Is there a play or a musical you would see repeatedly? This New York Times post features a woman who has seen the Broadway musical Once 95 times. And that’s not the only show she’s seen multiple times. It is her hobby, in a sense, to go and see the same show on a regular basis.
I ushered at a theatre for a couple of years and have had the experience of repeat views for the same production of a show. It’s not….my favourite experience. Yes, you can certainly see changes and nuances in a performance, which is always going to be interesting from an analytical standpoint. But I don’t get a charge out of it. It’s not something I would choose to do. I never waited for a particular moment each night, more so I used moments to count down to the end of the show.
I do get something out of seeing different productions of the same show because I love seeing how different actors and different directors interpret a text. But that’s me being analytical again instead of merely a theatre goer. But maybe I can never be merely a theatre goer. I’m always going to be thinking with a writer’s brain.
Now having said all that, musicals are a different animal. I do and I have enjoyed multiple listens to soundtracks. I have listened to a cast recording, over and over and over again. I have worn them out. So isn’t that the same thing? It’s the same production singing the same songs in the exact same way every time I listen. And I do wait for moments in a song and I do enjoy them every time. But on the other hand, I had such a lovely magical time seeing Follies on Broadway that I don’t want to repeat it. It was intense, surprising, heartbreaking, inspiring – can those feelings be replicated on a repeat viewing? I don’t think so. I want that one singular moment to live in my memory.
Which shows have you seen more than once?
