Mickey Jo (0:00)

Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my theater themed YouTube channel. If you're meeting me for the first time. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. And I've been making videos here on YouTube for a little while now. And I used to make more videos like these where I talked about some of my least favorite lyrics in musical theatre. And a couple of those videos got pretty popular. But I haven't really done anything like that in a while and I feel like I've been getting really serious and just doing like critical discourse and reviewing shows. And while I really enjoy all of that and I like bringing theatre criticism to YouTube, I don't want to lose sight of like the fun that I originally had making YouTube videos. And I feel like maybe I've started taking myself a little bit too seriously. So I thought today we could do something fun and talk about some of the best reprises in musical theater. Now, when I tell you, I have a notes app on my phone that has video ideas and this video has been on that app for upwards of two years. But I just saw a post on social media the other day asking people what was their favorite reprise in musical theatre and I thought, oh yeah, that was a video I planned to make. Let's talk about that. So I'm going to be counting down 15, not 10, because there were two many. And I couldn't decide of what I think are the best reprises ever written for musical theatre. If you enjoyed today's video, make sure to subscribe to my theatre themed YouTube channel. And if you want to see my videos before everyone else does and gain access to some exclusive content, hit the link in the description and sign up to become one of my channel members. Now let's talk about the greatest reprises ever written for musical theatre. So for those of you who might not be sure, let's quickly define what I mean by a reprise. So a reprise in musical theatre is where you have a song that is then sung again later in the show. And reprises have existed for as long as musicals have. There's an example in Oklahoma. In the first act, Curly and Laurie, who are feuding, sing a song, people will say we're in love, where they say we shouldn't give people ideas because the neighbours will talk. And in the second act, when they predictably fall in love with each other, they reprise the same song and instead sing Let people say we're in love, which is a pretty standard example of a reprise. It's a lovely reprise, but there are many more in musical theatre that do very clever and entertaining and exciting things. I'm going to talk to you about those today. Brief disclaimer. Some things I don't think count as reprises. This may be controversial. I'm gonna say it anyway. If the reprise comes less than two minutes after the original song, and there's no other songs in between those two, I don't think that's a reprise. I think that's just a continuation of the same song. We've had a little bit of a dialogue, we've had a little bit of a break, and then we have repeated the same song. But I don't consider that to necessarily be a fully fledged reprise. An example of this would be Ireland in Legally Blonde or Ex Wives in six. Now, they call them reprises on the cast recording simply because they need something to call track, right? But practically in the show, they come less than a few moments after the first version of the song has ended. Just to be like, that was a great number, wasn't it? Let's do a small bit of it again and get another round of applause. I like both of those numbers, but strictly speaking, I don't really think they're reprises. I'm also not really going to talk about the shows that just use a lot of repetitive themes. Think of Les Mis as an example to this, where we hear almost every melody more than once during the show. For example, I Dreamed a Dream being the Same as One Day More, or pretty much anything that Angela Dwebber has ever written because he loves a recurring theme, as do I. An example of this would be Evita, where Don't Cry For Me, Argentina and oh, what a Circus are actually the same song. That in itself is a different video. If you want to see that one, let me know in the comment section down below. But for now, let's start talking about some reprises. FYI, there will be spoilers about pretty much every musical that I talk about in this video. So if I start talking about a show that you don't want spoilers for, skip ahead to the next section. So the first one that I've put on this list is I Won't Send Roses from Mack and Mabel. This is a beautiful show, and this is a pretty textbook example of what a reprise can do. You have this, this romantic song, albeit a reluctantly romantic song, in the first act where Mac is singing to Mabel, I won't send roses. So don't get your hopes up about some big romance. But of course, it's a beautiful love song, really, because what he's saying is, I won't send roses. And you deserve roses because you're a beautiful woman. Oh, look, we're in love. But sadly, this