Favorite Showstopper
#50re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 12/14/05 at 11:22pm
Comfort & Joy - Bat Boy
Lot's Wife - Caroline, or Change
Defy Gravity - Wicked
TheaterAddict7652
Broadway Star Joined: 2/7/06
#51re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/7/06 at 10:20pm
"Rose's Turn" ~ Gypsy
"And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going" ~ Dreamgirls
"Betrayed" ~ The Producers
"I Am What I Am" ~ La Cage Aux Folles
"Maybe I Like It This Way" and "The Life of the Party" ~ The Wild Party
"Fable" ~ The Light in the Piazza
"Defying Gravity" ~ Wicked
"Great Big Stuff" and "All About Ruprecht" ~ Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
"America" ~ West Side Story
#52re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/7/06 at 10:22pm
Defying Gravity
Life of the Party
Gimme Gimme
I Hate the Bus
♥♥♥
#53re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 12:05am
She's A Nut- On The Twentieth Century
Epiphany- Altar Boyz
The I Love You Song- 25APCSB
Another National Anthem- Assassins
Another Hundred People- Company
Unlikely Lovers- Falsettoland
Wickeder- Forbidden Bway SVU
Hair- Hair
If We Only Have Love- Jaques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Gethsemane- JCS
Whenever Its You- La Cage
Moonfall- Mystery of Edwin Drood
Tell Me- Marie Christine
Back to Before- Ragtime
Finishing the Hat- SITPWG
Good stuff!
#54re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 12:14am
Sit Down You're Rockin the Boat - Guys & Dolls (and the only good thing about the current London production)
Gods Love Nubia - Aida
One Day More - Les Mis
One - Bare
And I Am Telling You
#55re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 12:17am
"And I Am Telling You"
hands down.
Thesbijean
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/9/04
C is for Company
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/16/05
#57re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 12:51am
I'd have WAY too many if I listed all that I could think of, so I will just list a few of my personal favorites that I have watched live in the theater:
Masquerade(POTO)
Defying Gravity(wicked)
Everybodys got the right(assassins)
the Gods love Numbia(aida)
all of Sweeney Todd I could never pick probably even if you put a gun to my head
I'm Here(Color purple)
All for laura + scattered moments of the Woman in White, Maria Friedman is just beyond words for me, particularly her final "I close my eyes" part
COOOOLkid
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/15/05
#58re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 1:53am
All for Laura (Women in White)
I Believe in My Heart (Women in White)
Stars Look Down (Billy Elliot)
Electricity (Billy Elliot)
Circle of Life (Lion King)
I Dreamed a Dream (Les Miserables)
On My Own (Les Miserables)
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables (Les Miserables)
Where is Love? (Oliver!)
Memory (CATS)
Dancing Queen (Mamma Mia!)
Don't Cry For Me Argentina (Evita)
Buenos Aires (Evita)
Sunday (Sunday in the Park with George)
Little Priest (Sweeney Todd)
Anything Goes (Anything Goes)
Ragtime (Ragtime)
Dance: Ten; Looks: Three (Chorus Line)
#59re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 2:15am
"Back to Before" from Ragtime
"Easy as Life" from Aida
"I'll Cover You" (reprise) from RENT
"Circle of Life" from Lion King
"And I'm Telling You..." from Dreamgirls
"Rose's Turn" from Gypsy
"Song of the King" from Joseph
"Great Big Stuff" from DRS
"No Good Deed" (especially when performed by Ana Gastyer) from Wicked
"Buenos Aires" and "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from Evita...too many to name.
Cheers,
C.
#60re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 8:36am
"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls
"Nobody's Side" from Chess
"Back to Before" from Ragtime
"Wheels of a Dream" from Ragtime
"Rose's Turn" from Gypsy
"Gimme Gimme" from Thoroughly Modern Millie isn't one of my favorites, but it definitely did stop the show when I saw it live.
Updated On: 2/8/06 at 08:36 AM
#61re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 8:39am
Defying Gravity - Wicked
I Am Telling You - Dreamgirls
Out Tonight - Rent
We Won't Succeed on Broadway - Spamelot
Updated On: 2/8/06 at 08:39 AM
#62re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 10:01am
Some of you have to learn what a show stopper is.
Definition.
show-stopper -an act so striking or impressive that the show must be delayed until the audience quiets down.
