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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
Rock of Ages | Roza
Favorite love song… 'I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar
Performer
Aladdin
My favorite love song is "Loved Walked in" by Gershwin. It's a gorgeous melody and it speaks about that first moment of finding someone. That's a moment that makes all of us giddy.
Performer
A Little Night Music
"So Many People" from SATURDAY NIGHT, and "Marry Me A Little" from COMPANY.
Performer
Recording Artist
My favorite romantic song is "Soon it's Gonna Rain" from THE FANTASTICKS. I played Matt in college at Vanderbilt and always thought the melody and lyrics were so beautiful. The idea of just leaving the crazy world outside and cuddling together within these four walls (while eating chocolate and reading the kamasutra) is pretty appealing. Yes please! "Soon it's gonna rain, what are we gonna do?'--I'll tell you what we're 'gon do...."
Performer
Be More Chill | Waitress | Jerry Springer The Opera
"Say It Somehow" from The Light in the Piazza. It's beautiful and uses oos and ahhs to communicate with each other. It's awesome.
Performer
Mean Girls
My roommates have caught me on several occasions blasting "If I Were A Bell" from Guys and Dolls. It's so embarrassingly honest - it captures that silly way we fumble about for the right words to describe how love makes us feel. And that lush score just makes my heart go all splooshy.
Performer
Annie | A Chorus Line | Sweet Charity | Priscila Queen of the Desert
“Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" by Cole Porter. I just think it’s such a beautiful song. Ok, yes it’s slightly dramatic – "Ev'ry time we say goodbye I DIE a little." But I guess once you've really felt that love sick feeling, it makes sense. Maybe dying is a little extreme, but the melody is so beautiful.
Performer
The Jonathan Larson Project | Be More Chill | Company | The Jonathan Larson Project
My favorite Broadway love song is currently off Broadway. It's "Suddenly Seymour." I think it's perfect. And every time I hear it, I will cry.
Performer
Take Me Out | Airline Highway
"Some Other Time" from On the Town. The wistfulness of that moment and the way it makes you think about time... the clock is running!
Performer
Spider-Man | Spring Awakening | After the Fall | Mamma Mia!
'If I Loved You' from Carousel
Performer
The Toxic Avenger | Rock of Ages | The Wedding Singer | American Idol | Upcoming Jekyll & Hyde
"One hand, One Heart" from WEST SIDE STORY. It's Beautiful. The whole score is perfect. I love rock 'n' roll, but I love the classics too!
Performer
Chicago | The Pajama Game
“Falling Slowly” from Once. Being a piano player and composer myself, I completely fell in love with the movie. But when I saw the Broadway version, I had to stay in my seat for 5 more minutes after show was over because I could not stop sobbing. I was so emotional. I wanted that love so bad. I found it. I married him.
Performer
Kinky Boots | Priscilla Queen of the Desert | Enron
"I'll Cover You - Reprise" from Rent- hands down, now and forever. Close second: "Oldest Profession" from The Life.
Performer
High Spirits | McNeal | A Christmas Carol | Noises Off | Act One | Pippin | Exit the King | Young Frankenstein | Fiddler on the Roof | Oklahoma! | Candide | My Favorite Year
So the song I think of most is the gorgeous Patrick Wilson singing "People Will Say we're in love" Is it a duet? It was, I think! That was a long time ago. What an innocent time. I like to hold on to that innocence. It's beautiful.
Performer
Hey | Look Me Over! | The Prom | The Drowsy Chaperone | The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
My favorite Broadway love song would be "Losing My Mind" from Follies. I guess because it so beautifully describes the torturous nature of love. The intense emotion, and the borderline obsession that comes with love. I think it's just an incredibly economical lyric, and a beautiful tune, and a wonderful thing to perform. So that's - whenever I hear that song, I just feel, "oh yeah, love, right. It's not the paradise that we think of it as being. Sometimes." Not to be cynical. But that probably is my favorite Broadway love song.
