Male Showstoppers — Page 2

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#26

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/20/13 at 8:21pm

"Confession of the Vampire (The Insatiable Appetite)" from Dance of the Vampires - whatever else about the show was changed from its German version, this was not, and it's a brilliant aria.

Formerly gvendo2005
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05

Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28

#27

Some of the songs listed here are excellent numbers to give a male lead a chance to shine, but the OP specified "showstoppers."

Just as a first example, I've seen many productions of Chicago, and "All I Care About is Love" has always been well received but never once did it stop the show.

"Showstoppers"

#28

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/20/13 at 9:40pm

Can anyone think of a male equivalent to something like "The Music and the Mirror" or "I'm a Brass Band"? A really dance-heavy male showstopper?

Yup. This:
Follies, 1971: Gene Nelson 'The Right Girl'

#29

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/20/13 at 10:11pm

Molasses to Rum - 1776
Betrayed - The Producers
Great Bug Stuff - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
If I Were A Rich Man - Fiddler

"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

#30

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/20/13 at 10:16pm

There was a Norbert Leo Butz number in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels that left the audience breathless. I need to go back and listen to the cast recording, but I think it was "Great Big Stuff." I just remember the incredible energy of Butz's singing and dancing and the audience being blown away. It really stole the show.

#31

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/20/13 at 11:47pm

I have always said that, with very few exceptions, men's songs in musical theater don't even begin to touch the material women get to sing. And a lot of the songs listed in this thread, while great songs, I would not consider "showstoppers." Like I said there are a few ("Being Alive" being the quintessential example and "I Am What I Am" - if done well is another) but for the most part men do not have equivalents to the likes of "Rose's Turn," "And I Am Telling You," "Don't Rain on My Parade," "Defying Gravity," "As If We Never Said Goodbye," "Get Out and Stay Out," and well the list goes on and on.

<-- Tevye, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, March 2018

#32

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/21/13 at 3:47am

Close Every Door (Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat)
Goodbye (Catch Me If You Can)
Can't Take My Eyes Off You (Jersey Boys)
Music of the Night (Phantom of the Opera)

#33

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/21/13 at 4:06am

"Heaven On Their Minds" -I have always thought this to be one of the MOST powerful show openers in musical theatre history.

My biggest pet peeve right now is when people pronounce it "Marry-us" and not "Mah-ree-us".

#34

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/21/13 at 7:04am

I think "Love Can't Happen" from "Grand Hotel" is an amazing showstopper too!

#35

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/21/13 at 9:38am

Nick Adam's abs

#36

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/21/13 at 10:14am

Not strictly a male solo, but "Wheels of a Dream" from RAGTIME stops the show on the power of Coalhouse's performance.

#37

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/21/13 at 11:36am

Old Man River - Show Boat
Kansas City - Oklahoma!
Call From the Grave - Threepenny Opera
Ridin' on the Moon - St. Louis Woman
Soliloquy - Carousel
She Loves Me - She Loves Me
Funny - City of Angels
All of My Life - Do Re Mi
Into the Fire - Scarlet Pimpernel
Hey There - Pajama Game
Maria - West Side Story
Somethin's Comin' - West Side Story
The Impossible Dream - Man of La Mancha
Jackie - Jacques Brel
Amsterdam - Jacques Brel
If I Were A Rich Man - Fiddler
The First Time - Zorba
Buddy's Blues - Follies
Come Back To Me - On A Clear Day
Leaning on A Lamppost - Me and My Girl
Molasses to Rum - 1776
The Lees of Old Virginia - 1776
Tchaikowky - Lady in the Dark
This Nearly Was Mine - South Pacific
Lost in the Stars - Lost in the Stars
Those Were the Good Old Days - Damn Yankees
When I'm Not With the Girl I Love - Finian's Rainbow
New Fangled Preacher Man - Purlie
Skinnin' the Cat - Purlie
Being Alive - Company
Sit Down You're Rockin' The Boat - Guys and Dolls

Updated On: 7/23/13 at 11:36 AM

#38

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/21/13 at 9:01pm

The Sex is in the Heel from Kinky Boots is a great song.

#39

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/21/13 at 10:40pm

a literal recent show stopper would have been Don't Break the Rules in Catch me if you Can

I have a degrading VHS from 1978 or 79 of a HBO special called Showstoppers. they recorded a bunch of showstopping numbers executed by the original performers.

Some of the male performances featured there were Stubby Kaye doing Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat and Richard Kiley doing Impossible Dream

#40

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/22/13 at 9:12am

Vanya's monologue in VANYA AND SONIA...

While I'm at it, the opening monologue(s) from LA BÊTE.

Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.

#41

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/22/13 at 7:59pm

"I have always said that, with very few exceptions, men's songs in musical theater don't even begin to touch the material women get to sing."

^ THIS!

But still, amazing suggestions, thanks everyone! I just finished listening to the ones I hadn't heard before and loved them all.

#42

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/22/13 at 8:53pm

^^^^I agree that, in general, women get the best songs, and I think it's because in Western cultures women are allowed a wider range of stronger emotions than men. Since our convention holds that music expresses emotion, it's only natural that women get the most expressive songs.

The same is NOT true, for example, in kabuki, noh or Chinese opera.

Updated On: 7/23/13 at 08:53 PM

#43

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/22/13 at 11:08pm

*Hold Me in Your Heart (Kinky Boots)
*The Trunchbull songs (Matilda)
*Reviewing the Situation (Oliver!)
*Bring Him Home (Les Mis)

#44

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/23/13 at 11:36am

"The American Dream" from "Miss Saigon" with Jonathan Pryce

#45

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/23/13 at 11:59am

Lonely Room - Oklahoma!
This Nearly Was Mine - South Pacific
Who I'd Be - Shrek

#46

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/23/13 at 5:36pm

I would say that, in addition to being one of the best male duets in theater, "Lily's Eyes" from Secret Garden would count as a showstopper. Especially in the sense that it doesn't really move the plot, but it's more about exploring the characters' feeling.

#47

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/23/13 at 6:01pm

Man - The Full Monty
Corner of the Sky - Pippin
We Beseech Thee - Godspell
Free at Last - Big River
Für Sarah - Tanz der Vampire

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

#48

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/23/13 at 9:28pm

Trouble and 76 Trombones

#49

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/24/13 at 12:16pm

From Kinky Boots - Soul of a Man.

...does Hold me in your Heart count?

#50

Male Showstoppers

Posted: 7/24/13 at 12:32pm

pacificnorthwest, yes it was Great Big Stuff. NLB was phenomenal in that role and I remember laughing so hard my side hurt, especially after that number.

"I wish the stage were as narrow as the wire of a tightrope dancer, so that no incompetent would dare step upon it." Goethe

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