The Great White Memory Way

The show queen herself.

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  Click this quick vid for a visual of my Playbill geek baby.

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  In Judy Garland's dressing room with Katie Finneran (as Miss Hannigan) in the revival of "Annie."

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  Younger versions of both me and Billie Porter at a party in Baltimore.

They say that theatre is a uniquely "live" experience and that is true. But the memories have a value of their own and glow with a sepia patina that just makes me happy. I have been a Broadway kid—now a Broadway geezer—for most of my lifetime and have stacks and stacks of Playbills to prove it. They sit in binders that I rarely revisit but each one is a valuable keepsake that transports me back to some of my favorite memories. Paradoxically, the more obscure the show (Grind, A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine) the more I sometimes treasure them. And I hold on to them because I love taking a walk down my own theatrical memory lane.

Recently I uploaded images of all of my Playbills into ChatGPT and asked it to make a live animated background desktop wallpaper and it exceeded my expectations. The result is a scrolling desktop background (NOT a screensaver) that allows me to click on each show and see my notes about the performance (date, theatre, who attended, cast highlights, stage door interactions.) LOVE, love, love!!! My obsession is back with a vengeance. Check out the video clip in the gallery above and then hit me up in the comments if you want me to share the recipe so that you can try to replicate it.

So how did this obsession start? To paraphrase Beauty and the Beast—it is a "tale as old as time." And pretty much the same story that every show kid recounts.

When I was a shy, "husky" homo hiding in my parents' basement, I stumbled onto their already aging vinyl LP collection. It is ironic considering how much I loved those LPs—the Music Man, the Sound of Music and Finian's Rainbow—that my youthful hubris prevented me from thinking that any of those retro chestnuts could match the new shows that I drooled over back when the New York Times ran full-page ads for the upcoming Broadway season each fall. And every year I would scour bookstores for the annual Broadway Calendar (with Martha Swope photographs) to hang on my bedroom wall and I remember harboring a chaste lust for Ann Reinking's legs in Dancin'.

But then when I was in the seventh grade, my dad bought me two tickets to the road tour of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore and a monster was fully birthed. We had listened to the album in music class and my appetite was pre-whetted. My dad and I sat in the very last seat of the very last row of the upper balcony but it didn't matter. I was smitten. It was a short journey from that experience to obsessively seeing everything that I could afford and get my hands on.

I have enjoyed a lot of memorable theatre and decided to make a list of my favorites. It started as my "top ten," but morphed into something more arbitrary and is probably the best I could do with such a Sophie's choice. I would most likely have a different list if you asked me again tomorrow.

BEST OF ALL TIME While the rest of the list is in no particular order, Nicholas Nickleby will always be my top and most valued theatrical memory.

• The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby I was a diehard Dickens fan in college and excited to see this two-part, eight-hour production from the Royal Shakespeare Company. It didn't disappoint and enlightened me on what theatre can do. The audience was so immersed that they only reluctantly left their seats for intermissions and dinner breaks. Hit me up if you want me to tell you about my first stage door experience and my embarrassing exchange with Albert Finney.
  

FOR THE SHOWMANSHIP You may not learn anything profound, but some shows simply light you up and leave you whistling a tune.

• A Chorus Line

  One singular sensation indeed. Saw it first in London when the show was still hot.
  

• Ain't Misbehavin' My favorite cast recording. The cast created such strong characters that each Fats Waller song is transformed into a story. More than just a musical revue.

  
  

• Cats: the Jellicle Ball Makes only slightly more sense than the original, but the music punches my nostalgia button while the production offers an exuberant, affirming and LGBTQ+ spin on the familiar menagerie.
  

• Masquerade Watching Phantom is always fun but being personally serenaded by Christine and menaced by the Phantom adds a whole new level.
  

• Pippin Fosse choreo, hot men in cod pieces, and a theme about finding our places in the world. What's not for a budding and confused homo to love? Perfect teen viewing.
  

FOR THE INTELLIGENCE These shows are provocative and audiences can come away scratching their heads and wondering about all that they saw. Sometimes confounding. Always genius.

• Hadestown I've seen it multiple times and I'm still peeling the onion of its messaging. Smart and politically apropos without being preachy.
  

• Les Miserables Valjean's complex and cinematic tale of redemption promises in one after another soaring ballad that we all have the opportunity to be better versions of ourselves.

  
  

• Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 Like Russian literature in general, simultaneously lush and frigid. Visually stunning and aurally challenging.
  

• Ragtime A heartbreaking articulation of what America is, but also an affirmation of what this country could be. At a time when the idea of America as a melting pot is under fire, Ragtime remains an exquisitely layered tapestry of this nation's history, promises, and failures.
  

• Sweeney Todd Like all great operas: tragic and beautiful. Check out my previous post about director Harold Prince and Sweeney.
  

BECAUSE IT WAS AN EVENT There are shows that are nostagic to me because they enhanced important moments in my life or because it was simply a rare moment in live theatre history.

• Dancin' Me and my friend Stuart met the cast in Baltimore and got ourselves invited to be show groupies in Boston. Hitting Boston's hotspots with cast post show was memorable since we were fêted if we were also Fosse-trained cast members. Celebrity by proxy is not a bad thing.
  

• Hello, Dolly! Bette Midler's first public performance as Dolly Levi. Stunning audience energy and standing ovations throughout the show.
  

• Jesus Christ Superstar The best birthday present my dad ever gave me. My first Broadway show and the impetus for my obsession. Classic Andrew Lloyd Webber before he started trying so hard.
  

• Miss Saigon The show that converted my thirteen-year-old niece into one of my favorite theatre-going companions. It is odd that this is considered a "spectacle" show since its best moments are quiet and intimate.
  

• Tina My birthday. London. Adrienne Warren's first performance as Tina Turner.
  

BECAUSE SOMETIMES THE CHESTNUTS REALLY ARE THAT GOOD

Younger me was convinced that the old shows couldn't possibly compete with whatever was new and shiny. Older me has been forced to admit—usually by a great revival—that sometimes a classic is a classic for a reason.

• Finian's Rainbow I had read the Lord of the Rings and was obsessed for a time with all Celtic mythology. But then: the music took on a life of its own! The revival with Cheyenne Jackson was a delight.
  

• Gypsy A twisted powerhouse about manipulating mothers. Is it any wonder I related? Eventually saw Patti and Bernadette but Tyne Daly was my fave.
  

• My Fair Lady I was in love with the movie and never thought that a stage version could touch it. But the Lincoln Center production (first with Lauren Ambrose and then with Laura Benanti) did just that, and even possibly improved it with its oh-so-gently-but-radically-tweaked ending.

  
  

I have spent more than fifty years—and tens of thousands of dollars—feeding my Broadway appetite. Broadway is less affordable and harder for me to get to these days, but I love that I can still be transported so easily back to some many extraordinary memories simply by watching that river of yellow Playbill banners scroll across my computer screen. It may just be my favorite curtain call so far!