Performer
Natasha | Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
“Can You Feel the Love Tonight”! I know this wasn't written for Broadway, but come on. Thanks, Sir Elton John!
Performer
On Your Feet
It has to be "Love Changes Everything," because it really does change everything if you really think about it.
Performer
Sunset Boulevard | Mamma Mia! | Wonderland
"One Hand, One Heart" from West Side Story.... oh yeah! This song makes me cry every time I hear it! I love the simple beautiful optimistic lyric with that gorgeous sweeping melody! Always reminds me of the time my husband, Paul Rolnick, and I first admitted we loved each other. In my head, there was this song playing!!! And here we are 26 years later ... and at our 18 wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary, PR!
Performer
Girl from the North Country | Unexpected Joy | The Capeman | Jekyll & Hyde
Hands down..."And I Am Telling You, I'm Not Going" from DREAMGIRLS! This song rips your heart out every time! I don't think there's been a song like this ever... I'll never forget seeing Dreamgirls in previews on Broadway and after Jennifer Holiday sang this song ending Act 1, I was frozen in my seat, bawling my eyes out. BRAVO Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen!
Performer
Steel Magnolias | The Vagina Monologues | (Upcoming) Impressionism | Chapter Two | The Goodby Girl
"If I Loved You" from CAROUSEL and "If You Go Away" from JACQUES BREL.
Performer
Wicked | Next to Normal | Altar Boyz
"Unworthy of Your Love" from ASSASSINS. It is not your typical love song.
Performer
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
My favorite Broadway love song is "Love Don't Turn Away" from 110 in the Shade. I love the melody and the idea of telling love that you are ready for it!
Performer
Kimberly Akimbo | Hello | Dolly! | Cry-Baby | Wicked
“Screw Loose” written by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger. Because is it really love if it’s not clinically certified crazy love?
Performer
Jersey Boys | Bat Boy | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The most romantic Broadway Love song of all time is of course "ONE HAND, ONE HEART"..it always makes the little hairs on my neck stand up. As to why, well the ideal of perfect love overcoming all obstacles is the most romantic dream I could imagine.
Performer
Girl from the North Country
My favorite love song is Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific. Besides being an incredible song, it’s also the show where I met my wife. - “The sound of her laughter will sing in your dreams.” So romantic!
Performer
Superhero
"A Heart Full of Love" from Les Miserables because I love the song and it's just so pretty.
Performer
The Lion King
"I (Who Have Nothing)" from Smokey Joe’s Café. I performed this song and show in college. It was very easy to relate to and tell the story as there was a beautiful young lady I was interested in, but there were some “obstacles” in the way. So every night I would perform that song thinking about her. To make a long story short, years later that amazing young lady is my wife and the mother of our two daughters! A true love story.
Performer
PRICILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT
So, my favorite Broadway love song is "What about Love" from THE COLOR PURPLE. When I saw the show and Celie and Shug sang that song tears started to roll down my face. I feel that even if there weren't lyrics expressing that it's a love song, the instrumental part will make you feel the pure and honest love that one may have for another. And, it's just a beautiful song- it's just that simple. Get into it.
Performer
Mrs. Doubtfire | Honeymoon in Vegas | Chaplin
I think I've got to go back to "Someone to Watch Over Me." I think it's a perfectly written song. I really do. I think it's one of the great songs in the American Songbook and it speaks to love in its simplest and purest form.
Performer
The Phantom of the Opera
My choice would be the song "You are Love" from Showboat. I was blessed to star opposite my husband, Duane McDevitt, in a production at Allenberry Playhouse about six years into our now 17-year marriage! At first, I found it a bit hokey to be singing this love song with my husband every night. I was irked when his staging ideas in rehearsal didn't gel with mine! I soon realized how amazingly fortunate we were to be working actors for an entire summer together, and starring opposite each other. We have gotten to sing that song several times since in concert and even a wedding. We probably aren't going to be considered for young romantic roles anymore. But, I still feel like a beautiful young ingenue when he looks at me with a smile and starts to sing the opening lines of the song.
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