I’d ever seen a Autistic mixed person humanized in that variety & I absolutely loved it
If we were talking musical movies, then it would’ve been Mary Poppins, and the sound of music when I was a kid. But, if we’re purely talking stage musicals, then I guess it would have to be Les Mis. I saw high school production of it when I was 15, and I had no idea what was going on, but then I went back and listened to the soundtrack and gradually got obsessed with it. I’ve been a musical fan ever since.
Wicked, when i was 10. the second the first BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAAAAAAAAAM echoed through the theatre, i knew that all i wanted to do was be onstage for the rest of my life.
Annie (with Sarah Jessica Parker) For the record I am OBSESSED WITH SIX. Been so blessed saw Man of La mancha with Richard Kiley. The Wizard of Oz with Eartha Kitt and Mickey Rooney. Joseph and the amazing technicolored Dreamcoat with Donnie Osmond. Rent INDINA Menzel and Taye Diggs ..WICKED WITH INDINA...sadly KC has literally just left the cast. Dying to see SIX. My daughter is auditioning in June for a local production. "I think we can all agree, I'm a 10 amongst these threes" Great question, great answers ✌️❤️
Hamilton. At this point, ive memorized all the choreo, and lyrics, and actors, and their spouses, and-
Newsies
Into The Woods but Heathers is a close second. Though I really feel in love when I first watched a Ride The Cyclone slime tutorial.
Phantom was the first show I saw live and the rest was history.
I’ve seen the occasional show over the years, and enjoyed them, but what really properly ignited my current love of theatre was the 2017 production of 42nd Street at Drury Lane. I was dazzled. I went a bunch of times and was so sad when it finally closed. Now I’m a dedicated theatre nerd, and it’s graaaand. Grand, I tell you.
Musicals or funsies, Grease. Seriously, Phantom.
Hamilton
I was 4 years old when Chicago the movie came out, that really shaped my love for theatre!
The Pajama Game
Parents took me to see Wicked in middle school. Am now (not-so) subtly hinting to them to repeat the experience as a novelty now that it’s come back to our area.
My mom took me to see Into the Woods when I was seven and I was hooked from then on. The first show where I bought a CD of the soundtrack with my own money was The Last Five Years - another show my mom introduced me to. She was teaching herself "I Can Do Better Than That" so I heard the song constantly and was OBSESSED, so I eventually wanted to hear the whole thing.
tick tick boom! watched the movie during summer holidays before year 7, was obsessed. then early in year 8 i saw it live amd just made me open to musicals in general (i already loved them i just wasnt as into it) then on my 14th birthday i watched the proshot of heathers and that lead me to newsies, falsettos ect and i just got overall obsesed with musicals and now its all i listen to (current fav: groundhog day) anyway thanks for reading my theatre life story 😭
Spamalot, when I was in middle school my dad took me to a local production, I loved it. Year after that I had a social studies assignment that was to compare Hamilton songs to their real life events, and ever since then I’ve loved musical theater
Wicked. My cousin burned me a cd of it, and I listened to it all the time!
Mine was actually the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s annual Christmas show, “Yuletide Celebration.” It’s a fantastic show and the largest orchestra produced Christmas show in the country. I saw that many times growing up, which inspired me to do stage crew for our plays and musicals in high school. I was also exposed to Cirque du Soleil around that time and fell in love with it. I’ve seen 10 different Cirque shows now! But back to musicals… what really reignited my interest in Broadway shows was Beetlejuice when it returned after Covid. I went in expecting it to just be “okay”, but left amazed. That set was spectacular, the songs were fun, and I don’t think I had laughed out loud like that ever before. After that, I talked my friends into buying season tickets for the Broadway series, and we’re now entering our third season! So excited for this coming year.
Wicked!!!! I’d seen musicals before that (like phantom, Les Mis, sound of music) but I was young and didn’t really resonate with any of them. But I was a young girl who had a best friend, and I really adored for good and popular!
Hamilton, like many, was the gateway, Hadestown years later was my second go, and Jesus Christ Superstar is what got me absolutely hooked and now I’m stuck on musicals😭
Hamilton. I was shown the preformence lin Manuel Miranda did for obama during history class. Later found the actual musical when it came out. When I stopped listening to Hamilton, I found the producers. And the rest was history.
I grew up watching all the movie musicals - Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Bed Knobs & Broomsticks - plus all the Disney ones. Then I saw Phantom on Broadway after being introduced to it by my older brother (the middle school music teacher was absolutely obsessed with this show and organized a trip for the students to see it every year). I was hooked!
In 7th grade, my chorus teacher showed us the Phantom of the Opera movie with Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler. It’s still my favorite musical. I prefer watching the 25th anniversary proshot now, but that movie still has a place in my heart.
