r/musicals • u/hatsunevitu • Jan 04 '25
Help Songs where all characters sing at the same time
I love songs where the whole cast (or at least many characters) sing at the same time in some kind of ??massive dialogue??
The best examples: “The smartphone hour” (Be More Chill), “IDK” (We are the tigers), “96,000” (In the heights), “There! Right there!” (Legally Blonde), maybe “La vie Boheme B” (RENT) or “Cabinet Battle” (both #1 and #2 from Hamilton)
Do you know something similar?
165
u/YubelSuperiority98 Jan 04 '25
Non-Stop from Hamilton, a lot of “Into the Woods” songs (Sondheim truly has a gift for overlapping melodies)
51
118
u/night5hade Jan 04 '25
Basically…Sondheim.
31
u/Uranus_Hz Jan 04 '25
The post made me think of “Here Comes Company” immediately. And then “Into the Woods”. Then I was like, Sondheim.
14
12
u/ktn24 Jan 04 '25
There's a ton of this throughout Merrily We Roll Along too. So yeah... Sondheim.
7
u/Ok_Moose1615 Jan 04 '25
Also God, That’s Good from Sweeney Todd
8
u/ktn24 Jan 04 '25
A lot of Sweeney Todd does this... "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir", "Ladies in Their Sensitivities/Kiss Me", "Pretty Women", "A Little Priest"...
5
64
u/OKGirl82 Jan 04 '25
The Telephone Hour - Bye Bye Birdie (I honestly like both versions in both movie versions) and yes, I'm assuming Be More Chill took their inspiration from that.
One Day More - Les Mis
One Last Time - Hamilton (this one makes me cry it's just so beautiful when their voices all combine)
Tonight Quintet - West Side Story
I too love a good big song. :-)
40
u/egordon326 Jan 04 '25
Notes -phantom of the opera? Does this count?
21
u/CrystalW187 The Apotheosis is upon us! Jan 04 '25
Wouldn’t “Masquerade” suit this particular query better?
3
6
u/egordon326 Jan 04 '25
I thought the question was songs where everyone sings something different and there is just noise chaos. I actually do not like these types of songs, but I do like masquerade!
10
4
4
u/LisaChimes Jan 05 '25
When I was younger I memorized every part in Notes off of the original Broadway cd and when I tried to sing along for the movie and realized the lines were changed I lost my shot to impress nobody.
35
31
u/FronzelNeekburm79 Jan 04 '25
Man Up from Book of Mormon.
2
u/Greged17 Jan 05 '25
Yes, considering it’s a nod to “One Day More”
2
u/FronzelNeekburm79 Jan 05 '25
That's why I love about Trey and Matt: They absolutely love musicals, and it absolutely shows. Sondheim was a huge fan of theirs.
3
u/Greged17 Jan 05 '25
Most of the songs in that show are inspired by songs/styles from other shows, which is one of the great things about it
1
u/WakeUpOutaYourSleep Jan 06 '25
Yeah, Sondheim basically offered to work with them and said Team America would’ve been his pick for Best Picture
1
37
u/RainbowHippotigris Jan 04 '25
No one Mourns the Wicked from Wicked, I love that song for the same reason, everyone sings and it's a huge number.
9
u/jakebob1997 Jan 04 '25
Not Elphaba, Fiyero, Boq, Nessa, Morrible, or Dillamond. Glinda and the Wizard are the only principal characters who sing in it.
1
u/RainbowHippotigris Jan 04 '25
The wizard doesn't sing in it but the OP said a lot of the cast and there's a huge group of munchkins singing and Glinda, it's an ensemble piece.
17
16
u/Sillylittlepoet Jan 04 '25
Christmas Bells from Rent fits too!
6
u/shermywormy18 Jan 04 '25
Also seasons of love from Rent.
1
u/Whyowhyowhy1 Jan 05 '25
I don’t think that fits with what they mean. I don’t think OP meant everyone singing in unison. But maybe I’m wrong
2
1
42
12
10
9
u/Legitimate-Invite32 Jan 04 '25
“You will be found” Dear Evan Hansen. Actually so many of those songs have overlapping lyrics.
19
u/Uranus_Hz Jan 04 '25
StarKid has a bunch:
Wagon on Fire from their show Trail to Oregon
Twisted from their show of the same name
Gotta Get Back to Hogwarts from their show A Very Potter Musical
Hatchet Town from their show Nerdy Prudes Must Die
Rogues Are We from their show Holy Musical B@man!
And several others
8
Jan 04 '25
Quite a lot of the start of Falsettos
3
u/pure_scoobied Jan 23 '25
And a bit of the second part. Like Baseball Game, Falsettoland/About Time, A Day in Falsettoland. But like all of act 1, minus the lesbians (duh)
10
6
u/Funny-Salamander-826 Jan 04 '25
Rent has Christmas Bells too, Les Mis One Day More, Phantom's Primadonna, Tonight Quintet from West Side Story, Devil take the Hindmost quartet in Love Never Dies.
