What show.....

[neomystyk29]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 2:51pm

What show in your opinion has the most absolutely breathtaking show stopping numbers... numbers like Defying Gravity, Music of The Night, and Fable?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 2:53pm

Gypsy. Opening night in 1959, four different numbers stopped the show.

[Sant]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:24pm

RAGTIME. The opening number, New Music, Wheels Of A Dream, What A Game, Atlantic City, Back To Before, Make Them Hear You - and one of the most fantastic Act I closing numbers ever: Till We Reach That Day.

Great score!

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:31pm

Disclaimer: I don't think a showstopper has to be upbeat and peppy.

42nd Street- We're in the Money, and the title song (ON THOSE ORGASMIC STAIRS!)

GYPSY-Rose's Turn,You gotta get a gimmick

Ragtime-Back To Before, Make them Hear you and of course the title number

1776- Is Anybody There?, Molasses to Rum, Momma Look Sharp

CATS-The Addressing of Cats

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:38pm

Little Women had Astonishing, Days of Plenty and The Fire Within Me.
Les Mis has too many to name.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:39pm

I was referring to numbers that actually stopped a show cold, where the audience will not allow it to continue, not just to good numbers. In Gypsy, opening night, the audience was already on it's feet before Merman finished "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and there was a similar response to Louise's "Let Me Entertain You" strip in Act II, "You Gotta Have A Gimmick" and "Rose's Turn." Those were ACTUAL showstoppers.

Make The Hear You, Is Anybody There?, Fire Within Me and The Addressing of Cats never actually stopped their respective shows on Boradway, to my knowledge.

Updated On: 7/10/05 at 03:39 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:41pm

I can definitely see how "Everything's Coming Up Roses" stopped the show. AMAZING number.

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:42pm

Well i don't mean showstopper as in, the audience wouldn't let the show go on, I know for a fact most of the numbers i mentioned didn't STOP the show, but for me and "my opinion" (which the origional post stated) it did!

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:43pm

How about Bernadette Peters bringing all of Radio City to their feet after her "Rose's Turn"...talk about an award show stopping number.

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:48pm

Both times i saw GYPSY (with Bernadette), Everything's Coming up Roses" was NOT a showstopper, at least not in the sense of how Margo would define it....I think the problem was, the curtain was coming down as Bern was still holding on to the final note....I think had there been dialouge or another scene afterwards, then it would have not been allowed to go on for quite some time, however, it was time for intermission, and the little old ladies with the peanut sized blatters wanted to get up and go, rather than stay and applaude Bernadette...

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:52pm

Yeah but Margo is talking about the ORIGINAL production of Gypsy. Just listening to Merman's version of the song - it's very obvious how the number could stop the show.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:55pm

Words have meanings. In order to call a number a "showstopper" it has to ACTUALLY stop a show. We could be here all day naming numbers that were "good" or that "in our opinion" SHOULD have stopped the show.

There are lots of great numbers, but there's a short list of numbers in Broadway history that can accurately be termed "showstoppers" -- "And I Am Teling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls, "The Music and the Mirror" from A Chorus Line, "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha, the title number from "Hello Dolly," Gwen Verdon's "Apache Dance" from Can-Can (where the audience literally wouldn't allow the next scene to continue until she returned to the stage to take a bow), "Lot's Wife" from Caroline, or Change, "Memory" from Cats, "Turkey Lurkey Time" from Promises, Promises, "Who's That Woman" and "I'm Still Here" from Follies, et al......

It's RARE for a show to have even ONE showstopper -- they just don't happen very often and there have been periods of several seasons in a row when no musical was able to produce even one (they might have had good even great numbers, but no actual showstoppers).

Depending on the production, Gypsy usually has at least two or three times when applause stops the show dead in its tracks (Gimmick and Rose's Turn especially). I can't think of another show that can make that claim (Follies maybe?).

Updated On: 7/10/05 at 03:55 PM

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:56pm

Right. I'm not saying it didn't i'm just talking about the same song in Bernadette's version...just for the sake of conversation

I've seen a couple of shows that i know don't have showstoppers, but i went to the closing of Side Show and Thoroughly Modern Millie, and having seen both of them on previous occasions, i know that none of the numbers STOPPED the show...but on the closings (for side show) I Will Never Leave You/ and Millie (Every song of Foster's) the audience went WILD!

Updated On: 7/10/05 at 03:56 PM

[Broadway_Bound_Star]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:58pm

Yeah Gypsy does have some show stoppers. I Evita there were a lot too. Like "Don't cry for me Argentina" and "Another sutcase and another hall" jus stopped the show, and the audiece was just AMAZED.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 3:59pm

Margo...have you seen a production of FUNNY GIRL in which "I'm the Greatest Star" or "Don't Rain on My Parade" has stopped the show?

I was not priviledged to see the original and was wondering if Babs was able to achieve the show-stopper.

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:01pm

One Day More in Les Mis. Yeah, I know I'm a Les Mis fanatic, but EVERYONE was standing. The applause and cheering was endless.

