Who is the brightest star ever on Broadway, living or dead?

Question:

Who is the brightest star ever on Broadway, living or dead?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: They broke the mold when they made Ethel Merman.

She was spot-on at every performance -- full energy and full voice. Speaking of her voice, can you imagine the fist-fight that would ensue if some sound engineer today tried to slap a body mic on her? [Of course, she'd have to submit -- in this era of ridiculous over-amplification, even her battleship of a voice would be smothered.]

No matter what happened in her personal life, that dame showed up and did the performance. On the two B'way shows I did, we'd have people call out sick for the most trivial matters. So little commitment -- and so little respect for the privilege of doing a show in New York.

I also must mention Angela Lansbury, who was always exciting to watch. She had the rare gift of projecting a character to even the back row, without being over-the-top energy-wise -- she was utterly vivid, yet still grounded.

And though he's far before my time, George M. Cohan was a phenomenally talented showman, both onstage and as a writer, composer, director, and producer. Of course, he was defiantly opposed to the formation of Actors' Equity, so that diminishes my appreciation of him somewhat.