Encores after songs in a Broadway show?

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 11/28/06 at 3:46pm

When do you feel that this should happen? If it should happen again, what should be the maximum? And could you name some songs from shows that encore themselves if I forget anything here?

MARY POPPINS ("Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious")
HAIRSPRAY ("You're Timeless To Me")
DAMN YANKEES ("Heart" and "Those Were The Good Old Days")
THE WOMAN IN WHITE ("You Can Get Away With Anything")
DROWSY CHAPERONE ("Show Off," albeit all too brief)
70, GIRLS, 70 ("Do We?")
OKLAHOMA! ("I Cain't Say No" and "Oklahoma!")
HELLO, DOLLY! ("Hello, Dolly!" but it fades away into dialogue)
THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD ("Don't Quit While You're Ahead," but the encore abruptly stops in the middle, indicating that this is the "unfinished" point of the story)
BABES IN ARMS ("The Lady Is a Tramp")
Almost EVERY director of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta has the AUDACITY to sneak in an encore from ANY song (or EVERY song, depending on your perspective)
Almost EVERY Cole Porter list song in existence (most notably "Always True To You" and "Brush Up Your Shakespeare")

And if you're encoring a song from the show after CURTAIN CALLS:

MARY POPPINS (see above, plus "Anything Can Happen" before that)
DAMN YANKEES (see above)
OKLAHOMA! (just "Oklahoma")
HAIRSPRAY ("Good Morning Baltimore"/"You Can't Stop the Beat")
LENNON ("Instant Karma"/"Give Peace a Chance")
70, GIRLS, 70 (I think they encored with "Old Folks")
CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG (In London, they encored the title song twice, but in New York, they encored just once)
MAMMA MIA ("Mamma Mia"/"Dancing Queen"/"Waterloo")
JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT (long story short... EVERYTHING! and if you have to, do it as many times as you want)
A CHRISTMAS CAROL ("God Bless Us Everyone" in its entirety after hearing fragments of it all through the show)
while we're still on Dickens...
SCROOGE ("Thank You Very Much" -- we were going to do this one, but we cut it out)
HONK! ("Warts and All")
THE MUSIC MAN (when I saw the revival, they got everyone back out to do a whole "76 Trombones" parade, with everyone "playing" instruments)
COMPANY (in the original, they encored the title song; the current version had the actors playing the instruments, so it's virtually impossible now)
CABARET (in the original, they encored the title song; the current version had some of the actors playing the instruments, so it's virtually impossible now)
THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD ("Don't Quit While You're Ahead")

any other ideas?

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/28/06 at 4:31pm

Not only does Joseph have the insufferable mega-mix encore post curtain call, it encores (is that a verb? well, it is now...) nearly every single one of its songs during the show as well. Otherwise, the show would be about 50 minutes long.

Encores are just like standing ovations. They're done no matter what. It doesn't matter whether they're deserved.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 11/28/06 at 5:01pm

The Color Purple reprises the title song.

The Wedding Singer reprises It's Your Wedding Day

Jersey Boys reprises Oh, What A Night

Mamma Mia reprises Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, and Waterloo (a song not in the actual show itself or on the cast recording. It is, however, on the deluxe 5th anniversary edition of the cast recording. Except it was recorded live.)

[gumbo2]

Posted: 11/28/06 at 5:19pm

Yeah I was just gonna say Jersey Boys.

42nd Street has the "Bows" music, which is "Dames" and "Lullaby of Broadway".

[gumbo2]

Posted: 11/28/06 at 5:20pm

Oh, and I guess this isn't Broadway, but in We Will Rock You Bohemian Rhapsody is just one really really long encore, of sorts.

[rose_pearl]

Posted: 11/28/06 at 5:23pm

All Shook Up does C'mon Everybody after curtain calls. It's really fun!

[SuzyQzy]

Posted: 11/28/06 at 5:27pm

Mary Poppins did about 3 the night after opening

I heard during previews they even did sing-a-longs

[TheaterBoy7777]

Posted: 11/28/06 at 7:35pm

"Always True To You" from Kiss me Kate
"Mama Says" from Footloose
Thats all I got right now

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 11/28/06 at 9:36pm

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY from WWRY - the longest encore I ever heard.
STARLIGHT EXPRESS - Megamix!!
BOMBAY DREAMS - Ganesh and Shakalaka Baby

Thank you to TheaterBoy7777 and rose_pearl for adding those. I forgot all about them.
I love the All Shook Up encore. After doing it with horns in the show, they get to come back and get DOWN and DIRTY with just the guitars!!

