Favorite or Most Emotional Finale Experiences

[GatorNY]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 12:56pm

What are your all time favorite finales? You know, not just where you clapped and thought"....what a nice evening" but, times when you were absolutely overwhelmed with some sort of emotion. For me, my favorites also happen to be my most emotional. My first experience like this was in June of 1996 at RENT. More recently, I was really overwhelmed during the curtain call of HAIR. Singing "Let the Sunshine in", with my arm around my partner of 12 years, and seeing Saycon Sengbloh herself crying as she took it all in was wonderful. Rounding out my top 3 is "LIGHT". I recently experienced an unexpected loss. Hearing Alice and Louis sing"...the price of love is loss, but still we pay" has been very comforting during a difficult time. Just wondering what some other favorites might be out there...

[wicked1492]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 1:12pm

1. A Chorus Line Finale
2. Rose's Turn- Patti's Gypsy
3. Song of Purple Summer- Spring Awakening
4. The Color Purple

[roll*in*the*hay]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 1:15pm

Mine would be "Light" as well. The first time I ever cried in a musical.

[Gingersnap2]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 1:17pm

For me, it's "Les Miserables." Unless it's a very lackluster cast/performance, I will SOB at the end.

And, well, it's not quite the finale, but I have to include "Being Alive" near the end of "Company." Depends on the production, though.

[GatorNY]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 1:19pm

I had what a friend of mine calls "a little musical orgasm" during "The Color Purple" finale. I had downloaded some of the demos off of the internet prior to seeing the show, so I was familiar with this song. I was not at all prepared for the modulation....with LaChanze's voice soaring above the chorus...sent me right over the edge.

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 1:20pm

I know there's more, but here are two recent ones:

[title of show]--it really spoke to me, I identified with it and I applauded through a haze of tears at the end.

Kristina--I know, technically not Broadway (at least yet), but the last song, "I'll Be Waiting There," hit me really, really, really hard. I want it played at my funeral, memorial, whatever I end up having.

Grey Gardens--"Another Winter In a Summer Town"--it still makes me tear up every time I hear it..."my season ended a long time ago" did and still does me in.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 1:30pm

Sunday from Sunday in the Park with George, without a doubt.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 1:31pm

The finale' of IN THE HEIGHTS, especially when they lower the security gate on the bodega's storefront and reveal the graffitti artwork now on it.

[RockabyeHamlet]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 1:33pm

Cabaret
Sweeney Todd
The Last Five Years

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 1:40pm

The two finales that I really love is the ending of "Blood Brothers" and the 2007 London production of "Fiddler On The Roof".

Blood Brothers: I weep hard core!
Fiddler: The whole stage went black, and a diagonal spotlight came down. It started to snow as Tevye, and looked out of the spot into the audience and then turned and walked into the darkness.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 1:48pm

Gypsy - "Rose's Turn" to the end of the show. Rose's Turn makes me feel a variety of different emotions - happy, sad, feeling like I'm breaking down with Rose, feeling sorry for her, yet also like I want to yell out and cheer for her. Plus, the ending dialogue and when Rose reaches up to the sign chokes me up too.

In the Heights - the Finale, especially the line "I found my island, I've been on it this whole time, I'm home" gets me every time.

Next to Normal - "Light" These are more happy tears. After being overwhelmed with emotion the entire show, the song is very moving and uplifting.

Company - "Being Alive" - almost the same as Gypsy.

[Svetlana]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 2:02pm

"Song of Purple Summer" at the end of Spring Awakening. I just saw the tour on Saturday, onstage seating. I'd never seen it before and was NOT prepared to be so moved and inspired. I don't usually cry, but I definitely crying from half way through that song to the end. Such a great experience!

