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

"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.

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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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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).

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.

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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

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.

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.

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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!!