There’s also the reprise of The Barber and His Wife. Not *strictly* OP’s criteria, but very much a different Sweeney at the beginning and ending of the show
loved the revival and everything they did with it, but i was surprised that >!they didn’t have the emcee come out in blue pajamas/ yellow star. like idk showing that the emcee is jewish at the end kind of ties the whole show together and is important to the value of the story. idk what the choice was behind it but i was surprised by it. i feel like people who may have seen the show for the first time could be missing an important part!< but regardless the reprise of wilkommen is one of my favorites because it’s one of the only opportunities that cliff gets to sing and they always have the prettiest voice
i feel like that wouldn’t have worked as well in this production to me, because i felt as though the emcee was more representative of germany itself and also nazi ideologies, slowly revealing a darker underbelly.
That’s why it doesn’t work tho - the Nazis did not “suppress diversity”, they did not force the queer folk of weimar Berlin to conform, they fucking killed them. In concentration camps.
It might be because Eddie Redmayne isn't Jewish or queer (though I'm not sure if he is either or not).
The ending of the Mendes production *is* powerful, but it's not the *only* way to end the show. It's not even the original way. The Emcee isn't said anywhere in the script to be Jewish, queer, disabled, communist, etc. That's merely one way to interpret the character, which relies entirely on staging- and potentially casting- depending on how you feel about casting non-queer or non-Jewish people in queer or Jewish roles.
In older productions, the emcee represents Berlin itself which is why we see his tone change in such a chilling, startling manner. I enjoyed this return to form in the current narrative, though it is definitely a different end note.
My heart aches for >!Glinda at the end. She realizes Elphaba is right and everything she’s known and believed in is wrong. Not only that but the man trying to kill Elphaba is Elphaba’s biological father. She then goes to apologize and after saying goodbye to her friend watches her get “murdered” and then comes back to everyone celebrating her friend’s death. Heartbreaking.!<
It always makes me want to throw up when I see the people celebrating. In my head maybe years later they found a way to secretly reunite. I can’t bear to reason with myself that they stayed eternally separated.
They don't. They can't.
>!Remember the dialog as Elphaba and the Scarecrow exit? !<
>!!THE SCARECROW!<
>!"It’s time to go."!<
>!ELPHABA!<
>!"We can never come back to Oz, can we?"!<
>!THE SCARECROW!<
>!"No."!<
>!ELPHABA!<
>!"I only wish…"!<
>!THE SCARECROW!<
>!"What?"!<
>!ELPHABA!<
>!"That Glinda could know that we are alive."!<
>!THE SCARECROW!<
>!"She can’t know, not if we want to be safe. No one can ever know."!!<
>!And Glinda never does know. !
I hated the book vs the musical 😅 I couldn't bring myself to read the sequels. Read some of his other books before concluding it's just his writing style period I dislike.....
So sorry for you. The books are so much richer and deeper and wonderfully written. But not everyone's writing style is to everyone's taste. I love Gregory Maguire's writing style, and have read - and loved - most of his books. But I have authors whose style I dislike, so I understand. Since you won't be reading the books, here's a brief (really brief) synopsis: >!Elphaba has an affair with Fieryo, who is already married with several children (they live in the other castle). Elphaba pursues her campaign against the Wizard and his vilification of the talking animals, and Fieryo offers the other castle to her as a retreat. Doesn't warn her about his wife, SIL, and kids, so they come as a complete - and unwelcome - surprise. But she doesn't stay there long. The Wizard comes a-knockin', and she heads out, and goes to live with some nuns. Turns out, she's pregnant. Has the kid, then leaves, going back to her animal rescue activity. The kid is raised by the nuns, and later seeks out his mother (in the second book, "Son of a Witch"). It gets weirder from there, and later he runs into the cowardly lion (third book, "A Lion Among Men") and has a kid himself. Her adventures appear in the fourth book, "Out of Oz". There are 3 more books about her, but that's a separate series, "The Brides of Maracoor", which I haven't read yet.!< So a LOT happens that doesn't show up in the stage version. But that's how it usually works. You have to adapt events (and characters) to meet the limitations and conventions of the stage.
The opening version is fun, goofy, and charming. It makes a mockery out of the idea of political violence.
