Shows that announce their own running time
Shows that announce their own running time
#1Shows that announce their own running time
Posted: 1/17/23 at 6:07pm
Every once in a while I have a quirky idea/question and decide to post about it here. This time, I'm wondering about shows that announce their running time right in the dialogue or lyrics.
I can think of two: Romeo and Juliet, which invokes "the two hours' traffic of our stage" in the prologue; and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, whose own prologue announces that it will need "an hour or two" to do its business.
Can anyone think of any other examples?
#2Shows that announce their own running time
Posted: 1/17/23 at 6:11pm
[title of show] was the first to come to mind, and they did it best IMO!
On the totally opposite end, there was Ivo Van Hove's ROMAN TRAGEDIES - a 6-hour long production which, after maybe 30 minutes, invites the audience to move around the space and come onstage. And I remember the actor facilitating that shift in the performance made some comment about "we still have 5 and half hours to go!" or something to that effect.
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#3Shows that announce their own running time
Posted: 1/17/23 at 6:56pm
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
Updated On: 1/17/23 at 06:56 PM
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#4Shows that announce their own running time
Posted: 1/17/23 at 7:00pm
It's a device that Shakespeare used everynow and then, especially in ROMEO AND JULIET
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
ErmengardeStopSniveling
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/18
#5Shows that announce their own running time
Posted: 1/17/23 at 10:55pm
There must be references to the runtimes in BEETLEJUICE and URINETOWN with all the direct-address to the audience?
Marla Mindelle as Celine called TITANIQUE "90 minutes" which stood out to me because the show was more like 1:45 the two times I saw it.
TheGingerBreadMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/7/12
#6Shows that announce their own running time
Posted: 1/18/23 at 1:27pm
ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "There must be references to the runtimes in BEETLEJUICE and URINETOWN with all the direct-address to the audience?
Marla Mindelle as Celine called TITANIQUE "90 minutes" which stood out to me because the show was more like 1:45 the two times I saw it."
Yes, Urinetown features the lyric "first act lasts an hour" sung by the ensemble in the title song.
#7Shows that announce their own running time
Posted: 1/18/23 at 2:14pm
Pippin...Magic To Do
"Come and waste an hour or two
Doo-dle-ee-do."
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.
#8Shows that announce their own running time
Posted: 1/18/23 at 2:24pm
It doesn’t reference the time specifically, but at the end of A STRANGE LOOP, Thought #4 does break the fourth wall a bit to say “Well, these people aren’t going to wait forever. They want to know when they can go home and we want to know too!”
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GingerSnaps2
Chorus Member Joined: 9/11/18
#9Shows that announce their own running time
Posted: 1/18/23 at 3:56pm
The finale in SIX counts down the last six minutes of the show.
#10Shows that announce their own running time
Posted: 1/18/23 at 6:02pm
In the very first line of Lanford Wilson's "Talley Folly" Matt says
"They tell me that we have 97 minutes here tonight without intermission.
So if that means anything to anybody, if you think you'll need a drink of water or anything..."
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