Favorite show-stopper?- Page 2

[singingshowgirl]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 3:26pm

both times they do "Agony" in Into the Woods

i'm doing the show now and i crack up EVERY time they do it!!

[greeneyed_one]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 3:30pm

Not sure if this counts because it is pretty much the end of the show but Girty Rotten Number from DRS literally stopped the show.

[pab]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 3:56pm

"And I am Telling you" is the only song that I've actually seen stop a show.

[luvliza89]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 4:04pm

Miss Marmelstein from "I Can Get It For You Wholesale"

Stopped the show every night.

:)

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 4:31pm

Chapter 54, Number 1909, in SEESAW, remains the greatest number I've ever saw, on a stage. And that includes over 45 years of seeing shows. It stopped the show, cold, the many times I saw it.
Updated On: 7/14/06 at 04:31 PM

[Jersey Girl2]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 8:20pm

well since Defying Gravity dosnt count im gonna have to say Can't Take My Eyes Off You from Jersey Boys is grrreat!! Also, at the end of
"Both Reached for the gun" with James Naughton in Chicago's revival is grreat cuz he is such a great singer on the album
!!

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 8:28pm

Clearly AITY is on top of the list.


I haven't seen many numbers that have actually stopped a show.

Early in the run of Altar Boyz, before the hype, before the backlash, Tyler Maynard singing Epiphany definately stopped the show. Albeit the performance of the song is a send the older solo showstoppers, it was amazing.

[2seatsoffcenter]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 10:57pm

WHO'S THAT WOMAN ("the mirror number") from the original FOLLIES has to be one of the greatest show stoppers performed. Mary McCarty and the Follies gals blew the audience away! The applause seemed to last forever (in fact, it was one of the longest applause experiences I have ever witnessed in the theatre). Ahhhhh, what memories.

[Corine2]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 11:39pm

Hell, NO. The Color Purple.
Show Off- Drowsy Chaperone
Jimmy- Millie
Gimmee Gimmee That Thing Called Love- I want It!
I'm Telling you- Dreamgirls
Tits and Ass- A Chorus Line
I AM WHAT I AM- LA CAGE
The Cage Dance in LA CAGE- ANDY PELLICK
Updated On: 7/14/06 at 11:39 PM

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 3:49am

Gimmme Gimme
Coalhouse's Soliloquoy - Ragtime
Wheels of a Dream - Ragtime
Your Daddy's Son- you guessed it, Ragtime

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 4:10am

"Easy As Life" - Aida (I think it's a make or break moment for the person playing Aida, it's a tough song to deliver and it can be a show-stopper with the right Aida)

What categorizes something as a showstopper? I don't mean that in a jerk way, but what does the term imply. You say that it doesn't have to actually stop the show with applause, but then what does it mean?

"Wizard and I" usually gets some lengthy applause after the performance, but in terms of "showstopper" I'd say "Popular" is more so with a funny Glinda. It usually is prolonged and lengthened by the amount of laughter and applause.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 4:20am

"Who's That Woman?"-Follies
"(Not)Getting Married Today"-Company
"A Call From the Vatican"-Nine
"I Can't Do It Alone"-Chicago
"Big Spender"-Fosse (curiously enough it got a prolongued "showstopper" quality applause both times I saw Fosse, and it got a courtesy applause when I saw the lackluster poorly Cilento-choreographed Sweet Charity revival).
"Il Mundo Era Vuoto"-The Light in the Piazza
"I Want To Go To Hollywood"-Grand Hotel
"Bossom Buddies"-Mame

Posted: 7/15/06 at 5:45am

Defying Gravity
Miller's Son
Defying Gravity
Bring Him Home
Defying Gravity
And I Am Telling You
Defying Gravity.

