GREY GARDENS - In "Around the World" when Christine says "And if you infer that they were using her, I WILL SHOVE YOU UNDER THE GODDAMN BED!" it gives me goosebumps.
EDWIN DROOD - The entirety of Patti singing "Moonfall." One of my favorite musical songs of all time.
WICKED - That heinous woman literally screaming the final note on the album. It makes me happy.
Next to Normal I'm Alive (Reprise) "...the medicine failed and the doctors lied." How his voice gets during these lyrics and he just sneers "lied"
So Anyway "What doctors called dysfunction, we tried to call romance..." Ripley pausing for the slightest moment before "doctors", and there's just something about the way she sings this that I can't really put my finger on, but I'm obsessed with it.
"You have two kinds of shows on Broadway – revivals and the same kind of musicals over and over again, all spectacles. You get your tickets for The Lion King a year in advance, and essentially a family... pass on to their children the idea that that's what the theater is – a spectacular musical you see once a year, a stage version of a movie. It has nothing to do with theater at all. It has to do with seeing what is familiar.... I don't think the theatre will die per se, but it's never going to be what it was.... It's a tourist attraction." Stephen Sondheim
Next to Normal I'm Alive (Reprise) "...the medicine failed and the doctors lied." How his voice gets during these lyrics and he just sneers "lied"
Yes! That's what it is
Glad I'm not the only one who loves that :) He just gets SO into it, and it's so intense how he sneers it
I don't need a life that's normal. That's way too far away. But something next to normal would be okay. Something next to normal is what I'd like to try. Close enough to normal to get by.
Many moments I enjoy have already been mentioned but I think my new favorite is on an OCR that isn't out yet!
I really love the clip of "I just might" on the 9 to 5 site. It seems much better than Out of Control/The One I Love. I particularly love the vocals on the lyric "I might really be surprised" because Megan and Steph's voices complement each other so well, and it's great to hear their voices (particularly SJB's) on something with that kind of sound.
When Diana deadpans "walking" at the beginning of "Make Up Your Mind."
Natalies "this is one ****ed up seduction."
"I wouldn't let Esparza's Bobby take my kids to the zoo...I'd be afraid he'd steal their ice cream and laugh."- YankeeFan
"People who like Sondheim enjoy cruelty."-LuvtheEmcee
On the Hair revival recording, loving Kacie Sheik's "Air," especially, "I'm looking rather attractive NOW THAT I'm radioactive, just watch me spark I glow in the dark."
A great many from next to normal...that whole recording is full of great moments! One that I love right now, and really thought was fantastic, is during "Why Stay?/A Promise", when Natalie and Diana sing "Enduring and coping/and hurting and hoping for day after f***ing day". I just get chills at the way their voices blend together and their intensity at that moment.
"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos."-Stephen Sondheim
And another Next to Normal moment... Perfect for You "You've got some nerve, Henry, and I'm just all nerves." I think it's a mix of the lyrics and the power put behind it. Amazing.
"You have two kinds of shows on Broadway – revivals and the same kind of musicals over and over again, all spectacles. You get your tickets for The Lion King a year in advance, and essentially a family... pass on to their children the idea that that's what the theater is – a spectacular musical you see once a year, a stage version of a movie. It has nothing to do with theater at all. It has to do with seeing what is familiar.... I don't think the theatre will die per se, but it's never going to be what it was.... It's a tourist attraction." Stephen Sondheim
"Hi Dad..." One of the most touching line readings of two words I've ever heard. Oh, and speaking of line readings from "Next to Normal," when Alice says something to the effect of "Are you sure you don't wanna turn on a light...I mean with the stairs..." totally cracks me up every time. I can just picture the awkward moment that immediately followed that in the show, and I only saw it once. Good times...
Continuing with the next to normal moments... I love "What makes you think I'd lose my mind for you? I'm no sociopath. I'm no Sylvia Plath." in "Didn't I See This Movie?".
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Perfect for You, "you square all the corners, I straighten the curves" "you've got some nerve Henry and I'm just all nerves"
It's just so pretty, the way the drums and music swell and everything. Perfect for You isn't so much one of my more favorite songs from the show, but that part I love
I don't need a life that's normal. That's way too far away. But something next to normal would be okay. Something next to normal is what I'd like to try. Close enough to normal to get by.
My (current) favourite moment in Next to Normal is ... well, everything Adam Chanler Berat sings, but particularly in A Promise "a boy wonders should I stay ... oh oh-oh oh, either way." Gorgeous.
