Moments of Silence in theatre- Page 2

[Boq101]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 5:09pm

When me school did it The whole ensembvle had like these really white faces and the second level of the stage was held up by these juxtaposed pieces of pipe. At the end of the show you saw all of the faces behind the pipes, and realized that the pipes made swastikas.

[logan0215]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 5:35pm

I love the completely silent interaction between Margaret and Snr. Nacarelli after "Let's Walk" in "The Light in the Piazza."

The piano underscoring that comes in after the silence is so gorgeous and matches perfectly with the butterflies Margaret is feeling after he kisses her.

[willep]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 5:52pm

The end of both acts of Equus

[SNAFU]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 6:40pm

I agree with the moment right after Another Winter in a Summer Town from Grey Gardens, right between the lines "I can't open the damned can!" and "Coming Mother darling" the silence is so intense it roars in your ears!

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 10:20pm

I have to agree with the Grey Gardens one.

Tears were streaming down my face after that.

Also, I just got back from the Florida Theatre Conference, and I saw a high school do The House of Bernarda Alba and right at the end when they reveal that the daughter had killed herself, and they showed a silhouette of her hanging there, there was a good 20 seconds of dead silence. I also had tears streaming down my face.

Updated On: 11/9/08 at 10:20 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 10:26pm

The memorable silences for me were definitely, as others have said, the end of the Mendes revival of Cabaret, as well as those two at the end of the Doyle Company: the big pause between Bobby and Joanne, and that huge, charged silence before Raúl sat down at the piano. So, so effective.

Updated On: 11/9/08 at 10:26 PM

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 10:52pm

You know, I am moved to point out that some might feel it is difficult to achieve a memorable moment of silence in a Broadway musical. After all, aren't you supposed to remember the songs???.......

However, my teachers always reminded me that silence is part of the music! It is not separate from it, but is an integral part of it.

In a musical or opera, silence can be so much more effective than in a spoken drama, because the contrast is so much greater. As the posters here have generously shared.

[TheatreFreak05]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 11:12pm

In the Sunday in the Park With George revival, right as the curtain rose for act two, there was a pause that felt 5 minutes long.

You could feel the tension as the actors stood frozen in the tableau.

[A Director]

Posted: 11/10/08 at 4:07am

Also, I just got back from the Florida Theatre Conference, and I saw a high school do The House of Bernarda Alba

The above quote has stunned me into silence. No high school has any business doing The House of Bernarda Alba. No high school student has the life experience to play any role in this great play. The teacher who selected this play is an idiot. What's next, a high school production of Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, Angels in America?

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 11/25/08 at 9:48pm

A NEW BRAIN had about like 3 minutes of silence between "The Music Still Plays On" and "Don't Give In."

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 11/25/08 at 11:02pm

I wasn't there, as I was far too young at the time, but I can only imagine that there must have been a very stunned silence on opening night of the original 42nd Street after David Merrick announced that Gower Champion had passed away. If I remember my theatre lore correctly, not even the cast knew until he announced it at the end of the curtain call.

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/25/08 at 11:08pm

I have to agree with the "Big River" moment. It was stunning.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/25/08 at 11:12pm

YES again to Big River.

And several scenes in Take Me Out.

[Patash]

Posted: 11/25/08 at 11:12pm

The moments when Morgan Freeman forgot his lines in The Country Girl -- the silence was deafening. There were a lot of those moments.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So, A Director, what shows do you think high schools should do -- there aren't that many shows about teenagers with no adult characters who have more "life experience" than the actors? High School theatre whould be about learning, and no one should go to see a HS performance expecting Broadway!
Updated On: 11/25/08 at 11:12 PM

[oohshizz146]

Posted: 11/25/08 at 11:34pm

The suicide in Spring Awakening, once everyone realizes that Jason is dead in BARE, and when the nazis found the Franks and are coming up the stairs and the whole cast is sitting there crying, but silent in the diary of anne frank (sorry, school just did it. its on the brain.)

[kathy selden]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 12:07am

I second the "Gypsy" moment in the dressing room with Mama Rose and Louise - the other great stirring silent moment is when Herbie decides he has had enough - after Rose cajoles Louise to strip. You could palpably feel his disgust, he had had enough. It was amazing and stunningly silent.
There is a part in "Fiddler on the roof" when Tevya encounters Havila and her Russian Gentile husband at the train station - he walks away from her - it is just too much, leaving Havila to cry for him after he walks away - there is a sweet violin interlude at this point to add dramatic effect, but the audience is transfixed. I love silence when the audience is so moved at the end of a production they don't know what to do, they don't want to start applauding because that signals the end of the experience, the end of the fantasy that brings one back to reality.

[PRFRMR20]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 12:17am

Kathy Selden, I think you are confusing a few parts of Fiddler...

The train station scene is when Hodel (the middle daughter who is with the Jewish teacher Perchik) leaves to go to Kiev to be with him.

The scene with Chava (Chavala) is while Tevye is out with his milk cart and she alone comes but he (after his "debating" back and forth) screams No, No Chava, No, No and the ensemble belts out the "Tradition!" theme. There is no silence here, except the two seconds until the next scene.

However, the real silence of the show is the last thin you mentioned where Tevye and his family see everyone leave Anatevka and then leave on there own. The music cuts out and the dancing circle stops and everyone fades away in silence. A powerful example of "Silence in theatre"

[feinstein9]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 12:24am

The biggest chill/silence I ever felt in a theater was in the revival of Assassins, when the film of Kennedy being shot is projected over Lee Harvey Oswald. There are a lot of heavy silences in that show, but that one really stuck with me.

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 12:43am

feinstein, not so much the silence in that Assassins' scene for me. But the entire scene blew me away and the projection on the t-shirt just gave me chills. I think my jaw actually dropped.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 6:05am

The second last scene of Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden is breathtalking and the moment of silence that follows seems endless.