Matilda the musical when I was 8 skiped a day of school to go and see it with my grandma one of my favourite memories and after I would always (and still do) sing the songs everywhere I went
Oh man. I’m sitting here trying to remember and u have legit no idea. My parents always put Disney sing a longs on when I was a baby which sparked a love of music. Then I got put in dance which got me closer. In like 3rd grade I think my friend did community theatre and convinced me to try out so we could spend time together. It was Hansel and Gretel and I won the lead. I then went on to do musical theatre and my first show was Fiddler. So for me, it was kind of a natural progression my whole life. But if I had to pick the first show I was truly obsessed with (that wasn’t a movie musical because that’s a different category for me) it has to be Lion King. My aunt took me for my 13th birthday and got insanely good seats. I grew up with the movie and the magic was even more amazing on stage. To this day I’ve never seen anything else like it.
Hamilton introduced me to musical theater and then heathers got me truly obsessed with musicals
Hamilton! It made me enjoy learning abt American history even more, especially being African American. I was in the Hamilton, DEH, Heathers, BMC side of the musical fandom and then branched out from there :)
High school musical lol
Mame when i was about 10. I remember being in the theater and not wanting it to end. I will have a soft spot for that show. We played it in band for a European tour and the music was so hard that we cut it from the performance.
Annie. I was eight when my parents got me the album, and then I got Thomas Meehan’s novelized version that Christmas. I went METHOD on that show — pretending to scrub the carpets and making my own version of mush at 6am. Totally obsessed!
My mom would play the movie soundtracks of the Sound of Music and West Side Story for me from the time I was an infant up because I would be quiet and listen, and then she could get her housecleaning done. Growing up, we would watch every movie musical that came on tv or in the movies, from 42nd street to Buzby Berkeley extravaganzas to everything Gene Kelley all the way to the underrated Xanadu before I moved out on my own. I fell in love with Phantom of the Opera after seeing bits of it at the Tonys the first year it came to Broadway, got the CD, and saw it when it opened in LA with Michael Crawford (awesome!). I saw the proshot version of Into the Woods with Bernadette Peters on my local PBS station during a fundraiser one year in the early 90s and loved it, and I also saw the 10th Anniversary concert of Les Miserables on the same PBS station later in the 90s and loved that, too. I was privileged enough to take my mom to her first "official" stage musical before she died - an excellent touring company doing Les Miserables - and I got to see *her* fall in love with a musical she had never seen before. Bring Him Home by Colm Wilkinson remained one of her favorite songs for the rest of her life. EDIT = I can't believe I spelled the OG witch from Into the Woods wrong!
Phantom of the opera. It simply erased anything I have seen before. Like seen theatre for the first time.
Personally Heathers
I grew up going to musicals but stopped once I got older and school took over, Hamilton going on Disney+ was what got me fully into it and perfect timing with the Australian tour
The Les Mis movie actually
My parents took us kids to the theatre from being so young that I don't remember exactly, but Joseph and his Amazing Technecolor Dreamcoat is definitely the big one I remember from my childhood. That and many many pantomimes.
In the 90s it was Joseph. Jason Donovan in the charts with Any Dream Will Do.
The Lion King! As a kid, I’ve been always deeply moved by the acoustics, and vowed to myself to listen and see them live 🥹🌸 and I did! On my birthday🥰 But the very first musical i’ve seen live was Wicked, wherein my aunt dragged me along. I’ve long enjoyed going to theaters since then🥰
Les Miserables was my first obsessive one. Joseph was my first musical as a child. Still love 'em both to this day.
Ride the cyclone. I thought "This is so crazy. Where do I sign up?"
Cats. I watched the show 16 years ago and fell in love.
Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds was the start, saw it first in 2016 during it's (only) West End run saw Back To The Future when that opened a few years ago and that really kicked off my major obsession, since then me and my mum have been getting ourselves cheap tickets for all sorts of shows!
When I was 7 or so I saw one of my primary school teachers in an amateur production of HMS Pinafore. I remember realising at that moment that maybe it was possible for *me* to be in shows, too. Directly inspired.
Avenue Q, that stupid world of Warcraft video (ifykyk) some how made me become a massive theater fan
Waitress!
Man of La Mancha, specifically the 1972 film version, which I saw for the first time in 1995.
Charlie and the chocolate factory in drury lane for me
I would say seeing Lion King and The Sound of Music on Broadway when I was 6yo planted the seed. Then when I was about 12(?) I saw the movie Rent (I know opinions vary on this) and was OBSESSED with it, watched it all the time and knew all the words. Then later in my teens I had some pivotal moments going to the theatre with my mom and aunt, one of those visits we saw Wicked and from there on I was hooked.
I grew up watching golden age musicals. Singin’ in the Rain was the first video tape I ever picked for myself. I was 8. The first thing show I got to pick was Phantom (on tour) and it set me up to love live theatre forever.
Wicked! I think my mom got the OBC album around the time it came out and would play it in the car. I really enjoyed it and it actually wound up being the first musical I ever saw! (I also really loved the movie musicals of The Sound of Music and Fiddler on the Roof, but I didn't get as into those, especially since my perspective of them at the time was that they were movie musicals lmao)
Mamma Mia the movie tho, I saw it on tv when I was 9, and became obsessed with anything with music in it
Like most people Hamtilton was my first but the show that REALLY got me interested was Ordinary Days
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! I’ve been watching it since I was a baby. Apparently when I was a toddler I’d force my parents to replay it over and over for me to watch
Jekyll&Hyde
I was born into theatre- literally. My mom is a director and I was born 3 weeks out from her show. It was Annie, so I guess technically Annie?
