The five best 11 o'clock numbers in Broadway history- Page 2

[Pippin]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:01pm

"The 11 o'clock number should act as the bookend to the 'I want' number (if there is one) - the character has got to the other end of his or her arc and is no longer the person they were at the beginning of the show."


and by this definition, in the context of company, "Being Alive" is the 11:00 number, not "Ladies who Lunch", because Joanne doesn't have the I want song. Bobby does with "Someone is Waiting", therefore, "Being Alive" would be it's bookend.

[Pippin]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:03pm

AND "Rose's Turn" is the bookend to "Some People", so that would be the 11:00 number.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:05pm

It's a lovely song near the end of a musical, nothing more, nothing less.

But that's just your opinion, yes? That seems so arbitrary. It seems like a personal preference, not a choice that necessarily serves each show correctly. I would NEVER end Grey Gardens with an upbeat number, but if Another Winter in a Summer Town isn't an 11 o'clock number, I don't know what is. That song packs an emotional wallop.

[Pippin]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:09pm

yes, it is my opinion, but it's also a general concensus that it should be a rousing "get 'em out of thier seat" type number. I love "No one is alone" and "Another Winter...", but I personally would never consider them to be traditional 11:00 numbers, and I don't think the majority of people on this board would, either.

Some shows plainly don't have an 11:00 number. It is a particular invention for a particular type of show, and some shows don't have need for it, IMO.

[Pippin]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:17pm

Kiss Me, Kate is an interesting example.

I think you would call "I am ashamed that women are so simple" the 11:00 number, but I would call "Brush up your Shakespeare" the 11:00 number. Different Strokes for different folks.

[East Village]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:27pm

And in the "everything and the kitchen sink" category, give them two 11:00 numbers.

Catch Me If You Can has "Fly, Fly, Away" and "Good-Bye"

[philly03]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:33pm

My favourite is "Gold" from Wildhorn's "Camille Claudel"... one of his best songs ever!

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:36pm

I just think the number has to "wow" the audience and come late in the show. It's the number everyone remembers and talks about on their way out the door. I don't think there's any other criteria, unless you want to add your own personal agenda to it.

My favorites:

1) Rose's Turn
2) Send In the Clowns
3) You'll Never Walk Alone
4) The Ladies Who Lunch
5) Memory

... and they're all women's songs on my list. I think most (not all) 11 o'clock numbers are written for female characters.

[dreaming]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:40pm

I think I'll chime in with my personal picks:

1. Rose's Turn
2. Move On (if this counts as an 11 o'clock number-which I think it does)
3. Send in the Clowns
4. Another Winter in a Summer Town
5. What I Did for Love

Honorable mentions...This Nearly Was Mine, Lullaby of Broadway

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:42pm

I think The Miller's Son is the 11 O'clock number in A Little Night Music.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:44pm

but it's also a general concensus that it should be a rousing "get 'em out of thier seat" type number.

Please point me in the direction of said consensus.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:46pm

"I think The Miller's Son is the 11 O'clock number in A Little Night Music."


I think Night Music has TWO eleven o'clock numbers, back to back. But Clowns is the one most audiences remember. In some cases, it's the only Sondheim song anybody even knows.

[bryan2]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:48pm

Eleven O'Clock Number: A song in which the main character has some kind of revelation or undergoes a major emotional moment that brings the musical to a climax. Often, but not always, the final song. Well-known eleven o'clock numbers include "Rose's Turn" from Gypsy, "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" from My Fair Lady, and "If He Walked Into My Life" from Mame. The term is a holdover from the days when all musicals started at 8:30 PM and had to have a climactic song around 11:00, because it was desirable to have audiences leave not long after 11:00.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:58pm

Some of the more classic musicals had uptempo 11 o'clock numbers:

Shall We Dance
Sit Down You're Rockin' The Boat
Get Me To The Church On Time
Blow Gabriel, Blow
Little Tin Box
Funny (more recent)

And countless others

I don't think the actual placement is as important (it doesn't have to be the second to last song) as much as the impact.

[gcal]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:59pm

Pippin, many of the songs that you're referencing are, to me, the 11 o'clock lift. I think that the term "11 o'clock number" has moved away from the lift (Brush Up Your Shakespeare) to the female songs (If he Walked Into My Life).

