What is the Greatest Broadway Love Song Ever?

The most romantic show song would have to be "If I Loved You" from CAROUSEL. First, it's a tease. They're not saying they are in love, but they're not fooling anybody, least of all each other. But, if played properly, the scene with Billy and Julie isn't just a cute opposites-attract kind of romantic moment. You can feel the awesome force of Nature inexorably drawing them together. They're standing beneath these blooming trees and the blossoms are falling all around them. And as Billy and Julie move closer together, they nervously note that there is no breeze to make the flowers fall. She breathes, "It's just their time to." And they're in each other's arms. It's love, it's death, it's love in the face of death, which is what CAROUSEL is all about, and, really, what life is all about. Yow!

"What More Can I Say?" from FALSETTOS. Bill Finn, who isn't the most sentimental guy I've ever met, wrote the most romantic song imaginable!

As a big Ashman/Menken fan, I'm offering up "Suddenly, Seymour" from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS as deserving a place among the most romantic Broadway songs. This poor schlep of a guy finally finds love by asserting his previously non-existent self-worth as he helps a girl with off-the-charts low self-esteem understand the value of her own inner beauty. And the lyric somehow manages to convey Seymour's tremendous affection for Audrey without making him sound uncharacteristically eloquent or literate. Instead, we're won over by his simple sincerity and his heartfelt pledge of 'sweet understanding.' Awesome.

You know what, I'm going to say a song that isn't from Broadway - I can't decide between "The Nearness of You" or "What'll I Do?" - they're all very sad...but then again I think it goes back to "If I Loved You" from CAROUSEL. And a good runner up would be "All The Things You Are".

"And This is My Beloved" from KISMET. Besides Borodin's wonderful melody, the lyrics of Robert Wright and George Forrest subtly, yet passionately, describe the indescribable feeling when one meets one's perfect love.

"I Have A Love" from WEST SIDE STORY. Commenting on the perfection of the music in this piece--the flow from the strong to the plaintive and the eventual fusing of the two--would require many paragraphs. But the lyrics are equally perfect, particularly when Maria sings, "I love him; I'm his/ And everything he is/ I am too." It always reminds me of the line in WUTHERING HEIGHTS where Catherine says of Heathcliff: "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." It isn't about losing one's identity in love; it's about who we love being the ultimate clarifier of who we are.

"Hey There" from THE PAJAMA GAME. The reason is because I did a production of that show in High School. I was in the chorus and I was madly in love with the guy...and I love the song!

"People" from FUNNY GIRL, sung by the star Barbra Streisand - hands on! I saw FUNNY GIRL in previews and I'll never forget that moment when she sang -- it was an amazing thing!

I have so many favorites, but the first that comes to mind is "I Only Have Eyes for You." Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote it for 42ND STREET. It's a wonderful, wonderful song that was in and out of the original show (I know that Dolores Gray sang it at one point), but it was definitely in the arrival. I also love "It Only Takes a Moment" from HELLO, DOLLY! Jerry Herman is my personal favorite!

"Not While I'm Around" because Barbra Streisand sang the fool out of it. It's also such a powerful song about devotion, protection and love.

"Sun And Moon" from Miss Saigon. The message of this song for me is that love conquers all. No matter who you are, where you are or what you believe, "Sun and Moon" shows us that love is the thing that binds us all together in the end. And what could be more romantic than that!

"Maria" from WEST SIDE STORY! Oh, it kills me!

"Till There Was You" from THE MUSIC MAN is my favorite Broadway love song because it reminds me of when my partner Phil Ford and I were discovered by Jack Paar. I was able to sing it to the world on THE TONIGHT SHOW while reaching for Phil's hand, which brought tears to Jack's eyes, as well as mine. Recording it in 1958 was the icing on the cake!

"So in Love" from KISS ME, KATE. It breaks my heart and wrenches my stomach every time I hear the words "So taunt me, and hurt me, deceive me, desert me. I'm yours till I die." You may say it's masochistic, but I say it's desperate, undying love (Je t'aime toujours, Aaron)!

I have been dared to say "Memory" from CATS and I can rarely resist a dare unless it involves the possibility of physical harm. That, plus, that entry will amuse at least two of my friends, so, there you go. "Memory." Though I am a little apprehensive about touting something with the lyrics "If you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is," as that could result in pawing, I will still select with it. This choice goes against my inclination to pick a ditty that could be construed as edgy, like a Joe Iconis song, or a tune that is catchy and seemingly anti-romantic, like "Is it Me You Want to Kiss?" from SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL, but, I'm always for a new day beginning. Now and forever.

"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" from PAL JOEY

After thinking about it, I have to select Rodgers & Hammerstein's "If I Loved You". Perhaps because it lets you hedge your bets!

Noel Coward's "Someday I'll Find You," from PRIVATE LIVES. But, truthfully, there is no single most romantic song. Personally, I think yearning is more romantic than fulfillment, hence the above choice. But it could just as easily have been Vernon Duke's terrific "Words Without Music," from ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1936 among many, many others.

It's difficult to choose from so many great selections...however, hands down, I would have to say 'The Next Ten Minutes' from THE LAST 5 YEARS. There's something about JRB's (or J Bob, as I call him) music that moves me.

"If I Loved You" because it's so impossibly romantic and yet it hedges it's bets. It's a hypothetical love song.

"Being Alive" from COMPANY. It isn't about another person, it's about being that person that deserves to be loved...knowing that you are ready and deserving. There's no greater love song!

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!

"Anytime"- cut from A NEW BRAIN. To say that these are the most thoughtful lyrics I have heard from Finn is a bold statement, but the first time this song landed on my ears, I was a water well from first to last note. His simple rhythmic motives and soaring vocal lines evoke a beautiful tale of how love, no matter how it ends, carries on.

The only song that makes me cry every time I listen to it, or sing it, is "Song On The Sand" from LA CAGE AUX FOLLES. This song has the power to take you back in time and space, to a life long forgotten. It makes you feel homesick and goes right into your "kishkes."

"The Next 10 Minutes" from THE LAST 5 YEARS.

There are so many songs I love, but I'd have to say "Something Wonderful" from THE KING AND I is definitely one of the most romantic ones I've heard.

"Maria" from WEST SIDE STORY

Okay, my unconventional choice for most beautiful B'way love song ever written will be "Once Upon A Time" from ALL AMERICAN by Strouse and Adams. It's rueful, but there is just something so achingly romantic and sweet about the look back at first love - so, I'm choosing it and that's that.

My favorite, actually, was written by Broadway composers, but I don't think it was ever in a show. Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh wrote a song called "It Amazes Me". If that's not legal, then my favorite from a show is "I Know Your Heart" from HIGH SPIRITS by Timothy Gray and Hugh Martin. That was actually my first Broadway show, for which I was the rehearsal pianist!

I would have to say "What Would I Do?" from FALSETTOLAND. Wistful, full. Brings me to tears everytime. And it has the word 'shmaltz' in it, so it would have to be the most romantic for a Jew like me...