Lack of the overture in contemporary musicals- Page 2

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 1:16pm

Yes it is just a prelude, the word escaped me.

I miss the overtures, they set the mood and got the audience excited to see the curtain rise to reveal the main character.

And yes LJay, the Sweet Charity overture is wonderful, even in the shortened revival form. What a great show! I loved it and it has become one of my favorites.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 1:47pm

"Too bad most audiences want to get in, get on with it, and get home."

Which is also being fed by another current trend - one-act musicals (which I abhor.)

Yet two of the most thrilling musicals this year--The Drowsy Chaperone and Bernarda ALba--WERE one act. Sometimes it just really works. I also wouldn't call it a "current" trend, as it's nothing all that new, and most new musicals are not one act anyway.


I also have to agree with whoever said Wicked kind of screams for an overture.

[leefowler]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 1:50pm

A lot of shows don't have (or need) overtures because their first scenes serve as overtures in themselves. Fiddler On The Roof is a good example of that. Can you imagine a big overture, and then follow it with "Tradition"? It would be redundant.

It's similar in "The Producers". One of the problems with the show is that it takes a long time to get the plot going, what with "King Of Broadway", "We Can Do It" and "I Wanna Be A Producer" to get through before the mechanism of the story kicks in. When there was a full length overture written in Chicago, it seemed to be yet another delaying tactic, and it made the audience even more impatient with the first few numbers. So the overture was replaced by a shorter prelude, and the full length overture was used for the CD.

By the way, Verdi often dispensed with the overture (in Aida, Otello, Falstaff, and many others) but occasionally wrote some thrilling ones (Especially La Forza Del Destino). And in Aida he actually wrote an overture, and then discarded it in favor of a prelude. By the way, I didn't mean to shock anyone here with the news that there is an Aida out there with music by someone other than Elton John.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 2:45pm

But Aida has "Celeste Aida" right at the beginning, so it's all good.

Really, I love overtures. One of the greatest feelings is sitting in the theatre waiting for the lights to dim, and then the overture begins...

But I gotta say, I love how Les Mis doesn't have one. It's so startling! I think some shows work without one. But I think the general trend nowadays of not having them is something to be regretted.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 2:49pm

When I saw Joseph and the Amazing Technocolor Dreamcoat they had a nice long overture. The only problem is the house lights weren't dimmed so the audience talked through the WHOLE thing.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 2:49pm

I think an overture would kill a show like Sweeney. I love how in the new revival, the show starts with the door opening, Tobias being released, then the ballad vamp starts. It works amazing. It wouldn't even work if they had the organ prelude like the original production.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 6/25/06 at 12:19am

"Too bad most audiences want to get in, get on with it, and get home. I hope that isn't indicative of their "romantic" lives as well!"

Please, it's the writers of contemporary musicals that need to jumpstart their love lives. What a dull, passionless bunch!



Winthrop Paroo
River City, Iowas
Updated On: 6/25/06 at 12:19 AM