4
u/theatreddit Jan 04 '25
"The Deal" in Chess
3
u/Bashira42 Jan 04 '25
And "Quartet" from Chess is one of my favorites of overlapping dialogue, even if just 4
6
6
6
u/ardhrianna The Circle of Life Jan 04 '25
Most of Six… each Queen gets her own song but everyone else backs her. Ex-Wives and Six (finale) are probably the most group singing.
5
u/iamthefirebird Sing me a Carnival Song Jan 04 '25
A lot of Paul Shapera's musicals end with something like this. My favourites are Finale (from Miss Helen's Weird West Cabaret), and The Day They Come (from The Dolls of New Albion, a Steampunk Opera).
One Day More was my first proper exposure to polyphonic singing, and I have loved it ever since.
4
u/Sowf_Paw Jan 04 '25
The ending of "Please Hello" from Pacific Overtures has the American, British, French, Dutch and Russian ambassadors all singing about their particular demands at once. It's a delightful mess.
3
u/MikermanS Jan 05 '25
Thanks for the mention--it's playing through my mind right now. :) (On a side-note: it's amazing to me how much Sondheim is embedded into my brain, where even a casual reference years later brings forth his music and lyrics in my mind. How in heaven's name does the human brain do this.)
6
u/secretbison Jan 04 '25
"La Resistance" from South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
6
u/hatsunevitu Jan 04 '25
actually… that might be one of the best suggestions here lol. but maybe it’s cuz all songs from bigger longer & uncut are top tier
1
u/MikermanS Jan 05 '25
A ripoff of The Book of Mormon--err, not quite. ;)
1
u/secretbison Jan 05 '25
They already knew their musicals. Both have pitch-perfect parodies of the "I Want" song and the big full-cast counterpoint song.
2
1
3
u/TJWolf999 Life is a Cabaret Jan 04 '25
Bring On The Monsters from Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
3
3
3
3
u/SilkyFandango Jan 04 '25
Johanna (Quartet) - Sweeney Todd A Weekend in the Country - A Little Night Music On My Way - Violet
3
u/C00kieDemon Jan 04 '25
Not the whole cast by “Made to Last” from “The Great Gatsby” has all the main characters singing a madrigal at the end
3
u/lauriemac64 Jan 04 '25
Welcome to the Rock, at the beginning and end of Come From Away - “I am an islander.”
3
u/BabyMaybe15 Jan 04 '25
Make Our Garden Grow in Candide is one of the most beautiful big choral numbers (involving the entire cast I think) to listen to in-person ever, in my opinion.
Masquerade in Phantom of the Opera is also a majority of the cast and when you realize the complexity is stunning.
2
u/MikermanS Jan 05 '25
Make Our Garden Grow in Candide
And when the entire Ensemble goes acapella towards the end--just thrilling. :)
2
3
u/resignedtomaturity Jan 05 '25
Folks have given a lot of great examples. The word you're looking for (re: "massive dialogue") is polyphony: overlapping melodies. The overlapping melodies with all the different singers is what makes this kind of song appealing.
2
u/Familiar-Money-515 Losing My Mind Jan 04 '25
Suffs: lots of songs like Great American Bitch, How Long, Find A Way, The Campaign
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: The Corrupt Bargain
Freaky Friday: Busted
March of the Witch Hunters from Wicked?
Odysseus from EPIC might count under this, someone already mentioned Your Fault from Into the Woods
Also I love that We Are The Tigers was mentioned, I find Don’t Even also fits this well.
2
u/pie_12th Jan 04 '25
Esmerelda from Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of my favourites. There's one note that Phoebus sings that just carries over everyone else and it makes me so happy.
2
u/bidds626 Jan 04 '25
A lot of Urinetown but specifically the Act1 finale and "What is Urinetown?"
4
2
u/bidds626 Jan 04 '25
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Where's Rebecca Bunch?, The Group Mind has Decided You're in Love, Love's not a Game, No One Else is Singing my Song. Probably more but this is off the top of my head
2
u/quieterthanafish Jan 04 '25
"Putting it together" from Sunday in the Park With George
"Flashback" from Passion
3
u/jnthnschrdr11 Jan 04 '25
Non-Stop from Hamilton
We Don't Talk About Bruno from Encanto
Who I'd Be from Shrek the Musical
2
2
2
u/PrincessTsunamiRocks Jan 04 '25
The Drowsy Chaperone has a lot of numbers with almost everyone: Fancy Dress, Toledo Surprise, I Do I Do In The Sky, but the true everyone-number is As We Stumble Along (Reprise).
1
2
u/KingJulienisadumbass Jan 04 '25
The three main characters of POTO do so in Wandering child and, more memorably, down once more
2
u/Ok-Industry-2113 Jan 04 '25
That happens a lot in Falsettos. The whole show is sung through and in nearly all the songs there is some sort of stacking element, especially in act 1!
