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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
The King and I | Here Lies Love
"I Have Dreamed" from The King and I. I think the melody has love woven into the fabric!
Performer
A View From the Bridge
"If I Loved You" from CAROUSEL. Not only is it a beautifully written song, but its brilliant in the way it harnesses the power of the word "if." To watch Billy and Julie navigate falling in love despite the fact that they are both so scared, is just amazing.
Performer
Forbidden Broadway | Sessions | Brooklyn
I have a couple favorite love songs. "She's Got a Way" from Movin' Out...it still counts. Also, "Marta," from Kiss of the Spider Woman...beautiful...even though its kind of sad...and he's in prison...but...but...his name is Valentin! Huh? Huh? Valentin, valentine... Boom! And thirdly, "Love is My Legs", cause that's how I roll.
Performer
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
"Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors. It's euphoria! It's the surprise of the love of your life. It's the most beautiful soaring harmonies. It's Ellen Green! It's everything.
Performer
Patti LuPone on Broadway | Barbra Streisand in Concert | Frasier | Wings | Jake in Progress | Stark Raving Mad | Rules of Engagement | Back to You
The most romantic Broadway love song I've ever heard is Barbra
Streisand's version of "He Touched Me" from "Drat! The Cat!"
Performer
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
"Loving You" from Passion. It's the melody, it's the lyrics. It just gets right to my heart.
Performer
Children of a Lesser God
My favorite Broadway love song is “Falling Slowly” from Once. I fell in love with that song when watching the movie with my husband and we would sign it to each other all the time and the words just stuck. The lyrics are so beautiful and paint such vivid emotions. It is kind of a love song, kind of a song of hope.
Performer
Les Miserables | Tommy | Sunset Boulevard | Side Show | Tommy | James Joyce's The Dead | Next to Normal
"You Are Love" from Showboat!
Performer
Aladdin
"Suddenly, Seymour" from Little Shop Of Horrors. One of my favorite Broadway love songs not only because Alan Menken wrote it, but because it was the first time I saw a character actor (like yours truly) sing a love song. It makes me feel all squishy just writing about it.
Performer
Rock of Ages | How the Grinch Stole Christmas
My favorite love song is 'Sailor of My Dreams' from Dames at Sea!
Performer
The Robber Bridegroom | Act One | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Ghost the Musical | Sister Act
“When I First Saw You” from Dreamgirls
Performer
In Transit | Hair | Les Miserables | Shuffle Along
My favorite Broadway love song would have to be "Without Love" from Hairspray. I made my Broadway debut in this show, the lyrics are funny and sweet, and I sang opposite a number of amazing people that played Penny Lou Pingleton
Performer
Mean Girls | Rock of Ages | Bring It On
My favorite love song is actually from the Yeston/Kopit Phantom (I know! Never played on Broadway....I hope it still counts!) called "You Are Music". The line "You are music, beautiful music, and you are life to me" connects the overwhelming sensation of when music takes you over to the feeling of falling in love with another person, which I think is exactly what falling in love feels like- a complete flooding of the senses. Another favorite of mine is "What Would I Do" from Falsettoland – I think when you fall in love with someone, no matter how long that lasts, it changes you. Falling in love forces you to put your old priorities behind you and focus on someone else, inevitably changing how you see the world and how you deal with what comes at you. Every new love brings a new rush of energy and a new perspective on life, and you're never the same again.
Performer
First Down
“Being Alive” from Company! There is something profoundly accurate and wonderful about Love’s imperfections contained in the line “Someone to sit in my chair, to ruin my sleep”.
Performer
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
"On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady because I love the way it describes the feeling of falling in love. It's the euphoria and the butterflies! "Does enchantment pour out of every door on the street where you live?" It's such a beautiful articulation articulation of those feelings.
Performer
The Other Josh Cohen | Les Miserables | Peter and the Starcatcher | Fiddler on the Roof
Our show begins with its title character being robbed of everything but a Neil diamond CD, so Joshyboy would have little to say on the subject. But our highly intelligent cast agrees, the greatest love song in Broadway HISTORY is hands down... “Skimbleshanks” from Cats. Exactly, you’re shaking your head in agreement. Skimby’s passionate relationship with the guards, the porters AND the station master’s daughters? The raw sensuality of getting busy in the luggage van? Our hairs are on end just thinking about it, and our mandatory cast listening parties before EVERY show have been highly successful... despite what Actors’ Equity tells you.
Performer
Sugar Babies | Mastergate | Candles | Snow and Mistletoe | Patti LuPone on Broadway | A Meeting by the River | Let Me People Come
Hands down: "All The Things You Are". No question about it! On the other hand, it could be "If I Loved You". Yes, that's it. "If I Loved You", hands down. No question about it! Because the music expresses emotion about love...
Performer
Meteor Shower | Sunset Boulevard | Guys and Dolls | Lovemusik
My favorite Broadway love song is "The World is in My Arms" by Burton Lane.
Performer
Hands on a Hardbody
I have to say my favorite musical love song is "Sunrise" from In the Heights. It is not because I was a part of the show for so long. Matter of fact I was going to pick "Sunday" from Sunday in the Park with George. But I decided to go with the "Sunrise." "Sunday" for me is about a man and his love for his art. "Sunrise" is wonderful and lovely. It is passionate and cultural. To hear love being shared in both languages, but more importantly to hear the faith in love prevail even with doubt present. The moment two lovers share their morning together, never falling asleep. A true love moment.
Performer
Natasha | Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
I've always loved "How To Handle a Woman" from Camelot for its simplicity. King Arthur is left completely baffled and not understanding of his wife's (Queen Guenevere) actions, and he concludes the following: “How to handle a woman? / Mark me well, I will tell you, sir / The way to handle a woman / Is to love her, simply love her / Merely love her, love her, love her." Such a simple and honest way of expressing unconditional love!
Performer
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Pippin | M. Butterfy | Ragtime
It's absurdly difficult to pick just one favorite love song from the vast Broadway canon. So here are two: "If I Loved You" from Carousel, music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. A song of early love, where the singers are as yet too guarded to openly declare themselves to each other, so Hammerstein uses that magic "if" to try to hold the deeply romantic and prescient poetry at a distance, while Rodgers' gorgeous and poignant melody and harmonies are sweeping and passionate, far beyond the more hesitant words. The second is "Not A Day Goes By" from Merrily We Roll Along, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Here, the declaration of love is almost abrasive, obsessive; resentful, even -- so full and absorbing that it's almost painful, as reflected in the repeated and hammered "Day after day after day after day after day," and phrases like, "I keep thinking, 'when does it end?'" Still, the raw love expressed is heart-rending and true to the core.
Performer
Les Miserables | The Wild Party | Children of Eden | Apples
When I was very, very young I loved this song. I went to see this show when I was 11 years old and it had such a big influence on me. "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line.
Performer
If/Then | Evita | In the Hights
"Can You Feel the Love Tonight." It puts it right out there and it's also a childhood favorite song that still rings true today.
Performer
Perfect Crime
A tie: “They Were You” from The Fantasticks (not Broadway, but....) and “If I Loved You” from Carousel.
Performer
New York | New York | Girl from the North Country | Alice By Heart | Dear Evan Hansen
‘“How Could I Ever Know” from Secret Garden has me messed up every time. It’s love beyond the grave. It’s loving so much you let them go. It’s Mandy and Rebecca. Why am I crying in the club rn?”
Performer
John & Jen
"Stay With Me" from Into the Woods. It may not be a coventional love song, but it's about the love that a mother can have for her child- a challanging and complicated kind of love. I think it's so beautiful and haunting.
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