Best Overtures - Page 2
Best Overtures
#25Best Overtures
Posted: 11/14/14 at 2:21pmNot an overture, but I'd add the Carousel Waltz to the list nevertheless.
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#26Best Overtures
Posted: 11/14/14 at 3:59pmMister Matt, I agree with you in most of those overtures, but have you heard the one on the studio cast recording with the original orchestrations? I personally vastly prefer the orchestrations, including the overture, on that recording to all previous or subsequent recordings.
#27Best Overtures
Posted: 11/14/14 at 4:51pm
Fantod - I assume you're talking about Anything Goes? I do enjoy that overture as well (especially moments like the rousing orchestral Bon Voyage), but as for the original orchestrations, I've always winced at the modest use of percussion (especially the splash cymbal) and overuse of unison (also a weakness in the original vocal arrangements). It's how popular music was orchestrated back then, and I find hearing the original orchestrations fascinating, but in general, I enjoy the more modern and complex orchestrations that helped to usher in the Golden Age (and beyond). While the older orchestrations of such shows may have used a larger orchestra (which I do prefer), I find later revisions often result in a richer, or even more vibrant, sound.
Honestly, it's a tight race for me but I find the Lincoln Center revival just a bit more fun and satisfying. And I mostly ignore the 1962 version, with the exception of Heaven Hop.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#29Best Overtures
Posted: 11/14/14 at 5:19pmFair enough. It's all personal preference, and since that overture is so radically different, it is a good idea to listen to that one as well as the new one.
#30Best Overtures
Posted: 11/14/14 at 5:54pmOh, I agree. And God bless John McGlinn for his work on preserving the orchestrations of so many early musicals. The man was a national treasure.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
yfs
Featured Actor Joined: 11/1/13
#31Best Overtures
Posted: 11/14/14 at 8:46pmI'm surprised no one has mentioned Wildcat. An incredible piece of orchestration and must have exhausted more than one trumpet player. Definitely worth a listen.
#32Best Overtures
Posted: 11/14/14 at 9:09pmThe whole cd may not be great but the Overture for the Broadway CD that Barry Mannilow did is pretty awesome.
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
#33Best Overtures
Posted: 11/14/14 at 9:27pmI've always been fond of the overtures to FUNNY GIRL and TAKE ME ALONG.
Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....
#34Best Overtures
Posted: 11/14/14 at 11:15pm
Follies- both the overture and prologue.
The Fantasticks- I may not enjoy the show as a whole, but there's something that I love about the overture
#35Best Overtures
Posted: 11/15/14 at 6:05pm
West Side Story
City of Angels
Funny Girl
A Little Night Music
The Light in the Piazza
The Addams Family
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Urinetown
South Pacific
JohnyBroadway
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/12
#37Best Overtures
Posted: 11/15/14 at 7:56pm
Mr. Matt
I have the collection of Jerome Kern overtures, many from the Princess Theater productions. Although I knew not one song from any of the overtures (except maybe "Leave It to Jane") I took great pleasure from all of them.
Seemed ironic that the song with the greatest melody of any conventional Broadway ballad, "All The Things You Are", was not included in the overture of Very Warm for May.
#38Best Overtures
Posted: 11/15/14 at 8:10pmI'll add in APPLAUSE. It's the perfect 1970's musical theatre overture to me.
"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop
#39Best Overtures
Posted: 11/16/14 at 8:09amMost if not all Bernstein and Styne overtures are great, but CANDIDE and GYPSY are in a class all their own.
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#40Best Overtures
Posted: 11/16/14 at 9:05amRAGS and HALLELUJAH, BABY!
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
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