Best Death
Best Death
#0Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:28am
Ok, I know this must sound sadistic, but I bet u can answer this: What character in musicals, has the best death (I mean the best death scene)...
I personally say Joe Gillis in SB
#1re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:39amI personally love all the death scenes in Little Shop of Horrors. Seeing people getting eaten by a giant alien plant onstage in various ways is probably one of the most entertaining and unique deaths I've witnessed in a show so far.
I wanted to get something that an "ex"-junkie like him would really appreciate and cherish....it's a brick of heroin shaped like a heart.
-Scrubs
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
#2re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:40am
Javert...
If done right, Valjean's can be quite chilling...especially having Eponine look back for a split second at Marius at "Take my love, for love is everlasting"
#3re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:50amI agree with it being Javert. His pre-suicide soliloquy is one of the best death scenes I've ever seen. If you have a really good Javert (like a Quast, Mann, McCarthy, etc...) or even just a decent one, that song and then his death can have an incredible impact.
And hang on, when did you win the discus?
Urban
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/05
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#5re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 2:23am
I would say Molina in "Kiss of the Spider Woman"...
I think the show is very well written.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
#7re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 5:08amMufasa's death scene in Lion King is unbelievable ! Also Kim dying in Chris's arms in Miss Saigon and Eponine in Marius' from Les Mis, gets me every time !
stage_door76
Broadway Star Joined: 1/18/05
#8re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 5:38am
i agree
eponine makes me blubber for sure
"...But Kungurtseva reels off multiple fouettes and the tape is stopped so she can take a bow. The Jester, an abomination introduced to Swan Lake in Soviet times, extorts applause from the audience. The cuts don't help the storytelling, the production is bare bones and they go for the '50s-style happy ending.
The audience cheers like mad at the end. It's the Russian ballet, after all..."
#9re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 6:14am
Felicia Gabriel - dies vomiting silver dollars, a candle, cherry pits etc while still spitting bile at her husband and the witches before being smacked on the head with a frying pan. Now that's a stage death to savour!
I agree with Javerts soliloquy as well, but does no-one else think that Eponines death and 'A little fall of rain' goes on just a touch too long? IMO they could cut a couple of verses and it would be more moving...
#10re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 9:25am
True.... but then would the whole message of the song go across? (come to think of it, it probably would. nvm!)
Javert's suicide is great!
Fantine's death can be overplayed alot because some actors make her into a crazy lunatic person who just kinda dies.
Edit: Though Enjolras's death is pretty cool, if he got shot, died instantly, and fell off the barricade, he would 1) never fall so perfectly as to have both his feet locked into the barricade to help him hold that position and 2) the flag wouldnt be draped around him all neatly like that
And then the whole barricade music- it's almost mocking. It sounds almost like an innocent music box playing against the harsh reality of the war. Very moving.
-Was that a fart?
-My fault, I fear.
Updated On: 9/10/05 at 09:25 AM
-My fault, I fear.
#11re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 9:51amYul Brynner's King in "The King & I"
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
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#12re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 9:58am
For me, it's all of the deaths in "Les Miserables," assuming they are well played.
Fantine's is so heartbreaking.
Eponine unable to finish her last word as she dies in Marius' arms.
The chilling site of Enjolras' body on the barricade.
Javert's dramatic...exit.
And Valjean's death hits me on a very personal level...
makenzimarciano
Chorus Member Joined: 8/12/05
#13re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 10:03am
Oh oh oh! I think Elphie's fake death is better than anyone's "real" death on stage!
Ha ha. I had to, as I was surprised it wasn't posted already.
I agree with what a few folks have said already. For me it's Les Miz. I think it tugs at the emotional heartstrings quite a bit, and is the musical that has made me tear up the most.
"Every blade of grass has an angel that bends over it and whispers, "Grow, grow."
~The Talmud
#14re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 10:05amEponine, I cry like a baby.
"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."
Conan O'Brien
#15re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 10:47am
The lynching of Leo Frank at the end of Parade
Coalhouse gunned down in Ragtime
The sight of Enjolras in Les Mis--I think the instrumental music that is playing at the point makes it even worse! The music swells right as the barricade turns and you see Enjolras with the flag draped around him---tears galore!
"You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering." --Harold Hill from The Music Man
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
#16re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 10:55am
Enjolras - I agree about that music.
Gavroche's can be sad too.
bare_nakedlady
Broadway Star Joined: 5/9/05
#17re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 10:55am
when WARNER dies in METROPOLIS it is so vile!
I love it! 
Here's an excerpt.
Freeman:
I hope I'm not disturbing you so late? What's happening here? Another experiment?
Warner:
I was just going to bed.
Jeremiah:
Got her all parcelled up have you? Where is the body?
Warner:
I have released her
Freeman:
You've what!?
Jeremiah:
Shall we kill him?
Freeman:
Now, just a moment, Jeremiah. You go too far you are too fanatical. Warner is an old and trusted friend. He is full of humanity I would like to be humane too. Put a bullet through his head!
Jeremiah shoot Warner.
Gets me every time!
"It's like children's theatre for 40-year old gay people!" - XANADU THE MUSICAL
#18re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 11:02am
Charles Guiteau in Assassins...
"And the Lord-"
and the the drop and the creaking of the rope...awesome
#19re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 11:03amValjean's is the most moving for me. Especially when Fantine and Eponine join him and they do that beautiful harmony.
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#21re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 11:56am
Scarpia in "Tosca"
It's an opera - but still the best death scene.
#22re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 12:02pmI like Judas' death scene in JCS and Javert's in Les Miz.
#23re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 12:06pm
hahhahaah bobbybubby. that's histerical.
one of my personal favorites is the way that lennon's death is done in the musical. very creative and emotional.
#24re: Best Death
Posted: 9/8/05 at 12:36pm
Lotsa Coalhouse votes, but mine would be Sarah's beating death from Ragtime as more powerful.
Best death scene is definitely Judge Turpin's in Sweeney.
"Die, Die, have all the demons in hell been sent to torment me?"
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