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They say that falling in love is wonderful... and doesn't Broadway know it! Valentine's Day is here and love is all around us. At this most romantic time of the year, we can't help but wonder... what is the greatest Broadway love song ever?
BroadwayWorld continues our great tradition of finding that consensus- and this year we have more answers than ever! We've gathered responses from over 1500 performers, composers, industry professionals, and entertainment personalities from all over the world.
Performer
Now.Here.This. | [title of show]
What More Can I Say" from Falsettos. This song captures the unbelievable wonder of being in love. Yum. And also "Fable" from The Light in the Piazza. There's a longing in that song that makes my heart swell. I told Victoria Clark that I like to listen to it when I'm doing housework--it elevates my mundane chores and even makes toilet-scrubbing a loving act. Sincerely.
Performer
Falsettos | Godspell | Glory Days
"Marriage Proposal" from Falsettos because it's Mendel's song and it's really good, it's great.
Performer
Murder for Two
"Never Before, Never Again" from The Muppet Movie. Okay, not technically a Broadway song, but still- a fantastic love song from a brilliant movie musical. Also one of the most romantic sequences in film history and one of Miss Piggy's greatest performances (in a long list of great performances). If this song doesn't make you want to find a Kermit of your own, nothing will! Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!
Performer
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
My favorite love song from Broadway is from HIGH SOCIETY, 'True Love.' It's also a favorite of my father-in-law, who is 86 years old!!
Performer
Suffs
"Something Good"! This song makes me tear up pretty much immediately. Perhaps it's the tender vocals, the romantic gazebo scene from the movie, the complicated lyrics –– or frankly, all of the above! –– that makes this my absolute favorite. Now go watch and listen to the film version with Christopher Plummer's original vocals: it's stunning!
Performer
Cabaret | Slave Play | Long Day's Journey Into Night
I am thinking a lot about Sweet Charity right now. That show makes me think a lot about love- about hopelessly romantic love.
Performer
Something Rotten! | The Addams Family | The Little Mermaid | [title of show] | Now.Here.This.
This is a no-brainer. "Love to Me" from The Light in the Piazza, but the version that really throws me over the edge is Adam Guettel singing it himself. (I think it was a demo version that they added to the end of the original cast album. Sort of a bonus track...) There's something so sexy and real about his voice and then knowing that he actually wrote the song just wipes me out. I think every girl wishes she had a boy that felt like that about her.
Performer
Rock of Ages | South Pacific
There are two Broadway love songs that tickle my fancy; first, I would have to say is “The Origin of Love” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I just really love the idea of having ‘another half’ out there that we are each destined to find and rejoin. Second, I would have to say “I'd F*ck Me” from Silence! The Musical– let's face it, I've been working out, and I look good.. not Andrew Samonsky good, but still pretty good, so...
Performer
Hairspray
My favorite Broadway Love song is "So In Love" from Kiss Me Kate. I love it because I love Cole Porter’s music and I played Kate in a high school production of Kiss Me Kate and singing "So In Love" made me feel so full of emotion and true love.
Performer
One Day
One of my favorite love songs from a musical is "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" from Beautiful. I have loved this song for a while, long before it was in the show. But the fact that it is now in such a gorgeous and heartfelt production, gives the song so much more context. This song has been one of my go-to's in terms of grasping inspiration for my own songwriting. Carole King is truly amazing and the hook "will you still love me tomorrow?" tugs at my heartstrings every time.
Performer
Murder for Two | Urban Cowboy | How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying | Into the Woods
Adam Guettel's score is filled with some of the most rapturous music I've ever heard, and "Say It Somehow" is when the two young lovers first get together. When they start harmonizing, my head practically explodes.
Performer
Beardo
It doesn't get much better than “They Say It's Wonderful” from Annie Get Your Gun. The slight melodic changes on the repetitions of "wonderful" melt me. Also a great shower song.