is a love that is not meant to last. And later in the show, we get an emotional reprise of this song sung by Mabel. She is reprising the love song that was sung to her, but she is starting with the lyric, who needs roses? Like I said, this is a pretty classic example of a reprise. You have a love song, it's reprised with a sort of a sad slant on it. Small World from Gypsy is another one that does this. This is a sort of a gentle love song that is sung between two characters in the first act, and then Mama Rose reprises it in the second to express her sadness at the ending of this relationship with Herbie. And what's funny to me is, even though this is such a pivotal emotional moment for Rose's character, Small World reprise does not appear in every version of the show. It was in the original Broadway show. I believe it was in the film with Roz Russell. And it was restored for the 2003 revival starring Bernadette Peters. Bernadette Peters, who also played Mabel in the original cast of Mack and Mabel. Was it restored just because Bernadette Peters sings a torch song with a vulnerability and a beauty like few other performers? Maybe. But the sad reprise is certainly a very common one. Another similar, albeit slightly more nuanced, example of this appears in the show Merrily We Roll Along. Now, Merrily We Roll along is a very interesting show struct because rather than having a linear narrative that moves forwards in time, it moves backwards in time. And we start at the end of the story and our characters gradually become younger as the thing progresses, they become less jaded and they repair relationships, and we start to discover things that inform things we'd seen earlier on. One of the best examples of the cleverness of Merrily We Roll along is the song Not a Day Goes By. We first hear this song in the first act of the show. It's sung by a character named Beth as she and Franklin Shepard are getting a divorce. And it has these beautiful, poignant and profound lyrics talk about how love endures even though their marriage has crumbled. But that's not where the poignant beauty of it all ends, because Not a Day Goes by gets reprised in the second act of the show when those two characters are getting married, because this happens in reverse. So we see the marriage after we see the divorce. So they're singing it at the Altar, hopeful and optimistic. And just when you think this is going to be a happy reprise of the song, we have a third voice introduced to this. So it started as a solo, it became a duet, and now it's a trio. It's a love triangle being revealed because Mary Flynn, one Franklin Shepherd's best friends, who has been by his side throughout the entire show, sings it with him being unable to hear. She sort of sings it in the background longingly, as the happy couple marry and she expresses her deep, unrequited love. So this song is devastating both times that it appears, but it's devastating in different ways. It's not, however, the most devastating reprise we've ever heard in a musical that would go to this next one. So I'm not doing these in any particular order, but this might be the greatest reprise in musical theatre. And it's from the show Rent. So there is a song in the first act sung by the characters of Collins and Angel, who meet at the beginning of the show and quickly fall in love. The song is called I'll Cover you and it's just a lovely and charming and upbeat romantic duet between the two men. Unfortunately, Rent is one of those shows where you shouldn't really trust any moment of happiness, because their story does not end happily. Many of the characters in this show are living with hiv. And in the second act, Angel's health takes a turn for the worse. Collins has to reprise the song I'll Cover your At his Funeral. Live in My House. Suddenly, this lovely and charming throwaway song from the first act that had these lovely harmonies and had this section towards the end where they are swapping between different lines, structurally, is now just a heartbreaking solo. And this is an example of a reprise that structurally is completely different to the first time we hear it. The song is slowed down, it's soulful, it's free, it's agonizingly staged. And where we have a lot of reprises whose winning quality is the way that they change lyrics. Like that first example, I told you I won't send roses to. Well, who needs roses here? It's heartbreaking because the lyrics stay the same. Collins sings the same lyrics that they sang to each other at the beginning, but had no idea how much reverence they would come to hold. When you're worn out and tired when your heart has expired it's honestly so sad I could tear up just thinking about this song. It has this incredible ending where the other guests at the funeral stand up and join in with him and they sort of tease, the melody of seasons of love that layers over the top. Honestly, just the best, maybe the single best reprise in all of musical theatre. If you don't agree with me, fight me in the comments