all-time greatest musical showstoppers — Page 2

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#26

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/8/05 at 9:26pm

"And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" (To tell you the truth, and don't bash me please, I perfer this over Rose's Turn).
"Lot's Wife"

#27

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/8/05 at 9:30pm

welcome to the 60s-hairspray
be our guest-beauty and the beast
One day more!-Les mis

"Chicago is it's own incredible theater town right there smack down in the middle of the heartland. What a great city! I can see why Oprah likes to live there!" - Dee Hoty :-D

#28

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/8/05 at 9:35pm

Too Damn Hot,sung by Ann Miller, movie version of Kiss Me Kate

It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story... AGATHA CHRISTIE, Life magazine, May 14, 1956

#29

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/8/05 at 10:54pm

Definitely "Rose's Turn", "And I am Telling You", and Merman's "Everything's Coming Up Roses".

For ensemble, "Hello, Dolly!"

Males... I've seen "If Ever I Would Leave You", "The Impossible Dream", "Bring Him Home", and "Stars" stop shows, just to name a few.

#30

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/8/05 at 11:41pm

Here's some that haven't been mentioned:

"The Ladies Who Lunch"- Company
"Wheels Of A Dream"- Ragtime
"Molasses to Rum"- 1776 (I'm sure I didn't spell that right...)
"The Tea Party"- Dear World
"She's A Nut"- On The Twentieth Century
"I Could Have Danced All Night"- My Fair Lady
"Ol' Man River"- Showboat
"Another National Anthem"- Assassins
"With One Look"- Sunset Blvd
"No Business Like Show Business"/"Anything You Can Do"- Annie Get YOur Gun
"Climb Every Mountain"- Sound Of Music
"You'll Never Walk Alone"- Carousel

"Truth is rarely pure and never simple."- Oscar Wilde

"If I could only do one thing before I died, it would be to swim with a middle-aged couple from Connecticut."- a dolphin

#31

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/8/05 at 11:47pm

Come on people. Musical DO date back further than Les Mis, you know!

Margo's list is fantastic. A Little Priest is also great.

"Home" from The Wiz
"One" from Chorus Line
"I Am Changing" from Dreamgirls
"Tonight Sequence" from West Side Story
"Joanna" from Sweeney Todd
"I Am Changing" from Dreamgirls
"I Can Cook" from On The Town

Eeeeeeyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaannnnnddddd aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiyyyyyyaaaaaammmmmmmm teeeeeeeelllllliiiiiinnngg yyyyooooooouuuuuuuwwwaaaahh...

#32

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/9/05 at 3:17am

I'm noticing that alot of these songs come at the end of the show or at the end of the act, then they really aren't a "Show stopper" per say the last song of an act or the show are suppost to be larger then life, so the audience will come back. Let's face it, if Defying Gravity didn't have what it has, no one would come back for the second act.

#33

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/9/05 at 3:22am

i was thinkin the same thing, a showstopper has to be in the middle of the show somewhere where you might find an unusually long applause and the actors just have to wait for the crowd to settle down again.

I dont know about all time best, but ive seen it happen with...
This Is The Moment- J&H
I Know Where Ive Been- Hairspray
hmm, I know there was show stopper in Millie but I dont remember the name of the song.

#34

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/9/05 at 9:47am

Don't hurt me!

"The Wizard and I"

Mistress-was it "Gimme Gimme". Sutton IS a showstopper!
And definetly agree with "I Know Where I've Been".

"I'm the STAR!"--Daniel Reichard during Glory Daze sound check

#35

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/9/05 at 11:37am

Ok, before I get tons of wicked-haters for my first pick, please read the explanation with it...

1.)Popular- the song is in the middle of the 1st Act. When I saw it with Chenoweth towards the end of her run, it literally felt like she grabbed the pace of the show and slowed it down for 5 minutes saying, this is my shine time and you're going to sit here and enjoy it. And it made you feel so good, you didn't want the number to end. The audience roared with applause for a good while. That for me was a showstopping number.

Also, Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast got 2 minutes worth of applause when I attended- once again, by definition- a showstopper.

#36

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/9/05 at 11:55am

Everything from the Ziegfeld Follies was a showstopper, and although I doubt anyone was alive to see them, (1907-1932) we still hear great things about their spectacle...

~And let us try, before we die, to make some sense of life~

#37

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/9/05 at 11:56am

in addition to everything mentioned i submit the following with a when done right disclaimer;
i can't do it alone
we both reached for the gun
mr. cellophane

"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel

#38

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/9/05 at 1:19pm

in MY experience, both the Wizard and I and Popular stopped the show. as well as Music and the Mirror.

So long status quo/ I think I just let go/ You make me want to be/ BRAVE

#39

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/9/05 at 1:25pm

This thread has lost its original meaning. There are even movie songs mentioned, etc.......

And I am Telling you I'm not Going-------

Amazing number, but it is not a showstopper as it doesn't have the opportunity to be. As soon as Effie stops singing the number the Dreamettes come onstage and end act one.

A showstopper is a number, that when done, literally keeps the show from continuing because the audience does not stop applauding.

As is the case with A Little Priest, Everything's Coming Up Roses, many, many others--- some great show songs are placed in their shows where they are "unable" to be showstoppers because the show stops for intermission upon completion of the song.

"Blow out the candles Robert and make a wish. Want something, want SOMETHING."

Updated On: 3/9/05 at 01:25 PM

#40

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/9/05 at 1:49pm

And I'm Telling You is most definitely a show-stopper. People would be screaming in the middle of the song. She got standing ovations while the Dreams were performing. People were running down the aisles to get closer to the stage. If that's not a show-stopper, then I don't know what is.

Eeeeeeyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaannnnnddddd aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiyyyyyyaaaaaammmmmmmm teeeeeeeelllllliiiiiinnngg yyyyooooooouuuuuuuwwwaaaahh...

#41

re: all-time greatest musical showstoppers

Posted: 3/9/05 at 3:00pm

bjivie2, that is not the definition of a showstopper, sorry. The song comes at the end of the first act........it does not have an "opportunity" to stop the show. I have seen the show several times and the number is awesome.

Michael Bennett directed the number to elicit applause during the song and have it the thrilling moment that it is. It is certainly one of the most exciting excerpts in musical theater history.

However, the way the song is positioned in the show, it cannot and has not ever "stopped the show." As soon as Effie is done singing,,,,,,,,,,the Dreamettes emerge very briefly and the curtain comes down on act one. Again, a remarkable theater moment but it does not fit the "dictionary" definition of showstopper.

"Blow out the candles Robert and make a wish. Want something, want SOMETHING."

Updated On: 3/9/05 at 03:00 PM

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