The "nine o'clock number"
The "nine o'clock number"
#1The "nine o'clock number"
Posted: 11/29/14 at 10:32pm
There was a thread (which seems to have disappeared) facetiously titled "Favorite moment two thirds of the way through Act One." While most remarks were somewhat sarcastic, I started thinking today about the existence of the "nine o'clock number," so to speak.
I saw the tour of "Newsies" just this week, and though I enjoyed Act 1 immensely, it suffered a kind of fatigue. Every moment from the halfway point of Act 1 on felt like the finale. "The World Will Know" seemed like a huge act ender. "Seize the Day" seemed just as obvious of an ending, complete with a frozen iconic pose. Then, finally, the actual end came with "Santa Fe." This is a musical with too many nine o'clock numbers.
To me, if you try to sustain a perpetual feeling of climax, what you get is anticlimax. I've been thinking seriously now about musicals that have "nine o'clock numbers," which serve the same function to Act 1 as the eleven o'clock number does in Act 2- raise the energy, bringing us towards the act finale without BEING the Act 1 finale.
"Seize the Day" felt like a climax in a way that "Be Our Guest" did not- perhaps it was that "Be Our Guest" was so clearly a production number and not a plot mover, or that its orchestrations and final pose do not indicate "this is the final image before the curtain" the way the number in "Newsies" did. Sondheim likes to do nine o'clock numbers that are big but end relatively small, or at least not climactically. Look at "Getting Married Today," which clearly indicates a scene (and a song) to come, or "Epiphany," which ends with a sudden letting out of steam.
What are the best and most effective nine o'clock numbers? On the other hand, are there others that don't work, or work too well to be efficient?
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
BwayFan23768
Chorus Member Joined: 10/6/14
FutureDirector
Stand-by Joined: 11/8/13
#6The
Posted: 12/2/14 at 3:43am
Another Day- Rent
If I Loved You- Carousel
Some Enchanted Evening- South Pacific (More of an 8:30 number)
Dead Girl Walking- Heathers
96,000- In the Heights
Nobody's Side- Chess
Broadway Baby- Follies
Hair- Hair
Ain't No Man Manhattan- If/Then
Sex is in the Heel- Kinky Boots
Ireland- Legally Blonde
Passigata- Light in the Piazza
Franklin Shepard Inc. - Merrily We Roll Along
No Time At All- Pippin
Wheels of a Dream- Ragtime
Say Goodbye to the Freakshow- Side Show
Let It Sing- Violet
That's just from a quick glance through my ipod, most shows have a big Act 1 midpoint number that feels climactic.
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#7The
Posted: 12/2/14 at 4:51am
Tevye's Dream - FIDDLER
If I Were a Bell - GUYS AND DOLLS
Barbara Song - THREEPENNY OPERA
Romantic Atmosphere - SHE LOVES ME (Will He Like Me? perfectly transitions into the Cafe scene, but the rousing and hilarious Romantic Atmosphere sets the stage there for what's to come yet before the heartbreaking first act curtain, which includes three more songs, each of which are in "lower key")
Getting Married Today - COMPANY
Someone in a Tree - PACIFIC OVERTURES
I'm Still Here - FOLLIES (when there's an intermission)
Blow High Blow Low - CAROUSEL (Future Director, wouldn't If I Loved You be better tagged as the 8.20 number?)
#8The
Posted: 12/2/14 at 8:32am
Slightly OT, but I always find it very interesting when a relatively dark horse character in a show gets their own number and it turns out to be a showstopper of sorts...
Like Nicely with "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat" or Domina with "That Dirty Old Man." Possible "I'm Still Here" as well, since Carlotta Campion has about 12 lines of dialogue.
http://puccinischronicles.wordpress.com
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#14The
Posted: 10/3/15 at 7:19pm
I just discovered a new one: "You've Got Possibilities" from It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman.
Also, "No Time at All" from Pippin and "Days and Days" from Fun Home (the only solo for Helen's character and yet a big favorite among the show's fans).
http://puccinischronicles.wordpress.com
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#15The
Posted: 10/3/15 at 8:02pm
"Doatsy Mae" from WHOREHOUSE is an example of the minor figure with a focus-stealing song. In this case, the character has no role in the story, no opinion on the stakes, no real impetus to sing the number when she does. Yet it's a lovely, wistful, perfectly timed counterpoint to all of the young women confidently earning the ropes about how to employ their feminine wiles, literally. I would think it would be cut these days, somewhere out of town or in a workshop. Yet it adds mysteriously, as "Miller's Son" does much later in NIGHT MUSIC.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
#16The
Posted: 10/3/15 at 8:16pm
"Wells Fargo Wagon" from THE MUSIC MAN. Yes, it is the last song in the act, but the true climax of Act I is the scene which follows (when Marian, of all people, tears a page out of an encyclopedia to protect Harold).
