11 o'clock number is a theatre term for a big, show-stopping song that occurs late in the second act of a two-act

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

, in which a major character, often the protagonist, comes to an important realization. Examples include "So Long Dearie" from '' Hello, Dolly!'', "If He Walked Into My Life" from ''

Mame MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to emulate the hardware of arcade games, video game consoles, old computers and other systems in software on modern personal computers and ...

'', "

Rose's Turn "Rose's Turn" is a song from the musical ''Gypsy''. It has been performed by such actresses as Ethel Merman (who originated the role of Rose on Broadway), Bette Midler, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Imelda Staunton, ...

" from ''

Gypsy {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

'', "Work the Wound" from '' Passing Strange'', and "

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

" from ''

''. It was so named because in the days when musical performances would start at 8:30 p.m., this song would occur around 11:00 p.m.Ben Rimalower (19 July 2014)
"'This Time For Me': The Essential 11 O'Clock Numbers"
''Playbill.com''. Accessed 2015-02-02.
Archived
2015-03-28. Among the theatre community, there is some debate as to the characteristics of an 11 o'clock number. It often signifies a moment of revelation or change of heart of a lead character, although there are exceptions to this."'Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ The Boat:' An Unusual 11 o’clock Number"
''The Marquee, News and Views from MTI''. Retrieved 23 June 2011. The 11 o'clock number is also differentiated from the finale in that it is not the final number in the show, but even this is not considered a requirement by some commenters.Michael Musto (29 April 2011)
"The Five Best 11 O'Clock Numbers in Broadway History"
. ''The Village Voice'' theater blog. Broadway producer Jack Viertel defines an 11 o'clock number as "a final star turn". Other notable 11 o'clock numbers include " Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" from ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Run ...

'', "

Memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...

" from ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

'', "Brotherhood of Man" from '' How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', “ No Good Deed” from ''

Wicked Wicked may refer to: Books * ''Wicked'' (Maguire novel), a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', a 1997 novel series collaboration between Australian children's authors Paul Jennings and Morris ...

'', "Gimme Gimme" from ''

Thoroughly Modern Millie ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' is a 1967 American musical romantic comedy film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Julie Andrews. The screenplay by Richard Morris, based on the 1956 British musical ''Chrysanthemum'', follows a naïve young ...

'', "Another National Anthem" from ''

Assassins An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder. The origin of the term is the medieval Order of Assassins, a sect of Shia Islam 1090–1275 CE. Assassin, or variants, may also refer to: Fictional characters * Assassin, in the Japanese adult ...

'', "The American Dream" from ''

Miss Saigon ''Miss Saigon'' is a sung-through musical theatre, stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera ''Madama Butterfly'', and similarly tells th ...

'', "Goodbye" from ''

Catch Me If You Can ''Catch Me If You Can'' is a 2002 American crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, and James Brolin in ...

'', " Revolting Children" from ''

Matilda The Musical ''Roald Dahl's Matilda'', also known simply as ''Matilda'' and ''Matilda the Musical'', is a musical with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and a book by Dennis Kelly. It is based on the 1988 novel '' Matilda'' by Roald Dahl. The musical's narr ...

'', "I'm Here" from ''

The Color Purple ''The Color Purple'' is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker that won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.If/Then ''If/Then'' is a musical with a libretto by Brian Yorkey and a theatrical score by Tom Kitt, directed by Michael Greif. It tells the story of a 38-year-old woman named Elizabeth who moves back to New York City for a fresh start. ''If/Then ...

''.Peter Marks (25 November 2013), "I Believe" from The Book of Mormon
"Eagerly awaited musical ‘If/Then’ is a winning blob, with many kinks to be worked out"
''The Washington Post''.

References

{{Reflist Songs from musicals Song forms