Showstoppers - Witnessed Accounts of Show-Stopping Moments- Page 6

Posted: 12/23/05 at 10:54pm

Defintely during defying gravity. It's just such a huge moment. DRS, the whole show, was just completely showstopping. And You Can't Stop the Beat, was so much fun. And of course 42nd Street, it was such an amazing, fun show.

[IssaMe]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 8:00am

Friday Dec. 23 holiday matinee - "Piazza"...David Burnham in for Aaron as Fabrizio. His first act aria after first meeting Clara brought down the house --- as if Callas had returned from the grave for a comeback at the Met.

Amazing.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 8:26am

Just a few of mine:

The final performance of CHESS on Broadway. All of the show's groupies were there (I would definitely fit into this category) and went crazy nearly every five minutes. Any time Judy Kuhn or David Carroll opened their mouths, it was pandemonium. After Judy and Marcia Mitzman did the most incredible "I Know Him So Well" ever, the place went nuts. It still remains one of my favorite theatrical events ever.

Cleo Laine doing "The Wages of Sin" in THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD at the Delacorte. People were literally rolling in the aisles, and had tears in their eyes from laughing so hard. Deafening cheers and bravas followed.

Lillias White singing "The Oldest Profession" in THE LIFE. Stopped the show DEAD.

Chita's "We Can Make It" in THE RINK. People who had up to that point been indifferent to the show had tears in their eyes and became enthralled.

The aforementioned "Lot's Wife" and "And I Am Telling You..." moments. No need to repeat.

From a play: The Act One ending shocker from PROOF. Every member of the audience let out an audible gasp that could be heard blocks away.

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 9:53am

The most recent one I remember seeing was DRS -- after Dirty Rotten Number the applause just seemed to go on and on....Lithgow said something that cracked Norbert up in the middle of the applause, and it just extended it that much more.

Probably the LONGEST applause I can remember though was for Chita after Follies Bergeres in Nine a few years ago. Her little improv in the middle of it was absolutely hilarious - I don't know how long that segment is supposed to last, but I swear that number went on for a good 20 minutes.

[bschneid76]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 1:07pm

I would have to say when I saw Bernadette Peters in Gypsy. I had never seen people stand that quickly at the end of Rose's Turn. I to jumped out of my chair and applauded! Never had I experienced anything like it. Since I didn't know anything about the musical Gypsy when I first saw it. It was thrilling. Another time was during La Cage Aux Folles when Gary Beach sang I am What I am and The Best of Times Is Now. Terrific.

Off in Stratford I had the pleasure of seeing Guys and Dolls and after Sit Down Your Rocking the Boat, people thunderously applauded and some stood, it was thrilling too.

[kate2]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 1:23pm

All three times i saw All Shook Up, there was never-ending applause and cheering after Sharon Wilkins sang "There's Always Me"

[elmore3003]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 2:50pm

I go back too far:
1. "Tick-tock" with Donna McKechnie in the original COMPANY.
2. "Who's That Woman?" with Mary McCarty in FOLLIES.
3. Carol Channing's "Hello Dolly" in the 1979 tour of HELLO DOLLY!
4. Lonny Price's "Franklin Shepard Inc." in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG.
5. Anita Morris' "Call from the Vatican" and Lilliane Montevecchi's "Folies Bergeres" in NINE.
6. "Finishing the Hat" the night it went into the Playwrights Horizon production of the original one act SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE.
7. "Too Darn Hot" in the KISS ME, KATE revival.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 3:06pm

Some accounts some of you are listing aren't "real" show-stopping moments. I think "stopping the show" is more than just thunderous applause.

I think one of the best accounts of this is from Gwen Verdon in CAN-CAN in 1953. No, I ofcourse wasn't alive to witness it, nor do I think anyone here witnessed it.

Can-Can was Gwen's first big role in a Broadway musical, and mind you she was not a star yet. On opening night after Gwen's famous APACHE number, the audience REFUSED to let the show continue. She literally stopped the show. Gwen already went backstage to her dressing room and removed her costume, but the audience kept applauding until Verdon was sent back on stage, frantically holding her costume in front of her.

This account goes down in history, and can be read about in Broadway books on The Golden Age.

But to me that is REALLY stopping the show.
Updated On: 12/24/05 at 03:06 PM

[wickedfreak]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 3:17pm

When i saw the chciago tour in october in houston.....after "When your good to mama" The audience erupted and even the performers onstage aplauded....it was magical

Posted: 12/24/05 at 3:37pm

I have to agree with Margo, Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls doing "And I am telling you" was just incredible. I would also say that Carol Channing's "Hello Dolly" number as she enters the Harmonia Gardens was another along with Barbra Streisand's "Dont Rain on My Parade " I know that those shows were before many of you were born but I will say that there hasnt been anything like those numbers around for the past number of years. There are wonderful showstoppers now but nothing like the ones in yesteryear

Have a wonderful holiday season

[Knck33rul]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 3:59pm

I never post on this site, but I thought I'd put some of my two cents in to this :)