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 2:05pm

I also don't think it has to be the leading character who sings it.

Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat, Ladies Who Lunch, Miller's Son ... are all good examples of that.

It just has to be the "big" number toward the end of the show. And "big" is the key word open to many interpretations. For me, it just means "impact." It doesn't have to be fast or slow or sung by a male or female or lead, etc. It doesn't have to be decisive or even a turning point.

It just has to be the "big" number that people remember (waits for the size queen jokes) ...

Updated On: 4/29/11 at 02:05 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 2:40pm

I don't consider Miller's Son an eleven o'clock number. It could be placed anywhere in the musical and work fine. It's an excellent character song, but not an eleven o'clock number.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 2:55pm

that's what I've always thought to, Besty.

Also, someone earlier mentioned Nowadays from Chicago. I have always considered Razzle Dazzle to be that show's 11 o'clocker.

Some others:

Anything You Can Do
The Music That Makes Me Dance
I Don't Know Where She Got It
The Best Of Times
The Legacy

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 3:37pm

I've always been taught that 11 o'clock numbers are the other half to the 'I want' number at the beginning of the show.

As far as my five favorites go;

"Goodbye" - Catch Me If You Can
"Rose's Turn" - Gypsy
"Finale" - In The Heights
"Light" - next to normal
"Make Them Hear You" - Ragtime
Updated On: 5/2/11 at 03:37 PM

[TheKandyLife]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 4:12pm

The Producers - Betrayed...This Is my all time favourite 11 o'clock number, and beautifully done by Nathan Lane!

9 to 5 - Get Out and Stay Out

Aida - I Know The Truth

Gypsy - Rose's Turn

It's not in the 2nd Act, but i've ALWAYS felt that La Cage Aux Folles' - I Am What I Am...Is a fabulously intense moment and one of the best Act 1 closing numbers!

[mattywhits]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 4:45pm

Just because it was mentioned before (and I would tend to disagree with the poster that "You Can't Stop the Beat" counts as a 11 O'Clock Number), in "Hairspray" the authors themselves came out when the show first opened and said in an interview they purposefully gave the 11 O'Clock Number ("I Know Where I've Been") to Motormouth Maybelle rather than Tracy because they felt Tracy's character had come so far at that point that it would be very "Tracy-like" of her to give the 11 O'Clock number to someone whose "I Want..." turned out to be of more importance than her own. Just throwing that out there because I think it's a pretty interesting way of looking at it.

[Taryn]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 4:53pm

I haven't seen it mentioned, so I will now: "Is Anybody There?" from 1776.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 4:54pm

I also don't think it has to be the leading character who sings it.

I agree. You'll Never Walk Alone and Climb Every Mountain are two great examples of this.

The definition of the 11 o-clock number has blurred and evolved as the structure of musicals has changed from the Golden Age to post-Modern musicals and beyond. Not every show even has an 11 o'clock number by any definition. Sweeney Todd, for example. You could make a case for Not While I'm Around, but it really doesn't fit either definition of an 11 o'clock number as it is not a rousing pick-me-up nor is it revelatory to a lead character's arc. It's the beautiful and poignant Act II ballad.

Personally, I've always stuck with the old-school academic definition of an 11 o'clock number, which was usually a big showy belty number of catharsis or conflict resolution either sung by a lead or as reference to a leading character, that reflects either the end of their personal journey or carries the weight of the show's message. I think you can have an 11 o'clock number and a rousing finale in the same show, such as Hairspray's I Know Where I've Been and You Can't Stop the Beat.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 5:11pm

I'd have to pick ten:

1. Rose's Turn - Gypsy
2. I Have A Love - West Side Story
3. This Nearly Was Mine - South Pacific
4. Love Never Dies - Love Never Dies
5. Cabaret - Cabaret
6. Being Alive - Company
7. You Must Love Me - EVITA
8. Betrayed - The Producers
9. The Millers Son - A Little Night Music
10. The American Dream - Miss Saigon Updated On: 4/29/11 at 05:11 PM

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 5:12pm

Probabbly not the best eleven o'clock number, but I hum it when I come out of the show

Memphis Lives In Me.
Valjean Death - Is that a eleven o'clock number?
How Did I Get Where I Am (Marguerite)

Cannot think of anything else now!!