section. Oh, I've missed saying that. Now, for something a little more fun, let's go to Legally Blonde. Now, while there are plenty of tracks on this show's cast recording that call themselves reprises, that I don't think really are reprises. Looking at you, Ireland. Looking at you, Sirius, there is one that absolutely is. I am talking about the Legally Blonde reprise remix, and it's the remix part of this that makes it so much fun. Now, the title song, Legally Blonde, is sung by Elle deep in the second act of the show when Professor Callahan, whose internship she is currently on, makes a move towards her and makes her feel as though she's only been getting these opportunities because of the way that she looks and not because of her legal talent and skill. So she sings this outpouring of sadness that ends as a mini duet between her and Emmett Forrest, who has come to be friend to her. And there's definitely a romance that's developed between the two of them, but even he can't convince her to stay. However, when she goes to say an emotional goodbye to her friend Paulette, the hair stylist who should be in the salon, but Vivian Kensington, a character that Elle did not like when she first met her because she was the new girlfriend of the ex boyfriend that Elle was chasing to Harvard. However, Legally Blonde is a great feminist musical that likes to remind you that the man here is the one who is actually a douche and the women come to be great friends. Which is exactly what happens in this song, because Vivienne takes that Legally Blonde melody and runs with it with an upbeat remix of the song. If I wasn't already gay when I saw the MTV recording of this show and listened to Kate Shindle singing this song, I would have been shortly afterwards Legally Blond. Honestly, great reprise. And when there are so many that take happy songs and turn them on their heads to be sad, it's nice to have a sad song being reclaimed with positivity in its reprise and being remixed. Exactly what it should do. And not to overanalyze Legally Blonde, but what's really happening here is we're taking Elle's lowest emotional moment and that same melody is becoming her source of strength, to be honest, iconic. The next reprise does something similar. Here is another character taking this emotional low point and reclaiming it for themselves, admittedly, in a Transformation moment that may be a little bit less feminist than Legally Blonde. I am talking about the character of Sandy in Greece who reclaims the song that was sung about her. Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee Sandra Dee, Sandra D. I'm not Australian. So in the first act of the musical, the character of Betty Rizzo, who feels a little bit slut shamed by the more virtuous Sandy, sings the song look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee in order to make fun of her lousy with virginity. Now cut to the second act of the show, and Sandy sings this song for herself. She has this moment of reflection and realization, and she decides that she wants to take control of her own sexuality. I guess this is the most positive way I can frame this. Basically, she has this massive makeover and decides to pivot her personality in order to make everyone like her more, including the guy who has been making a lot of sexual advances on her and treating her badly in front of his friends. But Grease is a period piece, and I feel like that's the best ribbon with which to wrap all of that up. And regardless of what you think of that moment of the show, the song itself is fantastic. Again, it slows down the melody we have look at Me. There has to be something more than one they see. Now, in the film, you have Olivia Newton John hearing herself sing this, even though we don't actually see her singing this, but it's her whole inner monologue. And in the stage show, the song is actually a little bit longer. We have a little bit of a reprise of the verse melody as well. And she sings some lovely lyrics in that she sings. When they criticize or make fun of me don't they see the tears in my smile? Don't they realize there's just one of me and it needs to last me a while? Not only that, but the end line of the song gives us another brilliant vocal opportunity. My favorite I've ever heard, Lauren Samuels. But Olivia Moore also does a really great job of it. Right now in the Grease revival that's on at the Dominion Theatre, she sings the hell out of this song, and it's great. Now, I don't think we can have any conversation about reprises in musical theatre without talking about Disney. And I'm gonna talk about a Disney show that has been on stage. But even in the Disney films, they love a reprise. They love a reprise. In a Disney film, we've had reprises where heroes songs get turned on their heads and get sung by villains. Think of the Prince Ali Reprise that is sung by Jafar in the movie Aladdin. Prince Ali turn to be merely Aladdin. Think about the beautiful reprise sung at the end of Beauty and the Beast, where they're