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#26

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/16/12 at 6:45pm

Worst: Aida

Let me explain. With the right cast of singers, it's stunning. If anyone is not up to the vocal challenge, it sounds terrible. If the tempo is just slightly too slow, it's a dirge; too fast, it's silly. The Gods Love Nubia requires such precision that the slightest mistake makes it a hohum affair.

#27

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/16/12 at 6:47pm

The Gods Love Nubia, if I'm not mistaken, is a song right BEFORE the Act 1 finale, isn't it? Wasn't there a brief scene right after it that ended the act?

I know there are two different versions of the script- the Broadway and the Tour, and I'm not sure which of those is the MTI version, but I think there's a post-NUBIA song in one of the two.

Could be wrong, though!

#28

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/16/12 at 6:58pm

Dreamgirls.

#29

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/16/12 at 8:26pm

best would be either "Roses" in GYPSY or "Sunday" in SUNDAY IN THE PARK

most off-putting has to be "Simple" in ANYONE CAN WHISTLE (and I love the rest of the show, but it is a challenge)

#30

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/16/12 at 8:36pm

Glad someone agrees about women on the verge not the best show but love how act 1 ends with all the ladies

#31

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/16/12 at 8:54pm

BEST

Can't believe no one had said this one yet....

THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA ( When Margaret walks in on Clara and Fabrizio and then the house goes dark....I nearly peed my pants)

RAGTIME
NEXT TO NORMAL
PROMISES, PROMISES (Original Cast)

WORST

MEMPHIS (I didn't care for much of the show...but that act one finale was pretty awful and came from nowhere)

PROMISES,PROMISES (Rob Ashford over-choreographed the finale, he tried to play the opposite of the original and it just wasn't exciting to watch)

#32

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/16/12 at 10:10pm

Passion

#33

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/16/12 at 10:35pm

My Favorites
Mary Poppins
Little women
Beauty and the beast
West Side Story
Gypsy
Les Miserables
Newsies
Phantom
Annie
The Color Purple
My Fair Lady- when the embassy ball scene is cut.
Billy Elliot
Legally blonde!

How does the first act of Oliver end again?

Updated On: 7/17/12 at 10:35 PM

#34

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/16/12 at 10:42pm

My all-time favorites are Sweeney Todd and Urinetown. I was not fond of the act-closer in Follies.

As for plays, I loved the end of act one in One Man, Two Guvnors.

#35

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/16/12 at 11:59pm

I know people have said most of them already, but my favorites are:

Billy Elliot
Book of Mormon
Hair
In the Heights
Les Mis
Spring Awakening
Sunday
Sweeney Todd
Company
Ragtime
Shrek

#36

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 12:17am

Best
Wicked (Done right, that is basically the Number 1 way to end an act)
Spring Awakening - Beautiful, just beautiful
Shrek- The best song in the show, and another beautiful moment
Gyspy- No explanation needed
The Great American Trailer Park Musical- Perhaps my favorite Act1 ending
Me and My Girl- Just a fun song
Sweet Charity- Simple and yet amazing

Worst-
Brigadoon- It's just really awkward, and I get its supposed to be that way, but I never even know if I should clap
PIPPIN- I have a love/hate relationship with that Act1 ending

#37

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 12:35am

Best
Sweeney Todd
Gypsy
Sunday In the Park with George
Les Miz
Mame
La Cage Aux Folles
Promises, Promises
Anything Goes
West Side Story
Once

Least Favorite
The Book of Mormon- it is my least favorite song in the show
Fiddler on the Roof
The Lion King
Hairspray-again, least favorite song of a show I love
Aida

Updated On: 7/17/12 at 12:35 AM

#38

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 12:51am

The fact that anyone can even remember enough of Wonderland to recall the Act 1 closer stuns me.

#39

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 1:20am

Best-
Ragtime
West Side Story
Les Miz
Hair

Worst of everything-
Wonderland

#40

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 1:39am

Best
Book of Mormon- Makes me smile
Porgy and Bess
Newsies- Oh, the goosebumbs...
Evita- NOT THE REVIVAL.
Wicked- Defying Gravity, as cliché as it is, it is one of Schwartz best's
Anything Goes
Ghost- I enjoy the music
Rent- Love the energy built up in the song
Carrie- The Original with Buckley

Worst
Wonderland
Catch Me If You Can

Love-Hate
Seussical
Pirates of Penzance- If done right, it can be really good.

#41

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 2:25am

Ragtime
Les Miserables

#42

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 2:25am

Ragtime
Les Miserables

#43

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 2:32am

Can we discuss the NEXT TO NORMAL act 1 closer?

I like it. And I'm a massive fan of the show (I have seen it 10 times). BUT, would we really say it's one of the best ways to end act 1 of all time?

It's a good way to end it because it sets an interesting mood (if depressing) and there is some suspense about what is going to happen to Diana etc...

But it's quite simple and understated.....cf. EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES, SUNDAY, DEFYING GRAVITY, AND I AM TELLING YOU... etc.

Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.

#44

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 2:37am

The original productions of Pippin and Passion had not intermissions.

#45

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 3:33am

I agree with you, qolbinau. I love Next to Normal too, and I think that it has a nice act ending; I do feel emotionally invested in what is happening, but it's not epic in the same way that most of these are. I think it works very well for the show, but in the grand scheme of act 1 endings, it's not at the top.

#46

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 4:53am

Mister Matt, what was so bad about GLOCKNER's Act 1 closer? I rather like "Esmerelda" - is it something lyrical I maybe don't understand (not being fluent in German) or something about the staging?

#47

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 6:02am

darquegk, I'll try to find my copy of the script later today. I don't remember a scene after The Gods Love Nubia in the MTI version but I might be mistaken. At most, it would have been a few lines. It's been years since I music directed that production so I might be forgetting something.

#48

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 12:00pm

Les Miz, Billy Elliot, and Wicked are my top 3!

"Brevity is the soul of wit"--Hamlet

#49

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 1:09pm

My favorites are Shrek and Beauty and the Beast. I absolutely love "Who I'd Be" and "If I Can't Love Her." Not my favorite shows, but loved the first act finale.

My two least favorite was Tarzan and Parade. I have no idea what Tarzan was thinking? I really enjoyed the show for the most part, but the first act finale was beyond lackluster. I love Parade. It is easily my favorite score. However, I did not like the end of the first act. I loved the trial and that it ended with the sentence, but I would have preferred a song or something there. It just kind of ended.

#50

Best(or worst) Act 1 closers?

Posted: 7/17/12 at 1:32pm

Sunday in the Park With George and Once both have gorgeous and emotionally impactful Act 1 finales. Both exhibit everything finally coming together in harmony, literally and figuratively. They both have left me breathless.

How can Fiddler be considered one of the worst? The Wedding Dance is thrilling and then that joy is instantly stolen from them by the intruders. The audience feels exactly what our protagonists are feeling. It's incredibly effective.

For such an epic opening, The Lion King's act one closer is a real letdown. Ditto for Hairspray.

Godspell would work better without an intermission, no? That act break is always awkward.

I think the final scene in act 1 of South Pacific is incredible. So many highs and lows, discoveries, emotions, and a great Emile will bring down the house with those last two lines before curtain.

Cabaret is absolutely chilling. Sweeney is hilarious and makes the audience disgusted with what they're laughing at.

One that may be a guilty pleasure of mine but I think totally works is "Can't Help Falling in Love" from All Shook Up.

And of course, the epic One Day More. That just screams ACT ONE CLOSER in your face. Hey, it does its job.

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