With tickets to certain musicals going for sums in the high three figures — and don’t forget the long, snaking lines even to get in the door — Broadway audiences surely deserve a little extra acknowledgment.
Something that says, “We’re glad you’re here” — maybe in song. And shows like “Come From Away,” “The Band’s Visit” and “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical” are obliging nightly.
“You’re asking people to spend two-plus hours,” said Kyle Jarrow, the “SpongeBob” book writer. “That’s a big ask. There’s something appropriate about a song that basically says, ‘Welcome — we’re going to be here together for a while.’”
Such songs — the classic of the genre may be “Willkommen,” from “Cabaret” — are part of a tradition that dates back at least to Shakespeare. What’s a prologue if not a welcome?
According to Laurence Maslon, an arts professor at New York University, “welcome” numbers frequently figured in musical revues of the early-to-mid 20th century.
Continue reading the main story“Life Begins at 8:40,” one such show from 1934, took the most direct route: “At exactly 8:40 or thereabouts —/or, even later —/This the-ay-ter comes to life — ….” “The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936” kicked off with “Time Marches On,” which set the audience straight on how this Follies would differ from its predecessors. (“The sex-ridden angle is gone!”)
And in “New Faces of 1952,” the cast member Ronny Graham spoke-sang:
We’ve never seen you before
You’ve never seen us before
What a pleasant place to finally meet
We vocally take your hand
We vocally shake your hand
Kevin McCollum, the lead producer of “Something Rotten!” — which opens with the giddy, satirical “Welcome to the Renaissance” — said such numbers often operate the way overtures once did: “Now a welcome song is what sort of settles everybody in.”
In a few lines, they can do a lot of work, too: Set the tone. Deliver exposition. Introduce characters. Bring the audience up to speed about a period and place, whether 1960s Maryland (“Good Morning Baltimore,” from “Hairspray”) or Upper Manhattan in the early 21st century (the title song from “In the Heights”).
Here’s a look at five shows that put out the musical welcome mat, including several brand-new to Broadway.
‘Come From Away’
THE SONG “Welcome to the Rock”
THE STORY In the aftermath of Sept. 11, dozens of planes were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, where, for five days, 7,000 stranded passengers depended on the kindness of strangers.
SING A FEW BARS
Welcome to the Rock! If you come from away
You’ll probably understand about a half of what we say
GOALS “The song has a dual purpose,” said David Hein, who wrote the book and score with Irene Sankoff, his wife. “The idea of welcoming is what our show is about, and it’s also what Newfoundland is about. When we went to Gander on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 to do research for ‘Come From Away,’ we saw the same generosity and hospitality that the 9/11 people did. We were welcomed into people’s homes, and it seemed important to honor that.”
‘The Band’s Visit’
SONG “Welcome to Nowhere”
STORY Because of an error in pronunciation and communication, the Egyptian musicians who make up the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra are stranded overnight in a dot of a town in the Negev desert of Israel. Nothing happens. Everything happens.
SING A FEW BARS
Here you are in renowned Bet Hatikva
Go ahead, look around Bet Hatikva
Lucky you, you have found Bet Hatikva
Welcome to Nowhere
GOAL “The song gave me an ‘in’ to explaining what the town is like,” said David Yazbek, who wrote the show’s score and lyrics. “It’s definitely a scene setter. But this is not the type of show that sings to the audience. It definitely doesn’t break the fourth wall. It doesn’t even tap the fourth wall. There is no winking at all. So it’s very handy that there’s that moment when the character Dina is welcoming the orchestra members.”
‘Something Rotten!’
SONG “Welcome to the Renaissance,” by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick
STORY Two brothers invent the first musical in a slap-happy attempt to compete with some guy named Shakespeare. (Now on national tour.)
SING A FEW BARS
Welcome to the Renaissance
With poets, painters and bon vivants
And merry minstrels
Who stroll the streets of London strummin’ their lutes (in puffy pants and pointy leather boots)
GOAL “The song says: ‘We’re here. This is who we are,’’’ said Mr. McCollum, the producer. “It tells me about a time I didn’t live in. And the lyrics let the audience know that the show isn’t going to be dark. It’s going to be a romp.”
‘Cabaret’
SONG “Willkommen,” by John Kander and Fred Ebb
STORY Love, loss and everything louche play out against the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazi Party. The seedy Kit Kat Club is the great escape — and a great metaphor.
SING A FEW BARS
Willkommen, Bienvenue, welcome
Fremde, Étranger, stranger
Glücklich zu sehen
Je suis enchanté
Happy to see you
Bleibe, reste, stay
GOAL “‘Willkommen’ serves as a diegetic number,” Mr. Maslon said. “If you were sitting at a table at the Kit Kat Club, that’s the song you would hear the M.C. sing. But at the same time, it’s the song that welcomes theatergoers to ‘Cabaret.’”
‘SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical’
SONG “Bikini Bottom Day,” by Jonathan Coulton (one of several contributors to the score)
STORY A violent tremor from an underwater volcano sends SpongeBob and his friends Patrick and Sandy into a swivet. Is there something fishy going on here? Naturally, the evil Plankton and his equally evil wife, Karen, do their best to take advantage of the chaotic situation.
SING A FEW BARS “Ahh … Bonjour, Salut and welcome to this quiet corner of the ocean floor teeming with all the many kinds of undersea life,” says the offstage voice of the French narrator to set the scene for SpongeBob’s own welcome:
Jump out of bed
Mix up a breakfast for my favorite pet snail
Full steam ahead
The S.S. I Am Ready is about to set sail
GOAL “We’re welcoming people to the unique world of Bikini Bottom,” said Mr. Jarrow, referring to the briny, deep setting. “We’re bringing audiences to a place they may not know. And in the course of the song, we’re painting a picture of the underwater world they’ll be inhabiting for the next two hours.”
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