singing certain as the sun. Ah, rising in the east. We have all these lovely harmonies, but I think the most iconic reprise in Disney history, maybe ever, to be honest, is Part of your World. Now, I'm kind of breaking my rule here because this does come pretty soon after she sings Part of youf World for the first time, but it's such an obvious standalone reprise of a moment. And when you think of Part of youf World, visually, it's actually the reprise that you might remember first. This is Ariel on the rock pushing herself up with the wave cresting behind her. And it's one of those great moments where the song finishes the first time around. It's a beautiful I want song with beautiful music by Alan Menken, lovely lyrics by Howard Ashman, of course. But she's not really fulfilled at the end of that song, and the journey of that song kind of is incomplete until we get to the reprise where she picks it back up and finishes it with a certainty she didn't know that she had until this moment. I don't know when, I don't know how, but I know something's starting right now. Now, I particularly love the stage version of this because of what happens with the melody. And what's great musically about this, and it's the genius of Alan Menken, is the first time she sang the song, it went down on Part of youf World. And in the reprise, she is joyful, she is exuberant, she is euphoric. In fact, she sings, watch and you'll see Someday I'll be part of that world it's great. It's so good, it's high, it's thrilling. Sierra Boggess did a fantastic job on the original cast recording. You can't not love that. Now, the next show I want to talk to you about is Hairspray. There's a great reprise in Hairspray for the character of Velma Von Tussel, who reprises her villain song Miss Baltimore Crabs with a song called Velma's Revenge, which features the iconic politically incorrect line, you can say I'm a bigot, but it just isn't true. Look, I love Sammy Davis, and he's black and a Jew. Honestly, it's so wrong that it's so right. But that is not my favorite reprise from Hairspray, and that is not the reason I've Put Hairspray in this video. My favorite reprise from Hairspray Is the Good Morning Baltimore reprise that was cut from the film. So if you've never seen Hairspray on stage, you're about to find out about something. So at the beginning of the show, we know that Tracy Turnblad wakes up in her bed and sings. Woke up today Feeling the way I always do. And this is very much in keeping with the kind of cutesy, campy way that the show is in its first act. But as this show goes on. The lovely and charming Tracy, who just wants to dance. And is maybe a little bit naive to the realities of the world. And the realities of 1960s Baltimore. She comes to find out that not everything is as fair and happy as she thought it might be. And she comes to learn more about the racial injustices of the time. And she aligns herself with the black community. Who are trying to advocate for their own rights. Just to be seen and to dance on television. To this end. The next time we hear Good Morning Baltimore. Tracy has hugely evolved as a character. It's a sad reprise of the song. And one where she feels discernibly a little bit older, a little bit wiser. She has grown considerably now. The lyrics are still funny and cutesy. But they have a little bit more reality to them. She sings, this morning life was a Baltimore fairy tale Now I can't make bail. And then my absolute favorite lyric, this one is genius. Let me out so this dream's unfurled I'll eat some breakfast then change the world. That last line is just Tracy Turnblad as a character entirely. She is so plucky and optimistic about helping to affect change and change the world after eating breakfast. Next up, I want to tell you about another apprise that swaps from the first act to the second and switches gears. Not because it's a slower tempo, not because it's sadder lyrics. But because in the first act, it's sung by one character. And in the second act, it's sung by a different character. The musical is wicked and the song is I'm not that Girl. So, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. We first hear this song in the first act when Elphaba, who is noticing herself becoming attracted to Fiyero. Who is currently dating her new best friend, Galinda. She's still called Galinda at this point. Don't Me. Elphaba sings a song about how a boy like that could never develop feelings for a girl like her. That's not her destiny. That's always going to be Galinda's life. She's the pretty blonde one and Elphaba is green. Not not pretty, but also just very green. Only fast forward to the second act and Fiyero actually does reciprocate Elphaba's feelings towards him. And when they reunite in the Ossian palace where she is a fugitive, they decide to leave together. And this is the moment where Glinda, who has lost a vowel from her name in the intervening scene, she realizes this for the first time in this moment, and so she sings a sad reprise of I'm