Favorite Act One Finale?

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 7:59pm

What's your favorite Act 1 Finale number of a musical?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 8:02pm

Before the Parade Passes By

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 8:02pm

For me, the definitive best one is "Defying Gravity" (Wicked). No questions asked. 

Other top ones:

- "Non-Stop" (Hamilton)
- "One Day More" (Les Miz)
- "Everything’s Coming Up Roses" (Gypsy)
- "And I Am Telling You" (Dreamgirls)
- "Where Do I Go?" and the be-in (Hair)

Updated On: 1/9/17 at 08:02 PM

[SarahNYC2]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 8:17pm

It would have to be Defying Gravity in Wicked. I could watch that over and over!

[TFMH18]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 8:23pm

It's new but I have to say, "You Will be Found" from Dear Evan Hansen is so, so thrilling and moving and culmative and perfect. I could throw every adjective at it until next month, I love it so.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 9:11pm

Midnight Radio, Hedwig.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 9:13pm

One that I love and I'll thrown in is "Shine Like The Sun" from 9 TO 5.

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 9:14pm

A Little Priest from Sweeney.

[kjck89]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 9:16pm

defying gravity. i get goosebumps every time.

[Mike66]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 9:27pm

In recent years:

Les Mis

Wicked

and deep in 3rd place -- Gentlemen's Guide

[Hamilfan2]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 9:33pm

Sunday from Sunday in the Park.   Also more recently, You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen. So many goosebumps!

[NoName3]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 9:38pm

Ragtime.  I had never imagined the ingenue being brutally murdered as part of a finale and it stunned me.  Then the concluding "Till We Reach That Day" is deeply, deeply moving.

I agree with many of the others previously mentioned:  A Little Priest (trust me, jokes about cannibalism just weren't done then either and to a lilting waltz yet), Everything's Coming Up Roses (when, if well acted, you're shocked to realize Rose isn't just ruthless but deranged), Sunday in the Park, Before the Parade Passes By (no shocks but just such a great song and so much fun in Gower Champion's staging).

A Weekend in the Country.

Oklahoma's revolutionary dream ballet, which so brilliantly explored the darker themes of the show.  Rodgers and Hammerstein had originally envisioned a Circus Ballet until Agnes de Mille got her hands on it.

Dr. Crippen from One Touch of Venus.  Not as good as some of the others mentioned, perhaps, but an absolute favorite of mine.  Also the first act finales of Weill's 3PO and Mahagonny, although I  guess the latter is more properly considered an opera. 

How to Succeed with its mock melodrama and musical quotations from Rachmaninoff.

And the first act finale of Friml's Rose-Marie.  Again, not the greatest but a personal favorite.

Almost all the Gilbert & Sullivan first act finales are absolutely terrific but I realize they are an acquired taste today.  And they can properly be considered Broadway shows as nearly all had their US debuts in the New York theater district of the time shortly after the originals opened in London and all the most popular ones had multiple revivals on modern Broadway itself during the 20th century.

Updated On: 1/10/17 at 09:38 PM

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 9:38pm

Rock of Ages

[davp]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 9:47pm

I'd Give My Life for You - Miss Saigon

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 10:03pm

"A Weekend in the Country" and "Big Blonde & Beautiful" for me.

In movie terms the end of the first act of Goodbye Mr. Chips is so good. 

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 10:14pm

Matilda - Such a turning point in the show.

Cabaret - Also a bit of a turning point.

Phantom - I'm surprised that nobody mentioned this one. I'm not the biggest fan of Phantom, but come on, a chandelier crash?! That's just spectacular.

[BroadwayMomma]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 10:15pm

Man Up - Book of Mormon

[Leaf Coneybear]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 10:46pm

Usually it's performed with just one act, but I've heard of productions of Assassins that end after the Ballad of Guiteau, and I've heard that some productions just leave his body hanging on the stage during intermission for an eeiry effect. 

Updated On: 1/9/17 at 10:46 PM

[LesMiz24601]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 10:58pm

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=996041

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 11:00pm

It's not my favorite show ever, nor did it have a healthy life on Broadway... but my immediate response to this question is the Act One finale of The Last Ship. I honestly don't even know the title of the song because the show wasn't my cup of tea, but the way they ended that first act has stayed with me ever since. 

Wicked's act one finale is stupendous. My 10+ times over the years still leaves me breathless. 

I very much enjoy The Great Comet's act one finale. And to add to it, the siren to start up act two. 

Im sure I've got more but these are on the tip of my tongue. 

[green waver]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 11:03pm

A personal favorite of mine is the tap dancing Act One finale of Anything Goes. When my mother saw the 1987 LuPone revival At the Vivian Beaumont, she went upstairs to the courtyard/fountain area and promptly left, thinking the show was over! She later said to me that the show was wonderful, but so short.

[ggersten]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 11:19pm

Joke response:  A Chorus Line

Otherwise, Wicked, Baby, Dreamgirls, Miss Saigon.  I like the ways Phantom of the Opera and Urinetown end - if not necessarily the musical numbers themselves.  

[hamiltonboys]

Posted: 1/9/17 at 11:35pm

"Climb Ev'ry Mountain" from The Sound of Music

"Defying Gravity" from Wicked (although it's the only good part of the show)

"Stronger" from Finding Neverland

"Santa Fe" from Newsies

[littlemouse921]

Posted: 1/10/17 at 12:02am

Esmeralda - The Hunchback of Notre Dame

So Much Better - Legally Blonde

Blackout - In The Heights

 

[ZellMorrowsPledge]

Posted: 1/10/17 at 12:10am

Obviously Defying Gravity from Wicked

So much better from Legally Blonde

Blackout from In The Heights

Man Up from TBOM

Who'd I be from Shrek

Santa Fe from Newsies

One Day More from Les Mis

Bruce from Matilda