Longest Overture

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 12:31pm

I have been listening to Wonderful Town a lot lately and have noticed that the overture is pretty long...about 4 minutes. What are some other long ones that you know of? (stay clean!)

Updated On: 3/29/04 at 12:31 PM

[Broadway724]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 12:32pm

Candide's...which is just plain gorgeous.

[Plum]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 12:45pm

Gypsy's overture is nearly five minutes long on the OBC, but it's worth every second. And Chris Jaudes is absolutely amazing on the trumpet solo in the current production. Great stuff. :)

[magruder]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 12:49pm

Let 'Em Eat Cake clocks in at about 7 1/2 minutes. It may just be the longest Overture I can think of.

On A Clear Day is somewhere around there too, although what is represented on the recording is a combo of the Overture and the Entr'acte.

[lvpblues]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 1:44pm

Some of the ones I have... the cut-off was 5 minutes.

Allegro - R&H: The Complete Overtures - 5:48
Bells Are Ringing - OBCR - 5:40
Dear World - OBCR - 5:30
Fanny - OBCR - 5:03
Flower Drum Song - R&H: The Complete Overtures - 5:40
Girl Crazy - 1990 Studio Cast - 5:14
The King and I - R&H: The Complete Overtures - 6:21
Kiss Me Kate - OBCR (bonus track) - 6:10 (the much shorter entr'acte was used as the overture on the cast album)
Lady, Be Good - 1992 Studio Cast - 5:53
Oklahoma! - R&H: The Complete Overtures - 5:29
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever - OBCR - 6:15
Rags - OCR - 5:00
Show Boat - 1988 Studio Recording - 5:34
Sitting Pretty - 1990 Studio Cast - 7:16
South Pacific - R&H: The Complete Overtures - 6:58
Strike Up the Band - 1991 Studio Cast - 5:58
Take Me Along - OBCR - 5:22
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - OBCR - 5:04

That's all I can think of right now...

~Kevin Updated On: 3/29/04 at 01:44 PM

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 1:47pm

Lord Have Mercy! Do you people really have this much time on your hands?! Could one of you come over and give me a pedicure if you can spare a moment timing overtures??

-Z

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 1:54pm

The Sherry! overture is long too. Over six minutes.

[Mattio98]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 2:45pm

I think that the JCS overture is pretty long.

[lvpblues]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 3:39pm

Zola Q. LaPlaya -

I am currently studying musical theatre history as a minor concentration in college and have a massive cast recording library literally at my fingertips. I did that post in under five minutes during an extended break from class without listening to one of them. Now, I don't have the slightest clue in giving a pedicure but I sure give a great shoulder massage!

~Kevin Updated On: 3/29/04 at 03:39 PM

[NuggetMonkeys]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 5:39pm

there's a rare mp3 floating around of an overture for CHORUS LINE. it's about 9 and a half minutes long.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 7:53pm

I don't know about the origins of what's on that mp3.

I do know however that A CHORUS LINE in it's original run did not have an overature.

While the file may be 9.5 mins, it wasn't anything heard on Broadway during the run.

J.

[magruder]

Posted: 3/29/04 at 8:12pm

That Chorus Line overture was created for a benefit of some kind, in the late 80s.

Along those lines, the Rags Overture was created for the recording. The show didn't have an Overture in the theatre. The Sherry! Overture uses bits and pieces of the original Overture, but it's generally been expanded and newly created.

[onceadancer2]

Posted: 3/30/04 at 10:01am

The Three Musketeers in 1928. It clocked in at 14 minutes. As Alexander Wolcott wrote about the show: "I did enjoy the first few years of Act One."

Miriam