Broadway Showstopper of the season?- Page 2

[Bwaygurl2]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 7:34pm

I voted for the title number in Sunset. It was the most thrilling thing I've ever seen on stage. The audience went wild when the cast entered the theater through the side. Even that goofy gorilla worked. 

[DAME]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 7:39pm

Sutton Ross said: "Are we in a bad mood today? Because a few weeks ago you commanded me to "be nice". So....take your own advice or piss off. Nicole sucked. Kisses."

Oh I am being nice.  THIS IS ME BEING NICE.  Audra is  a boring Rose.  The whole thing was boring. Love you.  Mean it.  

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 7:53pm

Love you. Mean it. 

[SmokeyLady]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 7:54pm

Just think. A week after the Tonys this board will be dead again for a few months.  Enjoy your "bitch session" now.

[The8re phan]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 8:20pm

I'm sure i'm the minority, but my 'showstopper of the season' goes to the Act One finale of Old Friends.  Seeing Bernadette appear with her parasol and saying just one word --- Harmony -- left me in tears.

Updated On: 5/14/25 at 08:20 PM

[bear88]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 8:58pm

The8re phan said: "I'm sure i'm the minority, but my 'showstopper of the season' goes to the Act One finale of Old Friends. Seeing Bernadette appear with her parasol and saying just one word --- Harmony -- leftme in tears."

And don’t forget, ‘In our perfect park,’ which she delivered impeccably when I saw Old Friends. That, and her part of ‘Not a Day Goes By’ were wonderful moments, along with Bernadette’s uncanny knack for ‘Send in the Clowns,’ made that show very special for me, as I had never seen her live (much less from the third row).

All of you are reminding me of how many terrific performances we got to see this season. While I was less enamored with Sunset Blvd. than many of you, Nicole Scherzinger gave me a new appreciation of ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye,’ a highlight of that revival. I wrote an ode to Audra’s performance of ‘Rose’s Turn’ last night so I won’t repeat myself.

But the song that still floored me was ‘Dear Bill.’ The careful construction of that song, and Jak Malone’s heartbreaking, perfectly timed delivery of it, was a one-act masterpiece I didn’t see coming.

[MB124]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 9:20pm

Sutton Ross said: "BETTY22 said: "Audra’s Rose’s Turn"

Nothing was more extraordinary all season. Nothing.

"

For someone who takes it upon themselves to police what other people post and where, you sure have no problem repeating yourself in the same thread 75 times in a row. 🙄 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 9:39pm

Sutton Ross said: "BETTY22 said: "Audra’s Rose’s Turn"

Nothing was more extraordinary all season. Nothing.

"

Naaaah, it wasn’t that deep hun. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 9:43pm

Aww Carlos, I miss you bb :)

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 9:54pm

Sutton Ross said: "Aww Carlos, I miss you bb :)"

I miss you too bb and even though our opinions may differ regarding Audra and her “Rose’s Turn” I will not be disrespectful about it.

[DAME]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 10:08pm

CarlosAlberto said: "Sutton Ross said: "Aww Carlos, I miss you bb :)"

I miss you too bb and even though our opinions may differ regardingAudra and her “Rose’s Turn” I will not be disrespectful about it.

"

Mija, since when?

[DAME]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 10:11pm

BTW I like the picture from the NYT article of her mouth open with the saliva oozing out.  That one might win her the Tony.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 10:20pm

DAME said: "CarlosAlberto said: "Sutton Ross said: "Aww Carlos, I miss you bb :)"

I miss you too bb and even though our opinions may differ regardingAudra and her “Rose’s Turn” I will not be disrespectful about it.

"

Mija, since when?"

Callate hussy!!! LMAO!!! 

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 5/15/25 at 12:30am

I expect Nicole to win the Tony and she's vocally just amazing, and the embellishment of Ivo Van Hove's filmed-live-outside-the-theater bit certainly blew minds in my audience, but I'm sorry...the three songs remain too stupidly written to move me or take me higher. Too weak in their understanding of the source material, and too lacking in wit or insight of their own. And nobody in that production seems to have agency beyond enacting direction. Easily Audra for me, I think she started very good in the number and has grown into a tremendously complex, exciting, and rewarding performance of it that moves me in a new way. Of course, the quality of the material helps. 

