"Maria" from WEST SIDE STORY

One of my all-time favorite Broadway love songs is "Hey There" from The Pajama Game. Growing up in a Spanish-only household my exposure to musical theater was limited and I first experienced "Hey There" as "Oye" sung by Enrique Guzman. Still one of my favorites to this day.

One of my favorite love songs of all time is "Marry Me a Little" from Company because I just think he has this way of making these quotidian things that are so normal, that are so true about love and everyday life with another human being. And it's all stuffed into that song in such a complex way. And even for me as a young man, hearing that song and that being the goal for what I wanted has sort of shaped my life.

In my opinion, the most romantic song I have ever heard on Broadway would be "Big Shot" by Billy Joel...you really have to love someone immensely to have that much anger towards them.

"Lover", from the show FELA! is my favorite Broadway love song! It asks the questions that people feel when they first meet someone and find themselves falling hard, like will you be here, will you be the one? The feeling of being head over heels in love, captivated, I know this feeling oh so well!

"A Whole New World" from the musical Aladdin is my favorite Broadway song.

Most folks will choose Gershwin or R & H. My favorite Broadway love song is “My Friends“ from Sweeney Todd. Both music and lyric are sensual, romantic, and rapturous; maybe should be reserved for a flesh and blood partner. But the song is all the more thrilling because of how it reveals the only true, unconditional love Sweeney is capable of possessing, the love he has for his blades.

One of my favorite Broadway songs is "Meadowlark" from The Baker's Wife. I love it.! And I've listened to it since I was in high school. And it's just a soaring, beautiful love song. I think it just sweeps me away.

Mine is from Rags. I think that one of the most beautiful songs is called "Blame It on the Summer Night" I love it because it's a bout how love makes one feel when they're by themselves.

One of my favorite love songs is "Younger Than Springtime." It means so much to me, not I've been in the show, but because of my own existence. My father's from England. My mum was from New Zealand. So in that show, obviously very prevalent issues there. And so to see that and to also witness it live. It means a lot to me because I know that's exactly how my parents were always and will always be.

One of my most favorite love songs is called "All at Once, You Love Her" from an obscure Rodgers and Hammerstein show called Pipe Dream. The main character, Doc, is a marine biologist that used to be a bit of a rover but finds himself head over heels for a prostitute (her occupation is alluded to but is never actually mentioned in dialogue) named Suzy. The song is simple and romantic. What I like best about it is that it is a song that recognizes chemistry in a romance. One of the opening lines, "you start to light her cigarette and all at once you love her," supports the notion of love at first sight. I have also interpreted a nod to the cliche notion of appreciating a person beyond appearances. Despite knowing that Suzy has an occupation of ill-repute, he is still taken by her, as he expresses it through song.

"I Have Dreamed" from THE KING AND I because musically, and lyrically, it defines yearning and romantic hope so beautifully. Also, "So In Love" from KISS ME KATE because if you can get your hands on KD Langs version from Red Hot and Blue, you will need a box of Kleenex, a therapist, and a good three days to recover from the emotional depths that she reveals - and we can only aspire to understand.

"Omar Sharif" from The Band''s Visit. The song is gorgeous and the storytelling within the song is beautiful.

I love the songs from Rent. It speaks to me because they are odd, disfunctional characters and they're finding common ground.

“Falling Slowly” from Once. When the film first came out, I was the only person in the movie theater, and I sat in the middle of the aisle and cried the whole time. Happy Valentine’s Day!

"Love Song" from Pippin!

The most romantic love song EVER, EVER, EVER is "Love to Me" from THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. I had it at my wedding!

"A Boy Like That/ I Have A Love" from WEST SIDE STORY

'I Wanna Be With You' from Golden Boy

"When the Sun Goes Down" from IN THE HEIGHTS

I'll have to go with "Somewhere" from WEST SIDE STORY. Just because.

The first love song that comes to mind is 'Good Thing Going', which may tell you something about me. Is that weird? It might be weird. Not necessarily the song people are looking for on Valentine's Day. As an alternative, I offer Kander and Ebb's 'A Quiet Thing'...also awesome.

Marshall Paillet and A. D. Penedo's BAGHDADDY (OR HOW I STARTED THE IRAQ WAR) is an intelligent, hilarious, and insane account of the miscommunications and confirmation biases that led to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. The show is relentlessly paced with a high-octane score, but right before the act break we hear a solo banjo playing an easy, beautiful melody: the unrequited love song "Music To Me". In a story with a guaranteed unhappy ending, it is a moment of simplicity, light, and stillness. Paillet's music/lyrics/vocal arrangement and Ethan Slater's straightforward, honest performance made the whole audience lean forward.

“If I Loved You" from Carousel (The Bench Scene) is the perfect musical theatre love song. They never directly say what they are thinking, they flirt and smoothly flow from singing to talking, and it’s exactly how I wish real life was!

One of my favorite love songs is "What Makes Me Love Him?" from THE APPLE TREE. It's a song that I love to sing and listen to. I love the story telling and it just warms my heart.

One of my favorites is "Where or When" just because I think it is one of the most perfect songs. It's so intimately sung and the way that it's built always makes the hair stand up on my arms. I think it's perfect for Valentine's Day.

The first musical I saw was Carousel. "If I Loved You" made a big impression. I love that song. And then Porgy & Bess, "I Loves You, Porgy." I would say from La Boheme, "Mi chiamano, Mimi." And then I started writing songs and I happen to love the songs. I was very taken by love songs. And I would say some of the songs that I wrote: "How Could I Ever Know" (The Secret Garden) was such an important song. And from Doctor Zhivago, "On the Edge of Time" with Lara and Yurii, their love song. And also another love song that they sang was "Now." "The only time is now," and I think so much as I get older and I don't have that many years to enjoy my life, I've realized that the only time is now. Now I have to live in the full, and I think that song, "Now," that lyric, is brilliant and I think that it expresses that moment that if you don't say "I love you" now then you might miss that opportunity.

My favorite Broadway love song is “So in Love” by Cole Porter. When I was 9 years old I saw the Broadway revival of Kiss Me Kate with Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell. They play two people in love who can’t seem to figure it out. They both sing this song (she in act 1, he in act 2) but only once the other person has left the stage. I remember my nine year old brain wrestling with the thought, “love is…complicated?!" To this day, I feel that “So In Love" is the most perfect expression how powerful, consuming, and humbling love is.

I would have to say the song "All the Things You Are" from the musical Very Warm for May by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II is at the top of my list for favorite Broadway love songs.

My Valentine's Day song, I think would be "If I Loved You" from Carousel. I don't think you can top that for romance, longing.