Top 20 Most Iconic Musical Reprises
Encore! Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most memorable reprises from musicals. We’re going to be discussing some major plot points, so here’s a spoiler alert.
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00:00 "Do I really have to mention, she is one of a kind, she is one of a kind."
00:12 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most memorable reprises
00:16 from musicals.
00:17 We're going to be discussing some major plot points, so here is a spoiler alert.
00:23 "Then a new life will begin."
00:32 Number 20.
00:33 Dulcinea Reprise, The Impossible Dream Reprise, Man of La Mancha Reprise, Man of La Mancha.
00:39 "Won't you please bring back the dream of Dulcinea?"
00:49 It's kind of genius to have a reprise of your best songs at the end of a show.
00:53 The audience will certainly leave the theater humming one of them.
00:57 Man of La Mancha ends with the Mad Knight errant, who has been mocked and laughed at
01:01 by virtually everyone he meets, on his deathbed.
01:04 "To right the unrightable wrong."
01:10 "Yes."
01:11 He's surrounded by his faithful servant and the lowly scullery maid he's treated as a
01:15 lady of honor.
01:16 They sing reprises of his songs to remind the depressed and dying man of his quest to
01:20 bring chivalry back to the world.
01:22 Despite his death, his belief in goodness and honor has clearly rubbed off on his companions.
01:27 "Onward to glory!"
01:30 "No!"
01:31 "I...
01:32 Go."
01:33 Number 19.
01:39 Stay Alive Reprise, Hamilton.
01:49 As in many musicals, the characters in Hamilton are often associated with specific songs.
01:54 The story of Tonight and its reprise deal with Alexander Hamilton's disagreements with
01:58 Aaron Burr.
01:59 What Comes Next features a brief reprise of King George III's song about American independence.
02:04 "You're on your own.
02:07 Awesome.
02:08 Wow.
02:09 Do you have a clue what happens now?"
02:13 But Stay Alive is a special case.
02:15 Though the actor is the same, he plays two different characters to whom Hamilton gives
02:19 advice before a duel.
02:20 His son dies as a result of his duel, and the words he spoke to his good friend come
02:24 back to haunt him as he and his wife watch their son take his last breaths.
02:28 "Good.
02:29 Good.
02:30 Don't worry.
02:31 Send...
02:32 Send to me.
02:33 Send to me.
02:34 Send to me."
02:35 Number 18.
02:42 The Song That Goes Like This Reprise, Spamalot.
02:56 Given that it's a Monty Python musical, it's safe to expect that it's gonna be pretty nutty.
03:00 The Song That Goes Like This takes aim at the kind of sentimental, inspirational songs
03:05 you'd hear in other typical musicals.
03:07 "Oh, where is the song that goes like this?
03:14 Where is it?
03:16 Where, where?"
03:17 "The sentimental song that casts a magic spell."
03:24 The Lady of the Lake returns to sing the song again in the middle of the celebratory Nights
03:28 of the Round Table number.
03:29 She pulls out every trick she knows.
03:32 She does her runs.
03:33 She rushes the tempo.
03:35 She slows it down to a crawl.
03:37 You're practically dizzy by the end of it.
03:39 And then the scatting starts.
03:50 Her liberties with the melody, along with her glitzy and revealing ensemble, take the
03:54 number to unexpected heights of complete lunacy.
04:08 Number 17.
04:09 38 Planes Reprise, Come From Away.
04:19 38 Planes follows the dozens of commercial airplanes that had to descend on the unassuming
04:24 town of Gander in Newfoundland and Labrador after being diverted from their flight paths
04:28 by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
04:30 The company of Come From Away chants the lyrics as the number of planes touching down only
04:34 grows.
04:35 When the song reappears at the end of the show, it sounds much the same, but is filled
04:39 with even more meaning as passengers finally return home.
04:43 It's not just an emotional bookend to the characters' brief but profound time together.
04:47 It's also a reminder of how each of those planes carried someone with the story, even
05:06 if the show only tells a handful of them.
