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On Broadway

 Critics say that the top of the Second Act should be lively and sort of disposable; it's full of energy, but it's also not really needed. If you miss it--because of a bathroom trip--you're not really in trouble.


One standard example is the ensemble number from "Merrily We Roll Along": "It's a Hit." A new, great example is the "Kimberly Akimbo" selection: "How to Wash a Check."

For me, the gold standard has always been from "Sweeney Todd." On the surface, "God, That's Good" is simply a celebration. The business is booming! But there are "small" problems everywhere. Sweeney is deranged and singing to a chair. The Beggar Woman is rearing her head. Judge Turpin is absent; Sweeney can't help but wring his hands.

Another standout comes from "Little Shop of Horrors." The filmmakers felt so indifferent to the song, they simply removed it. (But the filmmakers were generally unwise.) 

"Little Shop" needs to establish that the Mushnik business is booming *and* that something surreal, something unnerving, is happening.

Flowers for a prom corsage?
Flowers for an entourage?
Flowers to the funeral home?
Leaving from St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church...at Ninth and Vine?
Forty dollars...Hold the line....

Elegantly, Ashman hints at the problem that will be the main "engine" for Act Two. Audrey observes:

Business is doing great...
So why am I so depressed?

Ashman also underlines Seymour's narcissism, a key focus for the next sixty minutes:

It's just as the plant foretold...
It's business like who'd have ever guessed...
That was me!
That was me!
On Channel Three!
SKID ROW'S FAVORITE FLORIST!!!

The song ends in a perfect way; Ashman wants to suggest that his protagonists are not really thinking clearly about a sensible path forward. The protagonists seem to address the phones in their hands--but, really, they're addressing us in the audience.

Call back in the morning, will you?
Call back in the morning, can't you?
Call back in the morning, thank you!
CALL BACK IN THE MORNING!

Fade to black.




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