Favorite Overtures- Page 2

[broadwayfan4ever]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 8:57am

Gypsy!

[Jon]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 8:58am

to add to the usual suspects (GYPSY, CANDIDE, the original MERRILY...)I like two wonderfuly brassy jazzy overtures:

HOW TO SUCCEED...
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED...

The original versions - not the screwed-up revival arrangements.

Also, BIG RIVER - what overture starts with just a guitar and harmonica?


And I can't believe no one mentioned the magnificent choral overture of NINE!!!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 8:58am

The JUNE 2003 Thread on Overtures!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 9:03am

For a change of thought....


The DECEMBER 2003 Thread on Musicals WITHOUT Overtures!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 9:05am

The OCTOBER 2003 Thread on Overtures!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 9:18am

October? Gee, was it that long ago?

April 2004 - Thread on Overtures
February 2004 - Thread on Overtures
December 2003 - Thread on Musicals WITHOUT Overtures
October 2003 - Thread on Overtures
June 2003 - Thread on Overtures, the daddy thread of them all.

The challenge for those who have never posted on this topic, if you choose to accept it, is to name an overture that hasn't already been listed. For those who have posted before the challenge is to name other overture(s) from those you listed previously.

Updated On: 7/24/04 at 09:18 AM

[magruder]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 10:44am

Well, I will salute an Overture that doesn't get mentioned a lot in the ranks of greatness. TAKE ME ALONG has a stunner of an Overture by Phil Lang. It is incredibly rich, dense and multilayered, like a wedding cake, and the build-up that leads to the title song's emergence near the end of the Overture is like a joyous explosion. Some of the shows that have been mentioned here as having great Overtures have great scores to go along with them, ie: Gypsy, Candide etc. TAKE ME ALONG is not a top-tier score (though I think it's pretty good), but Phil Lang makes it sound like pure gold.

[bythesword84]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 10:57am

How can we not have said the Urinetown overture in this thread? That's absolutely beautiful.

[Corine2]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 10:59am

Candide.

[magruder]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 11:01am

Well, I do enjoy the Urinetown Overture, but it owes its very existence to The Threepenny Opera's Overture, to which it is almost a note-for-note homage.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 11:21am

gypsy is a 'duh' answer.


if you count it is an overture, the carousel waltz in carousel.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 11:42am

I guess we discuss overtures a lot here at BWWorld.com! I do like the Urinetown overture, as well as The Fantasticks' overture.

[shlamdiddly]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 12:16pm

phantom...and its nice because something is actually hapening during it

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 12:29pm

Gypsy. No competition. Shouldn't even be a thread!

[Alix7272]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 12:49pm

the producers - the only one i usually listen to

[magruder]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 12:55pm

Some people feel that the Funny Girl Overture provides pretty good competition for the Gypsy Overture. And Peter Filichia in a recent column on TheaterMania, argued that the Funny Girl Overture may just surpass the Gypsy Overture in some respects. Though both are great and models of the art, I think Filichia argued that the Gypsy Overture peaks with the "Rose's Turn" strip music and then takes a misstep by breaking in to the comparatively minor "Mr. Goldstone," while Funny Girl builds and builds til it ends properly (in his opinion) with "Don't Rain on My Parade". Just an interesting take on it...

[Thoroughly Modern Cara]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 1:07pm

I'll be redundant and of course agree with Gypsy! It is fabulous and definitely my favorite. Also although the rest of the music isn't very good I really enjoy The Full Monty overture and Nine as well.

[magruder]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 1:10pm

Found the Peter Filichia column, comparing the Gypsy and Funny Girl Overtures, for those interested...
Peter Filichia

[Plum]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 1:12pm

Gypsy, especially with Chris Jaudes on trumpet.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 3:53pm

I loathe 'Funny Girl' as a stage show, but it DOES have a brilliant overture

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 4:00pm

I did a production of The Music Man once where, while we had an orchestra, in lieu of using them for the overture, one of the men from ensemble played the whole thing on a harmonica. It was brilliant. Absolutely wonderful.

Oh, and the Overture/Night Waltz from A Little Night Music. Updated On: 7/24/04 at 04:00 PM

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 4:01pm

Why does everyone love Gypsy the Overture so much (including me)? I love the beginning, skip the middle slow parts, but listen to the end...and yes, it is because of that big trumpet wail...I love the sound there!

Updated On: 7/24/04 at 04:01 PM

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 4:05pm

Hmm...Broadway Bulldog looks suspiciously like Jose'.

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 4:06pm

I like GYPSY, WILL ROGERS FOLLIES is cool, DAS BARBECU is cool as well.

"Why does everyone love Gypsy so much (including me)? I love the beginning, skip the middle slow parts, but listen to the end...and yes, it is because of that big trumpet wail...I love the sound there!"

Are you talking about the overture or the show overall? I can't imagine you skip the middle "SLOW" part of the show... "If Mamma Was Married", "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and, bias because I've done Tulsa, "All I Need is the Girl". No slow parts there madame...

Updated On: 7/24/04 at 04:06 PM

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 7/24/04 at 4:08pm

The overture to A CHORUS LINE is fabulous!