punctuation in show titles
punctuation in show titles
slimandslam
Broadway Star Joined: 9/26/05
#1punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:12pm
I was looking at musicals of the sixties, and one thing I noticed is that the titles were full of exclamation points. Just in that decade, you had:
Hello, Dolly!
Hallelujah, Baby!
Oliver!
George M!
Carnival!
Wait a Minim!
Plus at least two that, not satisfied with one, went to two exclamation points:
I Do! I Do!
Oh! Calcutta!
...and that's just drawn from the most famous and/or most successful ones. I'm sure there are many more. It's like Broadway spent the entire decade shouting at its audience.
I suspect the first example of this was Oklahoma!, but this is based on no research whatsoever.
Anyhow, what other shows can you name with unusual punctuation in their titles? Question marks, slashes, hyphens, quotation marks, parentheses, brackets (though I suspect that [title of show] may be the sole example there), ampersands (rather than using the word "and"), semicolons, ellipses, dollar signs, mathematical symbols, or anything you can think of. The more unusual the better.
Don't bother with: colons (too common), commas (ditto), apostrophes (which I consider spelling, rather than punctuation).
And if this has been covered in a previous thread, my apologies. (Though I did do a search.)
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#2re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:18pm
Carnival used an exclamation point? Really? Seems odd.
But right now, I'm drawing a blank. But this will plague me.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
LadyRosecoe
Broadway Star Joined: 8/4/07
#4re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:23pm
And the World Goes 'Round
Do I Hear a Waltz?
Li'l Abner
Summer of '42
Swing!
apostrophes (which I consider spelling, rather than punctuation).
It's still punctuation.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
Tag
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/19/05
#5re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:24pm
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Mamma Mia!
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#6re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:29pm
And the World Goes 'Round
Can anyone explain the punctuation there? It's always bothered me. And the World Goes Around?
theatreguy
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/31/03
#7re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:41pm
What exactly do you mean, morosco?
The apostrophe takes the place of the A.
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#8re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:45pmIs And the World Goes Around grammatically correct?
#9re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:47pmFiorello! is another one.
And hang on, when did you win the discus?
#10re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:51pm
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE was the first one that came to mind, love the comma in the title.
There's also I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#11re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:54pmdo the brackets in [title of show] count?
commasplice
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/29/04
#12re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:56pm
tick, tick...BOOM!
It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman!
Uptown...It's Hot!
If you ever leave me...I'm going with you!
(I am apparently all about the ellipses and exclamation points today.)
Updated On: 3/9/08 at 07:56 PM
LadyRosecoe
Broadway Star Joined: 8/4/07
LadyRosecoe
Broadway Star Joined: 8/4/07
#14re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 7:57pm
Zanna, DON'T!
Suddenly, Last Summer
Updated On: 3/9/08 at 07:57 PM
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#15re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 8:02pm
Oklahoma!
Grease!
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
teh_pretty
Featured Actor Joined: 4/2/05
#17re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 8:27pm
Oh, Brother!
Oh, Boy
Oh, Captain!
Oh, Look!
Oh, Please
Oh Coward!
Oh, My Dear!
Oh, Kay!
(Oh, KayohKayOoooHKay...)
See the monkey Sail Away on his speedboat...
<---- You can see the crazy in her eyes. ;-)
#18re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 8:44pmOne of the thing that annoys me about I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change is all of the punctuations! But I just saw the show for the first time last Sunday and LOVED IT!
Genius lasts longer than beauty.
ashbash1990
Broadway Star Joined: 10/15/06
#20re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 8:55pm
Do accents count?
Les Misérables
The Big Voice:God or Merman? Bye Bye, Birdie
Stop the World, I Wanna Get Off!
Edited thanks to Ourtime992, who pointed out my mistake...
What a night! I was in more laps than a napkin!
Updated On: 3/10/08 at 08:55 PM
jordangirl
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/1/06
#21re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 8:56pmNo Child...
Experience live theater. Experience paintings. Experience books. Live, look and listen like artists! ~ imaginethis
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
#22re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:01pmActually, I don't believe Bye Bye Birdie has a comma, though grammatically it should.
#23re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:18pm
Boeing-Boeing
Is He Dead?
Naked Boys Singing!
Rock 'n' Roll
Tony n' Tina's Wedding
Cry-Baby
"I mean, sitting side by side with another man watching Patti LuPone play Rose in GYPSY on Broadway is essentially the equivalent of having hardcore sex." -Wanna Be A Foster.
"Say 'Goody.' Say 'Bubbi.'" ... "That's it. Exactly as if it were 'Goody.' Now I know you're gonna sing 'Goody' this time, but nevertheless..."
#24re: punctuation in show titles
Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:38pmcry-baby
"I told you, NO Rodgers and Hammerstein!"- Bart Simpson
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