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Opening song for large show choir?

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#1

Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 12:56pm

I work with a show choir of 46 kids and we're looking for a great "in your face" opener for next year's show. Old or new, more dance than staging, really impressive. Just an idea of what other groups have done: Being Alive, Be Our Guest, Slap that Bass, Welcome to the Night, Defying Gravity...

Any ideas? We're toying with Buenos Aires right now.
#2

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 2:19pm

I love the choral version of Merribly We Roll Along/Hills of Tomorrow at was performed at the Wall-to-Wall Sondheim event. I think it's not only beautiful but has a wonderful message too. PM me for details if you need them.
Happy...Everything! Kaye Thompson
#5

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 2:53pm

Ragtime from RAGTIME
Circle of Life from LION KING
Magic to Do from PIPPIN
Aquarius/Let The Sunshine from HAIR
Vendors'Calls/Down on MacConnachy Square from Brigadoon

#7

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 3:17pm

The only reason I didn't suggest "ragtime" was becuase it had individual parts that are very distinctive.
Happy...Everything! Kaye Thompson
#8

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 3:21pm

How in the HELL is Being Alive an opening number for a show choir?

I would cringe if my show choir or any other show choir did that song as an opening number or any number at all!

In my past 3 years in show choir for opening numbers we did.. "Put On A Happy Face," We had a Broadway throughout the years theme, it was a splendid opening. Second year we did "We're Off To See The Wizard/Ease On Down The Road" (We had a Wizard of Oz, The Wiz, and Wicked theme.) And this year we had an Harold Arlen theme, with a piece written as a small show for Show Choirs, and the opening number is - no other than "Get Happy."

We also have an all girls show choir at my school this year. Their opening was "All That Jazz." Great opening. The arrangement out there may make you cringe. Odd lyrical changes. Though I had issues our choreography too. In the middle of the number the choreography made a big kick-line. That's real Fosse!

Just some ideas for you.

Updated On: 5/12/06 at 03:21 PM

#9

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 3:22pm

"Walk Him up the Stairs" from Purlie. It blew me away when I first saw/heard it. It blows the roof off!
Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder
#10

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 3:35pm

Actually, "Being Alive" was stunning. They had some of their pit on the risers with them doing some corps horn work/movement during a brass opening, then segued into the song. Really effective. Then again, there were 45 of them on stage, so anything is stunning.

Actually, I need more upbeat/dancey pieces. Think "One Night Only", "Too Darn Hot"... we were also thinking of "Big Man on Mulberry Street".
#11

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 3:40pm

My show choir usually does a mid-tempo/ballad to slow down the routine for a bit. We've had "Somewhere" - First year. "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" - Second year. And this year
"Stormy Weather/Come Rain Or Come Shine." All worked wonderfully.

But Being Alive? I would not want to hear that sung by 45 voices.

That's a solo number to me. I guess I had to see it.
#12

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 3:41pm

How about "June is Busting Out all over" if it was for a springtime/summer show...
...What happened next, was stranger still, a woman breathless and afraid, appeared out of the night, completely dressed in white. She had a secret she would tell, of one who had mistreated her. Her face and frightened gaze, my mind cannot erase...But then she ran from view. She looked so much like you...
#13

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 3:56pm

Yep, it was definitely a "had to see it" kind of a thing. Luckily, they're a very strong vocal/performance group. In the hands of a lesser group it would have been frightful. They kicked the tempo up a hair and had very strong choreography. They won many a competition this year.
#14

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 3:59pm

Well, I don't know if these songs will be suitable for your choir but, these are some of the strong ensemble songs that I like:
1. At The End Of The Day, Les Miserables
2. A Hundred Million Miracles, Flower Drum Song Revival
3. No One Mourns The Wicked, Wicked
4. Buidoi, Miss Saigon
"I love acting. It is so much more real than life." Oscar Wilde
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley
#15

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 4:02pm

1) The Happy Ending- "Guys & Dolls" (It's the ending of the show, but it has the same lyrics as the title song and is sung by the whole cast)
2) We Are Descended- "Dessa Rose"
http://www.beintheheights.com/katnicole1 (Please click and help me win!) I chose, and my world was shaken- So what?
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
"And when Idina Menzel is singing, I'm always slightly worried that her teeth are going to jump out of her mouth and chase me." - Schmerg_the_Impaler
#16

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 4:04pm

"On My Way" from Violet, I can get you the music.
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
#17

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 4:59pm

We Go Together - GREASE
Shaking At The High School Hop - GREASE

Razzle Dazzle - CHICAGO

#19

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 6:02pm

I kinda liked the idea of One Night Only. Is that an option? That could be great.
"I hope you're all happy, keeping Alan off the team. Couldn't you, for once, open your minds and hearts and hear something that he couldn't see? I, for one, am glad that Alan is blind, so he can't see what, I am so sad to say, you can't hear." -Jerri Blank
#20

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 5/12/06 at 7:54pm

Look at the opening medley from "A Grand Night for Singing"

Its a wonderful composition that goes from a "La La" rendition of the Carousel Waltz into So Far and then into a SATB split of Hundred Million Miracles, Bali Hai, People Will Say We're In Love and finally all coming together into A Grand Night for Singing.

Great on the original cast album but even better with a full ensemble of 40re: Opening song for large show choir?
#21

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 6/28/16 at 1:22pm

I am a fairly new show choir director for a middle school. I like your Wicked, Wiz, Wizard of Oz theme. Can I borrow that from you? Can you tell me where you obtained your arrangements and what songs were included?

#22

re: Opening song for large show choir?

Posted: 6/28/16 at 2:18pm

This thread is more than ten years old....highly likely that whomever you were asking that of is no longer around .

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

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