Laura

My husband and I will be going to NY in the next couple of months for an anniversary. We would like to take in a good Broadway show. In our home city, we have seen Les Miserables, and most recently, Rent. Loved the former; hated the latter (too loud, songs not particularly memorable). Skant other experience, other than Into The Woods, which we didn't like at all. In NY, we saw Damn Yankees, which was fine. If you were advising someone to go see one show, which would you pick? Thanks.

herself

Lion King
I know it sounds like a kids play. But, it was the most magical and best play I have seen this year.

susan

Laura,
People who loved Les Miz seem also to like Cats, Miss Saigon, and Phantom of the Opera. I'm not sure which ones are still around, but you can usually get tickets pretty easily. Lion King is supposed to be fabulous, but it's hard to get tickets. If you like revivals like Damn Yankees, Kiss Me Kate is a very good one. If I had to rank them,
based on your taste, I'd put Lion King and Phantom at the top of the list.
Have fun!

Jeanette

Listen to those above, as Les Miz is my all time favorite too, I would say right now get Lion King. You can get tickets through applause or other sites on line.
You may pay about $12 more for them but it is worth every penny. Once you are there it will probably not be possible to get tickets. We did meet a couple who got them but were sitting apart- but were still happy they did it.

Audrey

Cabaret. It's a revival, and I had been familiar with some of the music and knew it took place in Germany during World War II. I was not prepared for how powerful it is. I learned a lot, and highly recommend it.

Linda

Try for Phantom - it's marvelous - if you liked Les Miz you should enjoy it tremendously (and it's romantic too!). Skip Lion King - we saw it in London and were very disappointed. The costumes were great, but it was boring. I've seen literally hundreds of shows and Phantom stands out above all as a particularly memorable and (for your anniversary) romantic show as well. The music is very memorable as well. If only Mamma Mia was playing in NY I'd highly recommend that, also saw it in London and it's marvelous. When it comes to Broadway get tickets!!

tweedy

Well this is the theatre season, so there is LOTS running right now on Broadway.

Since you loved "Le Mis", you might try Phantom, that's my fav, I have seen it 10 times, everytime friends or family come into town, that's the show they have wanted to see, so....., I can do the whole show now, (lol) But it is a wonderful production.

We recently saw Annie Get Your Gun and it was great. It is starring Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat, lots of fun and good music.

If you wait till you get here and go to the World Trade center in the am to TKTS you can have your choice of what you want to see, specially if it is in teh middle of the week, there are lots of tickets available. We see almost everything that way.

Someone suggested Applause, they are very good ticket brokets and I use them for clients sometimes, the number in NY is (212) 307-7050.

Hope this helps have a great time while you are here.

tweedy

Sheila

I loved Phantom and Smokey Joe's Cafe (which is all music) but great. Also Les Miserables on broadway is great and might be better than the traveling tour.

howard

Based on your description of your theatrical-viewing experience and your taste, I'd recommend one of the following (in no particular order):
*Kiss Me Kate
*Miss Saigon
*Phantom of the Opera
*Annie Get YOur Gun
*The Music Man
"Contact," "Fosse," "Chicago" and "Cabaret" are outstanding shows, but I'm not sure if you'd like them. The first two are all-dancing.
I would urge you NOT to see the following:
*Jekyll & Hyde
*Saturday Night Fever
*Jesus Christ Superstar
Tickets for some of the above recommended show (especially for mid-week performances) are available at discounted prices on the playbill website (www.playbill.com). All you do is join its club (no gimmick and it's free) and then check out what is being offered. The advantage is that you can get the tickets before you leave.
The other option for discount tickets is to wait until you get to NYC and go to a TKTS discount booth in either Times Square or at the World Trade Center and get tickets for same day performances at half-price plus $2.50 a ticket.

Caitlin

Based on your post, I'd agree with Howard on his picks for you, and also that you'd probably enjoy them much more than Contact, Cabaret, Fosse, or Chicago. I'd also point out that Kiss Me Kate (which just won the Tony for best revival and is a wonderful production), the Music Man, and Annie Get Your Gun are shows that you can't currently see in other cities. Miss Saigo, on the other hand, is closing at the end of the year, so you might want to catch it if it's important to you to see it.

Sandi

Laura,

I have never been to Broadway, but have seen many of the plays mentioned at other venues. My absolute all-time favorite is Phantom of the Opera. Maybe because it was the first one I ever went to see, but I've seen it twice. My second choice would be Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Don't know if this is an option on Broadway, but I do know I would love to see it again. The most recent play I have seen was Ragtime... I had built it up in my mind for some reason and was kind of disappointed by it. Same with Chicago.

Go see the Phantom!

Sandi

lisa

Funny -- I loved Les Mis and saw it twice -- once on Broadway and once in London -- but I didn't care for Phantom. I did LOVE The Lion King though (saw it on Broadway, not the London production -- maybe there's a difference?). The Lion King is the best musical I've ever seen; Les Miz is a close second -- nothing else comes close. Although I did find Rent entertaining (saw it on Broadway, and I have to say I do think the "road show" versions of many shows can't compare to the Broadway companies), it wasn't even in the same league with Les Miz.
A friend of mine just saw "Kiss Me Kate" on Broadway and said it was outstanding. Personally, I'd go for Cabaret.