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Perhaps the first performance I remember that really stayed with me. Ferocious, delightful and just plain fabulous.
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That initial moment early on when he transformed from old Salieri to young was remarkable, something I had never witnessed on stage before, and the performance just got better from there.
Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd
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I've been fortunate (and old!) enough to see her play Mame and Mama Rose, but this was a performance for the ages, and we're so lucky that it was captured on video for all to see.
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Such energy, wit, enthusiasm and warmth, he did it all so effortlessly. Oh, AND he walked a tightrope!
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Another wow moment in her onstage transformation to her younger self. It was breathtaking, and the first time I had ever seen this extraordinary actress on stage.
Lily Tomlin in Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
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I think she is finally appreciated for the fine actress she is, but in 1985 she proved to us all what a master storyteller and actress she was. Unforgettable.
Tom Courtenay in The Dresser
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I'll never stop hearing in my mind the absolute heartbreak, fear and sorrow in his final line, "What about me?" Devastating, a beautiful performance.
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Such a fine performance, capped by that Act Two monologue so full of joy, promise and regret. I've tried never to miss her on stage since, she's so singular and remarkable.
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Ok, so I'm a little biased, but it really was a master class in stage comedy. And I'm grateful to have taken that class nightly for a year.
Colman Domingo and Forrest McClendon in The Scottsboro Boys
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I put them together because they functioned so beautifully as a team. Transforming brilliantly from one character to another, they were our tour guides through this extraordinary and devastating piece, so theatrically told.