Live entertainment

I love live entertainment.  Not that I don't love other forms of entertainment, but there is something to be said about watching people entertain you in real time.  The moments of genius, the moments of mistakes, the people behind the scenes making the magic happen.  Here are just a few of the most memorable moments I have seen live:

1. Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth making each other fall out of character and into laughter until Idina finally had to say "if you want the show to continue Kristin you will have to stop."

2. Whoopi Goldberg breaking the fourth wall in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum.  

3. Janet McTeer shouting the line "I am a human being!" In a dolls house. 

4.  The feeling in my soul when I first witnessed the ending of the first act of Ragtime.

5. Linda Eder singing Someone Like You in Jekyll and Hyde.

6. Watching my sister in high school get shot in a show and fall flat on her face and hearing the entire audience gasp.

7.  When I was 15 seeing Beauty and the Beast in LA and watching the amazing transformation of the beast.

8. Tonight, Pioneer Theatre Company, A Few Good Men, "he has a weakness...he thinks he is right".

9. Idina Menzel, deer valley with the Utah symphony, No Day But Today.

10.  The first time I saw Rent. 

11.  A Raisin in The Sun.  Any time Phylicia Rashad walked on stage. 

12.  P!nk flying in the air.  

13.  Idina again...Defying Gravity.

14. Audra McDonald at Weber State...don't remember the name of the song but it was about September 11th and I was in tears.  

15. The last number of the first act of Aida.  And Amneris's sparkly lipstick.  

16.  Maureen McGovern singing Days of Plenty in Little Women.  

17.  Broadway in Bryant Park.  A free concert of broadway stars on a perfect summer afternoon.  

18.  My seven year old singing a solo in church....in Chinese.  

19.  Kristin Chenoweth tearing up because of the sign language interpreters    at wicked...and then signing to them at the end of the show "you made me cry".

20.  Neil Patrick Harris in Assassins.  I wish I had seen that show a hundred times.

I am so lucky to have been so entertained.  Someone once asked me if I regretted wasting so much money on live theatre.  That person did not understand the true value of experiences and memory.