References or nods to musicals in other musicals

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 5:42pm

Hello everyone! I thought of a fun thread and hope you guys enjoy it.

In SPAMALOT, they come out in a boat and a chandelier comes down when they sing THE SONG THAT GOES LIKE THIS. BIG nod to PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. And in RUN AWAY!, you can see Eponine (and others?) from LES MISERABLES. BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE includes a SINGING IN THE RAIN dance with umbrellas.

THE PRODUCERS is full of them: KATZ (CATS) and many other titles.

Let's see what we can all come up with

Updated On: 6/16/06 at 05:42 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 5:44pm

Drowsy Chaperone is full of 'em.

[Horton]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 5:46pm

[title of show]

[bjh2114]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 5:46pm

EponineAmneris, you missed one of the biggest ones from Spamalot! The Fiddler on the Roof dance in the middle of "You Won't Succeed on Broadway" !

[fritz33]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 5:47pm

when i was in honk, during the scene at the cat's house, we had a poster from "CATS" on the wall just for kicks.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 5:49pm

glinda's evita entrance in wicked

urinetown spoofed les mis a bit

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 6:31pm

Opps I sure did miss that one, bjh2114

[Pippin]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 6:39pm

In Batboy, the gave a nod to "the Lion King" in "children, children" one of the actors came out on 4 stilts just like the giraffe.

also in the same show, SPOILER, SPOILER, after everyone dies, they all stand and sing again, I always took that as an homage to Sweeney.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:19pm

I don't understand the "children,children" song in BatBoy.

Also, instead of naming the shows, can you explain the references?

[rufussars]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:23pm

This is actually quite a common practice, though most are simply homages not intended to inspire laughter. Here's one of my favorites from "The Producers", clevering utilizing an orchestration. After Roger sings "Ethel Merman dontcha' know!" in "Springtime", I love the trumpets' musical reference of "I had a dream", from "Gypsy", of course.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:24pm

HAIRSPRAY- At the end of Big Dollhouse, Edna goes, "For Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"------ GYPSY style

Updated On: 6/16/06 at 10:24 PM

[rufussars]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:26pm

I was just going to suggest that one! I'm sure "Hairspray", being a musical comedy parody of the 60's, has a few more.

[Candleshoe2]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:35pm

Lots of "Gypsy" references in "Ruthless: The Musical"!

[Katurian2]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:37pm

lol- Yes, go and pull out the "Roots" book on it, and I know there are more, but I'm too lazy to go and look

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:40pm

Oklahoma------->Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

[rufussars]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:43pm

DRS is in the same vein, too. In "Love is My Legs", I know the candle-holding-choir outside the doorway reminds me of something, but I can't put my finger on it. I'm tempted to say "Phantom", proving an interesting slam on that show between DRS and Spamalot in the same season.

Updated On: 6/16/06 at 10:43 PM

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:50pm

There's a couple in DRS. After Great Big Stuff, when deciding in his mind to take Freddy on as a student Lawrence says to Andre: "Look at him. So deliciously low...so horribly dirty" which is exactly what Higgins says to Pickering when he decides to take Eliza on as a student in My Fair Lady.

Also in DRS, yes she sings a song called "Oklahoma?" but Jolene's "story" also mirrors Oklahoma. She mistakenly thinks a guy wants to marry her when he really doesn't, just like Ado Annie in Oklahoma! And Jonathan Pryce has added a line where Lawrence said to Jolene..."like your people say, whoa!"

There's so many in all shows, particularly comedies. In Spamalot's introduction to You Won't Succeed on Broadway, when talking about Broadway people/Jews, David Hyde Pierce refers to them as "The luckiest people in the world"--a line from Funny Girl. And also a knight introduced "Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Show" references Man From La Mancha.

While not a parody, an exact line from Something's Coming from West Side Story is included in Avenue Q's Purpose: "Could it be? Yes it could. Something's coming; something good."

I think the sequence Roger Debris sings about in The Producer's "Keep It Gay" comes from A Chorus Line, but I'm not positive.

Ooh, and Carmen Ghia tells Roger he's coming out a star, just like it's told to Peggy in 42nd Street.

In Tick Tick Boom, Jonathan recalls and recites a line he sang from West Side Story's The Jet Song.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:56pm

"Applause" has several including "Hello, Dolly!" and "Fiddler on the Roof".

[gertiecummings]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:58pm

"Stiff Upper Lip" from Crazy for You has the scene with the barricade at the end. I thought that was cute.

Maybe it's just me, but "The More You Ruv Someone" from Avenue Q reminds me of "I Have A Love" from West Side Story.

[best we know x]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 11:04pm

In Wedding Singer, there's an homage to Sweet Charity, specifically "Big Spender". There are a couple more that I can't remember right now.

In The Last 5 Years, in "A Summer In Ohio", there are just a couple of brief references...not really an homage.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 11:59pm

In "In The Beginning", the Maury Yeston musical about the other people who were in the Garden of Eden and were left out of the Bible, as two of the survivors of Noah's flood sail on, you hear a bit of "Sail On" from Maury Yeston's "Titanic"

[Madame X]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 12:30am

One of the Spamalot songs had a line "and another hundred people just contracted the plague" which is a shot out to Company "another hundred people just got off of the train."

[Color and Light]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 12:59am

One that almost goes without saying in Tick, Tick ... BOOM! - "Sunday", a flat out parody of the song of the name from Sunday in the Park with George.

[Come Back to Me]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 2:52am

Urinetown!

[StageManager2]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 3:24am

jonartdesigns, could you describe Glinda's EVITA entrance? I've seen a photograph of Kristen wearing a white dress, standing before a microphone on a platform, and arms outstreched -- I immediately thought of the Casa Rosada balcony scene.