My Three Favorite Musical Finales

As I recently posted, I was completely unsatisfied (not to mention kind of confused) with the ending of Memphis.  With that in mind, I thought I'd post about some of my favorite musical finales (not to be confused with satisfying musical endings).  Finale often implies a big performance number involving the whole cast, but great musical finales can be quiet as well (see number 3 below).  Spoilers ahead, be forewarned.

My Three Favorite Musical Finales

1.  Les Miserables

This is the perfect example of the big, powerhouse finale number.  I especially love how the whole final scene is basically sung (including dialogue).  The orchestrations are beautiful and the reappearance of many of the earlier melodies helps solidify the themes of hope and faith, despite the fact that the ending is drenched in death.  Literally, I think four named characters are still alive by the end of the show (though the death of Valjean feels more like liberation than demise).

Sadly, I couldn't find a good video featuring the one and only Valjean, Colm Wilkinson, and instead had to settle for the 25th Anniversary concert (please ignore the awfulness that is Nick Jonas).

2.   Spring Awakening

This musical also ends on kind of a downer.  Melchior's best friend kills himself, and the girl he knocks up dies in a botched abortion attempt.  But the finale number is absolutely beautiful.  It's simple in its harmonies and sung largely in unison (think like your high school choir).  The lyrics are full of nature images.  Some beautiful "The butterfly sings / And opens purple summer / With a flutter of its wings";  some odd "And mares will neigh / With stallions that they mate / Foals they've born."

Ultimately, I like this finale because it kind of breaks from the story (aside from the implication of forward movement generated by ending SPRING Awakening with a song about summer) .  There's no concluding dialogue interspersed with the song.  The deceased characters reappear with the rest of the cast.  This finale functions well as a stand alone song outside the context of the musical, which means you can listen to it on your iPod or in your car and not feel completely embarrassed for singing along out loud.

I chose this video since it has most of the original cast and the superior updated lyrics and harmonies that you can't hear on the OBCR.

3.  Aida

Unlike the other two musicals listed above, this show ends on a quieter note.  The final scene has no lyrics or dialogue, purely action and instrumentals (there is a final-ish song in the reprise of "Every Story is a Love Story", but I wouldn't call it the finale number).  This Disney-fied, Elton John infused version of the Verdi opera ends in a hopeful way.  After the forbidden lovers are sentenced to death in ancient Egypt, we fast forward thousands of years to see the reincarnated versions of the characters meet each other in a modern day museum.  Some may argue this scene lessens the tragedy of the story, and I agree.  But Disney and Elton John have made enough comedic and upbeat changes to this story that it deserves a happier more hopeful ending.

I couldn't find a good clip of the finale (it was on Broadway in the days before video camera phones), so instead I've placed an awesome teaser clip of Adam Pascal and Heather Headley (man, they had some chemistry).

Daily Monku:  I bought a "Strawberry Salad" for lunch at work today.  It was supposed to have chicken and walnuts with strawberries and blueberries over a bed of mixed greens.  In place of walnuts, it had pecans.  Not a big deal.  I mean I prefer walnuts, but pecans are fine.  But the real kicker was the fact that there were no strawberries in the salad.  There were blueberries, but no strawberries in my strawberry salad.  Why call it a strawberry salad if you aren't going to put strawberries in it?  Why not call it just a berry salad?