Favorite Death Scene (Might contain spoilers!)

Well, I guess I shouldn't say "favorite", but what do you think is the saddest, most emotional character death in a play or a musical?

I'm gonna start with the obvious one, Gavroche. It was just really shocking to watch him gasp for air, and die... Not to mention that tremendously loud gunshot...

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Updated On: 6/15/06 at 12:47 AM

favorite, because it looked awesome
was in Scarlet Pimpernel, where it LOOKS like he's been beheaded but he was so NOT


this is not a spoiler thats why I used PRONOUNS!

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Updated On: 6/15/06 at 12:59 AM

Mimi "La Boheme" style comes in a close second to

Felix in "The Normal Heart" One of the few things in theater that makes me cry no matter what mood I'm in. Nothing hits me as hard as the deathbed nuptials.

Awake and Sing! You don;t actually see anything, but still...

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I've never seen it from the audience side but as a performer in "West Side Story" I found the end pretty powerful.

And though I know it's probably very cliche and will lead to my being labelled a ditzy 14-year-old, "Rent" had me bawling from "Without You" to the end the first time I saw it. "Take me...today me tomorrow you/tomorrow/you love...you love...I love you/I love you..."

Kills me.

I agreee with Rent and West Side Story. Both had me sobbing when I first saw them. I'd also say Sweeney Todd. Not so much sad, but scary as hell! Oh, and Carousel.

*SPOILERS GALORE*

Obviously, Molina in Spider Woman. I was so shocked the first time I saw it, it was all I could do to breathe for the next five minutes until the curtain came down. Then I sobbed for the entire trip home, and still occasionally get choked up when I remember it.

Mimi in Rent. I held myself together through everything else, but when Adam Pascal sang "I have always loved you"-- the first time in the entire show that he's said those words to her-- I lost it. Just gutwrenching. And then her resurrection a moment later made the entire emotional journey come full circle.

Leo in Parade. Anyone who's read a history book knows it's coming, but that final speech is the perfect summation to his life. He has the chance to save himself, but too much honor to take it: "I have not gone through the last two years of my life just to stand here now and tell you a baldfaced lie. That is not part of God's plan for me."

Most of the deaths in Sweeney Todd are pretty amazing, too, in one way or another.

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Eponine's death was powerful. Les Miserable was powerful. My best friend told me everyone dies, and I didn't expect almost everyone to die.

My favorite death song is "Javert's Suicide".

I loved the stampede in The Lion King.

As a performer, every night during the rumble in West Side Story I could nervous and excited. It was thrilling!

Eponine, Enjolras and Gavroche Valjean's death is sad in a different way.

Kim's suicide in MISS SAIGON is pretty tough, too.

Elphaba in WICKED and Mimi in RENT- their "deaths" make me smile To all those who have seen the shows and know, you know what I mean.

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Updated On: 6/15/06 at 07:29 AM

Spoilers, but you probably already know these.



Baker's Wife in Into the Woods was a good one. But I must say, Mrs. Lovett in the current revival of Sweeney is the best death scene I've ever witnessed. And when the Beggar Woman picked up the bucket of blood I nearly lost it. I mean, it was genius.

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A lot of my favorites have already been mentioned (Molina, Leo Frank, Enjolras, Javert, etc.) but a few other are:

-- Billy Bigelow in Carousel. It is a very moving sequence from the moment he dies after the botched robbery attempt to Julie's words to him, to the immortal song "You'll Never Walk Alone".

-- R&H had other moving or shocking death scenes in many of musicals including: The King of Siam in The King and I, Jud Fry in Oklahoma! (when Shuler Hensley played Jud I actually felt pity for him, he seemed more human), and Lt. Cable in South Pacific.

--Obviously Coalhouse's death in Ragtime is upsetting, but Sarah's death is equally as shocking.

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When Angel dies in RENT! Angel's the best!

King's death in THE KING AND I. Can't watch it without crying.