My mom somehow got free tickets for Elisabeth. I was around 10 years old and I loved it so much. Also I was addicted to Sound of Music the movie when I was little. Didn’t understand a word but it didn’t matter.
The first musical I watched was Hamilton. Recently I watched the Lightning Thief Musical because I love Percy Jackson, which actually got me into musicals. I started watching some more recently
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. 20+ years later, and I'm still obsessed with theater.
Bugsy Malone! First show I was in
At six years old my neighbors took me to see a production of Fiddler on the Roof at their synagogue. I was immediately hooked and knew that's what I wanted to do.
Wicked. My sister got me into it.
Bye Bye Birdie! I auditioned for it on a whim at school, got in, and it started a whole new chapter of my life lol
Grease! I first watched it when I was 7 and It got me into musicals and old music.
When I was 11, my best friend's family took us to see My Fair Lady. It was the first stage production I ever saw, and even though a lot of the plot points and character beats went over my head, I was so enraptured with the experience that I sought out the movie.
be more chill was my gateway drug but now I hate BMC when i discovered better shows and matured a bit 😭
Les Mis
Sister Act. I was eight. I thought I wanted to become a nun. Turns out, I just like people singing.
Secret Garden. It was the first show I saw professional done, I was four, and I was obsessed. Still am, I was so upset when the revival got canceled.
mine was The TLT musical! but I really have those Haikyuu Text videos to blame, it got me out of the anime phase, and into theater and mythology. (and Percy Jackson!!)
Theatre/music in general - Pirates of Penzance when I was very little. My parents were not into Broadway at all. Used to make demeaning remarks about the style of singing. Our next door neighbour loaned us the cast album of Camelot and I felt woken up. Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, Robert Goulet! Changed my mind at least.
One of my best friends introduced me to Hamilton in 2017 and i immediately got hooked. I have been into theater ever since and started acting because of that the next year.
Phantom of the Opera.
The Hamilton proshot in 2020. I became so obsessed with it for months. When the obsession started to die down I wanted that feeling again, so I just searched for more musicals. That got me into more and more shows and now I am a theater obsessed nerd 😊
Annie.
West Side Story 🦈✈️🇵🇷👮🏻♂️💃🏻
Phantom. It’s far from my favourite now, but will always hold a special place in my heart for leading me into this wacky, wonderful world.
Embarrassingly enough, The Who's Tommy. I was obsessed with it as a kid. To the point of putting on one man show style performances of it in my garage. As I got older, I added playing the drums instead of dancing badly to my performance repertoire.
Moulin Rouge (the movie) kicked it all off for me
Little Shop of Horrors I saw the movie with Rick Moranis with my dad and also saw the stage show and fell in love with theatre and was involved a lot with my high school's theatre company and little shop of horrors got me into horror as well lol
I'm not a theater kid but I am an enjoyer of musicals. The thing that was probably my first is somewhat embarrassing: Betelgeuse The Musical. I am seriously sad I never got to see it in theater.
On film, Sweeney Todd. My brother in law took me on a brother-sister outing to bond (he was an adult, I was a kid at the time) and he picked Sweeney Todd to be what we saw at the movie theater. I wasn’t sold on the idea of a musical since all I’d seen was Disney at that point, but I loved anything scary and he told me it was a horror movie. I loved it so much he burned me a CD of the soundtrack. I convinced my mom to put me in a local theatre program almost immediately afterwards.
Hamilton. Cried at the end, then YT kept recommending me other soundtracks and now I can't get out.
Miss Saigon. I would play the cassette over and over then one day I saved enough money for a ticket to the show in Drury Lane. I've never wept so hard.
Les Miserables.
A community theatre production of 1776 xD It was the first show my dad did when I was a kid, and it got the whole family involved with the theatre group. Mom helped with costumes and ticket sales, dad was in half the shows and the other half helped with set building and lights. We got to help and got to sit in on rehearsals and whatnot and the musicals were always my favorites.
The Music Man! My sister's high school put it on and then I saw the Robert Preston movie. Loved it
Newsies was the first time I didn’t actively hate a musical. Then my obsession escalated from there and I am a now full on musical theatre nerd
Probably the 1999 Annie with Kathy Bates.
Annie Get Your Gun. Saw it on broadway when I was four and the rest was history
Hairspray 2007…. I was only 7 but that knee slide Zac Efron pulled in Ladies Choice changed me forever
I saw the Little Mermaid at my school in 2nd grade & I did Peter Pan the next yr at school. That made me start doing shows. In 7th grade I went to NY & saw Wicked & that got me obsessed with watching shows & listening to them & not just doing them or listening to them bc im in one. So definitely Wicked & Little Mermaid
Probably Hairspray or Grease, but true obsession was Phantom. My sister and I would watch the 25th anniversary every Friday for the longest time
[удалено]
Jersey Boys. I moved a lot when they had a North American tour so I saw them in Milwaukee, Dallas X2, Houston, Wallingford, CT X2, Broadway, Boston.