Performer
Chicago
"A Little Priest" (from Sweeney Todd, by Stephen Sondheim) may be my favorite love song from musical theatre. While not discussing love at all, it is the moment when Sweeney sees Mrs. Lovett in a "positive" light for the first time, and she wins what she believes to be his affection. The fact that it condenses the entire world-view of the show, as well as being a defining plot point, is what makes it, for me, an incredible love song. Also, I enjoy morbid jokes that rhyme a lot.
Performer
Dear Evan Hansen | Cruel Intentions: The Musical | Spring Awakening | Brooklynite
"The One I Love" from Hello Again because it is perfect.
Performer
Suffs
"The Next Ten Minutes" from The Last Five Years. You have this two-hander where the couple doesn’t interact; they’re not even moving in a linear timeline, but then, for ten minutes, they come together and we get to see them have this cathartic, honest, gorgeous moment that helps us to understand how it once worked before time, lies, and life warped everything. Oh gosh, and that moment of counterpart at the end right before they finally and at long last harmonize is so expertly and heartbreakingly crafted, and it lingers just long enough before we are once again literally sent off in different directions. 10/10 minutes, without question.
Performer
On Sugarland
A favorite mine would be “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” from The Lion King. Being a 90’s baby myself, it evokes such nostalgia from the movie. I don’t think you can hit the nail on the head more than this one.
Performer
Grease | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers | Feinsteins
I've gotta go with two. "My Funny Valentine" because it's got killer lyrics - "My funny valentine/Sweet comic valentine/You make me smile with my heart/
Your looks are laughable/Unphotographable/Yet you're my favorite work of art." Come on!!
Then, "Some Enchanted Evening," because it is a great romantic song, but also because when I opened in a run of SOUTH PACIFIC, my husband sent me a beautiful watercolor he had painted of a sunset with the words "Once you have found her, never let her go" written across the sky....now that's romantic!
Performer
School of Rock | Kinky Boots
My favorite Braodway love song is "Love to Me" by Adam Guettel.
Performer
The Confession of Lily Dare
"Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors. Because that song is a real “every person” song that speaks to the romance of the common man but elevated it musically to something divine.
Performer
The Lost Boys | Hadestown | The Who's Tommy
I'm gonna go classic. One of my favorite songs to sing is "My Funny Valentine". Sometimes I sing the lyrics and I'm like... 'That's that's really rude!' I would never say this is somebody I love... but I love that song.
Performer
Long Day's Journey Into Night | The Play That Goes Wrong
I am admittedly not very well-versed in Broadway musicals, but I know my Motown! I love "My Girl" from Ain't Too Proud. You can't go wrong with the Temptations.
Performer
She Loves Me | On the Twentieth Century | Chaplin
"They Were You" from The Fantasticks
Performer
Jane Eyre | Sunset Boulevard | Smash | Frozen | Wicked | Kinky Boots | Evita
It's "You Matter to Me" from Waitress. It just makes me melt and I think about my husband saying it to me and I love it. It's just such a special song. We all just want to matter to somebody!
Performer
Jersey Boys
I think mine is "All the Wasted Time" from Parade. It's a gorgeous song and I also love how it's not about new love, but about an old love that's been there all along. It makes me cry.
Performer
She Loves Me | On the Twentieth Century | Bullets Over Broadway
“They Can’t Take That Away From Me”
Performer
Merrily We Roll Along | Bernhardt/Hamlet
"Wheels of a Dream" from Ragtime because it's Audra and that's all you need to know.
Performer
The Lion King | Scottsboro Boys
I was torn between "One Hand, One Heart" from WEST SIDE STORY and "I'll Cover You" from RENT. They both capture the true essence of being in love with someone, that feeling when nothing else matters and together you can take on anything. Total connection between two people. So I guess my real answer is "The Origin of Love" from HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH.
Performer
Muder for Two
My old school fave is "I Wanna Be With You" from Golden Boy and new school fave is "Say It Somehow" from The Light in the Piazza. True poetry in the lyrics and thrilling melodies that perfectly encapsulate what it means to be in love.
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