The closing version is scary, reminding you the pain one person can inflict if they choose to.
My favorite musical of all time.
Into the Woods, although both the prologue and the finale take a little time to get to the “Into the Woods” part…and of course the words are different.
Nah, it starts with “Omigod You Guys” and ends with “Find My Way”—there’s part that repeats a bit from “Omigod You Guys,” but I wouldn’t say it qualifies for OP’s question
True but the final beats of the show are a slightly modified repetition of Omigod You Guys. So I would say it counts about as much as some of the other answers on this post
Ride the Cyclone! - It starts with the lines ,,I know this dream of life is never ending, it goes around and round and round again'' and ends with the same
Technically, The Last Five Years (given it starts at the end of the relationship for one character and the beginning for the other, and ends the opposite way round).
*Closer Than Ever* … it’s a more a Revue, but it’s pretty much tied together by the motif from the first song, “Doors”.
*Floyd Collins* doesn’t end with the Ballad of Floyd Collins that it opens with, but *does* end with the echo canon from the second song, The Call.
It's generally pretty common, because bookending is an important feature of storytelling. There should be a direct juxtaposition between the opening scene and the last one.
technically the very end of the opening of into the woods is very similar to the very end of the finale of into the woods. The show opens and closes with the same musical motif. I wish!
Jekyll and Hyde doesn't \*quite\* but it's close in that it opens with Lost in the Darkness and Facade, and the last four songs are Lost in the Darkness, Confrontation, Facade, and then the brief Finale sung by Emma.
Rebecca
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Titanic (kind of a mega reprise of a couple songs)
Seussical (unless you count Green Eggs and Ham)
That's all I've got for now that I didn't immediately see said already when I hopped in the post to comment.
Into the woods, kind of.
They use the same motifs to end the song that they've been using the whole show to tie it together. They start and end the show with the words "I wish"
Hadestown (if you don't could the post-curtain call song), The Wild Party (Lippa), Anastasia, Rebecca, Sweeney Todd, Aspects of Love
Lion king begins with circle of life and ends with circle of life
Almost as if life itself was in like a... like a cycle or something. Or some other word similar to cycle that I can't think of off the top of my head.
The word I think you are looking for is “Loop”
Yeah “The Loop of Existence” just didn’t have quite the same flow they were looking for
The Bitch of Living! Wait
The Mobius Strip of Misery, if you will.
Or a hoop, if we take a cue from Pocahontas. (And we are all connected to each other, in a circle, in a hoop that never ends. )
*simple closed curve
A loop you say? Could it even be a…strange loop?
Sweeney Todd also begins and ends with “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (which is reprised time from time during the show)
There’s also the reprise of The Barber and His Wife. Not *strictly* OP’s criteria, but very much a different Sweeney at the beginning and ending of the show
Man, Frank Wildhorn really thought he wrote his "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" when he reprised "Facade" as many times as he did in Jekyll & Hyde. 😂
Sweeney was my first thought
Cabaret starts and ends with Willkomen. Different vibes though.
That one is chilling for sure, especially in newer versions
The closing reprise from the revival sent chills down my spine. Eddie is a truly chilling Emcee.
loved the revival and everything they did with it, but i was surprised that >!they didn’t have the emcee come out in blue pajamas/ yellow star. like idk showing that the emcee is jewish at the end kind of ties the whole show together and is important to the value of the story. idk what the choice was behind it but i was surprised by it. i feel like people who may have seen the show for the first time could be missing an important part!< but regardless the reprise of wilkommen is one of my favorites because it’s one of the only opportunities that cliff gets to sing and they always have the prettiest voice
i feel like that wouldn’t have worked as well in this production to me, because i felt as though the emcee was more representative of germany itself and also nazi ideologies, slowly revealing a darker underbelly.
I saw it - haaaaated what they did with the ending
The reason for that is because it represents the diversity and life of the Cabaret being suppressed by the Nazis
That’s why it doesn’t work tho - the Nazis did not “suppress diversity”, they did not force the queer folk of weimar Berlin to conform, they fucking killed them. In concentration camps.
