Favorite Opening Numbers- Page 3
Favorite Opening Numbers
#50re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 1:12am
Worell said it all:
Act one opening:
We Are What we Are: La Cage
Finland, Finland, Finland: Spamalot
Give Me a Freak: Taboo
Act One Finale:
Defying Gravity: Wicked
I Am What I Am: La Cage
Along Came Bialy: The Producers
Run Away: Spamalot
Act Two Openers:
Everything Taboo: Guess...
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: Spamalot
The Big Doll House: Hairspray
I hold a degree in Musical Theatre from Montclair State University. It is useless. Now I'm funny for money. Oh, and I sing.
BertCCRI2
Chorus Member Joined: 5/16/05
#51re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 1:40am
The originator of this thread stated that the question was posed in connection with putting together a musical revue. While many good opening numbers have been cited, a good percentage would not work outside of the context of the show from which they come. As students are often advised to do while taking an exam, read the question carefully before you write the answer.
One of my favorite opening numbers that I have used in a couple of revues is "The Kid Inside" from "Is There Life After High School?" It has lots of solo lines, wonderful harmonies, a great build-up -- and it's really fun to sing as well.
jam_man
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/25/05
#52re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 1:48am
Bert - I've used "The Kid Inside" for a few auditions. Great song!
PerforMeg brought up 11:00 numbers, so here are my picks there:
"Rose's Turn" (duh)
"Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat"
"Betrayed!"
"Back to Before"
"Make Them Hear You" (they BOTH count!)
"Cabaret"
"What I Did For Love"
"Gee, Officer Krupke!"
"The Ladies Who Lunch"
"Brush Up Your Shakespeare"
"Bring Him Home"
"Who is Stephen Sondheim?" -roninjoey
"The man who wishes he had written Phantom of the Opera!" - SueleenGay
GO CARDINALS!!!
"The man who wishes he had written Phantom of the Opera!" - SueleenGay
GO CARDINALS!!!
#53re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 1:54amI'll have to vote for The Old Red Hills of Home (I always thought that was the most amazing way to open a show), along with Lippa's Wild Party, Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, and Songs for a New World.
-Anyone want to turn anarchist with me?"Bless you and all who know you, oh wise and penguined one." ~YouWantItWhen????
#54re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 2:03am
I've recently re-fallen in love with "A Step Too Far" from Aida, so that takes one of my votes for Act II openers.
I also like:
"Seasons of Love" from RENT
"Good Morning Baltimore" from Hairspray
"Little Shop of Horrors" (Especially with the three fabulous girls on tour right now...they left me breathless after the opening number)
"Science Fiction Double Feature" from Rocky Horror
"The Heat is on in Saigon"/ "Bui-Doi" from Miss Saigon
"Who says you can't bend over backwards and eat bugs if you want to? I guess the bugs would probably say you can't do that that, but assuming that they are willing and consenting bugs, then there's no problem. Let's wig out eating bugs."
-RuPaul
JudasIscariot
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/05
#55re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 3:11amThe best opening is Heaven on Their Minds from JCS, the best Act One Finale is Act One Finale from Urinetown.
#56re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 8:30am
For opening numbers, my favorites are:
"The Heat is on in Saigon" - Miss Saigon
"Good Morning Baltimore" - Hairspray
"Opening Night" - The Producers
My favorite Act 1 finales are:
"Along Came Bialy" - The Producers
"Act 1 Finale" - Urinetown
"If I can't love her " - Beauty and The Beast
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
#57re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 8:41amI adore the opening number from "42nd St."...all that tapping as the curtain rises gives me goose bumps.
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
#58re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 11:34am
Boobs, I'm with you about the "42nd Street" opening. It actually had me choked up!
Good Morning Baltimore (Hairspray)
Ragtime
The opening number(s) of Titanic.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
#60re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 11:50amMy two favorite openers are those of A Chorus Line and 42nd Street
awkward.
"I think it was the Korean tour or something. They were all frickin' asian!" -Zoran912
peach
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/29/05
#61re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 12:20pm
MAGIC TO DO from Pippin -- it's one of the best opening numbers ever. Great for opening a musical revue too.
#62re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 3:11pm
I love the beginning of Les Mis, it's haunting. um and I agree for Into the Woods, The light in the Piazza, and I LOVE the opening for A Chorus Line-it's brilliant. Hmm, I really like the Tune up for RENT..not much of a song, but I think it's fun.
And I Am What I Am from La Cage, it made me tear up the first time I heard it.