05:16 Number 16.
05:17 Not A Day Goes By Reprise, Merrily We Roll Along.
05:35 Although it was almost universally panned by critics when it opened, this Stephen Sondheim
05:39 musical offers an unconventional narrative structure.
05:42 Telling the story of a damaged friendship in reverse, the score of Merrily We Roll Along
05:46 relies on callbacks and reprises throughout the show.
05:50 Not A Day Goes By returns during the scene set at Frank and Beth's wedding, as Merri
05:54 watches a friend marry another woman.
06:06 Given the context of Merri's tempestuous relationship with Frank in the first act, it allows us
06:11 to see the root of her disappointment in him.
06:13 It's an aching song, full of bitterness and longing made all the more urgent in its second
06:18 appearance in the score.
06:34 Number 15.
06:35 Epilogue, Ragtime Reprise, Wheels of a Dream Reprise, Ragtime.
06:47 This historical epic begins with a fittingly ragtime-inspired prologue that introduces
06:51 each of its colorful turn-of-the-century characters to the audience.
06:55 After much tragedy and growth, the ending mirrors its beginning, but closes out with
06:59 a sweeping reprise of Wheels of a Dream.
07:15 Sung by two lovers who died at the hands of a prejudiced society, the song represents
07:19 their dream of the better America they hope their son will grow up in.
07:23 The soaring tune closes the show, which is as much about how flawed America is as a nation
07:28 as it is about how it has the potential to be better.
07:43 Number 14.
07:44 Wicked Little Town Reprise, Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
07:56 Originally workshopped in grungy rock venues in New York City, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
08:01 is a vibrant show about trauma and transformation.
08:04 Hedwig Robinson is a drag artist whose songs have been stolen by the man she loves.
08:08 He becomes famous, while she falls into bitter obscurity.
08:12 At the end of the show, the performer playing Hedwig transforms into the rock star she loves
08:16 before our eyes.
08:34 The character offers Hedwig the closure she needs, turning the song she wrote about him
08:39 into a stunning number about searching for meaning in yourself and not others.
08:43 By the end, Hedwig is exhausted but free.
08:55 Number 13.
08:56 Finale, The Old Red Hills of Home, Parade.
09:07 Jason Robert Brown's score for Parade is a dramatization of the unfair trial and devastating
09:12 murder of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory superintendent wrongfully accused of a heinous crime.
09:17 The show opens and closes with the song The Old Red Hills of Home, a Civil War pastiche.
09:30 Its description of the pre-Civil War South is a resounding and chilling reminder that
09:34 not much had changed in the years between the war and the anti-Semitic campaign against
09:38 Leo Frank.
09:39 It's practically impossible not to feel goosebumps when the opening song comes back
09:43 around to haunt us in the end.
09:58 Number 12.
09:59 Somewhere That's Green Reprise, Little Shop of Horrors.
10:16 Seymour the timid flower shop employee is traded in his morals for fame and the girl
10:20 of his dreams, all thanks to an exotic, man-eating plant.
10:24 But the tables turn in the last act when the plant ends up mortally wounding Audrey, his
10:28 now-fiancé.
10:30 As she dies, Audrey reprises her tender and beloved song about the perfectly ordinary
10:34 suburban life she's always longed for.
10:37 Her realization that she and Seymour can still have that if he feeds her to his plant is
10:41 absurd and poetic.
10:52 Even the most ordinary life is out of her reach.
11:19 Number 11.
11:20 I'm Not That Girl Reprise, Wicked.
11:26 The complicated friendship at the heart of Wicked is tested by a few challenging circumstances.
11:32 Apart from their clashing wardrobes and political extremism, Glinda and Elphaba have feelings
11:37 for the same guy.
11:42 But when it becomes clear that Elphaba is the one he loves, Glinda's take on her song
11:53 "I'm Not That Girl" becomes a short but poignant emotional counterpoint.
12:00 It's the tipping point for her.
12:10 Glinda's come a long way from being the popular girl at Shiz Academy who was sure to have
12:14 a happy ending.
