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best 11 o'clock number

Jamie Hat Profile Photo
Jamie Hat
#7511 o'clock what?
Posted: 7/3/04 at 11:16pm

i.e.
FOR GOOD is NOT an 11 o'clock number.
NO GOOD DEED IS the 11 o'clock number.

So you know.

J. Profile Photo
J.
#7611 o'clock what?
Posted: 7/4/04 at 12:39am

what exactly is an "11 o'clock number?"

GretchaSketh
#7711 o'clock what?
Posted: 7/4/04 at 12:43am

I guess I really don't know what an 11 o'clock number is. Could someone explain?


What is your dream role?
My dream role would be to be myself. To be performing at the Hollywood Bowl and to have an audience there just to see me, as Stephanie. They are there because they like what I do as a singer, an artist and a person (the last being the most important). I enjoy escaping and portraying other characters, but to be accepted and wanted as yourself... that's amazing! --Stephanie J. Block Just one of the many reasons I admire and respect Stephanie!!

Jamie Hat Profile Photo
Jamie Hat
#7811 o'clock what?
Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:30am

look it up.

BroadwayGirl107 Profile Photo
BroadwayGirl107
#7911 o'clock what?
Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:31am

What Jamie means is...a few people have attempted to explain an 11 o'clock number earlier on this thread...so just look through the whole thing to get an idea.

J. Profile Photo
J.
#8011 o'clock what?
Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:32am

yeah i think i know. thanks broadwaygirl

Jamie Hat Profile Photo
Jamie Hat
#81Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:37am

Or if you're too lazy to scroll (Stole this from some on-line thing):

"As a show approaches its end; the heroine is in despair, and must summon all his/her courage to sing a big ballad (power ballad, almost up-tempo sometimes) of hope and inspiration. Traditionally in a musical, this is called the eleven o'clock number."

Almost always sung by one person, or a large group LED by said character.
(NO GOOD DEED, SIT DOWN YOU"RE ROCKING THE BOAT, ROSE'S TURN, BETRAYED, ETC.)

Happy posting.

BroadwayGirl107 Profile Photo
BroadwayGirl107
#82Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:39am

If that's the case, I add "No Good Deed" to my list.

starlyricist Profile Photo
starlyricist
#83Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:49am

No Good Deed from 'Wicked'
All the Wasted Time from 'Parade'...incredible.
Lot's Wife from 'Caroline, or Change' (urgh, forget what you saw on the Tony's...just ERASE it from your mind)

lately, my favorite would have to be
Absolution from 'bare: a pop opera'. when Peter says "And I forgive you, father" at the end...how can you NOT want to cry?


There are some people in the world who say that writing stories, or composing music or dancing sparkly dances is easy for them. Nothing interferes with their ability to create. While I celebrate their creative freedom, a little part of me just wants to punch those motherf*ckers in the teeth...[tos]

J. Profile Photo
J.
#84Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:52am

So would the transformation from Jekyll & Hyde be a godd example? It's around the climax of the show?

BlueWizard Profile Photo
BlueWizard
#85Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:58am

starlyricist, speaking of BARE....keep the BARE thread alive!

(It's turned into a small obsession of mine....it's a slow summer.)


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."

BroadwayGirl107 Profile Photo
BroadwayGirl107
#86Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:58am

Do you mean "Confrontation?"

starlyricist Profile Photo
starlyricist
#87Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 1:59am

will do bluewizard! tickets go on sale the 5th!


There are some people in the world who say that writing stories, or composing music or dancing sparkly dances is easy for them. Nothing interferes with their ability to create. While I celebrate their creative freedom, a little part of me just wants to punch those motherf*ckers in the teeth...[tos]

J. Profile Photo
J.
#88Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 2:57am

oh yeah that is what i meant. lol i guess it was that Beauty/beast thread earlier.

sean martin
#89Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 3:45am

Guys, guys, guys.....

An 11 o'clock number is a song that comes in late in the tryout process to *save* the show, like "Comedy Tonight". I dont know where this concept of "big rousing finale" came from, but it's not right, sorry.


