Best Broadway Moments

Jeffry Denman wrote about his experience as a member of the original company of The Producers (a great read, by the way). He uses the term 'fierce moment' to describe those times you recognize as being unique, unforgettable, super-charged. Having been a musical theater nut all my life, I carry with me a list of fierce moments in theater that blow me away with their intensity. Sometimes that moment is only a few seconds in duration, and is rarely longer than one song. The moments are usually musical, but can also be moments of surprise that involve movement, lighting, or revelation.These are talismans for me--when Maria Von Trapp is sad, she thinks of her favorite things; I recall my list of fierce theater moments to get me through tough times. So here I offer my personal list of Fierce Moments from musical theater.

Annie: The song NYC starts out slow and gradually builds momentum. And I think, yeah, great song so far. Everything is moving along terrifically, and then, in the middle of the song, from out of nowhere The Star-To-Be charges center stage swinging her suitcases and blows the roof off the auditorium. I believe there's a key change at that moment, which would explain a lot, as jumping up a half step in key ratchets up the tension and interest level. But that doesn't matter! The moment is FIERCE. The whole Star-To-Be interlude is great, but it's her entrance that's the fierce moment. I want to be clear about that. At most, eight measures. I saw a national tour of Annie several years ago, and they kind of botched this section by slowing the tempo down of all things. If anything, there should be sense of a rocket launch right there. So I was a little disappointed. The original cast recording preserves this moment in a classic rendition. I don't know who that singer is, but I want her voice. Seriously.

West Side Story. The crown jewel of musical theater, which as I write this is in revival on Broadway (Go see it and support it so it's still playing in July when I'm there!). I saw WSS at Portland Center Stage a few years ago. I had the chance to take my fifth grade class and my normally rough-and-tumble students sat spell-bound for the duration. For my part, I pretty much cried through the whole thing. Well, not quite, but it sounds good in the re-telling. I know I cried several times, anyway. Now, this business of crying--it's not from happiness or sadness or anything so easily and superficially labelled. That's completely off the mark. It's the intensity of the experience. This is the hallmark of a fierce moment. It's overwhelmingly profound--crying is a natural response. This show is full of amazement and delight, but there are two particularly fierce moments.The first is the dance at the gym. The music and the dancing carry this moment: Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. The other fierce moment is the Quintet (or The Rumble) when the various groups are singing about their hopes and expectations for the coming evening. I tried to isolate one small moment in the Quintet that stands out, but on reflection I am forced to conclude that the whole song is one long fierce moment. The interplay of the Sharks, Jets, Maria, Anita and Tony all singing over and around each other in soaring melodies...it's almost too much for the system to handle.This is a terribly, terrifically fierce moment.

Candide. This is the one show on the list that I haven't seen on stage, though there is a nice video of a staged performance with Kirsten Chenoweth. The fierce moment in Candide is the overture. As composers go, Bernstein wasn't prolific. He spent a huge amount of time jetting about, conducting various internationally-renowned orchestras. But when Bernstein sat down to write, watch out--that man knew what he was about. The Overture to Candide belongs to a small body of music labelled, "This music is so amazing it could not possibly have been written by any mere mortal." Though we normally associate black holes with destruction, this music to me is like a black hole--infinitely compact yet all-embracing and capable of swallowing the universe if given the chance. Another analogy is that of a whacking big chandelier reflecting and refracting an infinite amount of light. Listen to the Overture. If you haven't done it, do it!

Cabaret: I refer to the Portland Center Stage production of this show last year. Herr Shultz is courting Fraulein Schneider, who isn't convinced that marrying a Jew is wise given the social/political climate in 1930's Germany. While the two of them are standing about a foot apart discussing whether they should get married, the Emcee unobtrusively approaches and stands right behind them, listening and watching. Their conversation continues oblivious of his presence. Then the Emcee raises his hand so it is thrust in the space between them. And now we see that he is holding something--a brick--which he suddenly drops, accompanied by the recorded sound of glass shattering. It represents someone throwing a brick through the window of Herr Shultz's store front--a hate crime. This fierce moment happens in the drop--unexpected, startling, wrenching, unnerving and very very fierce. I don't how this is staged in other productions, but Portland Center Stage got it right. It is theater at its most jaw-dropping.

Chicago. One of my favorite musicals. I was going to talk all about Mary Sunshine, but my daughter told me I couldn't do it, for it goes against the Mary Sunshine Code, observed by all who have seen this show on stage. It is forbidden to discuss the details of Mary Sunshine with people who haven't seen the stage production yet. So all I will say is that there is a revelation about Mary Sunshine that grabs you by the throat and shakes really hard. A fierce moment. The film, good as it is, drops this moment, as it really only works on stage. Go see the stage show and find out. You won't forget it.

The Producers. I had the chance to see Brad Oscar in the role of Max Bialystock on Broadway. The whole show is terrific, but there is one fierce moment when Max is in his prison cell. In a tour-de-force soliloquy, he recounts at triple speed all the events that have happened since the beginning of the show, which includes singing all the songs. During this fierce moment, there is an ultra-fierce moment. He abruptly sits down on his bunk and is motionless for five seconds--no lights, no music, no nothing. For the first half second, I wondered what on earth was happening. And then I realized, of course--this is the intermission! Four and half seconds later, he's back on his feet at full-tilt. The ultra-fierce is done and I'm sitting there breathless. Wow.

Spamalot. Technically this show doesn't belong on this list. I only saw Spamalot once. I need to see it again. The details are distressingly fuzzy in my memory. But I can tell you with complete assurance that when I walked out of the Shubert theater into the summer night's heat of Manhattan, all I could do was shake my head in bewilderment that anything could be so brilliant. So for now it has the status of being a two-and-a-half hour long fierce moment. Favorite parts: 'The Song that Goes Like This,' 'The Knights of the Round Table,' and 'Lancelot.' SEE SPAMALOT. It's not currently playing anywhere in the world that I know of, but don't let that stop you. SEE SPAMALOT.

A Chorus Line. The number one all-time greatest, hair-raisingest moment in Broadway is surely and without doubt..."One." It just doesn't get any better. The whole song is great, but the one truly fierce moment comes in the middle when there is a break in the singing and they re-group while the band begins a crescendo in triplets. The performers circle around upstage and line up just at the climax of the crescendo and then...Kapow. ONE!!! SINGULAR SENSATION!!! The audience goes nuts--just stark raving bonkers--a huge, collective and resounding acknowledgement that this is a Fierce Moment of the highest order. I got a real kick out of being able to share this show and this moment with my daughter two years ago when we took her to NY. She had never seen ACL, and she responded beautifully--she fully got the fierce moment. After all these years of listening to the music and seeing a variety of productions--local, touring national, Broadway--this moment still makes the hair on the back of my neck go poing! The original cast performed this song at the 1977 Tony Awards. You can see it on Youtube. Film quality isn't great, and the song is cut off, but even still, I'm glad it's there--the magic of that moment shines through after thirty-two years.

These, then, are some of my favorite fierce moments. I have no doubt that your fierce moments aren't identical to mine, though I'm sure some of you agree with me on some points. What would you include or eliminate? Let me know what your your favorites are!