Student Blog: Love Songs from Musicals For Your Solitary Pining

I think it is obvious at this point: I am a sap. I love romance movies, and I love romantic songs even more. Anyone who knows me knows I make a mean romantic playlist. Without further ado, here are some musical theatre love songs for those days alone when you wish for someone to hold you.

1. Wedding Song - Hadestown

Wedding Song is so unique - Eurydice teases and tests Orpheus during this song, seemingly trying to stump him with her questions: "Who's gonna buy the wedding bands?" "Who's gonna lay the wedding table?" "Who's gonna make the wedding bed?". Orpheus wants her, so he sings his song for her - and they eventually go home together.

2. Il Mondo Era Vuoto - Light in the Piazza

Love at first sight is the goal, isn't it? And this song being in Italian makes it feel one hundred times more romantic. If I saw a cute person at the Duomo, I would probably be lovestruck too!

3. People Will Say We're in Love - Oklahoma!

Denying the fact that you are in love with someone, even though you are madly in love with them, is one of my favorite romance tropes. Laurey and Curley create a list of "don'ts" for the other, so the neighbors don't think they are in love. Of course, they definitely are - they're too stubborn to show it.

4. No One Else - Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812

Being completely devoted to a person is one of the best and most gratifying feelings in the world. Taking place before Anatole's manipulation, Natasha sings of her love towards Andrey, prompted by the moonlight.

5. Epic III - Hadestown (2017)

Whose love story is as famous and debated as Hades and Persephone's? While many different translations of myths might consider Persephone unwilling, Hadestown takes a different approach - appealing to Hades' love for her through imagery of their first time meeting, painting them as a young couple deeply in love. Orpheus' epic leaves Hades weeping, and eventually gains him his freedom to leave with Eurydice - or so he thinks.

6. Marry Me a Little - Company

This song is so heartbreaking - Bobby has been rejected, and this song is like his inner monologue - he is ready for someone to love him, yet he is crushed. This push-and-pull makes for a perfect heartbreak song.

7. First Date / Last Night - Dogfight

After being humiliated at the "dogfight" by Eddie, Rose accepts a second chance at a date. While they are both humiliated, they eventually warm up to each other. Awkward, yes, but quite cute.

8. Afternoon - Alice by Heart

In this retelling of Alice in Wonderland, Alfred (Colton Ryan) is sick with tuberculosis and quarantined in a bunker during World War II. Alice (Molly Gordon) goes to visit him, and they live in the story of Alice in Wonderland. Eventually, he gets too sick. In this song, they admit their feelings for each other before Alfred dies.

9. Something Different - The Band's Visit

There is something so intimate about moments of non-intimacy, and this song is a great example. Dina listens to Tewfiq sing, and she wonders what his intentions are, what he is singing about, and basks in the closeness they share.

10. You Matter To Me - Waitress

I don't think I even need to explain this one. Instead, take a quote from the song itself:

Dear baby
I hope someday, somebody wants to hold you for twenty minutes straight
They don't pull away, they don't look at your face
And they don't try to kiss you
All they do is wrap you up in their arms and hold on tight without an ounce of selfishness in it
I hope you become addicted, baby
I hope you become addicted to sayin' things
And having them matter to someone