Favorite Overtures- Page 2
Favorite Overtures
broadwayfan4ever
Swing Joined: 7/24/04
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#26re: Favorite Overtures
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!!!
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#28re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 9:03am
For a change of thought....
The DECEMBER 2003 Thread on Musicals WITHOUT Overtures!
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#30re: Favorite Overtures
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#31re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 10:44amWell, 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.
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
#32re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 10:57amHow can we not have said the Urinetown overture in this thread? That's absolutely beautiful.
And hang on, when did you win the discus?
Corine2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/14/03
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#34re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 11:01amWell, 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.
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
broadwayguy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
#35re: Favorite Overtures
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#36re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 11:42amI guess we discuss overtures a lot here at BWWorld.com! I do like the Urinetown overture, as well as The Fantasticks' overture.
#37re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 12:16pmphantom...and its nice because something is actually hapening during it
You aren't feeling overwhelmed are you?
#38re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 12:29pmGypsy. No competition. Shouldn't even be a thread!
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
Alix7272
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/12/04
#39re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 12:49pmthe producers - the only one i usually listen to
No Child: http://www.epictheatrectr.org/
I Love You Because OCR: http://www.psclassics.com/cd_iloveyou.html
I Love You Because OCR: http://www.psclassics.com/cd_iloveyou.html
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#40re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 12:55pmSome 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...
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
#41re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 1:07pmI'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
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#42re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 1:10pm
Found the Peter Filichia column, comparing the Gypsy and Funny Girl Overtures, for those interested...
Peter Filichia
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#44re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 3:53pmI loathe 'Funny Girl' as a stage show, but it DOES have a brilliant overture
"One no longer loves one's insight enough once one communicates it."
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#45re: Favorite Overtures
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#46re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 4:01pmWhy 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!
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
Updated On: 7/24/04 at 04:01 PM
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#47re: Favorite Overtures
Posted: 7/24/04 at 4:05pm
Hmm...Broadway Bulldog looks suspiciously like Jose'. 
AnothaPartofMe
Broadway Star Joined: 5/22/04
#48re: Favorite Overtures
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...
And if she'll say, "My darling, I'm yours!" I'll throw away my striped tie and my best pressed tweed, all I really need is the girl...
Updated On: 7/24/04 at 04:06 PM
bronxboundexpress
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/15/04
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