Top 10 Exact Moments That Broadway Performers Became Superhuman

Before she burned up the stage in the hit show “A Chorus Line,” performer and dancer extraordinaire Donna McKechnie demonstrated her limitless flexibility in “Promises, Promises.” McKechnie led the trio of office workers who broke into a crazy number called “Turkey Lurkey Time.” The entire ensemble is doing things that require such precise movements that one wrong step could have them tumbling all over each other. But McKechnie’s dance solo in the middle has to be seen to be believed. She swings, twists, and leaps off the ground with all the ease of an inflatable air puppet. It’s a truly bone-defying feat.

Playing a role eight times a week would take its toll on anyone. The raw power that Tony winner Joaquina Kalukango had to tap into every time she performed the role of Nelly O’Brien is a whole other level. “Let It Burn” is her character’s soul-baring 11 o’clock number. With tears streaming down her face, she reprised the song at the Tonys to a standing ovation. When it seemed as if she might lose herself in the emotion, she powered through that last long note. Her vulnerability in the moment isn’t a mistake. It’s the perfect marriage of actor and character. She’s just that good.

Before she was a grand dame of the Broadway stage, Patti LuPone was a young actor finding her way in the business. But her powerful voice and undeniable presence were put to great use in the role of Eva Perón. While her unforgettable balcony solo is definitely “Evita’s” most famous moment, it’s the series of impossible high notes she must hit in “A New Argentina” that are sheer perfection. She is shatteringly good in the first act closer. Hearing her nail it live is even better. She sounds even more impressive than she does on the cast album. Our vocal chords hurt just hearing her.

“Grand Hotel” emulates the old fashioned glamor and melodrama of the movie it’s based on. Michael Jeter won a Tony for his role as Kringelein, the terminally ill bookkeeper who decides to live out his last days in luxury. In “We’ll Take a Glass Together,” Jeter and co-star Brent Barrett toast to the good life. It’s also the number where Michael Jeter basically becomes a ragdoll. His legs look like they’re made of rubber as he flings himself across the set. Effervescent and frenzied, his moves make him appear as if he’s about to fling himself off the stage yet he’s in total control the whole time. The audience’s applause says it all. How can a human body do that and make it look effortless?

Stephen Sondheim’s concept musical about the joys, miseries, and quirks of marriage has some truly heartstopping moments. But the 2006 revival of the show also had the intensity of Raúl Esparza’s performance as Bobby. Where the character’s big epiphany song is generally accompanied by driving music, the conceit of the revival was that the actors would largely accompany themselves on instruments. Seated alone at the piano, Esparza doesn’t play “Being Alive” as sad and inspirational. He plays it with a tortured anguish. He spits out Sondheim’s lyrics like a man possessed, releasing the demons he can finally conquer. Watching him do it is electrifying.

Grizabella the Glamour Cat gives Andrew Lloyd Webber’s spectacle featuring a bunch of performers in cat costumes its heart and soul. Tony winner Betty Buckley played the role with dignity and pathos. Her performance at the 1983 Tony Awards is a prime example of her gifts. At its climax, she shoots out of a crouching position to power through the ballad’s highest and most forceful notes. Her lilting voice and fast vibrato aren’t affected at all by the change of position. In that moment, Buckley is a total powerhouse of vocal precision and unstoppable lung power.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s mostly rapped-through musical about the founding fathers is full of tongue twisters and rhythmically complicated songs. But “Guns and Ships,” particularly the section rapped by the actor playing the Marquis de Lafayette, is harder to master than most. Set during the 1781 Battle of Yorktown, the number finds Lafayette and Hamilton outlining their battle plans. Original actor Daveed Diggs earned the admiration of fans everywhere when he took on the fast-paced, syllable-dense verse. That he could enunciate all those words so clearly while pulling off the show’s choreography, and a French accent, made Diggs a modern legend.

Although she made her stage debut all the way back in the early 1990s, the multi-Tony winning performer still has one of the most impressive instruments in the industry. When doing the famed Eliza Doolittle song from “My Fair Lady,” she likes to get the audience involved. It’s sweet until she completely upstages them. You know, just to remind them who she is and why they could never be her. That last note is like a lightning bolt of pitch perfect clarity. There’s not one crack or imperfection. After all these years, there’s still no one on a Broadway stage who can make a sound quite like that.

Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West in the musical “Wicked,” is a dream role for ambitious musical actresses. Its originator, Idina Menzel, put her stamp on it forever. Her recording of the character’s big solo is like the Rosetta Stone of modern Broadway belting. But it’s the song’s iconic, and notoriously difficult, vocal riff at the end that made us believe she actually was magical. Menzel handles it with deceptive ease. With that riff, she set the standard for any performer who dared to slather on the green makeup and wear the pointy black hat from that point onward.

From her beautiful, resounding voice to her pained expressions, Jennifer Holliday was going for broke when she recreated the show’s big ballad on the Tonys stage. As Effie White, the wronged and forgotten member of the girl group at the center of “Dreamgirls,” Holliday is a force of nature. It’s hard to pick just one moment where she’s like a divining rod of music, fire, and heart. But as she milks that last chorus of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” for all it’s worth, you can’t help but realize you’re in the presence of something special. The audience bursts into spontaneous applause while there’s still a full minute left. She’s in full control. It’s miraculous to watch.

Who’s your favorite Broadway performer? Tell us in the comments.