Agree with Pottstown Teacher. The opening of "Titanic" is one of the most amazing I've ever seen. Honerable mentions: "Wilkomen", "Tradition" from Fiddler and "Life Is" from Zorba.
I might have said Ragtime, myself, except that I can't get past the Boy...perhaps the single most annoying child actor/voice to ever grace a Broadway stage....
I don't think there's many opening numbers that can compare w/ "Prologue" in West Side Story. All of the background information you need to know is told to the audience w/o one word spoken--you just get lost in the music and movement and it's really a sight to see. Aside from the fact that it gives so much info, the music and movement are amazing to hear/see.
But I do agree I would put Ragtime up there.
Also love Wilkommen in Cabaret and Prologue of Into the Woods.
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
"The Old Red Hills of Home" --PARADE "Prologue" --RAGTIME "Willkomen" --CABARET "Prologue" --INTO THE WOODS "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" --SWEENEY TODD...it's that damn whistle, I tell ya!
"You're the worst thing to happen to musical theatre since Andrew Lloyd Webber!" --Family Guy
"Shut up! It's been 29 years!!!" --the incomparable Patti LuPone in her MUCH DESERVED Tony acceptance speech for Gypsy.
Kitzy's Avatar du Jour: Kitzy as Little Red Ridinghood in her college's production of "Into the Woods"
"I'm learning to dig deep down inside and find the truth within myself and put that out. I think what we identify with in popular music more than anything else is when someone just shares a truth that we can relate to. That's what I'm searching for in my music." - Ron Bohmer
"I broke the boundaries. It wasn't cool to be in plays- especially if you were in sports & I was in both." - Ashton Kutcher
LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING - this song is the "overture" itself, as it embodies ASPECTS OF LOVE'S theme of love with its many twists and turns. There is no overture in the musical so the songs works very powerfully in introducing the story that is to follow. And Michael Ball did full justice to the song when the show opened in London and on Broadway!
ALL THE LIVES OF ME -- this song embodies Peter Allen's biographical essence and while not written particularly for THE BOY FROM OZ ( as other songs were not written for the show either), it works very well to get us involved in this very entertaining show. The flash of white ( towel) when he moves very fast to the piano in a darkened stage, followed by the piano playing, and this song by Hugh Jackman is such a great opener that I can still remember exactly those memorable moments! Updated On: 12/22/05 at 06:00 PM
24 Hours A Day - Golden Rainbow Movies Were Movies - Mack & Mabel Will A Mania - Will Rogers Follies Let The Devil Take Us - Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public
I forgot about the female overture to Nine, and Little Shop of Horrors, LOOOOOOOOOVE that song! Tottal mirror and hairbrush for me(hehe)!
Stop worrying if your vision is new.
Let others make that decision-
They usually do.
You keep moving on.
Anything you do,
Let it come from you.
Then it will be new.
Give us more to see...
~Sunday In the Park with George
That's funny I always thought of "No one Mourns the Wicked" to be one of the most uninspired opening numbers, and one of the weakest in the whole score.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
That's funny I always thought of "No one Mourns the Wicked" to be one of the most uninspired opening numbers, and one of the weakest in the whole score.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
With the whole cast belting out the song and when they start to wake up, gave me chills the whole time. And when the opening is repeated at the end. I get chills every time I listen to it.
Honourable mentions - Sweeney Todd, Rent is absolutely electric live, it's not quite as amazing on CD or movie.
I too think that the openings of Wicked and Les Mis are weak in comparison to the rest of the show. But to each its own.
The Ballad of Sweeney Todd - Sweeney Todd The entire Opening Sequence - Grand Hotel Too Much Exposition/Urinetown - Urinetown All That Jazz- Chicago Everybody's Got the Right- Assassins These are just mine, but there are so many.