[idTAPthat89]

So, there's a thread for favorite opening numbers so why not have one for finales/closing numbers? Here are my personal favorites:

In no particular order:
1.)Sweeney Todd
2.)Sunday In The Park With George
3.)Company
4.)Secret Garden
5.)Lippa's Wild Party
6.)Bare: A Pop Opera
7.)Beauty and The Beast

and I'm sure I'll end up thinking of more..

[nabla]

For me i'd say

You Can't Stop the Beat - Hairspray
No Voice - Bare
Finale B - Rent
Rose's Turn - Gypsy
"Where the devil are my slippers?", playout.... - My Fair Lady
Finale - Cabaret
Light - Next to Normal (although to me it seems a little cheesy in comparison to the rest of the show)
Reviewing the Situation (Reprise) - Oliver!
Down Once More/Track Down This Murderer - The Phantom of the Opera (Sue me)

EDIT: WEST SIDE STORY!

[Luc]

Sunday - Sunday in the Park With George
The Ballad of Sweeney Todd - Sweeney Todd
Oh, the Thinks You Can Think (Reprise) - Seussical (MTI Version)
Just So (Finale) - Just So
A Little More Homework - 13
Candy Man (Reprise) - Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka
The Birth - BABY
As We Stumble Along (Reprise) - The Drowsy Chaperone

[SmallTownIngenue]

Les Mis
Into the Woods
The Light in the Piazza
The Fantasticks

In addition to Beauty and the Beast, My Fair Lady, Phantom, Sweeney Todd, etc. which were already mentioned.

[Disney-Bway27]

Titanic has the greatest finales of all time. Ever. No contest.
But my ridiculous Titanic lovefest aside, its finale is really very good.

In no particular order...
1. Titanic
2. Anything Goes
3. Parade
4. Ragtime
5. Candide (Make Our Garden Grow is an absolutely beautiful song)
6. My Fair Lady (seriously..."I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" paired with the gorgeous violin solo of "I Could Have Danced All Night"? Add in the dialogue, and you have one of the best endings ever.)
7. Sweeney Todd
8. Sunday in the Park With George
9. Assassins (this isn't my favorite Sondheim show, but I LOVE the finale)
10. Les Miserables
11. Nine
12. Oklahoma!
13. Carousel
14. Man of La Mancha (makes me cry every time)
15. Mame
16. King David

Wow. That's quite a few. But I'm a HUGE finale geek.

[SmallTownIngenue]

I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT CANDIDE!!!!

I agree Elliott, "Make Our Garden Grow" is spectacular. Gives me chills every time.

[fjays]

[idTAPthat89]

Ooh I like it! I forgot that one! It's simple, but I enjoy it none the less.

[Quique]

The Rent finale ranks as one of the worst I've ever seen.

[fjays]

[Felix Felicis]

Sunday in the Park with George is the correct answer.

[Mumsytype]

My all-time favourite has to be the finale of Starlight Express - There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel. In the London production, this included the entire cast skating around the bottom race track, hand-slapping the fans in the Standing Room area. Very sadly the London show was never videoed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhZnVLvVjjE

The song is just so cheering!

[SianZena]

In no particular order;
Wicked
Les Miserables
Hairspray
Legally Blonde
Rent
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat
The Lion King

[Bare Fan]

in no order...
wicked
Bare
Hairspray
Into the woods
Blood brothers (so sad!)

[Beagle On Stage]

Godspell. I like it best when staged without Jesus coming back at the end. Godspell is about the function of the community, not the story of Jesus. It's so much better to see the community surviving the trauma and going out to spread the news, and just let the resurrection be implied.

Though, if a church is staging it, you'll always see him dance in at the end. Tacky.

[SomeoneLikeYou]

[ActingDude17]

Finale B - Rent
Tell Me It's Not True - Blood Brothers
Beauty and the Beast (Reprise) - Beauty and the Beast
Neverland (Reprise) - Peter Pan
The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Finale - Sweeney Todd
Finale - Into The Woods
Anatevka - Fiddler on the Roof
King of Pride Rock/Circle of Life (Reprise) - The Lion King
Finale - Wicked
Reviewing the Situation (Reprise) - Oliver!

Like Elliott, I too am a finale geek.

[nabla]

werd to Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, i forgot about those.

[Quique]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYC_R2I-2PU

<3

[ilovemusicals!]

i think Once Upon a Mattress has a great, and entertaining finale.

[dancejazz7]

Right now, the only thing that is coming to mind is Let the Sunshine in from HAIR! Wow. That song is chilling! Another one: Lion King. I love that show. It is done so uniquely. Not to mention, the finale is breathtaking!

[dancejazz7]

AHH! and Hairspray! It's too fun not to mention! Catchy catchy catchy, and if it weren't so over done everywhere, I think more people would appreciate it!

[Beagle On Stage]

I think the ending for the 1962 version of Anything Goes is fun. It goes straight from conflict, to deus ex machina, to a few bars of music capped with a high note. It's the definition of streamlined.