Long first acts — Page 2

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#26

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 7:03am

PIPPIN also was done on one act on Broadway though most productions I have seen insert an intermission after "Morning glow."

I have never seen 1776 done without a break (after "Mamma Look Sharp") but apparetly the original Broadway production was 2 hours and 25 minutes without an intermission!

When PASSION was done in London (and in Toronto) they put in a (needless) intermission just after the "I Wish I Could Forget You" scene.

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

#27

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 10:32am

Avenue Q has a first act that seems to last for quite a while

"Are you sorry for civilization? I am sorry for it too." ~Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck

#28

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:01am

Fiddler's is very long.

I believe the Woman in White's is also long.

Wicked clocks in at about 90.

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird

#29

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:03am

Into the Woods...sooooo long.

#30

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:04am

In its early stages, the first act of Jekyll & Hyde (you know, before all the good songs got gutted or replaced) was quite long, too, although I can't remember the exact length.

#31

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:14am

A friend of mine was watching "Into the Woods" with me for her first time and thought the show was over at the intermission. She thought the first act ended after the opening number.

"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert

#32

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:14am

when i saw Les Miz for the first time (before the cuts), i didn't know much about it... i didn't know all of the songs or scenes. i thought act 1 was going to end after "Do You Hear the People Sing." because of that, "A Heart Full of Love" felt never ending... i wanted the turntable to just stop moving because it felt like it was turning too much and just needed to end! not because i wasn't enjoying it (i love the show), but i did feel antsy!

::bust a move::

#33

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:29am

Ragtime has a lot of false endings in Act 1, too, particularly after New Music and Wheels of a Dream.

#34

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:41am

My first Les Miz experiance was listening to the OBCR, which the first disc ends after "Do You Hear the People Sing?" I thought that was the end of the first act, and that the whole thing was three acts. It could have been if they wanted it to be.

How could putting an intermission after "Music and the Mirror" possibly work - did they open the second act with Paul's monologue?

Is it breaking copyright laws to put an intermission in shows that don't have one written in? If so, our high school did Once on this Island a few years ago and put an intermission after before "Mama Will Provide," which actually worked well as a second act opener. But usually our drama teacher is very strict about sticking to copyright laws - she gets mad anytime we don't say a line directly as written.

"Who is Stephen Sondheim?" -roninjoey
"The man who wishes he had written Phantom of the Opera!" - SueleenGay

GO CARDINALS!!!

#35

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:52am

There are optional (and very ill-advised, IMO) intermissions in both "A Chorus Line" and "1776." Honestly, it's there so producers can reap the benefits of concession stand and bar sales. It's a significant loss to a theatre on a weekly basis to do a "one act" show.

That said, I hate the idea. But in the script for A Chorus Line (at least when I did the show), the (optional) intermission comes after the big finish for "Hello, Twelve.”

And it picks up right at the same spot, so it's before Music and the Mirror, Paul's monologue, etc. It's the most logical place to put one... if you HAD to, which I hope to God you don't.

EDIT: And the longest first act that I recall was for "Camelot." If you do that show unedited, it's about a week long. (or at least it felt that way)

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

Updated On: 6/27/06 at 11:52 AM

#36

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 12:13pm

I did a production of Camelot once where the leading man's parents LEFT at intermission on opening night. They thought the show was over and were very impressed that it ended on Arthur struggling with such a personal moral decision, the dears.

Someone should do a show with a one minute act two (as Miranda Richardson would say from Blackadder "Just to see the expression on the audience's faces.")

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#37

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 12:27pm

When watching the "Sweeney Todd" DVD I always feel like the first act is very long, but I don't think it really is.

I also find the first act of "The Phantom of the Opera" to be forever when listening to it ir watching the movie, but when I saw the live show it was very quick.

-- SDG

#38

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 12:41pm

That's because in the movie the chandelier drop happens later in the story, I believe.