not that Girl. My favourite part of this song being the way that it leads into as long as you're mine we have I'm not that girl. Do do do do do do do do as long as your mind begins. There's also something to be said for this song finishing on such a low note each time because Wicked is associated with its high belting endings, right? Defying gravity, the wizard and I no good deed. They are all right up there. Thank goodness no one mourns the Wicked. It if it's not high belting, it's high soprano. But those are triumphant and declarative and bold moments. And I'm not that Girl is much more introspective and low and serious and sombre. Low notes being used for a reason. Now I've mentioned a lot of reprises that change things from one act to the next, and this next reprise is genius and funny because it changes nothing. And by changing nothing, it speaks volumes. I am talking about into the woods and I'm talking about Agony Reprise. Another apprise that was cut from the film devastatingly, which FYI, is just one of the mistakes that they made in adapting into the woods from the stage to the screen. But again, that is another video if you want to hear my rage essay about that one comment below. But into the Woods, a musical I believe to be maybe the best musical of all time, written by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. The genius of this show is that it unites all of these different fairy tale characters, which means we get these two princes who are brothers, who are each in the woods searching for different maidens. We have Cinderella's prince, who is searching for Cinderella, and Rapunzel's prince, who is searching for Rapunzel. Those are literally the names of their characters and they are both noblemen and they have both been raised with manners, but they also have significant egos because they are both charming and handsome princes. So when they meet in the woods and sing about this. They sort of gently scold and put each other down and try to insist that the agony each one is feeling about not being able to reach the girl that he is searching for is the more superior agony. And they end the song with a rhyming couplet. Agony that can cut like a knife. I must have her to wife. Which is all very well and good, but where the first act of into the woods is a fairy tale, the second one shines a little bit more reality on all of these characters. And these charming and handsome princes turn out to be charming but not sincere. Yes, that is literally a line of dialogue from the show. And when they next meet up in the woods, they are singing about two different maidens, not their wives, but two other lovely maidens they have encountered behind their wives respective backs. They are talking about Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. And the fact they sing exactly the same duet over again shows these characters to be completely vapid, completely insincere. But also all of these lyrics that pertain to the different fairy tales are very funny. And maybe the funniest lyric in the entirety of into the Wood comes when the two brothers are bickering back and forth. One says to the other, if there's a thicket in the way, then you could just pick it apart with a stick. And the other says, yes, but even one prick. It's my thing about blood. The other says, well, it's sick. He says, it's no sicker than your thing with dwarves. He says dwarves. He says dwarves. And he says, dwarves are very upsetting, which is just a genius lyric. Come on now. Dwarves are very upsetting. The operatic seriousness with which he sings it, it's just great. And the cherry on top of the whole thing where we originally had the final line, I must have her to wife. This version of the song ends with, ah, well, back to my wife. Next up, I want to talk about Sister Act. This is yet another example of Alan Menken genius. And I will consistently say that Sister act has a great score. There will always be people. And there were, when it first came to the stage, that missed the songs from the film, which, yes, the songs in the Sister act movie are great. However, the songs in the stage version written by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater are also really great. There are some genius lyrics in there. There are some. Some brilliant melodies and a handful of fantastic reprises, at least three that I'm going to tell you about right now. So the show opens with Dolores practicing her nightclub act, singing the song Take Me to Heaven, Take me to Heaven Take me to Ecstasy. Ecstasy. And when she teaches the choir of nuns at the convent she is hiding at because she has witnessed her mob boss boyfriend kill somebody. Little bit of plot for you there. That is the song that she teaches them to sing. When she funks up the whole choir, much to the distress of the very serious and austere Mother Superior, she gets all of these conservative religious nuns singing, I been thinking about ya since receiving your call. And that's funny enough in and of itself. And it's