Scariest Moment in a Musical — Page 4

Emcee4ever, that sounds like quite an ending! As effective as the 1998 revival model is, I'm iffy about the idea of the Emcee appearing in a concentration-camp uniform. I always saw the Emcee as a symbol of the evil that was beginning to pervade Germany--not a victim of it.

My alma mater, in 1997, did a production that bowled me over. And remember, this was a year before the revival took the world by storm...but Joe Masteroff had actually been to the school to speak to the director and cast.

The Emcee introduced the ending montage with his snippet of "Wilkommen." Then the other characters had their bits of dialogue. After the reprise of Cabaret, the cast went into a reprise of "Tomorrow Belongs To Me"...and it was then that I noticed that yellow Stars of David and pink triangles had appeared on some of them. Then the back curtain went up to reveal a huge swastika on the back of the stage. Smoke began to pour in, and recordings of flames and gunfire filled the auditorium. Slides of Holocaust scenes and victims (Anne Frank among them) were projected onto the wings, finally dissolving into the words "NEVER FORGET" and "NEVER AGAIN". The "marked" characters onstage walked robotically into the smoke. The stage went dark...and then the Emcee, grinning, his makeup looking like a death's head, strolled onstage to chirp, "Meine Dammen und Herren...where are your troubles now? Forgotten? I told you so! Here, we have no troubles...here, life is beautiful!" Then, "Auf Wiedersehen...a bientot...and I wish you all a very good night!" He snapped a "Heil Hitler" salute which turned into a theatrical bow as the final drumroll sounded.

I had nightmares about the Emcee that night.

There are two productions cropping up in my area next year...I can hardly wait to see what they'll do with them.

"West Side Story"? Anyone?

I saw it when I was young and didn't know. Oh, Tony!! I jumped so high.

Oh yes, I also jumped when the brick crashed through Herr Schultz's window in Cabaret. That was a loud crashing sound!

Betsy Joslyn singing "Green Finch and Linet Bird" in Sweeney.

(Okay, a cheap shot... but not undeserved.)

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Okay... honest answer this time.

I saw the first national of "1776" when I was a (very) young kid, and when Rutledge sang "Molases to Rum" and did his whole slave auction thing while the lighting turned blood red through the window slats... It scared the crap out of me. I never forgot it.

Many years later, I got to play Rutledge, and had a rare chance to "confront my childhood fears." It was awesome. And yes, they had the blood red lighting come through the slats in the windows during my auction monologue. So very evil... and way cool.

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I jumped when Shuler Hensley yelled and shot the gun in the scene in "Oklahoma!" where he sings "Lonely Room."

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Barbra Streisand in EVERYTHING

I had a completely different train of thought when I saw this subject. Truthfully, the scariest moment in a musical that I think I've ever seen was watching Michael Berresse hanging by his heels from the top of that back stage set in "Kiss Me Kate". I have a little bit of fear of heights and this just totally freaked me out. When I went back to see the show, I had to close my eyes.

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When "Sweeney Todd" first opened at the Uris (now Gershwin), there was a creepy guy that came out and played the organ while the audience was still being seated and every once in a while there was some business with these grave diggers and such and while all that was going on before the lights even went down it was CREEPY - You KNEW something "Not very Nice" was about to happen there.

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Idina Menzel screaming the score of Wicked it still gets me everytime! j/k


Why is the chandeler scray....like in the beginning because it surely isn't scary when it falls

Fantastical characters like the Phantom, Hyde, etc. don't scare me as much as real people or real hatred. Having said that, I think the court room scene from Parade when the entire cast apart from Leo, Lucille, Craig, and the Judge are screaming to kill or hang the Jew. Tom Watson's character in general is just scary.

One of the scariest things I've ever seen on stage was Eartha Kitt performing at Broadway Bares. It was like watching thr Crypt Keeper do burlesque.

I remember when I was little, going to see a production of the Wizard of Oz. The flying monkeys jumped off the stage and ran around in the audience. Scary stuff.

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"Lonely Room" can be REALLY scary, as can the end of Cabaret.

In the production of the latter that I'm in right now, at the end of the Emcee's goodbye monologue, searchlights flash over the stage a la concentration camp and we of the ensemble form a straight line. Then, during the drumroll, one searchlight goes over each of our faces one by one, as we each fall in order, gunned down by a firing squad.

It's creepy.

I love Cabaret.

Also, when I was really little , I cried in horror the entire way through Cats.

After seeing the show years later, I'm not sure if it was from agony or fear.

the second time, def. agony.