Recently on Twitter, my friend Howard Sherman (@HESherman) started a hashtag topic on the best closing lines from the stage (#beststageclosinglines).
Needless to say, I contributed a few of my own, and I'm sure you won't be surprised that they were mostly from musicals. (Although I did include "Blow out your candles, Laura." Chills.) But after a half-dozen entries or so, I decided that it might be fun to put together a blog post with some of my favorite closing lines from musicals.
Now, I didn't necessarily take the phrase "closing lines" literally. It's a bit easier with plays, but with musicals, you very frequently have a final reprise or a medley. Some of the items listed below are the actual final words uttered during the show, but in many cases, they're simply the last meaningful lines, whether spoken or sung. And by "meaningful," I was simply going for something that was distinctive but not necessarily a giveaway.
So, for instance, you won't find Gypsy represented below, because the last line in that show is, "Madam Rose...and her daughter, Gypsy!" I mean, where's the fun in that? But you also won't find Fiddler on the Roof here, because the last line there is, "Come, children. Let's go." Even I would have a tough time with that one, so I certainly wouldn't want to foist so vague a reference upon you, dear reader. That's not to say that there aren't some hard ones here. Some of these are quite tough.
So, give 'er a crack. No prize this time, but feel free to submit your answers as comments below. I'll only publish the answers in a week or so, at which time I will also publish the correct answers.
Good luck.
- "Where the devil are my slippers?"
- "Miss Jones...Take a wire to the White House: Watch out!"
- "So many possibilities."
- "Te adoro, Anton."
- "Happy birthday, Robert!"
- "I wish!"
- "Don't deny your beast inside!"
- "Achoo!"
- "You choose."
- "What adventures we're going to have together!"
- "Mrs. Paroo! That's Winthrop!"
- "And I'm very glad we're going to be working together."
- "Turn around, girlfriend. And listen to that boy's song."
- "Hail, Malthus!"
- "You just want to laugh at my French accent. All right, but you've got to help me."
- "I'm so lucky!"
- "You must always leave the wall."
- "I want to remember each man's face as he signs."
- "But we are the living examples of what a wonderful country this is."
- "Don't feed the plants!"
- "I loved you, Julie! Know that I loved you!"
- "I told ye when ye love someone deeply anythin' is possible. Even miracles."
- "Yeah, I'm all choked up."
- "It was the end of the world...and we were both fast asleep."
- "Father into your hands I commend my spirit."
- "You have the power of Pandora's Box, Lee. Open it."
- "Son, if you are only as happy and your mother and I, my heart will bleed for you."
- "I'll tell the world this is a lousy job."
- "Next!"
- "Only the last."
- EXTRA CREDIT: What's the significance of the Curtains logo above?