a clever lyric that can just feel like a nightclub number, but then has this slightly religious connotation with Take Me to Heaven. It does the same thing that the film does. When she sings My guy at the beginning of the film, that becomes My God when she teaches the nuns to sing it. Also the song I Will Follow Him. She sings that in her nightclub act in the film. And then it becomes the big number at the end that feels distinctly more religious. But that is not the last time that Take Me to Heaven gets reprised in the show, because it also happens right at the end when the mobsters find Dolores in the convent and they are holding a gun to her head. Mother Superior intervenes to protect Dolores and offers herself to be shot instead. And then all of the other nuns also place themselves in harm's way to protect their sister. And they do this by singing the song Take Me to Heaven. She sings it first when she thinks she's about to get shot. And so she's kneeling on the floor with, like, no instrumentation beneath her, just singing, take me to heaven, take me to paradise. And the lyrics are twisted yet again because it's now her saying this final prayer when she thinks she's about to get killed. And then you have all of the other nuns stepping in the way, singing a line at a time. Take all my heart and soul My joy and love I am ready, sweet lord above. And then they sing, take me, take me, take me. It's so beautiful, I could cry, honestly, just remembering it. But that's not the only great reprise in this show. There's also a reprise of the song Fabulous Baby. This is the song that Dolores sings at the beginning of the show. She knows that she's gonna be a star now. She reprises the same song later when she's searching for confidence after leaving the convent. But first Officer Eddie Souther sings it to her. He's an old school friend of hers who has had a crush on her since forever, but he gets nervous and sweaty around her, so she never really paid him the time of day. He sings this song to her where he echoes those same feelings she felt about herself. And he is, I think, the first person in the show to really endorse her the same way she believes in herself. He sings, look how you smile makes the room ignite look how your voice sets the world alight it's lovely. It's a very tender reprise of that song. She then carries on with it after he's left the room. Look out Manhattan and Hollywood. But my favorite reprieve in Sister act is the reprise of the song the Life I Never Led. This is first sung by Sister Mary Robert. In the second act, she's singing about all of the things that she's never had the chance to do as a lifelong nun. And she later reprises this song when she is urging the Mother Superior to let them help Dolores when they discover who Dolores really is and that she is in danger. Now, I prefer the way that this was done in the original version of the show, because Dolores, when she leaves, gave Mary Robert some purple boots, some, like, knee high, sassy boots. But in the original version of the show, when Mother Superior said, we mustn't go after Dolores, who wasn't on stage at that point, Sister Mary Robert runs on wearing the purple boots with the wimple. It's a great look. And she declared that she was going to go and help Dolores. She sang the lyrics, I'm going now or leaving forever. Instead, it's time to start living the life I never led. And the melody climbs in the way it didn't in the original ending. Now, in subsequent versions of the show, after the material was revised a little bit, Dolores is on stage for that moment. Sister Mary Robert isn't wearing the boots, which makes me sad. And she sings a slightly convoluted version of the lyric, which is. I think it's something like, she's staying now or I'm leaving with her instead. And then she sings, it's time to start leaving the life I never. And then, devastatingly, the beautiful last note gets cut off by a gunshot. I still haven't recovered from seeing the show on tour, not realising that they'd changed that and having the brilliant Julie Atherton get cut off by a gunshot effect. I'm still not over it. Here is, I think, an underappreciated reprise in the world of musical theatre. So when I mentioned to my boyfriend Aaron that I was going to be making this video, we spent a lot of time arguing back and forth about what the best reprises Were and this is one that he pitched to me. This is from 9 to 5, the Dolly Parton musical. And this is sung by a character called Ros. So even though we have three protagonists in nine to Five who all agree that their boss is a condescending, misogynist, sexually harassing jerk, Roz is his secretary who has nothing but respect and adoration for the man. Now audiences of course know the song 9 to 5 which opens the musical. Tumble out of bed and I stumble in the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition, yawn and stretch and try to come to life. And they talk about the soul sucking capitalism that occurs between the hours of 9 and 5. But later