[dietcherryemma]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:02pm

And I Am Telling You for serious. What was it, maybe, 10 minute standing ovations after that song? Incredible.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:06pm

I wasn't alive to see Streisand in Funny Girl, but I certainly can imagine "I'm The Greatest Star," "Don't Rain on My Parade" and "People" stopping the show (I seem to remember reading somewhere that "People" was one of those very rare ballads that managed to stop the show -- especially after the song became a hit on the radio). Maybe "The Music That Makes Me Dance" did so too, I'm not sure.

Yeah, definitely put "Funny Girl" in the category of shows with multiple showstoppers (interesting that Jules Styne wrote both it and Gypsy).

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:14pm

There would have been a ten minute standing ovation after "and I'm Telling You" if Bennett had wanted it, but on the last note ("Meeeeeee") Effie sitting at her dressing table is quickly pulled all the way upstage and out of site (an almost cinematic fade and dissolve), a massive fringe curtain drops and simultaneously the Dreams come out and we are transported to them onstage in Vegas singing "Love Love You Baby" as the curtain descends and the lights were then immediately brought up. It was truly disorienting for the audience who was all on their feet cheering, but Bennett didn't want to milk the moment any more than that (partly because he had an exhausted Effie backstage and didn't want to put her through 10 minutes of curtain calls).

[Thenardier]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:16pm

Les Mis

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:26pm

"What show in your opinion has the most absolutely breathtaking show stopping numbers... numbers like Defying Gravity, Music of The Night, and Fable?"

HOLD IT!

The songs you mentioned are NOT in any way shape or form "showstoppers."

A showstopper is a song the audience keeps applauding because it is so good they want to hear an encore. Example: "You're Just in love" in CALL ME MADAM. Audiences cheered and applauded so they had to do the whole number over. THAT'S a showstopper. And throughout the run of that show the reaction was the same night after night. "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat" and "Hello Dolly" are two other examples. However with "Dolly" they struck up the number again but segued into dialogue so the audience could not applaud and demand a further encore.

Modern shows are not really constructed to do that. In DREAMGIRLS, "And I Am Telling You..." would have stopped the show except as she holds that last note the dressing table she is sitting at rides upstage and a curtain comes down and the dreamgirls take over the stage. The audience CAN'T applaud (though they tried by staring applause before the song ended. See the version on the Tony awards telecast to witness it.)

"Memory" in CATS should have stopped the show but it never did whenever I saw the show. It got good applause but didn't stop the show.

Nothing in WICKED or PHANTOM even approaches that kind of audience fervour. PIAZZA is more like a chamber opera. It is a beautiful score but nothing in it would stop the show and many songs don't even end but instead segue back to dialogue. That seems to happen more and more. In the so-called "golden age" shows were judged by how many showstoppers they produced. Today, producers, writers and directors seem to want to squelch any applause that would impede the flow of the show. I think it's a major loss for modern audiences.

[TGIF]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:28pm

I only saw one show that had a literal "showstopper". When I saw Aida, several songs (Dance of the Robes, Elaborate Lives, etc.) stopped the show; however, I would not put it into the list of show stopping songs. The only reason it stopped the show was because it was closing night. I considered it to be a "special occasion show stopper", because normally it didn't happen.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:32pm

I agree that Jule Styne has written some of the greatest show-stoppers in musical theatre history. I mean, GYPSY and FUNNY GIRL are musical theatre at its best.

But he's also written some duds. I hate to say it, but I really don't like anything about BELLS ARE RINGING...not even the music. I mean...he's composed so much better. I just found the show, when I saw it, to be below his standards. I know that every composer can't be expected to come out with gold every time they write a show. And I love Comden and Green as well...but I don't like the book or music to BELLS ARE RINGING whatsoever.

In my opinion, the greatest Comden/Green musical is ON THE TOWN. A very funny story if directed properly...and Bernstein's music and orchestrations are incredible.

Updated On: 7/10/05 at 04:32 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:37pm

Frontrow,

You're right that "And I Am Telling You" is technically not a showstopper since the Act ends almost immediately after it. I included it just because it's the only time in 30 years of theatregoing that I've ever seen a full standing ovation begin before a number was even over. The night I saw it with Holliday, everyone was on their feet shortly after Curtis left the stage and more than a minute of the number remained. The audience cheered and screamed and applauded through the whole last verse of the song. Obviously had Bennett wanted it to qualify as a true showstopper, he could have easily made a slight adjustment of the ending of Act I and given the audience an opportunity to fully acknowledge Holliday -- the ovation probably would have continued for 10 minutes.

So, no, technically not a showstopper, but certainly worthy of mention along with the handful of other numbers that received a standing ovation during the course of a show.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:40pm

TGIF --

Yeah, you really can't use closing night performances to judge whether certain numbers normally stop a show. I've been to a few and seen 5 or 6 standing ovations over the course of an evening, including for numbers that NEVER stopped the show earlier in the run.

Updated On: 7/10/05 at 04:40 PM