Best opening notes
#50re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/3/05 at 4:53pmI am going to have to jump on the Maria Ouspenskaya wagon and go with Gypsy also.
mikewood
Broadway Star Joined: 4/7/05
#51re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/3/05 at 4:57pmI always like the mystical start to Cats...of course except for Memory it was all downhill from there.
#53re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/3/05 at 7:44pm
Sondheim has actually said that he doesn't like the opening of Sweeney Todd- the organ bit. He thinks it sounds too much like a harmony exercise and that he didn't know enough about writing for organ at the time. I'm not sure, but the whole opening sequence is very effective.
I love the beginning of West Side Story because it sets up the music for the rest of the show perfectly (you can hear that motive and transformations of it through the whole show) and it has so much barely contained energy and tension that just bursts out.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#55re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/3/05 at 8:56pmWell, Gypsy is by far one of the best ones...Aida's opening gives me chills too.
#57re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/3/05 at 9:23pmLes Mis, Phantom, Chicago, Cabaret and Miss Saigon
WildhornFanatic
Broadway Star Joined: 2/5/05
#58re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/3/05 at 11:50pmGypsy, Les Miserables and Lippa's WILD PARTY!!!!!!
#59re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/3/05 at 11:53pmGypsy, Wicked (I love dissonance), and...mmm...probably Phantom.
Rentaholic2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/14/04
#60re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/3/05 at 11:55pm
Gypsy!!!!!!
da-dun-dun-duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun.
Haha...when someone mentioned Gypsy's first notes as being the most memorable, I couldn't think of how it went...but this actually helped!
FosseBoi
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/30/04
#61re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/4/05 at 12:06am
GYPSY(which has the BEST overture EVER written!)
WICKED!
Phantom
A CHORUS LINE
And RENT!...JK!
"dum dum dum dum dum... December 24th 9 PM Est. standerd time..."
BwayFan4
Stand-by Joined: 6/1/05
BwayFan4
Stand-by Joined: 6/1/05
#65re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/4/05 at 12:39am
Gypsy
Chicago
Ragtime
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
Kringas
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/05
#66re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/4/05 at 1:43amI'm a sucker for a cowbell, so I'm going to have to go with Dreamgirls.
#67re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/4/05 at 2:05am
WOW...I have suprised. While Wicked was my original choice...Love the intro - I had to really think.
LION KING. I am sorry but Rafiki's opening can either make or break that entire production. She sets the tone of the performance. It gives me chills everytime
The curtain raised with fog....and she just belts it. Oh...amazing. Then the sun... Seriously - Lion King has the most captivating opening I have ever seen.
jam_man
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/25/05
#68re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/4/05 at 2:52am
Ragtime (ya-da-da-da-da-dum, ya-da-da-da-da-dum)
Wicked (crash, da, dun-dun-dun-dun-da-dun)
Phantom (even the movie had a great opening) (dan, dan-dun-da-dun-dun)
Gypsy - OF COURSE (da-da-dun-da)
Fiddler (yum-da-dun-da-da-da)
Les Miz (DA-DA, DAN-DA-DA)
Lion King (Nan ts'nagonya ma bakithi baba sithi hm ingonya ma)
Here's a new one - Assassins (dun-da-da, dun-da-da "Hail to the Cheif")
"The man who wishes he had written Phantom of the Opera!" - SueleenGay
GO CARDINALS!!!
#70re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/4/05 at 11:22am
ragtime
dirty rotten scoundrels
phantom of the opera
dracula
#71re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/4/05 at 12:44pmWICKED definetley... and Phantom.
#72re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/4/05 at 3:06pm
Gypsy and Candide, of course.
Then the funky blast opening La Chiusa's WILD PARTY. Raucous and startling.
B.B. Wolf
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/26/04
#73re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/4/05 at 3:15pm
Wow, not a single mention of my favorite of the last few years.
PARADE
- intimate, character-driven, crescendoing to full choral = perfection!
#74re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/4/05 at 4:13pmCATS and POTO are the only two overtures that give me chills.
Cages or Wings
Featured Actor Joined: 11/27/04
#75re: Best opening notes
Posted: 6/4/05 at 4:50pm
definitely Gypsy, Parade, Phantom, and Lion king
but best sum up what your about to see is DRS. It has the bumbling silly con artist feel of the entire show. Great opening.
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