YOUR Opening Number
YOUR Opening Number
BudFrump23
Broadway Star Joined: 5/20/03
#1YOUR Opening Number
Posted: 1/9/14 at 11:24am
My friends and I were chatting about this the other day, and thought it may be interesting. I know there have been threads about your own musical, who would be cast in your life, etc. - but I want to get specific.
If someone were to throw you up on a stage tomorrow and say "Do a show!" - what would be your Opening Number? It can be any song from any show - hell, it doesn't even have to be from a show. It can be a solo, duet, ensemble number, anything. But you only get ONE opening number (duh), so make it count! Why would you choose what you choose? What does the number mean for you. Remember, this is the audiences' first impression of you, of what your show will be like, what expresses you. Maybe you want to open with a bang, or perhaps you want to start of soft and save it all for later. Doesn't matter if you'd never sing this particular song in a show (or can't sing it.) I would love to know (after reading many of your posts over the years) what song you'd pick. And tell us why you decided on that number.
For me: my opening number would be "The Babylove Miracle Show" from The Grass Harp. It's a character number, which I love. It has a progression musically, from the jaunty opening to the sweeping middle, and finally the somber march at the end. It's comedy and drama all in one. It's fun to belt. It's a definite crowd-pleaser, even though it's a 13 minute long song. But for me it is a showstopping opening that introduces a lovable character, tells a story, and revs up the audience.
Babylove's Miracle Show
I'm as jumpy as a virgin at a prison rodeo!
Updated On: 1/9/14 at 11:24 AM
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#3YOUR Opening Number
Posted: 1/9/14 at 11:39am"Bring On The Men" - Jekyll & Hyde
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#4YOUR Opening Number
Posted: 1/9/14 at 12:02pm
"Comedy Tonight" from FORUM. The best reminder to start every day with a laugh, and keep a smile on your face as you go.
Because there's tragedy tomorrow, but comedy tonight!
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
#6YOUR Opening Number
Posted: 1/9/14 at 12:57pm
When I was down and blue, I always put on "We Dance" from One On This Island. I find it to be one of those songs that will always cheer me up. I love the song.
But a song that represents me the best? Oh wow. that is a tough one. I always thought If ever I would do a "cabaret" or "review" I would perform "Storybook" from The Scarlet Pimpernel -- due to the lovely line "Listen to me I have beautiful dreams I can spin you...."
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
#7YOUR Opening Number
Posted: 1/9/14 at 1:04pm"Don't rain on my Parade" from Rachel Berry's Funny Girl musical.
ethan231h
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/5/11
#10YOUR Opening Number
Posted: 1/9/14 at 2:59pm
""Don't rain on my Parade" from Rachel Berry's Funny Girl musical"
Since when does FUNNY GIRL belong to (the fictional) Rachel Berry? If anything, it would me Jule Styne and Bob Merrill's FUNNY GIRL. However, FUNNY GIRL is so well-known, it does not need a heading, especially that crediting an annoying fictional character played by a Barbra Streisand wannabe. If that character had actually written something or contributed something to FUNNY GIRL, it would be a different story. But alas, Rachel Berry is merely playing the main role on a washed up television show as part of a plot for Lea Michell to star in a revival of FUNN GIRL. So let's just say: "Don't Rain On My Parade" from FUNNY GIRL.
"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium." - Patti LuPone, a Memoir
#11YOUR Opening Number
Posted: 1/9/14 at 4:21pm
I think that might have been a joke.
Also mine would be "Join The Circus" from Barnum.
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#13YOUR Opening Number
Posted: 1/9/14 at 5:50pm
well i was going to say ROSE'S TURN...but that's already taken...so here goes
BEING ALIVE!
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#14YOUR Opening Number
Posted: 1/9/14 at 6:35pm"Sing Happy" from FLORA, THE RED MENACE. And who is the singer doing BABYLOVE'S TRAVELING MIRACLE SHOW? Of course no one could compare to the divine Karen Morrow.
#15YOUR Opening Number
Posted: 1/9/14 at 6:53pm
Maybe "All The Lives of Me" from THE BOY FROM OZ. Although I don't live the particular "double life" that Peter is singing about, the idea that performers, especially character performers, embody many different people and find it most difficult to perform simply "as themselves" is one that I identify with very strongly.
The last time I performed an opening number to my act, it was "I'm Going Home" from ROCKY HORROR, which segued into a satirical version of "Extraordinary" from PIPPIN about my struggles, despite having four total higher-education degrees, to find even a retail job.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
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