This is part two of my theater orchestral music series. The Entr'acte is a fancy French term that literally means between acts. In simple terms, it's the act two overture. I've also seen it called Act Two Opening, Act Two Prelude, or one show I did called it the underture which I thought was particularly clever. Like the overture, it's usually a medley of songs from the show. Nowadays, they usually don't exist, or in revivals they are considerably shortened. I'm not terribly opposed to this because I've noticed that the Entr'actes are often longer than the overtures and play the same songs just in different keys with different transitions. However, I'm also a big believer in keeping the integrity of the original so it becomes a gray area. The Entr'acte has mainly become a time to ensure that people are back in their seats and letting people who ignored the bell or the flashing lights straggle in before act two begins. However, like I said with the overture, if you're in there and seated, don't talk. The Entr'acte is part of the show to and the orchestra works hard to prepare and perform it.
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