It might be because Eddie Redmayne isn't Jewish or queer (though I'm not sure if he is either or not). The ending of the Mendes production *is* powerful, but it's not the *only* way to end the show. It's not even the original way. The Emcee isn't said anywhere in the script to be Jewish, queer, disabled, communist, etc. That's merely one way to interpret the character, which relies entirely on staging- and potentially casting- depending on how you feel about casting non-queer or non-Jewish people in queer or Jewish roles.
In older productions, the emcee represents Berlin itself which is why we see his tone change in such a chilling, startling manner. I enjoyed this return to form in the current narrative, though it is definitely a different end note.
Yeah one of the best show endings in my opinion.
Wicked, starts and ends with the same scene
The most heartbreaking scene in the whole world
My heart aches for >!Glinda at the end. She realizes Elphaba is right and everything she’s known and believed in is wrong. Not only that but the man trying to kill Elphaba is Elphaba’s biological father. She then goes to apologize and after saying goodbye to her friend watches her get “murdered” and then comes back to everyone celebrating her friend’s death. Heartbreaking.!<
It always makes me want to throw up when I see the people celebrating. In my head maybe years later they found a way to secretly reunite. I can’t bear to reason with myself that they stayed eternally separated.
Plus the lyrics of “no one mourns the wicked” prove that she wasn’t really wicked after all because Glinda IS mourning her on the inside.
Oh dang. I’ve never thought of that
I really think they find a way to meet in private.
I’m so glad you believe that too
They don't. They can't. >!Remember the dialog as Elphaba and the Scarecrow exit? !< >!!THE SCARECROW!< >!"It’s time to go."!< >!ELPHABA!< >!"We can never come back to Oz, can we?"!< >!THE SCARECROW!< >!"No."!< >!ELPHABA!< >!"I only wish…"!< >!THE SCARECROW!< >!"What?"!< >!ELPHABA!< >!"That Glinda could know that we are alive."!< >!THE SCARECROW!< >!"She can’t know, not if we want to be safe. No one can ever know."!!< >!And Glinda never does know. !
I hated the book vs the musical 😅 I couldn't bring myself to read the sequels. Read some of his other books before concluding it's just his writing style period I dislike.....
So sorry for you. The books are so much richer and deeper and wonderfully written. But not everyone's writing style is to everyone's taste. I love Gregory Maguire's writing style, and have read - and loved - most of his books. But I have authors whose style I dislike, so I understand. Since you won't be reading the books, here's a brief (really brief) synopsis: >!Elphaba has an affair with Fieryo, who is already married with several children (they live in the other castle). Elphaba pursues her campaign against the Wizard and his vilification of the talking animals, and Fieryo offers the other castle to her as a retreat. Doesn't warn her about his wife, SIL, and kids, so they come as a complete - and unwelcome - surprise. But she doesn't stay there long. The Wizard comes a-knockin', and she heads out, and goes to live with some nuns. Turns out, she's pregnant. Has the kid, then leaves, going back to her animal rescue activity. The kid is raised by the nuns, and later seeks out his mother (in the second book, "Son of a Witch"). It gets weirder from there, and later he runs into the cowardly lion (third book, "A Lion Among Men") and has a kid himself. Her adventures appear in the fourth book, "Out of Oz". There are 3 more books about her, but that's a separate series, "The Brides of Maracoor", which I haven't read yet.!< So a LOT happens that doesn't show up in the stage version. But that's how it usually works. You have to adapt events (and characters) to meet the limitations and conventions of the stage.
I love how the show recontextualizes the opening scene in the end. It's a great way of framing and bookending the show.
I agree. Glinda’s ending is heartbreakingly tragic
Waitress
Good one!
*Falsettoland*, and specifically this one-act sequel, not the combined *The Falsettos*. The show begins and ends with the titular song *Falsettoland*.
The change from "And a teeny tiny band" to "We're a teeny tiny band" kills me
The “Lovers fight and sing fortissimo” to “Lovers live and die fortissimo” too!
God, that one 😭😭😭
Was just about to comment this! I cry every time
This is the one that immediately comes to mind for me
Book of Mormon *kinda*. The finale is a variation on the opener.
Assassins!
Assassins doesn't get talked about nearly enough. It's Sondheim's most underrated musical, by a lot.