This is wanting something
This is reaching for it
This is wishing that a moment would arrive- LITP
everybody goes down well with beer!-sweeney
Todd
Listen to the stories
Hear it in the songs
Angry men don't write the rules and guns don't right the wrongs!-Assassins
kate2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/6/05
#63re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 3:23pm
i loved the opening of AIDA
and i love the ending of act one in ASU (cant help falling in love) also the opening of act two (all shook up)
#64re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 3:23pm
For opening numbers:
Will a Mania from Will Rogers Follies (thank god I'm not the only one who remembers this show!)
For Act One closures:
I'm going with "Blue Skies" from Irving Berlin's White Christmas.
"My dreams, watching me said, one to the other...this life has let us down."
#65re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 3:24pm"Magic to do" Pippin It could work for ANYTHING!
#66re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 3:26pm
Favorite openings:
"No One Mourns The Wicked"~wicked
"Every Story"~aida
"Rent"(including the first tune-ups!~rent
"Give Them What They Want"~ drs
"Good Morning Baltimore"~hairspray
"Ballad of Sweeney Todd"~sweeney todd
"Hold me Bat Boy"~ bat boy the musical
"All that Jazz"~chicago
Favorite act 1 endings:
"Defy Gravity"~wicked
"Comfort and Joy" ~bat boy the musical
"Before the Parade Passes By"~ hello dolly
Favorite act 2 openers:
"Seasons of Love"~rent
"Forget About the Boy" ~tmm
the list could go on and on if I keep typing!
you say i'm weird! look at everyone you're sitting with! and hey, those guys over there just threw napkins up in the air like they were on something! it's contajous! you can't help it!
#67re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 6:38pm
Magic to Do works really well
I just did a revue and used "Heart and Music" from A New Brain for the opening number.
Be the change you want in the world....
popular_elphie
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/3/05
#68re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 6:53pm
"Good Morning, Baltimore" would have to be my favorite opening number.
For Act I finale and Act II opener, it's All Shook Up. "Can't Help Fallin' in Love" is an AMAZING end to the first act, and "All Shook Up" is a great way to get you right back into the show after intermission.
#69re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 7:02pm
No one Mourns the Wicked
Its just sooooooooooooooo big!!! The huge notes!! So much excitement!!
bwaybaby13
Chorus Member Joined: 1/3/05
#70re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 7:03pm
Favorite Act 1 Open: Sunday in the Park with George.. it's so perfect.
Act 1 Close: 'Ever After' from Into the Woods
Act 2 Open: Seasons of Love, i just love it
Without Sondheim, when sensitive teenagers got depressed, they'd just kill themselves.
'this is wanting something, this is praying for it, this is holding back and keeping fingers crossed.'- light in the piazza
11.11.05
#71re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 8:32pm
I agree that the March of the Falsettos opening is great
"I'm neurotic, he's neurotic, we're neurotic, they're neurotic!"
I second Into the Woods
love A Chorus Line opening as well
and can't forget Fiddler on the Roof
ooh! and forum
hmm..act one closers
Wicked
Aida
"No two shows are alike in the making. Each show is a living
piece of your life in a small unreal world with its own character
and integrity; its own new set of memorable experiences and
incredible happenings. You begin to love and adapt to its strangeness.
Dreams harden into substance. Values come into focus. You wish
it would never end. The dream world vanishes like mist before a
rising sun; part of you vanishes with it. And back you land in the
real world with a thud- fogged, uneasy, jittery, difficult to get
along with. There is only one cure. A new show. A new, small
unreal world; new visions, experiences, incredible happenings.
Again you love it, adapt to it, wish it would never end.
But end it does. Another part of you vanishes.
That's show business."-Anonymous
Updated On: 8/22/05 at 08:32 PM
AlexL
Understudy Joined: 8/22/05
#72re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 8:54pm
I second--no, third--wait, fourth--fifth "Magic to do". It's a great opening number that would work especially well as the opening to a revue, and I like Steven Schwarts...
And this one is very specific, and wouldn't really work in a revue, but I love 30/90 from Tick, Tick, BOOM, and also Louder than Words from the same.
Be a BE*liever! Feel the electricity!
Updated On: 8/22/05 at 08:54 PM
JoMarch
Featured Actor Joined: 9/22/04
#73re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 8:57pmI'd vote for Tommy. I loved everything about its opening: staging, storytelling, the music. It was great fun. Funny, I don't even care for the musical either except for its opening!
AlexL
Understudy Joined: 8/22/05
#74re: Favorite Opening Numbers
Posted: 8/22/05 at 9:04pmThe Avenue Q theme? It's short, but sorta nice.
Be a BE*liever! Feel the electricity!
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