I can't speak to "the best ever," but I think the song "The Next Ten Minutes" from Jason Robert Brown's THE LAST FIVE YEARS is one of the most beautiful love songs written for musical theatre. There are sentimental reasons of course....

Growing up with LES MIS, I have to say the most romantic Broadway love song ever is "On My Own." I know this is probably not an original response, but I love it! So tragic!!

That is easy for me. "Near To You" from DAMN YANKEES! I was living in NYC hosting a talk show on Lifetime, when Jerry Lewis was doing the lead...and went in and caught the second act every night. Perhaps it was a combination of the staging and the beautiful harmony, but the words were so good as well. Put it all together...it spells romantic to me!

Favorite #1. "Soon It's Gonna Rain" from THE FANTASTICKS The show is really Off-Broadway, so I'll include my other favorite. Favorite #2. "Sweet Time" from RAISIN. It's a love song about trying to continue to love...what made love possible in the first place, and how to keep going. It also has such a great bluesy-jazz urban sound to it.

"Do You Love Me?" from FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. There's a whole lifetime of attachment, struggle, care and sacrifice summed up in this tiny song, sung by two older people who've never given love a thought until this moment. "For twenty five years, I've lived with him, fought with him, starved with him. Twenty-five years, my bed is his. If that's not love, what is?" Sentimental? No way. Deep, true, funny and moving? Absolutely.

In my opinion the Most Romantic Broadway Love Song ever is "Loving You" from Stephen Sondheim's PASSION. Plain and simple, "I will live and I would die for you." What more can you say to one who has captured your heart?

In high school, I would listen to "Some Girls" from ONCE ON THIS ISLAND and just cry the tears of 10,000 dramatic teenage girls. "Don't you get it, Ti Moune? He loves you, but he can't love you! The cruel realities of social class will tear your love asunder!!" It was pretty deep. Truth be told, it still gets me.

In attempting to choose what I felt was the most romantic Broadway love song EVER (a very tall order), I discovered one constant -- Rodgers and Hammerstein. Songs like "We Kiss In A Shadow," "I Have Dreamed," "If I Loved You," "When The Children Are Asleep," "Younger Than Springtime," "An Ordinary Couple" and "People Will Say We're In Love" all immediately came to mind. The combination of Hammerstein's deceptively simple, but masterfully crafted lyrics and Rodgers' ability to match the lyric with a perfectly gorgeous melody is nothing short of masterful.

"With Every Breath I Take" from CITY OF ANGELS. Ahhhh - it's pretty, romantic...gut-wrenching. It goes to different places musically - and stretches the singer too. The melody is haunting and the lyrics by David Zippel are incredible (they just say it all) - and they remind you what really being in love is about. You take a deep breath and you just sigh...it's also soulful and jazzy.

"Spankin'" from ENG: FANTASY 101 is my personal favorite (look for it to be on Broadway soon!), but "Dulcinea" from MAN OF LA MANCHA makes me cry.

"Say It Somehow" from LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA because the music and lyrics are just beyond beautiful. "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" from THE SOUND OF MUSIC, because it reminds me of how young and free love can make you feel.

The first song that popped into my mind is "With So Little To Be Sure Of" from ANYONE CAN WHISTLE. The song is all about the moment. We may not always have each other, but we do now, and isn't it "marvelous". It also has that beautiful lyric: "The more I memorize your face, the more I never want to leave." Wow, I'm a bigger sap than I thought!

"Tonight" from WEST SIDE STORY. It's so in the moment. Immediate, dangerous and fleeting. Everything that makes new love so irresistible. My favorite score by the ultimate "dream team."

Ok, I'm torn between "Not While I'm Around" from SWEENEY TODD - the melody is just gorgeous and the bridge takes my breath away -and "Maria" from WEST SIDE STORY - well, the simplicity is just awesome and talk about romantic? Having someone say your name over and over and exclaim how it's the most beautiful word? Well, no more to say on that. Happy Valentines Day!

Hard to pick just one - there are so many that I love. But if pressed, I'd have to say: "All The Things You Are" - Happy Valentine's Day!

"If I Loved You" from CAROUSEL... In the show, that song wasn't a declaration, it was an "if". I thought that it was very tenderly done, because it was discussing how they'd feel "if", even though the audience knew that they were clearly falling in love.