[coolphantom919]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 8:04am

"Master of the House"
"Defy Gravity"
"One Day More"
"One"
"Wilkommen" Updated On: 9/12/06 at 08:04 AM

[Sant]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 8:28am

Something Wonderful - THE KING AND I
Memory - CATS
The Impossible Dream - MAN OF LA MANCHA
Bill - SHOW BOAT
Defying Gravity - WICKED

[Buscee]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 8:32am

"I AM WHAT I AM"- La CAge
"ROSE's TURN"- Gypsy
"Its SO HARD TO SAY GOODBYE"- Boy from Oz
"They're PLAYING MY SONG'- They're Playing Our Song
"HELLO,DOLLY"

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 9:36am

A true showstopper actually DOES stop a show in its tracks -- which eliminates many of the examples given in this thread. We're not just talking about a great number -- there lots of great numbers -- we're literally talking about an audience refusing to allow a show to continue until it has cheered and applauded for a couple of minutes. Standing ovations occasionally also occur sometimes.

It's an incredibly rare thing to witness -- in 35 years I've only seen it happen maybe 6 or 7 times (from over 1000 shows). Most of the people on this board are too young to have actually seen one occur live and I guess think that if a number gets a lot of applause, then it should qualify -- it doesn't. They just don't happen very often and in the post-Robbins, Bennett, Fosse, Champion, Tune era that we're presently in, there simply aren't many (if any) directors who know how to construct and build a number into a showstopper. It's a VERY hard thing to do and even those geniuses I just named couldn't pull it off in every show they did (though several of them got close). Other than Des McAnuff, who has at least one showstopper in Jersey Boys, there just aren't many directors out there now who have the necessary knowledge, technique and flatout talent to create such a number.

Updated On: 7/15/06 at 09:36 AM

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 10:34am

Rose's Turn. Stops the show every time.
And I Am Telling You

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 11:35am

"I Got Rhythm" from Crazy for You (stopped the show dead when i saw it)

"An Old Fashioned Wedding" from Annie Get Your Gun

"And I Am Telling You" from Dreamgirls

"Only in New York" and "Gimme Gimme" both stopped the show when I saw the first tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie, but im sure that's not a usual occurance.

"Hello, Dolly!", "So Long, Dearie", and "The Waiter's Gallop" from Hello, Dolly!

[queenbee2]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 12:08pm

Stokes Impossible Dream was phenomenal.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 12:59pm

Not many have stopped a show like Gwen Verdon did in CAN-CAN. After her "Apaches" number in Can-Can on opening night, the audience went CRAZY for her. They wouldn't stop yelling and applauding. Even when she left the stage they wouldn't stop, they weren't satisfied until she returned on stage holding her costume in front of her!

Now who else has done that?

Posted: 7/15/06 at 1:05pm

Margo is right as usual. I don't think there are really any showstoppers anymore. Although the night I saw The Boy From Oz, Hugh Jackman came as close as anyone with a couple of the numbers. Since Josh Logan's staging of South Pacific in 1949, authors and directors tend to write and stage shows in such a manner that truly stopping a show is diffcult. Quite frankly, I miss the shows where the performers sometimes played to the audience (and I'm not talking about Nathan Lane...that's all he does and were able to whip enough enthusiasm to really stop a show. Merman, Martin, and Verdon could do it. Holliday certainly did it. Aside from Hugh Jackman, recently, an individual male show-stopper might go back as far as Anthony Newley. For a truly show-stopping, breath-taking show stopper, I suggest the "Somewhere" Ballet in West Side Story. I saw the show on the 2nd night it played Broadway and the audience reaction was truly stunning.

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 1:07pm

When I saw "The Color Purple" Felicia P. Fields delivery of "Hell No!" came pretty close to stopping the show. The audience loved it (me included).

Posted: 7/15/06 at 1:08pm

We mustn't forget (those of us lucky enough to have experienced it) Alice Playten's show-stopping numbers in Henry, Sweet Henry. That even made the front page of the NY Times the following day.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 1:22pm

Margo -- could you share some of the showstoppers you've seen, then?