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A "quiet place" on Broadway
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A "quiet place" on Broadway#1
Posted: 4/10/18 at 10:59pm

Has there ever been a "silent" play with no words spoken?

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A "quiet place" on Broadway#2
Posted: 4/11/18 at 11:32am

I truly doubt it. The only thing I can think of that even had part of the show with no words was the musical "Song And Dance".

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A "quiet place" on Broadway#3
Posted: 4/11/18 at 11:54am

For what it's worth, the dream ballet sequence in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma has no spoken or sung words - only music and staging.

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A "quiet place" on Broadway#4
Posted: 4/11/18 at 5:17pm

Didn't CONTACT win a Tony for Best musical with no words spoken? I didn't enjoy it much, so it could be I've misremembered...

Shouldn't this thread be on the Broadway board by definition?

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A "quiet place" on Broadway#5
Posted: 4/11/18 at 8:42pm
The sound design for Sunset Boulevard revival was so bad that I could barely hear anything. Does that count?
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A "quiet place" on Broadway#6
Posted: 4/12/18 at 9:26pm
Why is this Off Topic?

Contact did have a few lines here and there.
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A "quiet place" on Broadway#7
Posted: 4/13/18 at 7:55pm

The 1st act of Contract had virtually no words.( I think about 10 at the end) The 2nd act in the restaurant had quite a bit of speaking and the 3rd act ( Girl in the Yellow Dress) was a full script esp moving to the "bar" from the Apt.

There was a ballet sequence in "High Button Shoes"  using Keystone Kops that has no words that Stroman referenced in a Ballet tribute to Robbins .

I guess that a play w/out words would just be mime and I can't think of a play that is totally mimed.

 

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A "quiet place" on Broadway#8
Posted: 4/21/18 at 1:16pm

Robert Wilson's "Deafman Glance" comes to mind. I don't know if it was entirely without words but certainly significant portions are, including the hour-long scene with the black woman in Victorian garb very slowly giving her children milk before stabbing them. I think a silent play is an interesting idea, either with sign language or being about something that's impactful but doesn't require words, like Akerman's film Jeann Dielmann. I think "Small Mouth Sounds" was also done with limited verbage.



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