I'd also agree with the "Hair" revival; while I didn't cry I thought the finale was VERY moving.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 2:06pm

Most devastating/moving:

Les Miserables
Blood Brothers
Rent
Falsettos
Tommy
Sunset Boulevard
Marie Christine

Most exuberant/joyous:

Hairspray
The Full Monty
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Mamma Mia (not the curtain call, but there's something about the music to I Have a Dream coupled with the image of that moon that fills me with joy)
Tanz der Vampire

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 2:09pm

Without a doubt, the ending of W;t ****ed me up! I was crying so hard, I couldn't applaud.

Hair got me pretty good as well.

[nealb1]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 2:42pm

I always start to cry when Paul is the first dancer to come out and get his solo bow at the start of "One" from "Chorus Line."

Downers......"Miss Saigon," "West Side Story," "The Phantom of the Opera."

The list goes on and on...
Updated On: 10/20/09 at 02:42 PM

[CapnHook]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 2:57pm

The best finale/final moment in a show EVER WRITTEN is the one in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

[MariusPontmercy]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 2:59pm

The London production of La Cage aux Folles with Roger Allam and Philip Quast: they sit on the steps singing the final reprise of "Song on the Sand", after which they kiss as the curtain falls - simple but effective!



Lots of others. Hairspray's is unbeatable for pure fun and excitement, it's always had a well-deserved standing ovation whenever I've seen it, as soon as the song ends (occasionally before!).

But sometimes the opposite is even more satisfying: sometimes the audience are just stunned into silence so there's quite a long pause before they start to applaud - it takes a while to sink in. The London production of A View from the Bridge with Ken Stott did exactly that, as did the McKellen Waiting for Godot. I think it's more common in plays than musicals, but if they're done right, West Side Story and Cabaret (just to name two) can also have that effect.

[lesmis]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 2:59pm

Les Miserables
Titanic

[trombonist]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 6:27pm

Sunday In The Park With George from "Move On" through the end.

"Light" from next to normal

The end of Max Understood (at NYMF)

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 6:40pm

Shows I've seen:
Aida (I know, I know, but that is one emotional ending)
Miss Saigon
The Light in the Piazza
Les Miserables
RENT (again, I know, but it has a very uplifting finale)

Shows I haven't seen, but where I cry while even listening to the cast recording:
Parade
Ragtime
Floyd Collins
Passion

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 6:50pm

I always thought that "CABARET" was impossible to beat, but HAIR has done it for me.

*Spoiler*
When the tribe was silently weeping through the isles singing "Let The Sunshine In" as we watched Claude laying lifeless on the American flag, I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I couldn't even shed a tear. I had my shoulders hunched up and I was shivering, because that was the only way I could react to all the power and emotion surrounding me. The show's message and the loss of the character just hit me like a brick wall and I have not gone a single day without thinking about it ever since I saw it. I was so moved and effected by what I saw. It's been over a week since I saw the show and the impact that just that one seen alone had on my life and my way of thinking still hasn't gone away.
*End*

[scaryclowns2232]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 6:51pm

Cabaret for sure.

Haunting.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 8:00pm

Definitely Les Mis.

Then again, the whole thing is like a string of finales. Usually all the character deaths come at the end of a show, but in Les Mis, it's just one right after another! There's the finale of Fantine's story (her death), the finale of the Les Amis' story (their death), etc.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 8:18pm

So many, but the ones that really move me:
Ragtime - *slight spoiler* I bawled like a baby when I saw the DC production and Coalhouse III came running out at the end of the show *end spoiler*
Sunday in the Park With George - I saw the last performance of the revival, and when all the people in the painting bowed to George every single person in that audience lost it. Such a beautiful moment.
Fiddler on the Roof - I particularly loved how the finale was staged in the recent revival...it may have had its faults but I was very moved.
Next to Normal - "Light" is such a beautiful and emotional way to end the show.
A Chorus Line - As someone else said, I lose it when Paul comes out and takes his bow.

[philly03]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 8:33pm

A Tale of Two Cities
Les Miserables
Sunday in the Park with George