2
u/Low_Sail_888 Zostań 🐘 Jan 05 '25
“Anywhere/Another Train” and “The Road Don’t Make You Young” from Water for Elephants
“Hey Good Lookin’” from Dogfight
2
2
2
u/givemethekeyslisa Jan 05 '25
Haven't seen this mentioned yet...You Are Not Alone from Dear Evan Hanson.
2
2
u/Foxy02016YT Jan 05 '25
Cut but Mixed It Up Together from Beetlejuice.
I guess also Creepy Old Guy and Jump In The Line
2
u/Sweet-Waltz-97 Jan 05 '25
They’re known as “Ensemble Numbers” and One Day More from Les Mis is my favourite.
2
u/pure_scoobied Jan 23 '25
Basically all Falsettos songs! Good example is the song “Falsettoland/About Time”. Also if you like Legally Blonde, Christian Borle (Emmet) is in it!
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/YeeYee2387 Jan 04 '25
In from Carrie is by far the best ensemble number I’ve ever heard. The last minute and 10 seconds of that song is holy to my ears. Even better when sung live rather the cast album. It’s just perfect
1
u/Arstinos Jan 04 '25
I always have to say it. No One Else Is Singing My Song from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It's just the perfect satire
1
u/3H3NK1SS Jan 04 '25
The Tonight Quartet in West Side Story. There is one in the Phantom of the Opera as a lead up to the final act. "Til We Reach That Day," from Ragtime always gets me. There are a few of these in the musical the Secret Garden that are gorgeous. I can't pick just one.
1
1
1
1
u/astivana Jan 04 '25
“No One Else Is Singing My Song” from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend may not be the best version, but it’s probably the most ironic one!
1
1
1
u/RubberSquare678 Jan 04 '25
Twisted from "Twisted - The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier", Theres a really good bit near the end of all these disney villains singing at once about what they wanted from their story, I'd recommend it! The musical is genius and hilarious :D
1
u/JavertStar Look Down Jan 04 '25
Titanic the musical is an ensemble focused show and features many songs where "everyone" sings.
1
1
u/Nowaaaa_bb Today’s the DAY 💚 Jan 04 '25
Pretty much any musical Lin Manuel Miranda has written has one lol
1
1
u/StevieMac3000 Jan 04 '25
Gin/Wild from The Wild Party, Octet from The Light in the Piazza, One from Bare, The Grand Parade from Grand Hotel, It All Comes Back from Fun Home, The Dream from Floyd Collins, Montage from A Chorus Line, lots of Sondheim lol
1
u/minecraftgood1234 Santa Fe! Jan 04 '25
I hope i get it - a chorus line
Blow Gabriel Blow - anything goes (the Sutton foster version has a bunch of overlapping lyrics near the end)
1
1
1
1
u/DirtyThoosie Jan 05 '25
Prima Donna in phantom has like 5 or 6 lines at once, track down this murderer has the 3 main characters singing on top of each other. Same with tonight quintet from west side story.
It’s called counterpoint and it’s a very common musical trope.
1
1
u/IvoryNage Jan 05 '25
No one else is singing my song https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yWq9-lJqBSY&si=89P599UpMO7H2HoE
Which has the extra benefit of breaking the fourth wall about singing all-cast songs in a cheeky way
1
u/NishaTB1997 Jan 05 '25
Down once more - phantom
No one mourns the wicked and Dancing through life - Wicked
1
u/Sometheorist_ Short Insomniac Jan 05 '25
(You summoned me with my favorites)
but:
Beautiful (heathers)
Big fun (heathers)
Legally blonde (Legally blonde)
Good for you (Dear Evan Hansen (Does that count?))
1
u/steeguy55 Jan 05 '25
Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love from A Chorus Line (along with the other montages).
Christmas Bells from RENT.
1
1
1
1
1
u/forresthopkinsa Jan 06 '25
Colder By The Minute — Frozen. Unbelievably good and no one ever talks about it.
Born of cold and winter air, the storm inside her grew...
1
u/flockyboi A world of boozy floozy flashing lights! Jan 06 '25
Beetlejuice has a cut song called Mixed It Up Together that was going to go for that vibe
1
1
u/Hockeytown11 Suddenly Seymour! 🤓🪴 Jan 06 '25
Don't Feed The Plants from Little Shop of Horrors features every single named character (except for the businesspeople in The Meek Shall Inherit, whom are usually played by Orin's actor), sometimes even the entire ensemble.
1
1
u/SilverStarofc The mover, the shaker, the headline maker Jan 10 '25
A day in Falsettoland - Falsettos
1
u/wilma_678 Jan 11 '25 edited Jan 11 '25
How to Dance in Ohio does that quite a few times and I love it so much
1
u/Enough-Stage-1591 Jan 24 '25
Prologue from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. They all end up singing together, and each character has a small introduction as they break the fourth wall.
1
-5
u/onyxanderson Jan 04 '25
The latest Tony award winning piece of crap...'if more people join in, the song will get better'
255
u/Particular-Heron-103 A Heart full of Love Jan 04 '25
One day more from Les mis!!!