The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
#1The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 4:20pmAm I the only one who think this? I can only name a few Broadway songs sung by men that I really enjoy listening to from time to time. But the women gets to sing the most iconic, popular songs, the list is just endless.
#2The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 4:21pmI can't think of any songs sung by men on Broadway.
#2The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 4:29pmIt is very true! For me, my favorite songs happen to be ones with a good belt! obviously all the women have those songs, but i alway think there a certain but very small number of good numbers sung by lads
#3The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 4:50pmThe Impossible Dream.
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
#4The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 4:56pm
If I were a rich man
Luck Be a Lady
76 Trombones
Being Alive
Marry me a little
Epiphany ( Sweeney Todd)
One Song Glory
90 percent of the Jesus Christ Superstar score.
Corner of the sky
If Ever I would leave you.
Plenty of Iconic songs for men.
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theeatah
Leading Actor Joined: 1/31/10
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#6The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 5:26pmThis Is The Moment
Poster Emeritus
Sutton Ross
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#7The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 5:40pm
The Pajama Game - Hey there
The Scottsboro Boys - Commencing In Chattanooga
Newsies - Santa Fe
Violet - Let It Sing
Bridges of Madison County - It All Fades Away
Kinky Boots - Soul of a Man
Book of Mormon - I Believe
La Cage Aux Folles - I Am What I Am
#8The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:12pmBut none of those songs are iconic/famous in the mainstream, like Don't Cry For Me Argentina, I Dreamed a Dream, Defying Gravity, Memory, Don't Rain on My Parade, etc. People who aren't exactly Broadway fans are at least familiar with any of these songs.
Sutton Ross
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#9The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:30pmThe mainstream of theater lovers, right. Many of those songs are hugely famous, and very mainstream in the world of theater.
#10The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:32pm
But none of those songs are iconic/famous in the mainstream, like Don't Cry For Me Argentina, I Dreamed a Dream, Defying Gravity, Memory, Don't Rain on My Parade, etc. People who aren't exactly Broadway fans are at least familiar with any of these songs.
I would say that The Impossible Dream, Soliloquy, Some Enchanted Evening, and Maria are all iconic/famous in the mainstream.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#11The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:35pm
Ahem--Les Mis[z]-Bring Him Home ?
KathyNYC2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/2/10
#12The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:36pmMy Boy Bill and If I Loved you from Carousel. .
#13The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:42pmThe Impossible dream isn't iconic or known in the main stream? Seriously?
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
#14The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:44pm
Ol' Man River
Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'
White Christmas
Almost Like Being in Love
I would argue each (with the possible exception of the last) are all more iconic than the five mentioned as "mainstream" famous songs.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
#15The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:45pm
Music of the Night was the first one to came to my mind. One Night in Bangkok was a radio hit.
But I think I agree that the songs that eventually go mainstream are more women's than men's.
#16The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:47pm
"But I think I agree that the songs that eventually go mainstream are more women's than men's."
Exactly.
candydog2
Featured Actor Joined: 8/11/07
#17The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:47pm
There are of course exceptions, but let's be honest, on the whole Broadwaystar4 is right. Plus the world of the Broadway musical has long been built on it's leading ladies. Usually the female performers are the powerhouse stars and divas.
I know, I know, you can all name well established male stars, but have they really had the same impact as Merman? Martin? Lupone? Lansbury? Menzel? Chenoweth? Foster?
I'm not saying it's a bad thing. But it's true. Arguing the point is a little ridiculous. There are some beautiful male songs, but very few get the attention of the big songs for women.
#18The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:48pm
Some Enchanted Evening.
Try to Remember. Oh, no one knows that one who isn't into Broadway!
There are plenty of mainstream Broadway hits sung by men.
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
Updated On: 5/24/14 at 06:48 PM
#19The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 6:52pm
Anthem
You Should Be Loved
Pity the Child
#20The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 11:22pm
There are many, many exceptions after 150 years of Broadway musicals, as others have noted above. (And BTW, in their day, Eddie Cantor, Bert Lahr, Jimmy Durante and others drew just as well as Merman.)
But in broad terms, the OP has a point and I think it's a cultural thing: in Anglo-Saxon cultures women (and therefore female characters) are allowed a greater range of emotional expression. So it's more fun to write songs for female characters.
#21The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 11:49pmI'm Alive
"Was uns befreit, das muss stärker sein als wir es sind." -Tanz der Vampire
#22The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 11:57pm
"But in broad terms, the OP has a point and I think it's a cultural thing: in Anglo-Saxon cultures women (and therefore female characters) are allowed a greater range of emotional expression. So it's more fun to write songs for female characters. "
I've never thought about it like this, but that makes perfect sense. I agree!
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#23The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/24/14 at 11:59pm
I know I'll get murdered for saying this but I think there are far better roles for women in the musical theatre than there are for men. Not complaining or saying it's unfair, just an observation. I have struggled a lot with some of the men I've played trying to flesh them out (a lot of one dimensional dudes, I played Captain Von Trapp once and he's about as aloof as hannibal lecter, and nearly not as fun), while the female roles seem very well developed or maybe I understand them more or something. Call me crazy...
Updated On: 5/25/14 at 11:59 PM
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#24The best Broadway songs are usually sung by women....
Posted: 5/25/14 at 12:02am
Musical theater is, I think, the only entertainment medium where better roles are consistently written for women. It's slowly starting to shift in other genres.
Updated On: 5/25/14 at 12:02 AM