12:15 Now she's not sure who she is.
12:24 Number 10.
12:25 Joanna Quartet, Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
12:40 With the murderous barber's deadly revenge plot in motion, the eerie love song performed
12:45 by Anthony in the first act reappears.
12:47 The various plot lines in the musical unfold in this reprise.
12:51 Characterized by starts and stops as the perspective shifts, Sweeney expresses his grief over his
12:56 lost wife and daughter, who he doesn't realize is living in the sadistic Judge Turpin's
13:01 house.
13:07 He also doesn't realize the woman Anthony is in love with is his daughter Joanna, who
13:11 in turn is being driven mad by her captivity in an asylum.
13:25 The beggar woman shouting that the city's on fire just adds to the suspense.
13:29 If everyone could talk to each other, the whole thing could be figured out.
13:32 But that's what makes good drama.
13:51 Number 9.
13:52 We do hear the people sing reprise, Les Miserables.
14:07 Jean Valjean's journey from a lowly prisoner to a fugitive from the law to a noble and
14:12 honest Christian is finally complete.
14:14 On his deathbed, he's guided to the afterlife by every character who died during the show.
14:19 In Les Miserables, that's about the population of a small country.
14:34 The song's revolutionary anthem, "Do You Hear the People Sing?"
14:37 rings through the rafters as Valjean joins them on the other side.
14:41 Though the lyrics originally described a better world for the poor and destitute of France,
14:45 it takes on a new and haunting meaning in the finale.
14:48 The better world, it turns out, would not be found on Earth, but in the afterlife.
15:04 Number 8.
15:05 "I Ask of You Reprise," "The Phantom of the Opera."
15:22 Terrorized once again by the Phantom who is obsessed with her, Christine flees to the
15:26 roof of the Paris Opera and her admirer Raoul pursues her.
15:30 But the Phantom appears after they profess their love to one another and exit.
15:34 Heartbroken, then burning with rage, the Phantom swears bloody revenge on both.
15:46 This culminates with the Phantom's sabotage of the huge chandelier in the theater.
15:50 The tone of the show changes completely in this one moment.
15:54 What starts out as a gothic mystery about an obsessive romance becomes a game of cat
15:58 and mouse between the Phantom, Raoul, and Christine.
16:21 Number 7.
16:28 "Climb Every Mountain Reprise," "The Sound of Music."
16:32 Maria does what any of us would do if we thought we were in love with someone.
16:36 She flees the scene.
16:37 But the novice's nun mentor, the Mother Abbas, convinces her to face her feelings with a
16:41 rousing song about reaching your dreams.
16:44 "Climb Every Mountain" reappears at the triumphant finale as Maria and the von Trapp family escape
16:49 from the Nazis and cross the Alps into Switzerland.
16:59 In the show, the nuns form a chorus and reprise the Mother Abbas' song.
17:03 In the 1965 film, it's sung by a chorus of singers in voiceover.
17:08 But no matter who sings it, the tune that scores the family's triumph is a profoundly
17:12 moving and uplifting note to leave on.
17:28 Number 6.
17:29 "Tonight Quintet," "West Side Story."
17:36 Tony and Maria's driving song after their romantic meeting on the fire escape comes
17:40 back at the end of the first act, when all the characters' destinies are colliding.
17:50 "West Side Story" is a musical all about competing desires.
17:53 The Jets and the Sharks want nothing more than to obliterate the other.
17:57 Tony and Maria want to be together despite their differing backgrounds.
18:01 Maria's brother Bernardo and his girlfriend Anita want to protect his sister.
18:20 The "Tonight Quintet" dramatizes these competing forces in this explosive reprise,
18:24 with five timelines converging on the potentially deadly rumble between the gangs.
18:40 Number 5.
18:41 "Memory Reprise," "Cats."
18:42 If you're only familiar with this long-running musical's biggest number, you might be shocked
19:00 to learn the most popular version of it is technically the reprise.