For me, Tulsa and Louise's "All I Need Is the Girl" (I include Louise because although she doesn't sing, she is the emotional heart of the number) may be the most moving "9 o'clock number" of all time.
"I Never Wanted to Love You" when FALSETTOS is done as a two-hander.
The title song of APPLAUSE serves a similar function, even though there's a full scene with three songs to come before intermission.
***
As for supporting characters popping up to sing 11 o'clock numbers, there's Herman in SWEET CHARITY ("I Love to Cry at Weddings" ) and, more importantly, Routledge in 1776 ("Molasses to Rum to Slaves" ).
Updated On: 10/3/15 at 08:16 PM#17The
Posted: 10/3/15 at 9:14pm
The first musical I was commissioned to write had a slightly unnecessary production number that seemed to build to a first act finale but didn't, led by two characters who appeared nowhere else in the show. (Luckily I learned better, and revisions before licensing gave a pruned version of that song to two existing characters and the ensemble instead.)
the_denehayhay
Swing Joined: 10/3/15
asmith0307
Broadway Star Joined: 8/5/14
#19The
Posted: 10/3/15 at 10:29pm
I personally thought "Yorktown (The World Turns Upside Down)" from Hamilton was a bit of a 9 o'clock number for me. I hadn't looked too hard at the song list prior to the show so I was surprised when "What Comes Next", "Dear Theodosia", Laurens' Death, and "Non-Stop" all happened after that song as it seemed like a solid act-ending song. I understand why it's not in terms of plot though, but it definitely was a moment of "wait, this act is still going?"
It's funny someone mentioned "96,000" because its positioned in practically the same place in Act I as "Yorktown"
Updated On: 10/3/15 at 10:29 PM
ChiTheaterFan
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/15
#21The
Posted: 10/3/15 at 11:55pm
The Montage from A Chorus Line.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
#23The
Posted: 10/4/15 at 3:12pm
the_denehayhay said: "Well, I'm gonna have to go with The Winner Takes it All from Mamma Mia! This is one of my favorite musicals, and this song is the most powerful in the whole play. Well, according to me anyway.
Also, isn't it called an 11 o'clock number?
"
Yes, "11 o'clock number" is the traditional expression and would apply to "The Winner Takes It All".
But the poster who started the thread posited the concept of a "9 o'clock number", i.e., a number performing a similar function in the first act. It's just a term invented for this thread and this discussion, not something you should go around saying in real life.
As for "The Winner Takes It All" in MAMMA MIA!, I wish you'd explain it to me. I tried to coach a friend who was auditioning with the song and, damn, if we could figure out what the character is saying at that moment in the show. Along came the film and, despite Streep's conviction, it still made no sense to me. Okay, so the hotel needs some repairs. She's spent her adult life on an exotic Greek isle with her doting daughter. Men are just lining up to take responsibility for siring her kid. In what sense is she a loser? In what sense is the man (or even the father of said daughter) a winner? Even if the song refers to the fact that the specific man she is addressing was the love of her life, the later lyrics don't continue that theme. Not that anything in that show makes sense except the curtain call, but you find "Winner" meaningful, so maybe you can explain it to me.
Updated On: 10/4/15 at 03:12 PM
VintageSnarker
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/30/15
#24The
Posted: 10/4/15 at 5:01pm
"As for "The Winner Takes It All" in MAMMA MIA!, I wish you'd explain it to me. I tried to coach a friend who was auditioning with the song and, damn, if we could figure out what the character is saying at that moment in the show."
This wasn't addressed to me but I think it's just a jukebox musical flaw. I don't know why they didn't just make a couple of changes in the lyrics. Some of it makes sense because it's a song about leaving the past in the past and there being nothing more to say. But yes, I'm not sure how she lost and he won. And it implies that they lived/had a life together which is not true. I forget if Sam was in a relationship or divorced but that stanza is also wonky.
