best 11 o'clock number- Page 4

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 7/3/04 at 11:16pm

i.e.
FOR GOOD is NOT an 11 o'clock number.
NO GOOD DEED IS the 11 o'clock number.

So you know.

[J.]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 12:39am

what exactly is an "11 o'clock number?"

[GretchaSketh]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 12:43am

I guess I really don't know what an 11 o'clock number is. Could someone explain?

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:30am

look it up.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:31am

What Jamie means is...a few people have attempted to explain an 11 o'clock number earlier on this thread...so just look through the whole thing to get an idea.

[J.]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:32am

yeah i think i know. thanks broadwaygirl

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:37am

Or if you're too lazy to scroll (Stole this from some on-line thing):

"As a show approaches its end; the heroine is in despair, and must summon all his/her courage to sing a big ballad (power ballad, almost up-tempo sometimes) of hope and inspiration. Traditionally in a musical, this is called the eleven o'clock number."

Almost always sung by one person, or a large group LED by said character.
(NO GOOD DEED, SIT DOWN YOU"RE ROCKING THE BOAT, ROSE'S TURN, BETRAYED, ETC.)

Happy posting.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:39am

If that's the case, I add "No Good Deed" to my list.

[starlyricist]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:49am

No Good Deed from 'Wicked'
All the Wasted Time from 'Parade'...incredible.
Lot's Wife from 'Caroline, or Change' (urgh, forget what you saw on the Tony's...just ERASE it from your mind)

lately, my favorite would have to be
Absolution from 'bare: a pop opera'. when Peter says "And I forgive you, father" at the end...how can you NOT want to cry?

[J.]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:52am

So would the transformation from Jekyll & Hyde be a godd example? It's around the climax of the show?

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:58am

starlyricist, speaking of BARE....keep the BARE thread alive!

(It's turned into a small obsession of mine....it's a slow summer.)

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:58am

Do you mean "Confrontation?"

[starlyricist]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:59am

will do bluewizard! tickets go on sale the 5th!

[J.]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 2:57am

oh yeah that is what i meant. lol i guess it was that Beauty/beast thread earlier.

[sean martin]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 3:45am

Guys, guys, guys.....

An 11 o'clock number is a song that comes in late in the tryout process to *save* the show, like "Comedy Tonight". I dont know where this concept of "big rousing finale" came from, but it's not right, sorry.

[jo]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 3:58am

Based on that definition, then ONCE BEFORE I GO makes this grade, too.

It was brought in later in the previews to replace the penultimate number ( Tenterfield Saddler, which was the musical number before the finale in the Australian production of The Boy From Oz). It worked out very well and an almost routine standing ovation now greets this song after it is sung by Hugh.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 5:32am

Um, Sean Martin -- SORRY, but, in the future, please check yourself before trying to correct things that didn't need correcting (and that you apparrently don't understand) ........


An "11:00 number" refers to the BIG climactic number at or towards the end of a show, usually performed by the star of the show as the final punctuation point of the evening. When the term was coined, curtain times were generally 8:30, rather than 8:00 as they are today, so, for instance when Ethel Merman walked out to deliver her showstopper "Rose's Turn" in "Gypsy" in 1959, anyone who had thought to check their watch upon her entrance would have noticed that it was roughly 11:00, so they would know that this would be the big number to close the show with a bang and send every one out in the street with a smile on their face. It's still called an "11:00 number" even though, these days, such numbers are probably being performed at around 10:15 or 10:30.

Sorry........

Updated On: 7/4/04 at 05:32 AM

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 10:40am

Thank you.

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 11:00am

No Good Deed
Gimme Gimme

[sean martin]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 11:09am

I stand corrected, my apologies. But if that's so, then what *is* the phrase associated with the last-minute number that comes in and saves the show? I always considered that the "11 o'clock" because, as I understood the mythos behind it, that's the time the composer and lyricist started working on it to present it to the producer and director the next morning. So what's the label for something like "Comedy Tonight"?

Great things about boards like these is that you can always learn something in the process. :)

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 12:36pm

A good sport! What a pleasant surprise.
As to your question...I have no idea.
I am not aware of such a name.
Margo?

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 12:43pm

Isnt Comedy Tonight considered an opening number.

[sean martin]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 12:47pm

Well, yes, it is. But that's not the question. There's a name for songs that come in at the last minute, like "Comedy" that snatch the show from those proverbial jaws of defeat.

I hope someone knows, because now it's gonna drive me crazy. :)

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 3:25pm

Is there a special term for that? If so, I don't know it. While there are dozens of examples of shows being fixed on the road at the last minute, it's very rare that all it took to turnaround a failing show was the addition of just one song -- most shows in trouble need much more help than that. Typically it's about adding several songs, reordering and rechoreographing numbers, firing the leading lady, bringing in a new director or other such drastic measures.

Usually when a show doctor (Robbins, Neil Simon, Fosse, Bennett) would come in, he would make a list of suggestions to fix the show. When Robbins came in to fix "Forum" his only (or at least MAIN) observation was that they had forgotten to tell the audience from the beginning that it was a comedy, so Sondheim went back to his piano and the rest is history. "Forum" is a unique case -- with addition of just one song, the ripple effect through the show was amazing, so suddenly all the laughs were landing, everything else worked and nothing else needed fixing -- that almost never happens.

"A Comedy Tonight" may be the only number which was able to, by itself, turn a flop into a hit-- since I think it may be the only time it's ever happened, there was never a reason to coin a special term for it.

Updated On: 7/4/04 at 03:25 PM

[magruder]

Posted: 7/4/04 at 3:29pm

Plus, Robbins staged "Comedy Tonight" brilliantly, at least based on the recreation in "Jerome Robbins' Broadway".

Aren't there stories about how the replacement of "Penny in My Pocket" with "Before the Parade Passes By" saved the floundering "Hello, Dolly!" out of town?