Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
#1Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:15pmOk guys, for a project I need to think of the saddest showtunes -- as many as possible. Really sad ones. Not only songs of love gone wrong, but of suffering, poverty, death -- good tear jerkers or just plain downers of any kind. What comes to mind?
"Do you know ChrisLovesShows?" "Yes. Why, yes he does!"
#2re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:15pm"Petrified" - TABOO
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#2re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:24pm
Well, there's the obvious Le Mis ones...
"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"
"A Little Fall of Rain"
"Drink With Me"
The "I'll Cover You (reprise)" in Rent always gets me.
Same with "Left Behind" from Sprin Awakening.
Also "At the Ballet" from a Chorus Line.
#3re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:25pm
Weird project....
"I Wish I Could Forget You" from "Passion"
"Les Miz"/"Miss Saigon" can get pretty melodramatic, but I don't find them very moving personally.
"We Do Not Belong Together" from "Sunday in the Park with George"
"Somewhere" (that song literally rips my heart out of my chest and stamps on it)
"Where in the World?" from "Secret Garden"
"Anyone Can Whistle"
The end of "Bernarda Alba"
"Tell Me It's Not True" from "Blood Brothers
"You Couldn't Handle It Jamie" and "My Son" from "Bright Lights, Big City"
"My Child Will Forgive Me" from "Parade
The final reprise of "Camelot"
"Her Face" from "Carnival"
"Looking for a Mircale" from "Cowgirls"
Some people paint, some people sew, I meddle.
#4re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:26pm
Another Winter in A Summer Town- GREY GARDENS
It Don't Make Sense- PARADE
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
Updated On: 2/14/08 at 11:26 PM
george95
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/1/08
#5re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:27pm
"Left Behind", "Whispering" from Spring Awakening
"Wishing you were somehow here Again" Phantom of the Opera
"I'll Cover U (reprise)" RENT
"I wish I could go back to college" Avenue Q
"Far From the Home I love" Fiddler on the Roof
"Edelweiss" The Sound of Music (sad in context)
"On my Own" "I Dreamed a Dream" Les Miserables
#6re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:27pm
I read this and thought Cruel_Sandwich had started it.
Anyway...maybe also include "Painting Her Portrait" from Jane Eyre?
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
Jesus
Understudy Joined: 7/30/05
#7re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:31pmJudas' Death- Jesus Christ Superstar
#8re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:32pm
"I read" - Passion
"Around the World" Grey Gardens
"I'm not that girl" Wicked
"Lonely house" Street Scene
that's all i can think of right now.
Going to a musical late in its run is like going to a prostitute late in her shift.
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#10re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:34pm
"Old Maid" 110 in the Shade
"If I Can't Love Her" Beauty and the Beast
"Another Winter in a Summer Town" Grey Gardens
"Loving You" Passion
"Your Daddy's Son" Ragtime
"In theater, the process of it is the experience. Everyone goes through the process, and everyone has the experience together. It doesn't last - only in people's memories and in their hearts. That's the beauty and sadness of it. But that's life - beauty and the sadness. And that is why theater is life." - Sherie Rene Scott
#11re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:39pm
In Buddy's Eyes - FOLLIES (well, to me anyway)
Around the World - GREY GARDENS
Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You - THE LAST 5 YEARS
Without You - RENT
#12re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:43pm
"How Could I Ever Know?" -Secret Garden
"Some Things are Meant to Be" -Little Women
"I'm Still Hurting" -Last Five Years
#13re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/14/08 at 11:53pm
Wow, keep the great titles coming. Yes, Les Miz is pretty one sad one after another, punctuated by "Master of the House." 
"Do you know ChrisLovesShows?" "Yes. Why, yes he does!"
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
lovesclassics
Broadway Star Joined: 10/7/05
#16re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/15/08 at 12:17am
I'll Forget You - Scarlet Pimpernel 2
Your Daddy's Son - Ragtime
Back to Before - Ragtime
Twelve Children - Dessa Rose
At the Glen - Dessa Rose
Send in the Clowns - A Little Night Music
Every Day a Little Death - A Little Night Music
Unusual Way - Nine
Ol' Man River - Showboat
Bill - Showboat
jlm96um
Understudy Joined: 8/22/04
#17re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/15/08 at 12:30am
And Then There Were None - Spring Awakening
The Bus - Caroline, or Change
Dividing Day - Light in the Piazza
A Little Fall of Rain - Les Mis
Gingerbread houses along golden, frothy canals. Like Venice... only different?
