Favorite Book Scenes

NICK & NORA by Miss Arthur Laurents.

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I love the dressing room scene in Gypsy right before Rose's Turn.

The house scene in Ragtime where Younger Brother and Father argue and Younger Brother storms out.

The scene in Gypsy in Tessie Tura's dressing room and also the scene that precedes Rose's Turn.

The last scene in West Side Story.

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Updated On: 10/19/09 at 09:28 PM

The scene in South Pacific where Nellie is crying and Luthor is standing behind her. You can really sense his feelings for her and see that it hurts him so not only see her cry but see her cry over another man.

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I love the scene from "The King and I" where the King tells Anna that no one's head must be above the King's.

Updated On: 10/20/09 at 10:09 AM

The set-up is the end of Act One and the show was the vehicle of all vehicles, Coco starring none other than Kate Hepburn. To music the scenery revolves showing the audience the frenzied preparations for Chanel's first collection in decades. We see in the work room, the dressing room and the showroom as they repeatedly whirl past us. Virtually the entire cast is working around the clock to be ready.

Finally the models are ready and are waiting, visible to the audience in the finished dresses and as the music builds, Coco walks up the circular staircase in her showroom and takes her place at the top where she always stood for her shows. She strikes a pose. Curtain.

Act Two. Curtain up and the show is over. The essentially empty showroom is the worse for wear with the debris that accompanies any major event. Coco is still at the top of the staircase however. What has happened? How successful was the collection?

Coco slowly but deliberately walks down the staircase and slowly comes to down center. Her face is a mask. She has picked up a small piece of fabric that has fallen from somewhere. She absently fiddles with it, and the theatre is dead quiet.

A long pause.

"Sh*t!" says Chanel.

She turns and exits.

With one word, the audience has been told everthing it needs to know.

THAT'S book writing.

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WOSQ -- I love you.

That description eclipses anything we previously wrote before your post.

I'm now going to go thru my COCO material and rediscover this show. A perfect way to prepare for the upcoming film COCO BEFORE CHANEL.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

As others have already mentioned, the two scenes which take place in Tessie Tura's dressing room, from GYPSY, are among my favorites. The first scene includes the comic--Tessie reacting to Rose and Louise by saying, "I don't like sharing my dressing room anymore than you do, particularly with a troupe of professional virgins." The second scene in the dressing room contains the deadly serious, when Rose decides that Louise will "strip" and when Herbie walks out on Rose, despite Rose's holding onto his hand on her shoulder, lamenting that everyone walks out on her.

Another favorite scene of mine is from the little known 1963 musical THE GIRL WHO CAME TO SUPPER starring Florence Henderson
and Jose Ferrer. The scene takes place in Westminster Abbey during a coronation. The royals are bored to death and sing/speak their critical thoughts, whereas the invited guest, the chorus girl played by Florence Henderson, is in seventh heaven, singing her rapturous thoughts with a single spotlight on her, the others in darkness. Toward the end of the scene, the royals, all in a semicircle, are whisked off stage, leaving Henderson all alone, reminiscing of her experience in the Abbey. This is actually a cleverly staged choral number, but it has always struck me as being a scene unto itself.

I loved this scene so much that I second acted the show six times. This was back in my drinking days. I have long since given up second acting. It was easy to do for THE GIRL WHO CAME TO SUPPER because the show was never sold out. Do people still second act?

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Updated On: 10/20/09 at 05:16 PM

For my money, the "miscegenation scene" from SHOW BOAT is not only the best scene ever written for musical theatre, but probably the most important scene ever written in musical theatre.

Without the success of that scene SHOW BOAT is just a soap-operetta. That scene alone took musical theatre to the next level which allowed for dangerous topics to be explored.

Almost a century later it is still packs a punch that nothing the "so-called" shocking shows (from WEST SIDE STORY to SPRING AWAKENING) can touch.

Seeing that scene will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Please don't kill me (I hear dying isn't very fun) but I really like the "catfight" scene before No Good Deed in Wicked. With good actresses, it's intense, hilarious, and very well done.

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