No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
rmusic11322
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/07
#1No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/15/09 at 10:20pmWhy do some shows do that? For example, Next To Normal and The Toxic Avenger. Someone please tell me. And if it has to do with the story (N2N) please don't spoil it for me. I really would like to see it but with nothing to expect.
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#2re: No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/15/09 at 10:39pmSo people aren't constantly looking in the Playbill for the name of the next song and can follow the story.
#2re: No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/15/09 at 11:04pmExcept now they're just flipping through every page of the playbill multiple times trying to find a song list.
trombonist
Featured Actor Joined: 9/17/09
#3re: No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/15/09 at 11:14pm
I don't know about Toxic Avenger, but I'm fairly sure it wa a conscious decision on the part of the next to normal team because the titles could give too much away.
Personally I don't even bother looking at the song list. Unless I'm bored out of my skull and am trying to figure out how much longer I'll have to sit there.
#4re: No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/15/09 at 11:24pmI don't know if this how it was on Broadway but my Ave. Q tour program didn't have a song list. It did have a headshot page which is new for the theatre I go to.
lstbutifulgrl2
Broadway Star Joined: 10/10/07
#5re: No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/15/09 at 11:30pmRock of Ages doesn't do it either, but I think it's because they want it to be suprising when each song starts.
"I'm a butterfly, trivial and small, and in the greater scheme of things, I don't mean much at all." ~The Story of My Life
"Forget Regret, or life is yours to miss." ~Rent
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#6re: No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/15/09 at 11:32pm
"Rock of Ages doesn't do it either, but I think it's because they want it to be suprising when each song starts."
As well as Mamma Mia.
#7re: No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/15/09 at 11:33pmMamma Mia does have a list. It's alphabetical & not chronological though.
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#8re: No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/15/09 at 11:44pmOops, yeah, that is what I meant.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#9re: No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/16/09 at 12:26am
It makes sense for some shows, I could see why Sondheim didn't have a song list for Passion, or why certain LaChiusa shows wouldn't--a song list wouldn't really help an audience anyway with the way the music is constructed (though they had to give titles for the CD).
It's funny but song lists can do a lot for audience expectations--Bennett talks about how in previews Val's song in Chorus Line wasn't getting the huge laugh they expected. Then they realized why--the joke was given away in the program by calling it Tits and Ass--so they retitled it Dance 10 Looks 3. (well Dance 10 Looks 1 at first...)
#10re: No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/16/09 at 12:47am
Marvelous Wonderettes has a song list in alphabetical order as well. I always figured they did this to keep the second act a surprise.
#11re: No Musical Numbers in Some Playbills
Posted: 11/16/09 at 12:59am
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