Best Openings of Musicals — Page 2

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#26

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 4:45pm

I like most of those posted above, but Company? Don't think so!

I have a thing for Overtures, I have a whole playlist on my iPod called 'Overtures and Openings'. And I love it. Overturesa re just so wonderful sometimes, but I hate when an overture lets me down. It's just so... ugh!

So, I definitely agree with Carousel, Chicago, as I said, Millie, Wicked, Lion King.

Also, here's a thought; Oklahoma? I know, it's a bit tacky and it's somehow revered as 'the first quiet opening', but I like it. Mood setting? Definitely.

The rain we knew is a thing of the past -
deep-delving, dark, deliberate you would say
browsing on spire and bogland; but today
our sky-blue slates are steaming in the sun,
our yachts tinkling and dancing in the bay
like racehorses. We contemplate at last
shining windows, a future forbidden to no one.

Derek Mahon

"Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets."

Arthur Miller

#27

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 4:48pm

From THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN and following a great overture the song "I AIN'T DOWN YET" as sung by Tammy Grimes and her brothers. Fabulous! It's the best part of the show. The second act is a big disappointment as though creator Meredith Willson just ran out of steam.

"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"

Updated On: 4/12/07 at 04:48 PM

#28

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 6:19pm

Sweeney Todd. It sets the mood for the show perfectly and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

#29

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 6:23pm

I love the opening for Les Mis. And Drowsy is fun because while Man in Chair talks about "getting in the mood for a Broadway show," you actually DO get in the mood for a broadway show. It's just a personal favorite really.

www.youtube.com/BwayNY225

#30

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 6:26pm

Easy question!

<--------

I'll have them clawing at eachother, like drag queens at a wig sale"

#31

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 6:27pm

Cabaret - I like the "no overture" vibe. The drumroll builds up the excitement and energy of the show.

West Side Story - I'm just partial to this one because I was in the show... but I absolutely love the whole prologue - choreographed fighting never looked so good!

There's probably more, but those two are the ones that come to my mind at the moment.

"I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbable dreams." - Doctor Who

"Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, men recognize that the human race has been harshly treated but it has moved forward." - Les Miserables

#32

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 6:39pm

A Chorus Line
Ragtime
West Side Story

Three openings that perfectly set the tone and the plot of the show, in my opinion.

There's a lot I am not certain of...

#33

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 7:02pm

A Chorus Line's opening hands down!

#34

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 7:04pm

1. Mary Poppins
2. Legally Blonde
3. Wicked

#35

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 7:07pm

is this thread about best opening numbers or best opening visual?

"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed

#36

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 7:20pm

Either, but I'm more interested in musical numbers.

#37

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 7:45pm

Aida has a good opening number..it takes you from present day in a dull museum and sends you way back to ancient Egypt that's full of life...and when Sherie starts singing " This is the story of a love that florished in a time of hate..." that's all it takes to pull me in

#38

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 7:52pm

will rogers follies... maybe that's staging trickery since the opening is like a show itself.

west side story

ragtime

#39

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 8:07pm

In addition to Will Rogers, another Tommy Tune offering:The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public

Poster Emeritus

#40

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 8:50pm

I liked how they did that in Aida too - I find the opening of that show so beautiful before Sherie busts into the "this is the story, of a loooooove" line.
Also, The Full Monty, Cabaret, Anything Goes, Guys and Dolls, Once Upon A Mattress, and the lack thereof in Rent :)

The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go --doesn't it?

#41

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/12/07 at 11:59pm

Will Rogers definitly

umm, i have to ditto...
42nd street
Into the woods
lion king
chicago

but i need to add phantom of the opera

#42

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/13/07 at 12:23am

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum is my favorite right now.

Also: Assassins, A Chorus Line and Into the Woods.

I can't talk now. I gotta go get my wallet out of the toaster.

#43

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/13/07 at 12:45am

Yeah, I have to agree with SIDE SHOW. Its brilliant. It freaks me out and I love it. And Alice and Emily wailing away, always good.

And I'll throw in PIAZZA's. I love the illumintaed hat and the city slowly awakening through the overture into "Statues and Stories", and Kelli and Victoria sounded just wonderful as usual.

"...and in a bed."

#44

re: Best Openings of Musicals

Posted: 4/13/07 at 3:48am

ACL-nothing but dancing, and orchestra... the energy hits you from the stage and like... blows the top off of the theatre...
WSS.-really sets the conflict from the beginning. Gorgeous.
Ragtime-the conflict between the three groups, and also a commentary on the whole country is beautifully put right out there in the beginning... and the 4th wall neglect is a brilliant personable way to let you into the story... and the swelling vocals, and tempo changes make me cry everytime.
Cabaret-shocks you into the rawness of the story, and really makes you go... "this isn't going to be pretty..." but in a way, it has it's own beauty... but also shows you "you're going to see the real terrors, and horrors of the world. get ready."
Piazza-need I say ANYTHING?
42nd Street-breathtaking... all those feet tapping in perfect unison... just... gorgeous.
Fiddler on the Roof-gorgeous. Ethnic, gorgeous, tradidional, and beautiful.
Beauty and the Beast-classic. and Belle is just... I've always been in love with the story... and it sets the tone for a cartoony, but soon to be deeply romantic love story.

that's a really big mic...

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