Favorite play endings

[Fantod]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 6:35pm

I've seen threads before about musical finales, but never one about plays.

Our Town
The Glass Menagerie

[macnyc]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 6:35pm

The Piano Lesson

[bfreak]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 6:37pm

A Raisin in the Sun's ending is simply amazing. And how it was presented in the most recent revival was simply breathtaking! The audience stood up before the curtain dropped.

Posted: 3/10/15 at 6:38pm

An Inspector Calls!

[sarahb22]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 6:40pm

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 6:44pm

The last exchange between Maggie and Brick in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF always gets me. And yes, the ending of A RAISIN IN THE SUN in the last revival was perfection, as was the entire production really.

[After Eight]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 7:17pm

The final moment in Mary, Mary. I was filled with such happiness; but when the curtain started to fall, my happiness turned to a mixture of panic, disbelief, abd despair in the realization that this magical experience was now coming to an end. How willingly I would have fallen to my knees to plead with the theatre gods to stay that curtain, if I thought my pleas would be answered. Alas, I was wise enough to know that one can't stop the clock from striking midnight.

And just this season, the loving revival of the play Gigi offered as its ending a family tableau which packaged all the good things in life into one little moment and tied it with the most perfect of bows.

When the theatre is good, it can offer magic to which nothing else can compare.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 7:43pm

"[F]allen to my knees to plead with the theatre gods" is archaic, After 8. Nowadays, we just say blow job.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 7:53pm

As for favorite play endings, I'd include the following:

M. BUTTERFLY
HEARTBREAK HOUSE
MOTHER COURAGE
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 7:58pm

The Trip to Bountiful
The Price
The Nether
Peter and the Starcatcher
War Horse

[After Eight]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 8:13pm

Uh, YOU say that --- and would think of something like that. You, and people with minds and language as foul as yours.

And one other thing. This is a public forum. If you don't know what is proper language for a public forum, then you should refrain from posting in one.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 8:41pm

Powerfully dramatic endings:
August:Osage County
M. Butterfly

[Bilbo3]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 8:44pm

Dog Sees God

[willep]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 10:34pm

Jerusalem

[acekatherineplumber2]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 10:42pm

All My Sons.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 10:47pm

WHO'S AFRIAD OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
THE LADY FROM DUBUQUE
OUR TOWN
THE SEAGULL
THE LITTLE FOXES

[NoName3]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 11:43pm

Mary, Mary?

MARY!

Seriously, two of my favorite straight play act endings are the second act endings of two three act plays:

Love! Valour! Compassion! - "Answered prayers."

The Little Foxes - Regina: "I hope you die. I hope you die soon. I'll be waitin' for you to die." [And just then Horace has a not unexpected heart attack and eventually dies after trying to crawl up the stairs for his meds while Regina just stands there and watches.]

Updated On: 3/11/15 at 11:43 PM

[ads08]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 11:50pm

I know it's not the actual ending, but the ending of Act 1 of CURIOUS INCIDENT is one of my all time favorite moments.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 11:55pm

Beauty Queen of Leenane

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 2:04am

I love the ending of Marisol by Jose Rivera. The title character has a monologue that's filled with some beautiful imagery that is characteristic of the magic realism genre.

[theatremom2]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 9:29am

From years ago 'Wonder of the World'. Two women, in a barrel, stuck by a rock on the edge of Niagra Falls, enjoying the view and wondering what to have for breakfast. Very existential.

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 9:34am

Wit, Three Tall Women, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Tempest, The Pillowman, People, Amadeus, Waiting For Godot.

Updated On: 3/11/15 at 09:34 AM

[LarryD2]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 9:47am

The Glass Menagerie
Mary Tyrone's final monologue in Long Day's Journey Into Night
The final scene of John Guare's Landscape of the Body
Septimus and Thomasina dancing in Arcadia

[PJPan]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 9:48am

The Pillowman, for sure. I love that last speech.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf - the movie version ending is my favorite, but it's such a wonderful desperate plea for Martha that just reading it chills me.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 9:55am

NIGHT, MOTHER. The penultimate line: "Jessie, child, forgive me. I thought you were mine." So stunning in its ability to poetically capture the entire Kubler-Ross scale.