Skip to main content
My Shows
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!
Home For You Chat My Shows Register/Login Games Grosses

Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

New Post Search Report Abuse Rules

Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.

#1

Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 12:55pm

What are the greatest opening numbers in Broadway history.
Mine are as follows.

The Lion King (almost cried the first time I saw it)
The Drowsy Chaperone (because its so unorthodox for a musical)
Wicked (blew me away from the first note)

Discuss Broadway world community, DISCUSS!!!
"Who do ya gotta F#%k to get a break in this town?!!!"-Max, The Producers.
#2

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 1:03pm

This has been done before but... whatever

My favorites:
Gypsy - I LOVE the overture.
Sweeney Todd
Les Miserables
RENT
#4

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 1:07pm

A CHORUS LINE

GUYS AND DOLLS

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali
#6

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 1:11pm

LES MIZ, WICKED, and A CHORUS LINE

PHANTOM once the cover is off the chandlier (if that sequence can be considered an opening number)

JEKYELL & HYDE once FACADE actually begins

THE LION KING
"TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD"- LES MISERABLES--- "THERE'S A SPECIAL KIND OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS SHOW PEOPLE... WE'RE BORN EVERY NIGHT AT HALF HOUR CALL!"--- CURTAINS
#7

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 1:15pm

Ragtime
A Chorus Line
Legally Blonde- a good start to a mediocre show
Spring Awakening- I love how the lights go down as she starts to sing
I know you. I know you. I know you.
#9

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 1:25pm

comedy tonight
tradition
ragtime
circle of life
Other than that, did you enjoy the play Mrs Lincoln?
#11

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 1:29pm

HAIRSPRAY

42ND STREET

A CHORUS LINE

RENT

MAMMA MIA!

CABARET
"I mean, sitting side by side with another man watching Patti LuPone play Rose in GYPSY on Broadway is essentially the equivalent of having hardcore sex." -Wanna Be A Foster. "Say 'Goody.' Say 'Bubbi.'" ... "That's it. Exactly as if it were 'Goody.' Now I know you're gonna sing 'Goody' this time, but nevertheless..."

Updated On: 11/21/07 at 01:29 PM

#12

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 1:31pm

Tarzan's "Two Worlds" was pretty impressive. It's a shame that kind of magic didn't continue through the rest of the show.
::bust a move::
#15

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 1:39pm

Titanic- just grand! imaginary ship as the whole cast stare at the audience..little boy running holding a toy ship and all the cast parading by their class rank..

Parade- one of my memorable experience - saw this almost 10 yrs ago but I can still remember.. the tree at the center... the young soldier singing of hopes to defend GA then parade passed by then he is an older man now without a limb... then the whole parade (memorial day parade of floats joined him)

Xanadu The mural as the muses came ...alive !!!!

I'll think of more!

J*




Updated On: 11/21/07 at 01:39 PM

#16

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 1:40pm

"I Hope I Get It"-A CHORUS LINE
The whole opening sequence from NINE
"Prologue: Ragtime"-RAGTIME
"16 Feet Below Sea Level" Sequence-CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
"Happiness"-PASSION
"Queenie Was a Blonde"-LaChiusa's THE WILD PARTY
"Willkomenn"-CABARET
"All That Jazz"-CHICAGO
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#19

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 1:53pm

Grey Gardens- 1970's birds chirping..dilapitated house and newspaper headlines projected on the house... then Little Edie prancing inside... Big Edie came out and sing and the whole house split into tow to reveal the inside(1940's)...revealing a younger Big Edie as Christine Ebersole-- love it! I will NEVER FORGET it !!!

J*

Updated On: 11/21/07 at 01:53 PM

#20

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 1:55pm

The Old Red Hills of Home from Parade. No contest.
Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you. --Cartman: South Park ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."
#21

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 2:00pm

Chicago 1997 Revival- sexy .. all in black ..dancing with Bob Fosse's style...
then Bebe Neuwirth appeared at the elevator trap door... -what a fabulous entrance !!!! walks down to join the entire company... I imagine to this song ALL THE TIME !


J*

Updated On: 11/21/07 at 02:00 PM

#22

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 2:03pm

Side Show is my favorite - I always fail at explaining it but how they all start off as observers on the bleachers then go inside - and then the moment when the two actresses playing Daisy and Violet stand up, walk down, and come together - oh my goodness. Goosebumps! The staging of that number was perfect.

I also love Cabaret (perfect mood setter), Nine (all those women singing together - brilliant) and Parade.
Now what would you say if today I started over? Without a thing but this taped together four leaf clover And I'll pretend like everything is already alright And I'll run toward the sun till the castle's out of sight
#24

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 2:12pm

This may not be a musical but.. the title says... Greatest opening..so I will include a play...

Coast of Utopia : Voyage - The whole stage is filled with names of characters projected on the screen.... Then a sea....silky cloth was fanned on the stage to produce wave effect... the whole stage looks like a sea... then a man in a chair came up in the middle .. thinking.....then he was engulfed by the waves of the sea as he disappeared in the middle ( represent to me as being engulfed by his ideas..) then the sea calm down .. as the silk cloth was pushed in the center (where he disappeared) then stage curtains lifted up.. all you see is people (peasants) standing at the background ) some are mannequins, the others are real actors - they moved to go to the main stage to start the play.....

What an imagination !!!

J*
#25

re: Greatest opening numbers ever!!!

Posted: 11/21/07 at 2:15pm

If the rest of Grand Hotel had lived up to the first 10 minutes, it would have been a show for the ages. As it was, it still is a personal favorite of mine (Michael Jeter, Karen Akers, Jane Krakowski, Lillian Montevecchi, Bob Stillman and the late and great David Carolll -- how he is missed by all who who the good luck to see him in GH or Chess!!).
BroadwayEd

← Back to Message Board

BroadwayWorld TV

View all Videos

Ticket Central
Ticket Central
Ticket Central
Hot Show
Tickets From $59
Hot Show
Tickets From $71
Hot Show
Tickets From $71
Hot Show
Tickets From $95
More Hot Shows Discounts
Recommended For You