I agree Margo, 100% ..."And I am telling you..." qualifies as a true showstopper. But Bennet apparently did not want it to stop the show. If the curtain had come down on that last note, would the audience have stayed there cheering and applauding until she returned? I guess we will never know.
I saw the show March 1982 and indeed the reaction was just as you described it. Amazing. And I was really REALLY pissed off when the cast album came out and cut the number, eliminated the lead in and robbed it of its power. Thank god they showed the whole thing on the 1982 Tony awards.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com