19:04 The mournful ballad is first heard at the end of Act 1, but reappears at the end of
19:08 the show when Grizabella the Glamour Cat makes her last plea to be accepted by the other
19:12 Jellicle cats.
19:21 Her song is so moving that she's chosen among all her fellow cats to journey to the mystical
19:26 Heaviside lair.
19:28 Memory's lyrics of woe and faded youth are stirring, and they leave plenty of room for
19:32 interpretation from performer to performer.
19:35 It's also one of the few songs in the show that allows for real depth of feeling.
19:59 Number 4.
20:05 "One Reprise," "A Chorus Line."
20:08 Throughout the classic Tony-winning musical, we meet several dancers auditioning for a
20:11 chance to be in the ensemble of a new show.
20:14 Their stories of what they sacrifice for their dancing are funny and heartbreaking.
20:18 However, it's hard to say how happy the ending is for those who are cast.
20:33 At the end, as the reprise of "One" plays out, each individual dancer becomes swallowed
20:37 up by the whole.
20:39 Their bodies and identities become lost on stage.
20:42 Despite being such distinctive personalities before, we realize they've been fighting
20:46 for a chance to become a part of one indiscernible mass.
21:04 Number 3.
21:05 "You'll Never Walk Alone" reprise, "Carousel."
21:18 One of this controversial musical's most memorable songs, "You'll Never Walk Alone,"
21:22 is a tearful reminder of hope, compassion, and connection in troubled times.
21:27 Its first appearance in the show is effective, sung when the callous carnival barker Billy
21:31 Bigelow dies in a robbery attempt.
21:34 But the reprise at the end of the show tugs even harder at the heartstrings.
21:48 Forced to watch his child grow up in a shadow of shame, Billy's spirit is only able to find
21:53 peace when he helps his daughter see that she can depend on others.
21:56 This emotional reprise is a big reason why the song is still a standard today.
22:13 Number 2.
22:14 "I'll Cover You" reprise, "Rent."
22:25 Originally presented as a touching love song between Collins and Angel, "I'll Cover You"
22:29 is essentially their vows to each other.
22:32 Once Angel dies in the second act, the song comes around again as Collins grieves the
22:36 life they might have had.
22:51 Though he's surrounded by the rest of their friends during the scene, he still somehow
22:55 seems so alone as he repeats the promises they made to each other.
22:59 What was once an upbeat pop song turns into a down-tempo, soulful ballad, nested inside
23:03 a reprise of the show's signature number, "Seasons of Love."
23:22 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
23:26 "Everybody's Got the Right" reprise, "Assassins."
23:29 A group of malcontents explains their reasons for turning to political violence.
23:33 "Everybody's got the right to some sunshine.
23:39 Not the sun, but maybe one of its beams, one of its beams."
23:45 "As Long as He Needs Me" reprise, "Oliver."
23:48 The hopelessly devoted Nancy makes a sacrifice.
23:53 "As Long as He Needs Me, I know where I must be."
24:02 "How to Wash a Check" reprise, "Kimberly Akimbo."
24:05 A group of unlikely teenage criminals go over their scheme.
24:18 The "Beauty Is" reprise, "The Light in the Piazza."
24:21 An overbearing mother has a change of heart.
24:39 "Road to Hell" reprise, "Hadestown."
24:41 This song ends the show back where it started, telling the same story forever.
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25:12 "Sunday" reprise, "Sunday in the Park with George."
25:16 "So much love in his words, forever with his cars."
25:29 The song "Sunday" first appears at the end of Act 1, as the painter Georges Seurat
25:33 arranges the ensemble into a tableau of the famous painting that inspired the show.
25:51 It's a haunting, echoing piece of music that ranks among composer Stephen Sondheim's best.
25:56 Staging the show's themes of immortality through art, the final number sees the characters
26:00 from the first act return to resume their positions in the painting.
26:19 Once again, the artist creates harmony and perfect balance in the world through his painting,
26:23 as the song echoes through the theater, seeming to go on forever.
26:43 Let us know which reprise made you most emotional in the comments below.
26:56 [music]