Best Death

[joanlegorreta]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:28am

Ok, I know this must sound sadistic, but I bet u can answer this: What character in musicals, has the best death (I mean the best death scene)...

I personally say Joe Gillis in SB

[Dreamcatcher]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:39am

I personally love all the death scenes in Little Shop of Horrors. Seeing people getting eaten by a giant alien plant onstage in various ways is probably one of the most entertaining and unique deaths I've witnessed in a show so far.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:40am

Javert...

If done right, Valjean's can be quite chilling...especially having Eponine look back for a split second at Marius at "Take my love, for love is everlasting"

[bythesword84]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:50am

I agree with it being Javert. His pre-suicide soliloquy is one of the best death scenes I've ever seen. If you have a really good Javert (like a Quast, Mann, McCarthy, etc...) or even just a decent one, that song and then his death can have an incredible impact.

[Urban]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:59am

Coalhouse in "Ragtime" was pretty chilling.

[blaxx]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 2:23am

I would say Molina in "Kiss of the Spider Woman"...
I think the show is very well written.

[Forester]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 4:06am

Javert's suicide is my personal favorite.

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 5:08am

Mufasa's death scene in Lion King is unbelievable ! Also Kim dying in Chris's arms in Miss Saigon and Eponine in Marius' from Les Mis, gets me every time !

[stage_door76]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 5:38am

i agree

eponine makes me blubber for sure

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 6:14am

Felicia Gabriel - dies vomiting silver dollars, a candle, cherry pits etc while still spitting bile at her husband and the witches before being smacked on the head with a frying pan. Now that's a stage death to savour!

I agree with Javerts soliloquy as well, but does no-one else think that Eponines death and 'A little fall of rain' goes on just a touch too long? IMO they could cut a couple of verses and it would be more moving...

[Prisoner 24601]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 9:25am

True.... but then would the whole message of the song go across? (come to think of it, it probably would. nvm!)

Javert's suicide is great!

Fantine's death can be overplayed alot because some actors make her into a crazy lunatic person who just kinda dies.

Edit: Though Enjolras's death is pretty cool, if he got shot, died instantly, and fell off the barricade, he would 1) never fall so perfectly as to have both his feet locked into the barricade to help him hold that position and 2) the flag wouldnt be draped around him all neatly like that


And then the whole barricade music- it's almost mocking. It sounds almost like an innocent music box playing against the harsh reality of the war. Very moving.

Updated On: 9/10/05 at 09:25 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 9:51am

Yul Brynner's King in "The King & I"

[Gingersnap]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 9:58am

For me, it's all of the deaths in "Les Miserables," assuming they are well played.

Fantine's is so heartbreaking.
Eponine unable to finish her last word as she dies in Marius' arms.
The chilling site of Enjolras' body on the barricade.
Javert's dramatic...exit.
And Valjean's death hits me on a very personal level...

[makenzimarciano]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 10:03am

Oh oh oh! I think Elphie's fake death is better than anyone's "real" death on stage!

Ha ha. I had to, as I was surprised it wasn't posted already.

I agree with what a few folks have said already. For me it's Les Miz. I think it tugs at the emotional heartstrings quite a bit, and is the musical that has made me tear up the most.

[mominator]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 10:05am

Eponine, I cry like a baby.

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 10:47am

The lynching of Leo Frank at the end of Parade

Coalhouse gunned down in Ragtime

The sight of Enjolras in Les Mis--I think the instrumental music that is playing at the point makes it even worse! The music swells right as the barricade turns and you see Enjolras with the flag draped around him---tears galore!

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 10:55am

Enjolras - I agree about that music.

Gavroche's can be sad too.

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 10:55am

when WARNER dies in METROPOLIS it is so vile!
I love it!

Here's an excerpt.

Freeman:
I hope I'm not disturbing you so late? What's happening here? Another experiment?

Warner:
I was just going to bed.

Jeremiah:
Got her all parcelled up have you? Where is the body?

Warner:
I have released her

Freeman:
You've what!?

Jeremiah:
Shall we kill him?

Freeman:
Now, just a moment, Jeremiah. You go too far you are too fanatical. Warner is an old and trusted friend. He is full of humanity I would like to be humane too. Put a bullet through his head!

Jeremiah shoot Warner.


Gets me every time!

[lildogs]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 11:02am

Charles Guiteau in Assassins...

"And the Lord-"

and the the drop and the creaking of the rope...awesome

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 11:03am

Valjean's is the most moving for me. Especially when Fantine and Eponine join him and they do that beautiful harmony.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 11:51am

I enjoyed the slow painful death of Good Vibrations.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 11:56am

Scarpia in "Tosca"
It's an opera - but still the best death scene.

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 12:02pm

I like Judas' death scene in JCS and Javert's in Les Miz.

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 12:06pm

hahhahaah bobbybubby. that's histerical.

one of my personal favorites is the way that lennon's death is done in the musical. very creative and emotional.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 12:36pm

Lotsa Coalhouse votes, but mine would be Sarah's beating death from Ragtime as more powerful.

Best death scene is definitely Judge Turpin's in Sweeney.

"Die, Die, have all the demons in hell been sent to torment me?"