The first play I was taken to as a child was “This Is The Army” with a chance to meet Irving Berlin afterwards, hooking me on theatre forever. But it was seeing Mary Martin in South Pacific, still having her signed poster of the play, that provided a real lasting memory. To add to that, with James Michener as author of the Tales of the South Pacific, and a later opportunity to actually go to Bora Bora where the movie was made, started a correspondence between me and Michener from his Maryland home. I still have the letter saying that he “envied me” for getting there as he had still not been able to go back. How good is that — almost an embarrassment of riches I would say!!

I love South Pacific! It was the first play I ever saw and to quote a lyric, “I can’t get it out of my heart, not this heart”! A touring company did a production of it in Hobbs, New Mexico, a small town 20 miles away from my even smaller hometown. I was probably about 4 or 5 years old. I can still remember sitting there with Mama and Daddy watching this wonderful thing happening on stage. I believed we were watching real people! I also love The King and I. Yul Brynner!!! I saw him in his 4001st performance of the King at the Pantages theatre in L.A. Wonderful. And who can resist “My Fair Lady”? My mother took me to see the movie and I cried and cried when Eliza sang “I Could Have Danced All Night”. I used to do that scene next to my swing set in the backyard; that swingset was also an important set piece in my “production” of The Wizard of Oz. I’d set my little dog on the seat of the seesaw and sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. I brought myself to tears everytime! The brilliant lyrics to these wonderful old musicals are unforgettable. When my little Jack Russell Terrior fixes me with a demanding stare I always say, “Just you wait Henry Higgins”. She’s every bit as imperious as Professor Higgins and just as irresistable, I expect her to reply, “Where are my slippers?”.

We were 20 years old in June 1960. Sals my best friend and I made the big trip to New York City(by ourselves)from NW Florida. We felt so old and wise getting on that airplane and then checking into the hotel. AMAZINGly enough, we got tickets to see the original cast, Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet in Camelot. It was divine-and we were in absolute rapture, so excited to see that big velvet curtain go up! What a memory. I know all the words to the songs and it is still my favorite!

My favorites are the great classic American musicals of the 40’s-60’s - I remember feeling proud that I was the youngest member of the audience in B’wy’s MY FAIR LADY (Then with Edward Mulhare and Sally Ann Howes) - and I did see CAMELOT twice with Richard Burton & Julie Andrews (I was a huge Julie Andrews fan, but lost interest when she went to Hollywood….). There were so many good ones in that period - no room to name them all here - I even saw Mary Martin in some musical whose name I can’t remember that had a great waterfall on the stage! I have never really cottoned to the “new” musicals - a la Sondheim - & keep on going back to the aold greats. By the way, we were nextdoor neighbors of the original Lt. Cable (Bill Tabbert) & used to enjoy hearing him vocalize - Did hear him sing Rogers and Hammerstein at an Lewisohn Stadium in NYC. When I saw the old TV clips of him singing from S. Pacific, I realized what brilliant casting that had really been!

Pamela too bad you can’t cotton to Sondheim. My life changed when I saw Sunday in the Park With George. It wasn’t my first musical, but it was my first musical-as-revelation. They can be more than just entertainment.

My husband and I really love the Mikado. Great music and good laughs. I personally loved Once Upon a Mattress which was Carol Burnett”s first Broadway show. I will never forget her entrance swinging on a vine with her Tarzan yell. What a HOOT ! Fun question. Thanks.

Joan, I went to Bora Bora too. Rode my motor scooter around that Island singing at the top of my lungs…..

I can remember my Dad taking me to “Hair” I loved it. that was the only musical I ever got to see is the theater. On TV I saw “Fiddler on the roof”, and “West Side Story.”

I remember sitting and watching Gwen Verdon in Sweet Charity. I was in my 20’s and so enthralled with the theatre!

And Peter Pan! Mary Martin! Yes! I won’t grow up. I wanna crow! etc., etc., etc., etc.

As a kid, I remember seeing a show called “Wish You Were Here” — it took place in the Catskill Mountains, it was a singles place, they had a pool on stage. I even remember the name of the social director — his name was Itchy Flexner, and he sang a song — “I’m Don Jose, from Far Rockaway” — it sticks with me, since this is the first show I ever saw, and as I got older I spent my life up in the Catskills — The Borscht Belt. Does anyone remember this show?

Definitely WEST SIDE STORY and no one’s mentioned BYE BYE BIRDIE. I still sing those songs in the shower. I clearly remember singing along to the soundtrack in front of the mirror with my hairbrush. I enjoy being a girl.

Sitting in the first row of the orchestra watching/listening to ‘South Pacific’ was one of the defining moments of my very young life; I went twice, memorized the entire script and subjected my poor parents to innumerable “performances.” I also had the honor and pleasure of engaging in a small correspondence with Mary Martin during the rest of her life. Ah…the musical stage…there’s nothing quite like it. ‘Oklahoma’, ‘Kismet’,Guys and Dolls’, ‘Kiss Me Kate’, ‘Bye Bye Birdie’, ‘Porgy and Bess’, ‘Caberet’, ‘Showboat’….what’s not to love!

More than anything, musicals defined my girlhood. My friend and I would sprawl on the living room floor in front of her parents’ “hi-fi” and we’d listen and sing to “Carousel” and “Funny Girl” and “West Side Story”. Beautiful music, lyrics, romance, tragedy, and the voices of those performers set the bar very, very high. “If I loved you, words wouldn’t come in an easy way, ‘round in circles I’d go … “… Oh my man, I love him so, he’ll never know …” Listening to those records, I fell in love before I actually did.

I remember being five and seeing Peter Pan in the round. After that it was the Fantastiks. I was hooked. When my own daughter was in high school, we would travel two and a half hours to see the musicals. We made it a weekend, eating out after the play, staying in a hotel, dressing as if we were in the big city. Today when I asked her this question, the first word out of her was “Rent”. As soon as we see a play we go out and buy the soundtrack. Then we sing the songs all the way home.