Assassins is Stephen Sondheim’s musical about various presidential assassins, exploring their motives, their crimes, and their punishments. While at first it might sound like a rather odd subject for a musical, it actually ends up working very well. It played off-Broadway in the winter of 1990-91, and starred Terrence Mann, Victor Garber, Debra Monk, and Patrick Cassidy, among others. Terrence played Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President William McKinley. The cast recording is available.
Beauty and the Beast is the popular stage adaptation of the Disney animated feature of the same name, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. It opened on Broadway in 1994, and is still playing there, as well as having played in Toronto, Los Angeles, London and Australia, among other places. Terrence originated the role of the Beast opposite Susan Egan’s Belle, and both were nominated for Tonys for their performances. Check out my Beauty and the Beast page for more details.
Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the music to go with some of the poems in T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”, and the musical Cats was born. Opening in London in 1981, it came to Broadway in 1984 and is still playing in both places, holding the record for longest running musical ever in England and on Broadway. Terrence originated the role of the Rum Tum Tugger in the Broadway cast, which also included Betty Buckley and Ken Page. See my Cats page for my thoughts on the show, the recordings, the video and more.
Les Miserables is Alain Boubil and Claude-Michel Shonberg’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel. It opened in London in 1985 and came to Broadway in 1986, and is playing in both cities today, as well as around the world. Terrence was the original Javert in the Broadway cast, opposite the incomparable Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, in a cast including Judy Kuhn, Anthony Crivello, and Michael Maguire. Terrence’s Javert earned him his first Tony nomination for leading actor in a musical. I have a Les Miserables page with more info on the show.
Mrs. Santa Claus is a made-for-tv movie that first aired in 1996, with music by Jerry Herman, starring Angela Lansbury as a turn of the century Mrs. Claus, who gets tired of being ignored and unappreciated at Christmas time and hijacks the sleigh and reindeer for a little fun before the big night. She ends up in New York City where she does battle with an evil toy maker, Augustus P. Tavish, deliciously played by Terrence (he saves the movie, as far as I’m concerned) before everyone ends up safe and sound on Christmas Eve.
This is Frank Wildhorn and Nan Knighton’s adaptation of the classic French novel. It opened on Broadway in 1997 and is still playing there, after having been totally revamped the past October. The show was nominated for a Tony for Best Musical, and Terrence was the original Chauvlin, opposite Douglas Sills as Percy and Christine Andreas as Marguerite.
This is the only time I've ever seen Terrence perform live, and let me say it was a revelation. :-) I saw much more of Terrence on stage than I ever expected to, for one thing! Terrence played Frank'n'Furter in the revival of Rocky Horror, which closed on Broadway in December, 2001. He was obviously having a great deal of fun, and invited lots of audience participation, and while the show itself was very weird, I really had a lot of fun. But he scared me a couple of times. :-)