Another Next to Normal moment: I love it in "Light" when Adam Chandler Berat joins in and sings 'We Love Anyway'.
"There's nothing good on. The media hates Christmas. The media loves vampires, though. Maybe they will show a Twilight Christmas." -Danmeg's 10 year old son.
Just some highlights from cast recordings that I've been listening to a lot lately...
The Story Of My Life I Didn't See Alvin: "I didn't see that tear on his coat" right after a rather long silence around 0:50. Kills me every time.
Company (recent Broadway revival) Marry Me A Little: "want me more than others, not exclusively" around 0:35
Shrek The Musical Who I'd Be: Brian's sigh when he sings "I get the girl" around 2:17
In The Heights Finale: "The hydrants are open cool breezes blow" in the background around 4:30
Next To Normal I've Been: "this act we act gets more and more absurd" around 0:32 You Don't Know: the drums around 0:27 So Anyway: "it's time for me to fly" around 2:20 I'm Alive: "no, no, no" around 2:34
When Georgia Brown's voice catches on the word "so" when she sings "I miss him so much..." in As Long As He Needs Me.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
I second 'Hydrants are open'. I'm also obsessed with Andrea's vibrato on the words street when she says 'on the street' during Carnaval Del Barrio.
"There's nothing good on. The media hates Christmas. The media loves vampires, though. Maybe they will show a Twilight Christmas." -Danmeg's 10 year old son.
RAGTIME *Your Daddy's Son: Pretty much this entire song...but I love her sharp intake of breath after "when I buried you in the ground" It's like she's finally waking up from her hysterical rant. LOVE IT! *Justice: When Coalhouse sings "and til then, i will not MAAAAAAAARRY." chills everytime. *and the climax of Til We Reach That Day: Oh Lord I PRAAAAAAY! and its a capella with the entire chorus singing that minor chord. Amazing.
Next to Normal *I think the entire melody of I Miss the Mountains is so wonderfully written, but the entire into with the piano and strings, and Alice's part about "the wild girl running free" is awesome. I love the way she sort of bites her R's throughout the recording. *I second Make Up Your Mind/Catch Me I'm Falling because of the heartbeats that come in when everyone's singing "catch me, I'm falling" and when J. Robert Spencer sings "he's not here" and Jennifer Damiano sings "she's not there". Fantastic.
The Last Five Years *The Next Ten Minutes: When Jamie and Cathy are waltzing at their wedding, the audience should be enjoying the happiest moments of their lives, but the violins play "I Could Never Rescue You," just like they do during "I'm Still Hurting." It's subconsciously reminding the audience of their ill-fated relationship. Genius
The Miller's Son is something that I will listen to over and over. And I love the final reading of the letter in The Speed Test in Millie.
But my favorite (or at least moet memorable) parts of OBC's are often the mess-ups...
One is in Little Women where Sutton Foster is just barely hitting that rediculous note at the end of Astonishing...
And my favorite is when Mandy Patinkin starts singing Robert Westenberg's line towards the end of "Lily's Eyes" (It happens right after "Would God had let her stay")
During the "Aquarius/Ain't Got No/Yip Up the Sun" combo in the end. When Gavin starts singing "Ain't Got No" and right after the first drum bang. His voice sort of cracks and with each successive drum bang it sounds more and more like he's dying. Then the final "Ain't Got No" is so melodic.... Kills me every time I hear it.
"And I'm a grown up....I don't go on vacations....I go to Broadway." - dramamama611
"Even I think that's hot, and I'm a straight guy. If I ever become gay he is the reason." - Drunk Chita Rivera on Gavin Creel
"Leia947 is my theatre mamma, and I love her for it." - AndAllThatJazz22
The transition from person to person in "Just Another Day". I just love how smoothly it goes from one character to another.
I also second when Natalie comes in with "She's not there.." in "Make Up Your Mind/Catch Me I'm Falling" and Aaron's sneer on "and the doctors lied" in "I'm Alive (Reprise) Updated On: 6/30/09 at 03:25 PM
Michael Ball in Les Mis - "My world if she's not the-ey-ere".
As We Stumble Along (reprise) from Drowsy, "It does what a musical is supposed to do, it lifts you up and gives you a little tune to carry with you in your head for when you're feeling blue" I just melt. That show gives me the warm fuzzies!
Much as I hate to admit it, the intro to One Song Glory on the movie soundtrack of Rent.
Those are the first few that come to mind without my ipod to hand.