I have always responded most strongly to lyrics. There is a particularly moving phrase in the finale of LES MISERABLES that I think is so beautiful - it's when Jean Valjean sings "To love another person is to see the face of God."

These lyrics say it all: "Are you my love, has life begun for me? Are you my love, the moon and sun for me? Are you my joy, are you my pain, are you my universe, earth and heaven? Are you a dream, that's overtaken me? If you're a dream, then don't awaken me. My heart must know or miss a beat. Are you my love, my sweet?" With a gentle, seductive melody to match. Rodgers and Hart, 1936. For my forever valentine, Melissa.

"I'll Cover You" - RENT. This song came into my life when I fell in love for the first time. I was liberated. Full of adolescent passion, unabashed trust and unequaled daring. This song reminds me of how wonderful that time was.

I love "76 Trombones" because it reminds me of 76 trombones and that always makes me cry. P.S. Can you get me out of here? The nurse won't let me communicate with the outside world.

To me, the most romantic Broadway love songs have a main common theme - death. I have two: "Forever Yours" by Flaherty and Ahrens (ONCE ON THIS ISLAND the lead character offers her life in exchange for his), and "So in Love" by Cole Porter (KISS ME, KATE what lyrics - "Taunt me, hurt me, deceive me, desert me, I'm yours till I DIE!"). Creepy, maybe, but death and love the most powerful things we have on earth.

"I Have Dreamed" from THE KING AND I - it's melodically transcendent and heart-piercing all at once.

Hands down, "The Music That Makes Me Dance" from FUNNY GIRL. But I also love "Some Girls" from ONCE ON THIS ISLAND. When he says... some girls you marry, some you love... Gets me everytime.

That would be a song I've used to romance women with. It's a cute song - "I Get A Kick Out Of You" (ANYTHING GOES) - it's a fun song to get the girl in the mood. That's my love song for any beautiful woman that I'm dating on Valentine's Day. Cole Porter knew his stuff. He also wrote the lyric "Let's do it!"- which is my theme song.

I think one of my favorite love songs has always been "I've Never Said I Love You" from Jerry Herman's DEAR WORLD. The melody is terrific and the last few lines are great: "I've never said 'I love you'/when I say 'I love you'/He'll know I've never loved before/He'll know I'll never love again." Gets me every time!

"Something Good" from (the film) THE SOUND OF MUSIC.

In my opinion, the most romantic Broadway love song is "Move On" from SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. Not in the traditional sense, but in the way lovers support and uplift each other to be their very best. I love the way the song suggests that although this may not be easy, as long as you "Move On" and stay true to yourself, you will have something more to give..to enrich others' lives.

Well, let me be a total shill for a second and say that every night I get to hear "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" from JERSEY BOYS(which makes it a showtune, right?, and I fall in love with the song more each night. I love the fact that Bob Gaudio had 3 different songs, took parts of the 3 and made up what we now know as one of the greatest love songs ever written. Nothing beats watching Christopher Jones (who plays Frankie) from the catwalk above and seeing him sing the first line of the song, "You're just too good to be true...," and hearing 1600 people go "ahhhh....." and then break into applause. It gives me goosebumps everytime. As far as the most romantic song written directly for the theatre...I'll never forget when I went to go see BIG, THE MUSICAL. It was the first Broadway show I ever saw, and I remember falling in love with Crista Moore as she sang "One Special Man." I still listen to it all the time. The chord changes in between the verses give me chills, and nothing beats the lryic, "you shake me, astound me, like no one else can." I'm in love just thinking about it. Is that weird?

"Sorry-Grateful." And not JUST because I play that beautiful melody on my flute each night. The words are so honest about REAL love and romance. Relationships are not great all the time, but if it is a true romance it lasts through all the sorry-grateful parts of it. "You're always sorry, you're always grateful, you're always wondering what might have been...then she walks in" just says it all about how that one person can be so irritating and yet integral to your life! THAT is a true romance that lasts!

Ooh. That's a tough one. "If I Loved You", which is melancholy but great. There's "Some Enchanted Evening." Really anything by Rodgers and Hammerstein...or Rodgers and Hart. Now we'll have to sing them all...