The most amazing showstoppers I have ever encountered:
HAIRSPRAY-Preview Performances (I attended a few... and each and every one had amazing moments)
1. The first showstopping moment was when Harvery reveales himself in the very beginning during NIcest Kids... The first time I saw the show he received, and I am not exaggerating, a 2 minute standing ovation... it was thrilling... the poor orchestar was vamping for days lol
2. After Welcome to the 60's when the Dynamites finish the tag of the song, and riff... the audience flew up to their feet and I could not even talk to my friend next to me.... it was so LOUD
3. End of YCSTB (the finale) the lights hadnt even shut off by the time the audience was leaping....
4. The entire show literally was explosive, I have never been at a single show in my life that received the audience reaction as this show did during Previews... Ive seen well over a hundred different shows in my short life of only 21 yrs (ive been going since I was 4...and surprisingly remember even my first show -which was Starlight Express-) and I have never seen such a reaction; every joke landed, every song was met with cheers like a football game, and every performer was LOVED by the audience... Perfect broadway experience, hands down.

and the only other SHOWSTOPPING MOMENTS I had experienced:
Hugh Jackman Boy From Oz, his song in the second act... when I saw it in previews it literally stopped the show for a few minutes!!! No one sat down or stopped clapping for what seemed to be years...
and
Lot's Wife _Caroline or Change a week before it closed....
and also
I saw Lea Salonga's re-entrance on the Broadway Theatre stage for Miss Saigon, January 1999, he re-opening performance... such a magical performance !!! The audience ate up every second that Lea was on stage...

[morosco]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 9:36pm

Nothing can compare to Jennifer in DREAMGIRLS.

But I also adored Michael Jeter's "We'll take a glass together".

[BwayBallerina2]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 9:37pm

Bernadette's 'Rose's Turn.' I'm a young fan, so that's the only true one I've seen. What I'd give to see Jennifer Holiday in 'Dreamgirls'...

[Stater2002]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 9:41pm

So cliche, but I saw Wicked right after it opened, and Idina'a Defying Gravity was amazing...the audience truly was blown away in every sense of the word.

[LorelaiGilmore]

Posted: 12/30/05 at 11:18pm

-Rose's Turn, you've heard the story before many times
-Chicago tou, When You're good to mama. It was just like wickedfreak said, i can't remember who was playig mama, but she had an AMAZING voice, and when she sang "when you're good to mama"at the end of the song, the audience went crazy and she just waited while everyone applauded, then finished the song and got an even bigger applause
-like xxnewgirlxx said, during dirty rotten number when norbert sings "i think we still deserve a hand" the audience gave him a huge applause, it was great

i probably have more that i can't think of too

[almostxfamous]

Posted: 12/30/05 at 11:31pm

Kevin Kern/Tyler Maynard/Danny Calvert - Epiphany.

Not your standard showstopper, but good lord were these performances amazing. This boys cease to amaze me.

Norbert and John Lithgow - Dirty Rotten Number

Another that you wouldn't consider a big showstopper, but this was one of my first times being able to see an entire original cast, and I was in such awe of Norbert and John throughout the whole show. And this song just solidified how amazing these two performers were.

I would KILL to see Jennifer in 'Dreamgirls'.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 12/30/05 at 11:59pm

I know most people on the board are not old enough but has anyone heard any stories about the audience during Adelaide's Lament from any of the runs of Guys and Dolls? Fred Ebb said that he gasped when he heard some of the lyrics for the first time, he mentioned the line "You can spray her wherever you figure the streptococci lurks." I wished I had been there.

[MTQ]

Posted: 12/31/05 at 12:33am

""Tick-tock" with Donna McKechnie in the original COMPANY. "

I saw the original Company on opening night and Donna McKechnie received (and deserved!) the longest ovation I've ever heard. As a matter of fact, later in the act, when she came back on stage for her last scene, we began applauding again as soon as she made her entrance. I've never seen anything else that comes close to this.

Pearl Bailey's closing performance in Hello Dolly.

And as many have mentioned, Hugh Jackman's Once Before I Go.

[jv92]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 10:38am

"Dirty Rotten Number"
Holy crap, the number starts with applause. Norbert starts singing, more applause. In the last few moments, the louder part, more applause and then at the end, a standing ovation. I was beginning to think people thought it was over because people were putting on their coats, but then I realized it was the obnoxious crowd that likes to leave before curtain call, but wow. I mean, they couldn't go on for like 3 minutes.

[dancinfan]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 6:28pm

I have seen Be Our Guest in Beauty and the Beast receive wild applause occasionally (especially when the Belle and Lumiere are good at milking it). And I've even heard of it getting partial standing ovations during school matinees.

At the Actors' Fund performance of Smokey Joe's Cafe, the very friendly crowd went crazy a number of times, forcing the actors to hold at the ends of numbers for extra-long periods of time.

I wish I'd been around to see Dreamgirls...