Automatically that knocks Defying Gravity out (as well as A Little Priest , I Am What I Am, One Day More, Sunday .... among others) - The show in each case stops because of intermission.
A lot of the songs listed get a good amount of applause but in no way could be seen as a showstopper . The applause has to be so loud and so deafening that the show comes to a complete halt. As an example someone listed
I Dreamed a Dream (Les Miserables)
On My Own (Les Miserables)
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables (Les Miserables)
All three get nice applause but never come close to stopping the show.
The best example of what a show stopper is would "I Am Telling You" from Dreamgirls - there is only a couple minutes of the act left after the number and I don't think I heard it once - the applause from the number drowned out The Dreams return to the stage for the Act 1 ending.
Updated On: 2/8/06 at 10:01 AM
#63re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 4:18pm
defying gravity-wicked
roses turn-gypsy
broadway-gypsy (idk why i always loved it)
lets hear it for the boy-footloose (if choreography is good enoguh)
easy as life- aida
the wizard and i-wicked
#64re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 5:45pm"New Music" from Ragtime gets me. Whoa. Chills.
#65re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 6:08pm
Dirty Rotten Number (DRS)
The Grass is Always Greener (Woman of the Year)
Cenoern
Stand-by Joined: 10/26/05
#66re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 8:14pm
I'll Cover You (Reprise) - RENT
The Fall of Saigon - Miss Saigon
#67re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 9:31pmGimme Gimme and Suddenly Seymour of course hehe
#68re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 11:16pm
"Texas Has A Whorehouse In It"
and "24 Hours of Lovin'"
and "The Aggie Song"
from BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS
"Ladies Who Lunch"
from COMPANY
"Find Your Grail"
from SPAMALOT
"On My Way"
from VIOLET (even though it's the third song in!)
#69re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 11:37pmthe Finale in Les Mis. Also, I Still Believe in Miss Saigon.
#70re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 11:44pm
Where You Are and The Day After That from Kiss of the Spider Woman
Lots Wife - Caroline or Change
A Little Priest - Sweeney Todd
Rose's Turn - Gypsy
Im Telling You Im not Going - Dream Girls
"I am sorry but it is an unjust world and virtue is only triumphant in theatricle performances" The Mikado
COOOOLkid
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/15/05
#71re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/8/06 at 11:53pm
"A lot of the songs listed get a good amount of applause but in no way could be seen as a showstopper . The applause has to be so loud and so deafening that the show comes to a complete halt. As an example someone listed
I Dreamed a Dream (Les Miserables)
On My Own (Les Miserables)
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables (Les Miserables)
All three get nice applause but never come close to stopping the show. "
If what you said is true, the term show-stopper different to everyone every time. For example, On My Own DID stop the show for several minutes when I watched it last time. If there is a certain time limit for the songs to become a "show-stopper", then I won't say anything, however, every audience is different. Also, since the definition of a show-stopper is an act so striking or impressive that the show must be delayed until the audience quiets down, so even if there is an intermission inbetween, wouldn't it be considered as a show-stopper, since it DOES stop the show, and if it were to be performed in a middle of the act, it would surely stop the show for few seconds.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#72re: Favorite Showstopper
Posted: 2/9/06 at 10:15am
Rose's Turn.
The Impossible Dream - MAN OF LA MANCHA.
#73Favourite Showstoppers
Posted: 11/26/11 at 3:05am
sidwich wrote: "One" from A CHORUS LINE... it's such an emotional climax.
Agreed. "One" is really intended to be a kind of ultimate showstopper and it achieves this in no uncertain terms, not only musically but also because of Michael Bennett's brilliant staging.
One that I am surprised to see unmentioned on this thread is "Be Our Guest", which is probably the most thrilling moment in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, despite some of the sillier lyrics restored from the demo versions of the song. It is set-up to be a truly spectacular piece of staging and all the stops were pulled out in the original production.
And, for a giggle, how about mentioning "Music of the Night" from THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA? Is there another song in musical theatre that brings the dramatic action of a musical to a grinding halt? It certainly is a show stopper - just not at all the kind that is a showstopper.
#74Favourite Showstoppers
Posted: 11/26/11 at 6:17am
Aside from ones that have been mentioned...
"This Nearly Was Mine" - South Pacific.
"Nobody" and "Another Little Victory" - Betty Blue Eyes.
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