Best Overtures- Page 3
Best Overtures
Bwaybaby109
Broadway Star Joined: 6/28/03
#50re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/5/05 at 11:58am
I didn't even think about Peter Pan! It has a kickin overture. West Side Story has a great overture/prologue! Also as far as prologues go...I love
Tradition-Fiddler
No One Mourns the Wicked
Into the Woods
"Have a child for warmth and a baker for bread and a prince for... whatever!"
GypsyRoseLee
Broadway Star Joined: 7/5/04
#51re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/5/05 at 4:37pmDefinetly Candide...but then again, it has an almost perfect score to begin with.
"This is what I trained to do, and this is what I love about theater. What I love about being an actress is being able to really look into myself and understand another human being. And out my own self, to shape and form and fashion a real human being--and to present that in such a way that people see something of themselves or their own understanding in that human being."
--Phylicia Rashad
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#52re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/5/05 at 4:41pmAside from the ones mentioned already which are all great by the way, the overture from "PROMISES, PROMISES" is a really great one also.
#53re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/5/05 at 7:51pmI also really like the Seussical Overture... especially how the tuning note is a part of it.
TrulyWicked
Chorus Member Joined: 2/28/05
#54re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/5/05 at 7:54pmGYPSY... oh and The Wizard of Oz has a really good overature too.
#55re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/5/05 at 9:31pm
MAMMA MIA!
WICKED
ARE THE BEST AND I'VE SEEN LIKE EVERY SHOW
Is it written in the stars are we paying for some crime is that all that we are good for just a strand of mortal time-AIDA THE MUSICAL
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
VIETgrlTerifa
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/18/04
#57re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/5/05 at 10:35pm
Gypsy, Candide, and West Side Story.
In terms of openings that aren't really overtures,
Wicked, Into the Woods, and Fiddler on the Roof.
"I've got to get me out of here
This place is full of dirty old men
And the navigators and their mappy maps
And moldy heads and pissing on sugar cubes
While you stare at your books."
Johnnytoc
Broadway Star Joined: 12/19/04
#58re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/5/05 at 10:45pm
I Know this one hasnt been mentioned yet, but definitely Gypsy!
Others: Bounce, Producers
#59re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/5/05 at 10:49pm
"Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall"
Wow! I totally agree with you! I have thought that for years! Just never saw it posted before. Thanks for making my night.
And yes "Gypsy" is one of the best followed by "West Side Story"
"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."
-- Author Unknown
Updated On: 3/5/05 at 10:49 PM
#60re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/6/05 at 12:13am
West side story
follies
candide
phantom of the opera
chicago
#62re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/6/05 at 8:07am
HELLO?!?!?!?!?!
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC has the best overture outside of a Jule Styne Musical...
WHY HAS IT NOT BEEN MENTIONED?!?!?!?!?!
Otherwise...the rest have been mentioned...
trpguyy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/25/05
#63re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/6/05 at 5:38pmTo beat a dead horse...Gypsy. I got to play trumpet for this show back in December and MAN is that trumpet solo so much fun! The whole show is fun to play.
#64re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/6/05 at 5:59pm
Without a doubt, GYPSY is the best.
But ON THE TOWN is a close second.
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
#65re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:30pm
Hmmm...my favorites are
CATS
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
ME AND MY GIRL
"Y'all have a GRAND day now"
Sant
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/12/04
#66re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/7/05 at 5:21am
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
CATS
CHICAGO
WICKED
SUNSET BOULEVARD
leefowler
Broadway Star Joined: 7/13/04
#67re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/8/05 at 8:18pmIt's interesting that the overture to "The Producers" made so many lists, since it really only exists on the cast album.The show version is much shorter. Overtures are out of fashion these days, I'm afraid.
Behind the fake tinsel of Broadway is real tinsel.
#68re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/8/05 at 8:28pm
I wish overtures were more fashionable.
It makes me mad to think of the overture-less shows that would have a great overture....shows like HAIRSPRAY, WICKED, MOVIN' OUT, AIDA, HAIR, GODSPELL, CABARET......
"Y'all have a GRAND day now"
NYC_or_Bust
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/8/05
#69re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/8/05 at 8:46pm
Well I hate to be a follower, haha
GYPSY is definitly the best, hands down.
Thoroughly Modern Millie is nice and peppy-love that one
Peter Pan's overture should be the Webster definition of MAGICAL
CHICAGO is very jazzy, i like that one
42nd Street is excellent
Judy Garland's Car. Hall overture is so good it's chilling
and I love the overture to The Wizard of Oz it is the #2 definition of Magical in that Webster Dictionary haha
I adore the black band holding on the Phantom's mask. ~ Jenna2
#70re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/8/05 at 9:16pm
When I was a child, my parents took me to see "Gypsy" at The Imperial with Ethel Merman. The overture was not only electric, it was the best I have ever heard. To this day.
I remember that the trumpet players were visable during the overture -- I guess they were on a riser -- and when they hit those first cords, it shut the audience up totally, which, back then was quite a feat. (People often talked through the overture).
Not Gypsy.
It is the perfect overture, with something from each of the food groups -- comedy, tragedy, dance, pathos... My father said he'd gotten his 6.50 worth and could have left right then.
Then Merman sang "Some People" and we realized the entire show would be a bonus after that overture.
Fabulous.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699
#71re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/8/05 at 9:33pmCamelot
It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story...
AGATHA CHRISTIE, Life magazine, May 14, 1956
#72re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/8/05 at 9:40pmOoh...I forgot about Camelot...nice one.
"Y'all have a GRAND day now"
trpguyy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/25/05
#73re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/8/05 at 10:21pmThe Overture to Gypsy was written before many of the songs in the show were even completed. The Overture was to be another musical number, not just something thrown together after the show was written, and boy is it amazing.
Bwaybaby109
Broadway Star Joined: 6/28/03
#74re: Best Overtures
Posted: 3/9/05 at 10:45amI just got the revival cast of Damn Yankees and the overture is pretty damn awesome!
"Have a child for warmth and a baker for bread and a prince for... whatever!"
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