Favorite Overtures

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/22/03 at 10:09pm

All Time Favorite - Gypsy

Honorable Mention

1. Any Jerry Herman Overture
2. Any Jule Styne Overture
3. What Makes Sammy Run

More to come

Posted: 10/22/03 at 10:20pm

I adore the overture to CANDIDE.
It has to be one of my all time favorites.

I also like the overture to SEUSSICAL (always gets me in the mood)

[TheatreNut]

Posted: 10/22/03 at 10:24pm

I personally like powerful overtures. I really love the Phantom and DOTV overtures. The overture to Kiss Me, Kate has always been one of my favorites. Its not an overture, but the prologue to Into the Woods always keeps me smiling (especially the witch's rap.

[StinKer Roadmann]

Posted: 10/22/03 at 10:35pm

I agree with Gypsy...there's something about those squealing trumpet solos! It's so powerful, I love it! I also like Chicago's.

[Albin]

Posted: 10/22/03 at 10:53pm

In random order

*Funny Girl
*Mame
*La Cage Aux Folles
*Gypsy
*The Producers

[King Stevos]

Posted: 10/22/03 at 11:32pm

The Wiz
Nine
Its a bird its a plane...its superman
Debbie Does Dallas
They're Playin Our Song
Scarlet Pimpernel
Jesus Christ Superstar


STEVOS

Updated On: 10/22/03 at 11:32 PM

[BroadwayBaby3]

Posted: 10/22/03 at 11:33pm

Gypsy, hands down.

[bestofbroadway]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 12:05am

Mack and Mable (Jerry Herman knows what a great overture should sound like), Carousel (Prologue/Overture- whatever it is. GORGEOUS), and Gypsy.

[alterego]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 12:25am

For me it has to be:

No, No, Nanette
Sweet Charity
They're Playing Our Song (entr'acte)

All orchestrated by the wonderful Ralph Burns !

[Amneris]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 12:34am

hands down GYPSY... as soon as it started, it just gave me this huge thrill of musicals in the late 80s early 90s when i was a small child..and how "old school" bway used to be with the conductor in full tuxedo.. and just real music..not bubble gum stuff..dont get me wrong, i love mamma mia but Gypsy is what bway is all about and that overture is a story in itself. Updated On: 10/23/03 at 12:34 AM

[JakeB]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 2:37am

Have to agree, SEUSSICAL always puts a big smile on my face. If it wasn't so repetitive I would also put THE FULL MONTY, that also puts me in a good mood.

[TEACHEROFTHEATER]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 9:54am

GYPSY

NO, NO, NANNETTE

MY FAIR LADY

Posted: 10/23/03 at 10:15am

"1776" - stirring!

[Jaynrand]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 10:16am

GYPSY to keep the theme going...LOL.

CANDIDE for sure.

NEW GIRL IN TOWN - a Bob Merrill score available on CD that has some really nice songs.

And CAMELOT.

[onceadancer2]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 10:28am

Wasn't this one up before. Anyway, favorite overtures:

1929 Spring Is Here (Rodgers)
1931 Cat and The Fiddle (Kern)
The Bandwagon (Schwartz)
1933 As Thousands Cheer (Berlin)
1934 Anything Goes (Porter)
1936 On Your Toes (Rodgers)
1937 Babes In Arms (Rodgers)
1938 Boys From Syracuse (Rodgers)
1939 Very Warm For May (Kern)
Too Many Girls (Rodgers)
1940 Pal Joey (Rodgers)
1943 Oklahoma (Rodgers)
Early To Bed (Waller)
1946 Annie Get Your Gun (Berlin)
1947 Finian's Rainbow (Lane)
1949 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Styne)
1951 Tree Grows In Brooklyn (Schwartz)
1953 Wonderful Town (Bernstein)
1956 Candide (Bernstein)
Bells Are Ringing (Styne)
1957 West Side Story (Bernstein)
1959 Juno (Blitzstein)
Gypsy (Styne)
Fiorello (Bock)
1961 Milk and Honey (Herman)
I Can Get It For You Whoelsale (Rome)
1966 Mame (Herman)
1983 La Cage (Herman)

Updated On: 10/23/03 at 10:28 AM

[StateOfJade]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 2:13pm

Gypsy is one of the only shows I saw that even HAD an overture.

[ChristineDaae]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 3:13pm

Fav Overture: Phantom... Everytime I see the show and I've seen it 9 times, it always gives me chills!

[Hello Gorgeous]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 4:07pm

GYPSY, hands down. And if it counts, "Scenes from an Italian Restuarant" from Movin' Out.

[Oscar Jaffee]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 4:47pm

"On the Twentieth Century"

Posted: 10/23/03 at 4:49pm

Oklahoma!

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 5:53pm

Jesus Christ Superstar...yes, the latest version

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 6:47pm

Everyone knows the great Styne sound is the standard-bearer. But bravo for remembering one of the most exciting from a flop -- "It's a bird, it's ... superman!" I used to live in the DC area, and a local news show picked it up for its theme. I never tired of hearing it. Another one I love, also by Strouse, is APPLAUSE. The score was pretty ordinary,but the overture sold the show. (I've said it elsewhere, but I thin "Wicked" would be wise to follow suit -- start us off with a big exciting, percussive chunk of "Defying Gravity," rather than the faux Sweeney, atonal stuff that segues into "No one mourns..." If the pop sound was established as the house lights dim, people might not be so jarred when the score uses that idiom for the emotional expressions of its lead, Elphaba. Just a thought. Overtures are sort of passe these days, but they always had a purpose -- to give us a sense of the tone and "feel" of a show.)

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 9:22pm

I thought I was the only one who enjoyed "Superman". The show was one of the most enjoyable shows I have ever seen. To this day, I do not know why it did not succeed. It was 2 hours of mindless entertainment . All the show wanted to do was entertain & you forgot all the BS that was going on in the world outside

[King Stevos]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 11:13pm

Superman didnt do well because, I don't think they were trying to be as farcical about musical theater as they were. If it came along in todays theater, and was played like Urinetown...it would have been wunderbar!

STEVOS

Posted: 10/23/03 at 11:53pm

I know it is not an Overture per say but the Symphonic Ragtime at the end of the double cd from the Original Broadway Cast is brilliant! I love the music.