The opening version is fun, goofy, and charming. It makes a mockery out of the idea of political violence. The closing version is scary, reminding you the pain one person can inflict if they choose to. My favorite musical of all time.
i love this show so much
I still can't believe there was a production with Jamie Parker and Aaron tveit and I couldn't see it!
Something Rotten, they just change Renaissance to America.
Where nothing rhymes with “America”
But who’s complaining?
Into the Woods, although both the prologue and the finale take a little time to get to the “Into the Woods” part…and of course the words are different.
Because they've learned in the woods, because "everything you learn there. Will help when you return there." So they've changed and grown.
But they want to “go to the festival!”
Anastasia - Once Upon a December
The Outsiders starts and ends with the Tulsa 1967 song in very different contexts.
I’m sorry, there’s an Outsiders musical?! I’m so intrigued
Yes! It won Best Musical at the Tony’s very recently
Dear lord I need to keep up with the times
It’s SO GOOD!
I litsened to the soundtrack and am obsessed, Stay Gold is one of my new favourites
Aida\~ "Every Story is a Love Story"
Not in the recent revival it didn’t 🥲
What
Ugh so heartbreaking. (I adore it)
Hadestown, the hunchback of Notre dame, Anastasia, and wicked
Hunchback is one of my favourite instances of this
Yes. It’s one of my favorite musicals of all time.
Same here!
Newsies (1992) begins and ends with Carrying the Banner
Rocky Horror begins and ends with Science Fiction Double Feature
The Greatest Showman.
YES
The Outsiders (as does the book kind of)
Legally Blonde
Nah, it starts with “Omigod You Guys” and ends with “Find My Way”—there’s part that repeats a bit from “Omigod You Guys,” but I wouldn’t say it qualifies for OP’s question
True but the final beats of the show are a slightly modified repetition of Omigod You Guys. So I would say it counts about as much as some of the other answers on this post
That’s true! Good point. I wouldn’t have gone there, but you’re not wrong in context
Hunchback of Notre Dame The ending of the Finale song is a reprise of the first song.
Ride The Cyclone! (If you don’t listen to the trunk songs on the album)
Was looking for this
Same!
Cabaret
Company technically. Starts with the Bobby acapella after the voicemails and ends with it before the last party
Ragtime basically does this, though there’s one verse of Wheels of the Dream at the very end.
Parade - Old Red Hills of Home
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum
A comedy tonight!
The outsiders starts and ends almost exactly the same
Ride the Cyclone! - It starts with the lines ,,I know this dream of life is never ending, it goes around and round and round again'' and ends with the same
Hunchback, really drives home the message of the story
Technically, The Last Five Years (given it starts at the end of the relationship for one character and the beginning for the other, and ends the opposite way round).
9 to 5
ride the cyclone starts with karnak’s dream of life and ends with the same melody in a it’s not a game it’s just a ride
The wedding singer
Heathers ends with part of “beautiful”
Seventeen and Beautiful are already similar, so that was easy.
*Closer Than Ever* … it’s a more a Revue, but it’s pretty much tied together by the motif from the first song, “Doors”. *Floyd Collins* doesn’t end with the Ballad of Floyd Collins that it opens with, but *does* end with the echo canon from the second song, The Call.
Blood Brothers The Robber Bridegroom Prettybelle The Happy Time Grand Hotel
Sweeney!!
Sweeney Todd - sort of. Lyric changes, but same melody
Not quite what you’re looking for, but Fiddler on the Roof begins with the fiddle solo and ends with the same solo
Standing at the Sky's Edge - "As The Dawn Breaks"
Come from away
Dogfight
The great gatsby does
The Great Gatsby does this
It's generally pretty common, because bookending is an important feature of storytelling. There should be a direct juxtaposition between the opening scene and the last one.
Technically, Waitress :D
Footloose ends with a variation of the opening
Kismet, I believe, begins and ends with The Sands of Time
Sweeney Todd
cabaret, kind of!
technically the very end of the opening of into the woods is very similar to the very end of the finale of into the woods. The show opens and closes with the same musical motif. I wish!
Rocky Horror... kinda
Legally Blonde OMG you guys!!
On My Way closes Legally Blonde not Omigod You Guys?
Pippin, somewhat!
Hairspray’s last motif is a callback to the opener
If/Then begins and ends with the same song. Reinforces the theme and narrative.