in the show, Ros laments the hours between 5 and 9 when she doesn't get to be at work with the man that she loves. And she sings a song called 5 to 9 that lightly reprises the 9 to 5 melody. It's not super obvious, but it is absolutely a reprise where the characters at the beginning sang 9 2, 5. She sings 5 to 9 and it's another like slow and heartfelt reprise of that melody. She's like da da da da da da. Another fun little Easter egg in this song is that she whispers, I will always love you. I will always love youe. Of course being another song that was written originally by Dolly Parton before it was recorded by Whitney Houston for the Bodyguard soundtrack. Now in recent years, one of the most iconic reprises in musical theatre has been the Wait for Me reprise from Hadestown. Hadestown has a bunch of different reprises in its score. Some of them just feel like a song coming back. We want to re articulate the same idea, but this one feels very much like a bit of an evolution. From the first time we hear this song to the second second. This is Wait for Me reprise. Now the first time we hear Wait for Me, it's at the end of the first act when Orpheus decides to chase Eurydice into Hadestown into the underworld where she has gone in order to get guaranteed food and work because she's living in a cold and unforgiving wintery poverty. So she is seduced by Hades offer of employment. She goes with him to the underworld. And then Orpheus, who hadn't super been paying any attention to her because he'd spend spent years writing a song, when he finds out about all of this, he decides to follow her by walking a really long way. And we have some lovely staging with lamps. It's great, it all sounds great, it looks great. Then in the second act, he goes down to Hadestown. He pleads with Hades, who decides, in order to save face, that he will offer Orpheus the opportunity to save Eurydice from Hell. Essentially, if he manages to walk out of there in front of her without ever once turning behind to check that she's still following him, he has to trust her implicitly. And while this is happening, and while they are walking out together, he sings Wait for Me. And Eurydice gets this great vocal line in it as well. He sings, wait for me, I'm coming Wait, I'm coming with you. And she sings, I'm coming, Wait for me. I hear the walls repeating. It's great. And it does one of those things that a really great reprise can do, which is maybe even eclipse the enjoyment of the original number. Like, let me know in the comments. Comments who prefers Wait for Me reprise to the original Wait for Me? I'm curious. Another great recent reprise in musical theatre has been Bad Idea reprise from Waitress. So the song Bad Idea takes place in the first act, where our main protagonist, Jenna Hunterson, begins to have an affair with her doctor, Dr. Pomatter. She is in an abusive and neglectful relationship that she doesn't want to be in. She's not super thrilled about the fact that she is pregnant with his baby, and when Dr. Pomatter shows her kindness and gratitude for the exceptional pies that she keeps bringing him, she finds herself a little bit seduced, and the two of them slip into having an affair at his workplace. And the song Bad Idea is all about how they know that they shouldn't and it's a bad idea, but they end up doing it anyway. This is also how the first act of the show ends. And then one of the first songs in the second act is Bad Idea Reprieve. At this point, we see them super comfortable with the romantic relationship that they have with each other. They've gotten over the fact that it's an affair, but we also get snapshots of the other two waitresses that Jenna works alongside, dawn and Becky, and the romantic liaisons that they are engaging in. Becky's is an affair and Dawn's is her budding sexual relationship with the young man that she's recently met, Ogie. But in the original version of the show, it's the staging of this number that makes it so hilarious. We have all three of them on stage together, and Ogie emerges from underneath Dawn's dress and the two of them are dressed up for a Civil War reenactment, because that's something that they do. She's carrying a flag on the tour. It was a pride flag. It was a progress pride flag. In fact, he loudly declares, the British are coming. Becky's getting spanked with a spatula. I believe it's all going on. It's absolutely wild. And that's why it's a great number. Now, for the last couple spots, I was really struggling as to what was this really great, huge epic reprise to put here, and I've settled for something a little bit smaller, but really fulfilling. This is Wicked Little Town from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. So Hedwig and the Angry Inch depicts a gig by a performer named Hedwig, a songwriter whose compositions were stolen by this rising star singer songwriter Tommy Gnossis, who is playing a much bigger venue that can be heard out the stage door. And at several points during the show, Hedwig opens