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 5/15/25 at 6:36am

Nicole is doing something really special in drawing you into Norma's psychology. While Audra's performance expertly brings the layers of Rose's Turn to life (I'd argue her performance doesn't sell quite as well in some of the few hours before that song), Nicole's performance extends beyond the writing and draws the audience in to Norma's psychology.  It's those quiet moments of her numbers that I'll always remember - the way you could hear a pin drop in the audience and her pitch controlled in such a way that echoed the frightening grasp she had on her delusions.  It's a performance that ranks in top few of the several hundred shows I've seen.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/15/25 at 6:48am

When the lights hit Norma before “with one look,” I was crying. It just was stunning and I knew her delusion. 

[ggersten]

Posted: 5/15/25 at 9:42am

There are multiple different entries for "Dear Bill" depending on capitalization and punctuation and word order. I wonder if the poll owner is going to combine them - because the automatic "percentage" is off due to the variations.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/15/25 at 10:05am

I wanted to vote for Real Women Have Curves, but they didn't give me the option although it was listed.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 12:47pm

Yes, "Dear Bill" from Operation Mincemeat has gotten a phenomenal number of write-in votes. Putting all the differently-phrased entries together, it got the most number of votes. 

This was not a scientific poll, and, as I told one of you who contacted me, there is no easy way to alter a Google Form after the fact. But what I did do is mention this astonishing result in my post 5 Takeaways from the Broadway 2024-2025 season.

One of the trends I write about is: The Irreverent was relished

(and I cite "Operation Mincemeat" as one of the examples) 

I follow that trend with a countertrend The sincere was revered.

And then I add:

"It’s worth mentioning that even audiences of ‘Operation Mincemeat” have singled out the one song in the show that isn’t silly or slapstick: “Dear Bill,” a sweet ballad sung by  Jak Malone about a love lost in war.  (See, for example, the absolute avalanche of write-in votes for “Dear Bill” in my Broadway Showstopper poll.)"

 

Updated On: 5/16/25 at 12:47 PM

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 5:28pm

Id vote for RWHC title number

Dear Bill isnt really a showstopper, its a punch to the gut. 

I think both Jasmine Amy Rogers and Bella Coppola "stopped the show" with their big numbers but both were really Act 1 closers so

 

[Huss417]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 6:15pm

Sutton Ross said: "Are we in a bad mood today? Because a few weeks ago you commanded me to "be nice". So....take your own advice or piss off. Nicole sucked. Kisses."

You think it's ok to tell someone to "P off"? I try to skip over your posts but this stuck out as offensive, childish and condescending all at the same time.

Updated On: 5/16/25 at 06:15 PM

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 6:42pm

PipingHotPiccolo said: "Dear Bill isnt really a showstopper, it’s a punch to the gut."

It may not be the traditional high-belting, high emotion, full energy number, but in its restraint, it provides contrast that, as I said previously, reminds the audience that there is a war going on out there beyond the walls of MI5 and its prone to open wounds old and new. 

It’s a sobering reminder of the humanity of war families

[Jarethan]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 11:08pm

I have not seen too much this season yet.  I will see 8 - 10 shows in a month and saw 7 in October, but that is it for this season.  So I can't say that two separate scenes from Sunset Blvd. represent the showstopper of this season; I can say that they represent the showstopper of the prior 5 seasons as far as I am concerned.  

Preposterous as some might view it, the Sunset Blvd number was one of the most exhilarating 6 or 7 minutes that I have experienced in the theatre in years, maybe since Daveed Digg's Lafayette number in Hamilton (or his Jefferson number).  To have that followed by 'Everything's...' a short time after was too much to ask for.  To have that followed by Norma's close up scene makes me want to say that the showstopper of the 5 years ending early this season was all of SB Act 2.

 

[Robbie2]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 11:52pm

Top 2

Sunset Act 2 - As If We Never Said Goodbye - Nicole sings I've come homeeeeeeeeeee at last!

Death Becomes Her Act 1 - For the Gaze - Hilty and all her quick costume changes

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/17/25 at 8:34am

The following from Sunset Blvd...

• The Car Chase (opening credits) - this was just so cool - first time in the show we are introduced to the camerawork
• With One Look - especially the section when the orchestra swells when the lights hit Norma while the fog whirls around her... breathtaking
• Sunset Boulevard (title number) - just thrilling
• As If We Never Said Goodbye - goosebumps every damn time

 

Updated On: 5/17/25 at 08:34 AM