#18re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/15/08 at 12:40am
For Good-Wicked
Coalhouse's Soliloquy-Ragtime (This show is sooooooo underrated!)
Those You've Known-Spring Awakening
#19re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/15/08 at 12:41am
A lot of what I would say has been sad so I am just going to add what hasn't been said.
Wicked Finale; Very sad and somber if not short.
Judge's Return and No Place Like London from Sweeney Todd (Parts when he is singing about Lucy)
POTO; All I ask of you reprise and finale
Shadowland and Endless Night from the Lion King.
Your Eyes from Rent
And last but not least...
No Good Deed from Wicked. I know it is a high energy and fast song, but it is full of emotion and you can see how broken Elphaba is.
I know I most likely and leaving some out, but I will post if/when I remember any more.
musicaltheater1
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/05
#20re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/15/08 at 1:09am
I personally don't have one stand out song that would qualify as the saddest but the following are the best contenders:
If I Loved You - Carousel
I'd Give My Life For You - Miss Saigon
Sun and Moon Reprise - Miss Saigon
I Still Taste His Kisses - Miss Saigon
Finale - Miss Saigon
I Dreamed A Dream - Les Miserables
On My Own - Les Miserables
Loving You - Passion
No One Has Ever Loved Me - Passion
I Don't Care Much - Cabaret
When I Look At You - Scarlet Pimpernel
"I love acting. It is so much more real than life." Oscar Wilde
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley
#21re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/15/08 at 1:23am
"Who Will Love Me As I Am"
"Private Conversation"
"You Should Be Loved"
"I Will Never Leave You"
- all from SIDE SHOW
#22re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/15/08 at 3:44am
To leaven the festivities of angst and depression just slightly, there's "Virtue Arrivederci" a favorite of mine from that enormous and yet fondly remembered flop "Bravo Giovanni" starring Cesare Seipi and Michele Lee. I love the lyrics "Seignore Postolito, here is your knife back, and with my luck you'll go and give me my wife back..."
What's not to love?
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699
snl89
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/05
#23re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/15/08 at 3:55am
"Left Behind"- Spring Awakening
"Without You"- RENT (if not only for what's happening with Angel at that point)
"See Me"/"Once Upon a Time"/"Cross"/"Bare"/"Absolution"- Bare (haha, I couldn't pick just one. They ALL make me cry!)
"I Am The One (reprise)" into "Let There be Light (resprise)"- Next to Normal
"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"- Les Mis
I don't need a life that's normal. That's way too far away. But something next to normal would be okay. Something next to normal is what I'd like to try. Close enough to normal to get by.
gcal
Leading Actor Joined: 10/19/04
#24re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/15/08 at 4:47am
"beautiful"
"lesson #8"
-sunday in the park with george
can't get through either of them without losing it.
#25re: Songs of woe and suffering - saddest Broadway songs
Posted: 2/15/08 at 5:42am
I find We Do Not Belong Together to be just devastating
So is Tell Me on a Sunday from Song & Dance/Tell Me on a Sunday
(what's more depressing than telling someone how they should break up with you?)
There's A Fine, Fine Line from Ave Q
Apology to a Cow and Finale from Bat Boy
Cabaret (ironically) from Cabaret
The Long Grift and Hedwigs Lament from Hedwig and the Angry Inch
A whole lotta stuff from the Last 5 Years
Good Thing Goin from Merrily We Roll Along
As Long as He Needs Me from Oliver!
Where Am I Going? from Sweet Charity
Johnny Can't Decide, See Her Smile and Why from tick, tick...BOOM!
Maybe I Like It This Way, What Is It About Her? and How Did We Come to This? from Lippa's Wild Party
The I Love You Song and Woe is Me reprise from Spelling Bee
You're reminding me of people you hear at the movies asking questions every ten seconds, "Who is that? Why is that guy walking down the street? Who's that lady coming up to him? Uh-oh, why did that car go by? Why is it so dark in this theater?" - FindingNamo on strummergirl
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
