You guys are cracking me up. FIND OUT what an 11 o'clock number is before you post so half of these don't have to be corrections! Hilarious! For Good? Are you kidding?
I always thought of an 11 o'clock number as one of the last songs in the show and as an emotional song sung,usually, by the main character. Its usually an "I want" kind of song. In "Rose's Turn" she wants to be a star, In "Lots Wife" she wants to become someone different. I wouldnt consider a chorus number an 11 o'clock number. I dont feel like "Sit Down Your Rocking the Boat" is one because its just a happy chorus number sung at the end of the show. Further more a show can only have one 11 o'clock number and a lot of shows dont even have one.
That is just my opinion on this. Does anyone have an official definition of an 11 o'clock number?
Correct me if i'm wrong: AIDA's 11o'clock number would be "I Know The Truth" - not Easy as Life or whatever else was mentioned in this thread
Other Great Ones: "I Can't Make This Movie" from Nine "Cabaret" from Cabaret "All The Wasted Time" Parade "Back To Before" from Ragtime "I Will Never Leave You" Side Show "Lot's Wife" As much as I hated the show: "No Good Deed"
But nothing can compare to "Rose's Turn" Especially Bernadette's version...!
While a great number I think whats considered the 11 oclock number in Gypsy is "You Gotta have A Gimmick. Roses turn comes right before the end of the show.
Well A Step to Far is the Act II opener so i doubt that is the 11 o'clock number for whoever said it was. Here is my list (as far as my knowledge of what an 11 o'clock song is defined)
Cabaret: CABARET I Know the Truth : AIDA Your Eyes :RENT (not sure if RENT has an 11 o'clock song, if there is than this would be it) Rose's Turn : GYPSY No Good Deed : WICKED (as much as people dont like the show, its one of the great songs in it and its a great example of one of these songs, NOT For Good. - thats a good song but doesnt apply here)
And forgive me for forgetting, but idont have the CD infront of me. In TABOO, track 19 the one that the girl(s) sing. Its gorgeous - does this one apply?
Though scattered and divided we are still its heart...AIDA SEPTEMBER 5th, 2004...one more longing backward glance...
I AM NOW "TGIF!"
Well A Step to Far is the Act II opener so i doubt that is the 11 o'clock number for whoever said it was. Here is my list (as far as my knowledge of what an 11 o'clock song is defined)
Cabaret: CABARET I Know the Truth : AIDA Your Eyes :RENT (not sure if RENT has an 11 o'clock song, if there is than this would be it) Rose's Turn : GYPSY No Good Deed : WICKED (as much as people dont like the show, its one of the great songs in it and its a great example of one of these songs, NOT For Good. - thats a good song but doesnt apply here)
And forgive me for forgetting, but idont have the CD infront of me. In TABOO, track 19 the one that the girl(s) sing. Its gorgeous - does this one apply?
Though scattered and divided we are still its heart...AIDA SEPTEMBER 5th, 2004...one more longing backward glance...
I AM NOW "TGIF!"
I LOVE "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables," but I don't think it's Les Miz's 11 o'clock number. If Les Miz does have one, it's "Bring Him Home."
But speaking of "Empty Chairs," is a recording of Peter Lockyer's rendition available anywhere?
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I agree that "Rose's Turn," "Cabaret," and "Lot's Wife" set the gold standard for 11 o'clock numbers, but one of my favorites (and one not sung by one of the two stars) is "When it Ends," as sung by Eartha Kitt in La Chisua's "The Wild Party." Also, for all you "Taboo" fans out there, do you think it has an 11 o'clock number? P.S. Saw "Caroline, or Change" at the Public twice, and saw it again last night (Thursday the 1st) for the first time on Broadway. Let me say that everyone is at the top of their game, and Pinkins' singing of "Lot's Wife" convinced the person I was with (who had only heard her sing it on the Tony Awards show and who was ready give his ticket away)that she was a bona fide musical star.
Blast! MusicalDirector109 just took my nomination. I was just in Pittsburgh today seeing Malcolm Gets in 1776 and suddenly thought, "OMG! How did I NOT think of 'Is Anybody There?' for the 11 o'clock number thread!" Although I'm sad to say that Malcolm Gets' rendition wasn't quite William Daniels. But then again, no one can be John Adams quite like William Daniels.
I've heard "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" referred to as the "11 o'clock number that came too soon". That said, I love "The Gypsy In Me". Freakin funny stuff. Also love "Let Me Drown" from Lippa's TWP. My favorite might have to be "So Long Dearie", though. I've always thought that "Razzle Dazzle" was Chicago's 11oclock, not "Nowadays"....CJR, where you at on that one? Heh
Personally, I think 11 o'clock numbers can be best defined as "Oooh! Shiny!" You've sat through two hours of show plus intermission, and frankly, most people don't have that attention span. So what do you do? You pull out something sparkly and shake it back and forth in front of the audience to get their attention again. It comes where it comes. I think there's usually about 4-5 "ooh shiny" numbers in a show (act 1 opener, closer, act two opener, 11oclock, sometimes the finale is shiny too). The 11oclock is just the shinier of the bunch.
i agree that razzle dazzle is far more likely to be the 11 o'clock number as nowadays is really the finale
"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
"No Good Deed" from Wicked "Suddenly, Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors "Last Midnight" from Into the Woods "The Fall of Saigon" from Miss Saigon "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" from Les Miserables "Pity the Child" from Chess "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" from Guys & Dolls "Past the Point of No Return" from The Phantom of the Opera "He Lives in You" from The Lion King
I'll add them as I think of them.
"Goodness is rewarded. Hope is guaranteed. Laughter builds strong bones. Right will intercede. Things you've said I often find I need, indeed. I see the world through your eyes. What's black and white is colorized. The knowledge you most dearly prized I'm eager to employ. You said that life has infinite joys."
The idea of an 11 o'clock number goes back to the days when producers would sign stars like Al Jolson or Ethel Merman to do a show and then they'd hire people to write it around their talents. Generally, a star could demand that the last song before the finale, usually taking place around 11 o'clock, would be a solo for them, often taking place in front of the curtain. The idea was to make sure the top-billed star would have the last big moment of the evening.
Nowadays, the term is generally used to describe any big, rousing number occuring late in act II, but traditionally it's meant to be the advertised star's big moment.