"That duck was a sexual toy, and it was on display!" -- an unknown Nashville town leader

jo
#90Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 3:58am

Based on that definition, then ONCE BEFORE I GO makes this grade, too.

It was brought in later in the previews to replace the penultimate number ( Tenterfield Saddler, which was the musical number before the finale in the Australian production of The Boy From Oz). It worked out very well and an almost routine standing ovation now greets this song after it is sung by Hugh.

MargoChanning
#91Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 5:32am

Um, Sean Martin -- SORRY, but, in the future, please check yourself before trying to correct things that didn't need correcting (and that you apparrently don't understand) ........


An "11:00 number" refers to the BIG climactic number at or towards the end of a show, usually performed by the star of the show as the final punctuation point of the evening. When the term was coined, curtain times were generally 8:30, rather than 8:00 as they are today, so, for instance when Ethel Merman walked out to deliver her showstopper "Rose's Turn" in "Gypsy" in 1959, anyone who had thought to check their watch upon her entrance would have noticed that it was roughly 11:00, so they would know that this would be the big number to close the show with a bang and send every one out in the street with a smile on their face. It's still called an "11:00 number" even though, these days, such numbers are probably being performed at around 10:15 or 10:30.

Sorry........


"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 7/4/04 at 05:32 AM

Jamie Hat Profile Photo
Jamie Hat
#92Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 10:40am

Thank you.

My Fair Lady Profile Photo
My Fair Lady
#93Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 11:00am

No Good Deed
Gimme Gimme

sean martin
#94Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 11:09am

I stand corrected, my apologies. But if that's so, then what *is* the phrase associated with the last-minute number that comes in and saves the show? I always considered that the "11 o'clock" because, as I understood the mythos behind it, that's the time the composer and lyricist started working on it to present it to the producer and director the next morning. So what's the label for something like "Comedy Tonight"?

Great things about boards like these is that you can always learn something in the process. :)


"That duck was a sexual toy, and it was on display!" -- an unknown Nashville town leader

Jamie Hat Profile Photo
Jamie Hat
#95Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 12:36pm

A good sport! What a pleasant surprise.
As to your question...I have no idea.
I am not aware of such a name.
Margo?

BWayBoy88
#96Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 12:43pm

Isnt Comedy Tonight considered an opening number.

sean martin
#97Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 12:47pm

Well, yes, it is. But that's not the question. There's a name for songs that come in at the last minute, like "Comedy" that snatch the show from those proverbial jaws of defeat.

I hope someone knows, because now it's gonna drive me crazy. :)


"That duck was a sexual toy, and it was on display!" -- an unknown Nashville town leader

MargoChanning
#98Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 3:25pm

Is there a special term for that? If so, I don't know it. While there are dozens of examples of shows being fixed on the road at the last minute, it's very rare that all it took to turnaround a failing show was the addition of just one song -- most shows in trouble need much more help than that. Typically it's about adding several songs, reordering and rechoreographing numbers, firing the leading lady, bringing in a new director or other such drastic measures.

Usually when a show doctor (Robbins, Neil Simon, Fosse, Bennett) would come in, he would make a list of suggestions to fix the show. When Robbins came in to fix "Forum" his only (or at least MAIN) observation was that they had forgotten to tell the audience from the beginning that it was a comedy, so Sondheim went back to his piano and the rest is history. "Forum" is a unique case -- with addition of just one song, the ripple effect through the show was amazing, so suddenly all the laughs were landing, everything else worked and nothing else needed fixing -- that almost never happens.

"A Comedy Tonight" may be the only number which was able to, by itself, turn a flop into a hit-- since I think it may be the only time it's ever happened, there was never a reason to coin a special term for it.


"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 7/4/04 at 03:25 PM

magruder Profile Photo
magruder
#99Stolen DEFINITION
Posted: 7/4/04 at 3:29pm

Plus, Robbins staged "Comedy Tonight" brilliantly, at least based on the recreation in "Jerome Robbins' Broadway".

Aren't there stories about how the replacement of "Penny in My Pocket" with "Before the Parade Passes By" saved the floundering "Hello, Dolly!" out of town?


"Gif me the cobra jool!"


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