Updated On: 6/27/06 at 12:41 PM

#39

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 12:52pm

seeing phantom live, act 1 does seem very fast

::bust a move::

#40

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 12:56pm

I remember from seeing a local production that Company had a really long first act...but maybe that was the production. on the opposite end has anyone seen a show with a short first act and a long second?

RIP Natasha Richardson. ~You were a light on this earth ~

#41

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 1:05pm

Children of Eden's first act goes on forever.. we clocked in at 90 minutes.

#42

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 1:12pm

I was john adams in 1776 last year, and we did it with the intermission (following "mama look sharp"). But i do remember the first act being very long, especially the 3rd scene which was about 20 minutes of dialogue. Its really a play with songs, not really a musical. still wonderful though :)

#43

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 1:12pm

I remember when I saw Fiddler I was like, "this is really long for a first act. Mybe this show is only one act long, just one really long act." But then at intermission I checked my program to see there was another act. However, I still enjoyed the show very much.
When we watched a recording of my school's production of Ragtime in drama class after Wheels of a Dream our director said, "And now the part when everyone thinks act one is over, but it isn't!"
My mother had to watch Into the Woods in two sittings becasue she said the first act was too long to watch anymore, however she loved it (except for the fact that half the characters died)
I also remember the first act of Les Mis feeling like it would never end.
Also, these don't have long first acts, but the end of the first act of DRS dragged a bit and during Hairsray I remember thinking the first act better be over now, during a point of Big Blonde and Beautiful and it wasn't so I was started getting antsy but then act one ended about 10 seconds later.

#44

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 3:58pm

The one cute thing about the ACL intermission is when they have the director give the dancers a break. At a community theatre production the director said "Take twenty, guys. Come back ready to dance" or something. Very cute.

Annie Get Your Gun, the Barry Bostwick version that is the cheapest for community theatres, has a Looooong first act. It ends after the 15-minute dance sequence of "I'm an Indian, Too." Dear God, that 1st act is two hours of so. Now, whenever a show has a long first act, my mom and I say it has "Annie-get-you-gun Syndrome."

#45

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 9:21pm

Oh dear God, Camelot could do very well with the first act by itself. Nothing against the second act though. The two of them together are murder, but the movie (which is a few minutes shorter) feels hours longer. Thanks Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave and that guy with the Italian accent that tries to be Lancelot!

#46

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 9:39pm

i saw a high school production of How to Succeed in Business without really trying and, although very good, the first act was very long.

Updated On: 6/27/06 at 09:39 PM

#47

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 9:50pm

What was the deal with Les Mis?

I know it was longer when it first opened but . . .

Why did they shorten it?
What did they cut?
When was this done?

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird

#48

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/27/06 at 10:08pm

oklahoma's latest revival was the longest first act i have ever seen, one girl near me actually said "theres MORE!? i thought we were here for 3 hours already"

"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel

#49

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/28/06 at 12:30am

"Into the Woods" first act runs over 90 minutes. That was the first show I ever tried recording after I discovered that my recording Walkman recorded in stereo. I remember franticly, yet without being detected, replacing the cassette.

I was also reminded of something that happened regarding "Les Miserables."

I got the album right after it came out, before I saw the show in London. (Missed Patti LuPone in it by a week!) My sister and I listened to it before we saw the show and we thought that the first act ended with "Do You Hear the People Sing".

Well, my sister drank a lot at dinner that night and was waiting to go to the bathroom after "Do You Hear". She tried to hold out until the end of the act, but couldn't. She ran up the aisle "I Saw Him Once."

She didn't get to see "One More Day" until the national tour came to Pittsburgh a few years later.

"A coherent existance after so many years of muddle" - Desiree' Armfelt, A Little Night Music "Life keeps happening everyday, Say Yes" - 70, Girls, 70 "Life is what you do while you're waiting to die" - Zorba

#50

re: Long first acts

Posted: 6/28/06 at 12:43am

Am I correct in believeing that Les Miz in London is referred to as "The Glums?" (as in gloomy and goes on forever).

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