First musical not to have an overture- Page 3

[Jon]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 11:51am

The best way to get the audience familiar with the songs was used for the original production of BARNUM - they had a recording of all the songs performed on a circus calliope that played in the lobby and the theatre before the show.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 11:59am

To follow on the Jerry Herman/Gower Champion thread -- MACK AND MABEL originally didn't have an overture either -- what we know of as the Overture is really was the Entr'acte.

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 12:21pm

1959, Carnival didn't have an overture. It started with a squeezebox player coming onstage, and as the orchestra played the opening number, the carnival set was constructed in front of the audience.

[sondhead]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 1:22pm

Show Boat had an overture in 1927. It's a classic, actually. Love it.

And uh... Wicked definitely has an overture. It's small, but it's there.

That is unless we're differentiating between full 3-5 minute Overtures and brief musical prologues without singing, such as the ones featured in Wicked and Hairspray.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 1:26pm

I consider that if there is staging with or without singing (the farmers in Martin Guerre, the monkeys in Wicked), the piece is a Prologue, not an Overture.

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 1:39pm

i'm interested in writing a musical w/a collaborator & a composer. i've got a twisted concept in mind... one in which the overture could occur in the middle of the second act.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 2:01pm

On the Town didn't use the overture. That was 1944.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 2:18pm

I've always found an overture to be annoying, but I like the fact that it allows for latecomers to get to their seats.

[sondhead]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 2:25pm

"I consider that if there is staging with or without singing (the farmers in Martin Guerre, the monkeys in Wicked), the piece is a Prologue, not an Overture."

What about "A Little Night Music" in which the overture features the Liebeslieders on stage singing?

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 2:27pm

waiting for godot didn't have an overture.

(oh, lighten up!)

[B3TA07]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 2:31pm

Sondhead - There are exceptions to every rule.


Should I post the AIM transcript? It's pretty off the chain cute.

Posted: 7/5/07 at 3:54pm

So what do you mean by Overture? To me it's a medley of songs from the show, instrumental, presented before the curtain goes up.

An Entracte is similar, but written to be played at the top of the second act.

So I'd say Wicked has no Overture. There's a 30 seconds or so of music before the curtain goes up but it's not a medley of tunes- it's a new tune (or tune-ette).

Cabaret was the first to come to my mind but Carousel fits too. I have no idea what the 1927 Showboat was like.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 5:49pm

>> I have no idea what the 1927 Showboat was like.

Neither do I. I have a suspicion that the earlier poster is refering to the 32 production. But seems to me that the 29 started with the choral work onstage.

But I could be wrong.

[sondhead]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 6:03pm

I didn't see the 1927 Show Boat (obviously) but it had an overture. Trust me. I own a vintage score from the production and you can also hear it on that operatic complete-score recording they made in the 80's when they rediscovered all the original parts in the R&H warehouse. I was not speaking to the 40's revival which features a completely new and completely inferior overture from the 1927 original. Along with some underscoring, the overture from the original production preserved the "Mis'ry's Comin' Aroun'" that was cut from the production during previews. Incidentally, the Hal Prince revival uses the same overture I just realized.

I, personally, think of an Overture as a prologue to some kind of theatrical work. That can encompass a medley but if it's only there to be a medley I think it's basically pointless. I think many "traditional" overtures help the artistic success of a piece as do newer shorter ones, and I prefer Overtures written with some purpose outside of having 4 minutes of music telling the audience "no really, sit down--we're about to start"