I bet the 1993 London version of Grease did that, too (I mean, hey, they were just getting into the pop wave with Debbie Gibson in that cast), and I bet HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL did that, as well.

What did Mary Poppins do the night after opening?
Just "Supercalifr..." or did they also do "Spoonful" or "Fly a Kite" as well? Because I know everybody can sing along with "Fly a Kite". In fact, when I saw it, I heard people in back of me sing along with it under their breaths.

I thought Jersey Boys would reprise "Who Loves You", but it's better that they reprise "Oh What A Night," because it gets kinda annoying when you reprise a theme you had just heard moments ago in the finale. That's a good thing - bring it back in case you forgot all about it. Same thing with "Dancing Queen" in Mamma Mia, and most recently, "Who Likes Christmas" from Grinch.

[SuzyQzy]

Posted: 11/28/06 at 9:38pm

re: Mary Poppins

It was sort of a medly of those (Super, Spoon, Kite)

Gavin and Ashley seemed to use some type of hand signal to choose
songs as they went

[roquat]

Posted: 11/28/06 at 11:05pm

THE BOY FRIEND encores most of its songs, but it is clearly sending up the convention. That's the only time I think an encore is really justified, by the way--if you're doing or parodying a musical set in that 1920s and 30s vaudeville era.

[mauriposa]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 5:11am

Oh dear. If fans could demand encores, not a single Elphaba in the land would ever get off the stage. Just imagine the . . . On second thought, don't. It's scary.

"I don't wanna encore no more!"

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 12:09pm

I forgot to mention "Li'l Abner". They encore "Jubilation T. Cornpone" and "The Country's In The Very Best of Hands."

If you want, you can also encore "Progress Is The Root of All Evil."

[neilberl]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 12:16pm

Spamalot does Always Look on the Bright Side of Life as a sing along...

[Weez]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 1:50pm

I can't help but feel some of you are confusing encores and reprises. :P

[SweeneyPhanatic]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 4:29pm

We did an encore of the chorus from "Fun" after the curtain calls when I did "big: the Musical" last year.

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 4:35pm

The Color Purple's a capella reprise of the title song has become my favorite. It is wonderful.

Posted: 12/4/06 at 4:49pm

Encores after a song are very different than reprising a tune at curtain. Audiences used to demand encores. It's where the phrase "Stopping the show" came from: Audiences would not stop applauding, literally stopping the show till the performer did a bit more of the song. I can not find the story, but I believe Ethel Merman once did 22 encores of "I Got Rhythm." Can you imagine?

As far as encores written into shows, one of the best is "Shall We Dance" from the King & I where Anna & the King begin to encore the song, only to be interrupted. a wonderfully exciting moment!

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 12/13/06 at 9:43pm

Sadly, that never happens anymore.

One time, we did HELLO DOLLY at high school, and in our last performance, after IT TAKES A WOMAN, I had NEVER heard a LOUDER ROAR from the AUDIENCE IN MY LIFE!! That needed an encore. Sadly, we never rehearsed one, I never said to the conductor, go back to measure something-something ("To... that... dainty woman") and we went right on with the show.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 12/13/06 at 9:46pm

Doesn't Guys and Dolls have one after Sit Down Your Rockin' The Boat?

[ally_kay_on_broadway]

Posted: 12/13/06 at 9:50pm

oliver! encores 'cosider yourself' with the whole ensemble after the original song is finished

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/13/06 at 10:13pm

Guys and Dolls...Sit down youre rockin the boat

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 12/13/06 at 10:48pm

I remember that in the Tony performance, they just did a tag of the last couple of bars. I just sat in the pit for High Fidelity, and I heard them encore "Turn The World Off (And Turn You On)" after curtain calls.

That's a good song to get into people's heads after people leave. Of course, it would then be taken over by "Nine Percent Chance" at the exit music, just like I thought it would.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 6:06pm

If I knew the lyrics well enough (which shouldn't take too long), I would be willing to do an encore of "THE MUSEUM SONG" from Barnum at three times normal speed.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 10/29/08 at 3:02pm

A new addition:

THE LITTLE MERMAID: After "Under the Sea" finishes, they encore the song. (Because they so totally have to because it's an awesome song and it deserves one.)