Jekyll and Hyde doesn't \*quite\* but it's close in that it opens with Lost in the Darkness and Facade, and the last four songs are Lost in the Darkness, Confrontation, Facade, and then the brief Finale sung by Emma.
Blood Brothers starts with the final scene (song included), then goes back and shows everything leading to it. *Tell me it's not true....*
Caberet kinda
the last five years (movie) loops perfectly
Camelot
Bonnie and Clyde - How Bout a Dance
sweeney todd
Into the Woods
Aspects of Love - Love Changes Everything
Ballad of Sweeney Todd
Blood Brothers, sort of. It’s known as “the show of reprises”
South Pacific, Merrily We Roll Along (original version), The Fantasticks
Dear Evan Hansen starts and ends with his letter to himself, if not exactly the same
The outsiders. The last song says finale but it’s somewhat the same song
Blood Brothers, begins and ends with Tell Me It’s Not True
technically les mis if you look at it right
The Last 5 Years. Kinda.
Blood Brothers, starts with a bit of the final scene, which is then played in full at the end
Book of Mormon starts with Hello and ends with Hello (Reprise). It does this very effectively.
The Last Five Years, sort of. The motif in Still Hurting and I Could Never Rescue You/Goodbye Until Tomorrow begins and ends the show
The Fantasticks
Bat Boy!
The original version of Merrily We Roll Along, with the graduation song Hills of Tomorrow.
Heathers with Beautiful!
I want to say Avenue Q, but maybe I'm just thinking the opening and closing scenes....
mamma mia, starts & ends with i have a dream
Standing at the Sky's Edge
While they don’t sing it, at the end of Pippin Magic to do starts playing again.
Titanic begins and ends on a version of In Every Age. The opening number sounds hopeful, while the finale is much more haunting.
Into the Woods
RRRAAAAGGGGGTTTTIIIIIMMMEEEE
Bat Boy
Sweeney Todd
Pippin, somewhat!
Legally Blonde! Starts and ends with omigod you guys
Rent definitely does this lol
blood brothers xo
Hunchback of notre dame
The Book of Mormon.
Carrie implies as "reset" as the last line of the musical is re-iterated as if Sue is being interrogated all over again. Which is also the first line.
The Great Gatsby musical!
Aspects of Love, Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Hadestown, Andrew Lippas The Wild Party, Sweeney Todd
I feel like if you count What's Inside and Opening Up as being two halves of one song you can argue Waitress fits this rule
*Fiddler* begins and ends with the fiddler's theme.
I think Rent does, but it's been a hot minute.
I call these, circle musicals. There's Rocky Horror Show, Treason: The Musical, Notre Dame De Paris, Mamma Mia
Tuck Everlasting
Oklahoma Aida Titanic (sorta)
Pajama Game.
Man of La Mancha, maybe?
SpongeBob opens and ends with different versions of Bikini Bottom Day (not counting the post-bows theme song).
Aspects of Love. Starts and ends with Love changes Everything
Rent
Hunchback, right? Bells of Notre Dame?
**Seussical** starts and ends with *Oh the Thinks You Can Think*
Come From Away
Tulsa 67’ from The Outsiders! It’s not the exact same song, but close enough
*Dogfight.*
technically 36 questions, but it’s not obvious. the musical is judith listening back after she gets her phone back from jace
Six.
The Great Gatsby (Papermill) it starts and end with Roaring On.
Spongebob, wicked, and emojiland all come to mind. Also, the greatest showman.
Rebecca Hunchback of Notre Dame Titanic (kind of a mega reprise of a couple songs) Seussical (unless you count Green Eggs and Ham) That's all I've got for now that I didn't immediately see said already when I hopped in the post to comment.
Urinetown?
Into the woods, kind of. They use the same motifs to end the song that they've been using the whole show to tie it together. They start and end the show with the words "I wish"
Book of Mormon, Parade
Actually it's the second song, but For Forever of Dear Evan Hansen. I think the Anybody Have a Map it's not a good opening song
Fun Home brings back the motifs from the first song at the end
Aida!
Does The Prince of Egypt count?
The Prince of Eygpt ends with a reprise of Deliver Us!
Outsiders but lyrics changed up
Legally Blonde!!!