Long first acts

#1

Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:57am

I just got back from Germany, where I caught a couple of musicals. One of them was a regional production of Cabaret. Seeing it just outside Berlin provided a chilling setting for this surprisingly good and in-your-face production.

Now, the first act lasted 95 minutes. I haven't seen that many musicals, but the first act usually clocks in at around 60-75 minutes. What other musicals have really long first acts?

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#2

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 7:05am

Act 1 of Les Miz is 90 minutes.

Many musicals of the 1940's and 50's had 90 minute first acts. The second act was usually no more than an hour.

#3

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 7:52am

I just finished doing Pippin, and the first act was a real marathon. By Morning Glow you could see people in the audience checking their watch or looking at the program to see how many songs were left. Then of course, the second act is about half an hour, so it makes up for it.

#4

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 8:09am

Fiddler on the Roof. The first act is about 105 minutes. It's still the longest first act (and longest show) I've seen.

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#5

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 9:13am

My Fair Lady. But then the show often runs at over three hours in total...

#6

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 9:23am

Oklahoma is really long. The first scene alone is like 50 minutes and there are still 3 more scenes in the first act after that (granted not as long but still not short)

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#7

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 9:26am

It seems like every show I've been to has a longer first act than second.

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#8

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 10:25am

The first act of A Chorus Line is about 100 minutes. But they allow you an unusally long intermission.

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#9

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 10:30am

Almost all shows have a longer first act. Some, like Les Miz or A Chorus Line, are real marathons however.

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#10

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 10:32am

Cabaret does have a ridiculously long first act, and then a ridiulously short second act. (95 minutes, 25 minutes) It's almost not worth an intermission.

1776 is usually only performed in one act, but whether it's done in one or two, the first half of the show always feels VERY long, due to that stretch of time where there's no music.

#11

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 10:33am

I don't know exactly how long it was, but I felt Woman in White had the longest first act in history. I tried seeing it again, and it seemed even longer. Difficult, difficult show to keep ones attention.

#12

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 10:36am

I thought both of WIW's acts were longer than usual...and I loved it...

But a really long first act must belong to Miss Saigon...amd I correct in saying this?

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#13

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 11:46am

The original Les Miserables (before the trims a few years back for Broadway that then came to London) had a first act of 105 minutes.

That is about the longest I have ever come across.

#14

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 1:02pm

A Chorus Line doesn't have an intermission or at least it didn't during its 15 year run on Broadway or during any of the hundreds of official Equity national and international tours. The show runs precisely two hours with no intermission. Perhaps you saw an amateur or community theatre production which inserted an intermission.

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#15

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 1:10pm

This isn't a musical, but the recent production of "Landscape of the Body" surprised me when they printed on the cell phone paper the running time of the 2 acts:

Act I: 80 minutes
Act II: 35 minutes

Although I always have been aware of the differences in act times at a show, it was odd to see it printed on an insert.

#16

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 1:10pm

I think they were joking when they said it had an unusually long intermission (since there is no second act).

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#17

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 1:15pm

I thought "The Color Purple" first act was going to go on forever, which I wouldn't have minded at all, except for the fact I had to go to the bathroom REALLY, REALLY bad! Maybe that's why it seemed to drag on forever?!?!

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#18

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 1:51pm

"I think they were joking when they said it had an unusually long intermission (since there is no second act)."

Somebody got the joke. Thank you.

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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.

#19

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 1:56pm

Well, I've certainly heard of many productions of ACL that have inserted an intermission (usually after "The Music and the Mirror").

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"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

Updated On: 6/5/06 at 01:56 PM

#20

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 1:56pm

Wicked's first act felt like 2 hours

#21

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 2:00pm

"Well, I've certainly heard of many production of ACL that have inserted an intermission (usually after "The Music and the Mirror")."

Once I was asked to stage manage a production of ACL where they wanted to insert an intermission. I ended up turning the job down.

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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.

#22

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 2:10pm

It pisses me off when people insert intermissions in ACL! URG! DONT MESS WITH IT!

When I did it last November, the people who had the scripts before us and put an intermission right after the Montage.

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#23

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 2:17pm

"When I did it last November, the people who had the scripts before us and put an intermission right after the Montage."

Why can't the licensing agents use an eraser before they send those things out again?

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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.

#24

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 2:29pm

Back in the hayday of dinner theatre (the 1970's), most dinner theatres did musicals in THREE acts (they could serve drinks during the first intermission, and collect all the money during the second). The legendary Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Chicago did "Fiddler" that way, putting the first intermission after "To Life". The show ran three hours, and on Saturdays they dod two performances - at 5 PM and 10 PM (they needed a two hour break between shows because they were serving dinner). The 10 PM show ended at ONE A.M. - and then the actors had a matinee the next day!

#25

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/5/06 at 2:37pm

Into the Woods' first act always seems like a marathon. Obviously you need time to get all those stories to the part where audiences recognize the endings, but by that time, they're so antsy, they dont care what happens in Act 2.

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