Best Button at the End of a Song.
Best Button at the End of a Song.
#1Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 3:12amFor me what makes a great musical number all comes down to the last button. Everything has to be on in order to due the song any justice. The best buttons are when he lights, sound, and actors all hit it at the same time.I hate it when you see a huge number and then it ends with a weak button, or if everyone hits it, except one. What are some of your favorite buttons. Color Purple has one at the end of Mysterious Ways at the end of the opening number when they all raise their hands on the last note, and the light got to black leaving only their silhouette. What's yours?
theminutepast
Broadway Star Joined: 2/1/06
#2re: Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:21amMy favorite is the end of The Ballad of Sweeney Todd, with him slamming the door.
I killed the boss, you don't think they're gonna fire me over a thing like that!!!!
#3re: Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:22am"And I can't wait to eat her **** again." from "My Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada" in Avenue Q.
evadiva
Broadway Star Joined: 12/9/06
#4re: Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:28am
I love the Margaret entrance in Piazza at the end of Say It Somehow when Fabrizio and Clara are in that delicious embrace on the bed.........
Fabulous!
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Updated On: 3/10/07 at 11:28 AM
#5re: Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 12:23pmI think the end of "Company" from Company has an awesome button.
...What happened next, was stranger still, a woman breathless and afraid, appeared out of the night, completely dressed in white. She had a secret she would tell, of one who had mistreated her. Her face and frightened gaze, my mind cannot erase...But then she ran from view. She looked so much like you...
Dover
Leading Actor Joined: 4/29/06
#6re: Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 12:53pm
As a stage manager, I appreciate a good button as much as anyone -- and hate a bad button even more, especially if I called it. It's a great feeling when it all comes together and the audience is that much more enthusiastic because they're left with that satisfaction at the end of the song.
When I'm watching a show I'll certainly be impressed with a good button, but I tend not to remember the details as well as the ones I've had to worry about myself. A recent favorite of mine is the blackout at the end of "Round and Round" in The Fantasticks. The first time I nailed it I was kind of in shock, I wasn't expecting it to be so dramatic. I wouldn't put it up among best buttons of all time or anything, but it was an excellent example of a great button making taking the whole number to another level.
dramaqueen2
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/23/05
#7re: Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 1:36pm
the end of my strongest suit from aida is a good button i think.
and, no one mourns the wicked is good too.. shut up about it.
hear my song; it was made for the time when you don't know where to go, listen to the song that i sing, you'll be fine..
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#8Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 1:44pmThe button to Music..Mirror for ACL (really the last 30 seconds)
thevolleyballer
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/29/04
#9Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 1:54pmSpamalot's "He Is Not Dead Yet" has some superb lighting and PGs (and I love the way that last line is sung) at the very end of the song. Love it.
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#10Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 1:57pm
The moment in Falsettos where Marvin goes crazy and hits Trina and the cast says "Whack!"
The ending of "Nothing" in A Chorus Line where Diana feels nothing.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
singingbackup
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/3/06
#11Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 2:02pm
Specifically, the button at the end of "Sunday" Act II of SITPWG at the Kennedy Center a few years ago. The whole, "White...A blank page or canvas" and on the last 'bum bum'(Sun-day) of the underscore, Raul faces upstage and puts his hand on the easeled blank canvas and touches it right at the last bass(?) note. Breathtaking.
(Sidebar: Right after that moment and before the crowd went nuts, the stunned silence was broken by an understandable and very audible sob...chills thinking about it)
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
#13Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 2:44pmURINETOWN is oozing with some great buttons.
#14Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 2:46pm
Last second of You Can't Stop the Beat
The last note of Jersey Boys
The last few seconds of Company
The end of Gimme Gimme
The end of the Jellicle Ball
And of course, Circle of Life
"Y'all have a GRAND day now"
evadiva
Broadway Star Joined: 12/9/06
#15Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 6:00pm
Doesn't Defying Gravity have one too? I remember that ending being cool.
I don't remember any buttons in ACL
#16Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 6:03pm
SATURDAY NIGHT IN THE CITAAAY! :button:
Pure exhilaration.
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
#17Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 6:06pmSaturday night in the citaaay<3 yes! *que the water* cant forget Dreamgirls...annnnd IIIII AMMM TELLLING YOUUU
#18Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 6:09pm
And...of course...the end of "Rose's Turn."
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
Fenchurch
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/16/06
#19Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 6:32pm
I find most so-called buttons in musical theater to be pretty sad, trying to compensate for a merely noisy song by making it "exciting" by adding a button. A good song should be exciting and not manipulative.
Any song that has a strong "button" is usually a song I dont like, unless its a great song that would be great even without it, in which case, the button usually annoys me.
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual."
-Keen on Kean
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual." - muscle23ftl
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual." - muscle23ftl
ElFantasma14
Broadway Star Joined: 9/26/06
#20Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:34pmDefinately the ending of a Little Priest in the revival, what with Michael and Patti mounting the table in synchronized movements, and the way the music crescendoes as their arms raise. Gave me chills.
#21Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:54pm
And also the original Sweeney, with Angela and Len raising their rolling pin and razor.
The button-ish end of 'I Hope I Get It' with all the headshots.
I killed the boss, you don't think they're gonna fire me over a thing like that!!!!
FutureAladdinOnB'Way
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/21/07
broadwaybaby086
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/06
#23Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/11/07 at 9:43amThe overture to Gypsy. It's pretty much the greatest in all areas are far as music goes.
"I'll cut you, Tracee Beazer!!!!
...Just kidding. I'd never cut anyone." -Tina Maddigan, 9/30/06, WS stage door
Avatar: JULIE "EFFING" WHITE, 2007 TONY WINNER. Thank God. I'm thinking about legally changing my name to Lizzie Curry...
Avatar: JULIE "EFFING" WHITE, 2007 TONY WINNER. Thank God. I'm thinking about legally changing my name to Lizzie Curry...
dancinfan
Broadway Star Joined: 8/9/04
#24Best Button at the End of a Song.
Posted: 3/11/07 at 3:37pmThe button of The Full Monty finale, "Let It Go," when the guys whip off their red G-strings and are backlit by the wall of lights - perfectly done, IMHO.
