best 11 o'clock number- Page 2
best 11 o'clock number
musicaltheatreman
Broadway Star Joined: 5/22/03
#26re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 8:09pm
LOL, I don't think I know myself!
Here's my best shot: A show's 11 O'Clock Number is the song that:
- Is near the end of the second act
- Helps rouse the audience and usher the show to its conclusion.
Usually, it is some revelatory moment for the main character or characters, and is a "showstopper" moment. Not all shows have 11 o'clock numbers. And, contrary to popular usage of the term, not all showstoppers are 11 o'clock numbers.
Anyone care to expand/correct/refute?
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
Updated On: 7/1/04 at 08:09 PM
jonartdesigns
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/04
#27re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 8:10pmi believe the definition is a number near the close of the show that is sung by the star or leading character- i believe urinetowns would be "i see a river" sung by hope
"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
musicaltheatreman
Broadway Star Joined: 5/22/03
#28re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 8:24pmi dont think i see the river is really an 11 0'clock # because personally i dont think urinetown has one.
#29re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 9:06pm
I See a River is actually Urinetown's finale number, followed by a short epilogue. An 11 o'clock number is a big powerhouse ballad just before the end of the show, usually performed by the lead (but sometimes can be a duet) to energize the audience before reaching the finale. They are most often found in the old-fashioned musical comedies, but sometimes in the dramas as well, but they are not in every musical and they are not always the most popular song.
Some examples:
Cats - Memory
Company - Being Alive
Mamma Mia - The Winner Takes it All
Cabaret - Cabaret
A Little Night Music - Send in the Clowns
The Sound of Music - Edelweiss (thought I was going to say Climb Every Mountain, didn't ya?
South Pacific - This Nearly Was Mine
Zorba - I am Free
Phantom of the Opera - Past the Point of No Return
West Side Story - I Have a Love
Chicago - Nowadays
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
jo
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#30re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 9:52pm
ONCE BEFORE I GO - poignant, defiant, sentimental, rousing, and climactic!
The song slid into the eleven o-clock number so easily during previews ( replacing TENTERFIELD SADDLER) - and drew so many standing ovations that it was decided to keep it in as Hugh/Peter's last solo number.
#31re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 10:01pmThey don't always have to be the ballad, right? I think Avenue Q's "The Money Song" serves the same purpose as an 11 o'clock number, without being a ballad.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
wendy72
Broadway Star Joined: 5/9/04
#32re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 10:13pmWell, on Regis and Kelly, J-Tags referred to "I wish I could go back to College" as Avenue Q's 2nd act 11 o'clock number. And I have also heard Stephanie refer to "Fine,Fine Line" as an 11 o'clock number.
Chrysanthemum62001
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/14/04
#33re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 10:19pmGimme Gimme...although I know there are other great ones, I can't come up with any others right now.
"What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over." The Masked Bandit in THE FALL
directorkid
Stand-by Joined: 5/4/04
#34re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 10:20pm
Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat - Guys and Dolls
Rose's Turn - Gypsy
Impossible Dream - Man of La Mancha
Bring Him Home - Les Miserables
Beauty School Droupout (when done well) - Grease
Ain't It Good - Children of Eden
Benjamin's Calypso - Joseph...
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#35re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 10:42pm
Move On-Sunday in the Park with George
Nobody Needs to Know-The Last 5 Years
All the Wasted Time-Parade
Matt_G
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
#36re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 11:07pm
Rose's Turn
Lot's Wife
Move On
"Noah, someday we'll talk again. But there's things we'll never say. That sorrow deep inside you. It inside me, too. And it never go away. You be okay. You'll learn how to lose things..."
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#37re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 11:17pmIt took almost two pages of posts for "Send in the Clowns"!?
#38re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 11:21pmAll The Wasted Time is one of the most gorgeous and moving songs ever written for modern American musical theatre in my opinion.
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
PJ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#39re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 11:35pm
"Rose's Turn." No competition. Never will be.
Honorable Mentions:
"My Man" - Funny Girl
"Lot's Wife" - Caroline, or Change
"Betrayed" - The Producers
"No Good Deed" - Wicked
"Cabaret" - Cabaret
Jamie Hat
Broadway Star Joined: 4/5/04
#40re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 11:42pmBeing that I brought up Bat Boy, I would just like to add (AGAIN; and thanks for the help friends) that Apology to a Cow is NOT in act one, and YES, IS the 11 o'clock number.
#41re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 11:43pmAnd how can we forget "Timeless to Me"
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
#42re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/1/04 at 11:43pmAgree with lots of others y'all have listed....also "Always True to You" from Kiss Me Kate!!
"High time we made a stand and shook up the views of the common man" - Tears for Fears
Updated On: 7/1/04 at 11:43 PM
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#43re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/2/04 at 3:48am
"When I'm Drunk I'm Beautiful" from Prettybelle
"I'm Going Back" from Bells Are Ringing
"Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat" from Guys and Dolls
"So Long Dearie" from Hello, Dolly
"If He Walked Into My Life" from Mame
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#44re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/2/04 at 4:12am
"50 Percent" from Ballroom
"The Brotherhood of Man" from How To Succeed
"Flesh Failures/Let The Sun Shine In" from Hair
"Sing Sing Sing" from Dancin'
"Midnight Radio" from Hedwig
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
#45re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/2/04 at 9:35am
"For Good" Wicked
"Rose's Turn" Gypsy
"A Step Too Far" Aida ????is this considered or not really???
"Written in the Stars " Aida
hmmm can't think of anymore off the top of my head....
In the words of Mr. William Morris Barfee, "In my whole life I have only been able to breathe through one nostril and today is no exception!"
judy_in_disguise
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/31/04
#46re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/2/04 at 10:01am
"Cabaret" from Cabaret
"Nice Work if You Can Get It" from Crazy for You
"A Boy Like Dat/ I Have A Love" from West Side Story
"All the Wasted Time" from Parade
#47re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/2/04 at 10:42am
Make Them Hear You - Ragtime
Being Alive - Company
Rose's Turn - Gypsy
Live, Laugh, Love - Follies
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#48re: best 11 o'clock number
Posted: 7/2/04 at 10:43am
THANK YOU, MAGRUDER!!!
'Hello, Dolly' is most certainly not the 11 o'clock number. 'So Long, Dearie' is.
'Send in the Clowns' is not the 11 o'clock number. 'Miller's Son' is.
The 11 o'clock number is usually the penultimate song used to goose the audience into the home stretch of a show. Sometimes the homestretch is short (see 'Rose's Turn'). Basically, what ya have to do is move the start time of a show to 8:30-8:45 and guess which number would come at around the 11 o'clock time.
OH...one more...'Ladies Who Lunch' is the 11 o'clock, not 'Being Alive'.
"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."
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