the door and overhears Tommy taking all of the credit for these songs and giving no tribute to Hedwig whatsoever. As Hedwig begins to spiral emotionally, there's this transformative moment at the end of the show where the same performer playing Hedwig plays Tommy Gnosis performing at his concert and reprises a song that Hedwig wrote with Tommy called Wicked Little Town. And the lyrics of this song give Hedwig all of the absolution and the acceptance that they need to move on with their life. But it's not a huge epic song. It's small and subtle, it's very soft rock, it's a haunting melody both times that we hear it. And the way that this fits into the show dramatically makes it really satisfying. After Hedwig has this enormous breakdown, it gives them the satisfaction to be able to end the show on a resolved note and come to terms with everything. And finally, this is one of my favourite. Now, I haven't mentioned any Andrew Lloyd Webber reprises so far because for the most part, he likes to reuse themes a lot in his shows. And probably the most iconic reprise that he's ever written is the All I Ask of youf reprise. At the end of Act 1 of Phantom of the Opera, Christine and Raoul sing a beautiful love song, but after it ends, the Phantom has overheard it and he immediately reprises it, but in a very minor and sad way, because he's like, what do you mean you're going to run off with this beautiful man you've loved since childhood? Why would you not pick me, the creepy murderer who is years older than you and has been gaslighting you from behind a Mirror pretending that I'm the ghost of your dead dad teaching you how to sing. Why would you not choose me, Cristine? Now, the reason I haven't chose that is because it does kind of break my rule about not really being a reprise. Phantom is sung through anyway. And we have sequences like the final layer sequence where we have so many different songs and themes and melodies that just kind of form one piece. And I consider Phantom's part of All I Ask of youf to really just be the ending of the song after they've left. But one that is a more traditional version of a reprise takes place in the musical School of Rock. This is my favourite song in the School of Rock score. I think we move away from the very funny plot about Dewey, who is a aging rock star who needs money and so duplicitously takes a job as a substitute teacher and ends up turning this very serious private school class into a rock band. We step away from that for a moment to give the kids this song where they can sing about their frustrations with their parents, who are so determined to push them towards exceptional results and success that they're not really seeing their kids for who they actually are. They sing a song called if only you would Listen. If only you would listen. Now, eventually and predictably, Dewey's schemes starts to unravel and all of the very annoyed parents find out about this and he is fired from Horace Green. However, the kids decide to take matters into their own hands and they go and seek him out at his apartment. Now, the song is not called if only you would Listen Reprise, but that's exactly what it is. It's actually called Act 2, Scene 8, Dewey's bedroom. I don't know if this is so that when they list the songs in the program that they don't give this moment away. But it's a beautiful moment where we have this shy student named Tamika, who has come to be one of the singers who has found her voice because of Dewey's encouragement. In the midst of all of this arguing, she starts this acapella reprise of the song. It's beautiful. But crucially, the whole feel of the song has changed. From the first act, where it was playful and juvenile, it now feels soulful and soft rock because he's helped them find their rock and he's used rock as a tool, sort of unwittingly, to help them sort of find their own voices and their independence from their parents. And it comes back as this slow, soft rock waltz. If only you would listen and the lyric isn't if only you would listen. It's and only you would listen. That's what they're singing to him. They're saying only you listened to us. It's beautiful. It's a lovely reprise. It does make me cry every single time I see the show. And that's why it's on this list. Thank you for watching this video. I hope that you've enjoyed. Make sure to comment down below what your favourite reprises are in musical theatre. There are so many honorable mentions I could have put into this video. Falsetto land in Falsettos comes to mind. Skater Planet from the recent Tony award winning musical Kimberly Akimbo. And there are many more. There are so many more. So comment down below with your favourite reprises from a musical. If you did enjoy today's video, make sure to subscribe to my theatre themed YouTube channel. There will be plenty more videos just like this. These coming very soon. I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a Stagey Day. For 10 more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.