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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.
This year's list is presented by The Notebook, now in previews on Broadway. Based on the best selling novel that inspired the iconic film, this new musical follows Allie and Noah, both from different worlds, as they share a lifetime of love despite the forces that threaten to pull them apart, in a deeply moving portrait of the enduring power of love.
Performer
Into the Woods | Waitress | Hello Dolly! | She Loves Me | The Book of Mormon | Hair | Thoroughly Modern Millie
"Something Wonderful." That lyric is about love, but it's an adult love. It's more complicated. It's not always smooth, and he doesn't always say what you want. It's hard, and he doesn't behave, but I know him and I know his soul and I know he's wonderful. That's my choice right now. When I was younger, it was all idealism and romance, but I'm a realist now!
Performer
Cabaret | Macbeth | The Threepenny Opera
"I Won't Send Roses" from MACK & MABEL. I think being honest about your shortcomings is much more useful than talking about candlelight dinners and what rate your heart is beating at.
Performer
Hedwig and the Angry Inch | How I Met Your Mother | Company | Cabaret | Assassins | Proof | Sweeney Todd
"Love Has Come Of Age" from the JEKYLL & HYDE album with Colm Wilkinson. His voice is phenomimazing! I've always dreamed of that song being sung at my wedding, but only if Colm'll sing it himself. Probably a long shot...
Performer
Into the Woods | Waitress | Carousel | Violet | Scottsboro Boys | American Idiot | In the Heights
Right now, it's "It Takes Two" from Into the Woods. I remember hearing Brian d'Arcy James and Sara Bareilles singing it and I would be dancing backstage with Patina Miller. It feels so good.
Performer
Lempicka | The Prom | Bandstand | 42nd Street | Mamma Mia! | The Drowsy Chaperone | Elf
“Move On” because it’s sung by two people who know they cannot be together yet know they are tethered together forever. It’s an unconventional choice but we love it for a love song.
Performer
Company | The Band's Visit | Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark | The Miracle Worker
I gotta say, these days it's good old fashioned "Til There Was You" from The Music Man. Its sweet, elegant melody and the simplicity of the lyrics; charming and just a bit melancholy. Sigh, gets me right there. And the little turn around at the end of the bridge into the verse "...and dew.." Mmhmm. Sold.
Performer
Once on This Island | Porgy and Bess | The Little Mermaid | The Phantom of the Opera | Les Misérables
Even though it was a tragic song that I did in Side Show, people keep asking me a lot of times to sing that at weddings, "You Should Be Loved." Also, "The Music of the Night." It's actually a beautiful song. It's a little more sexy than love long. "I Believe My Own Eyes," from Tommy, I mean, come on. There's a lot great stuff that I've been able to sing. Even Miss Saigon, that tragic love story, with "Sun and Moon." It's hard to pick.
Performer
Merrily We Roll Along | Carousel | Significant Other | Wicked | Grease | Godspell
It's not a Broadway love song but it's Barbra Streisand so I feel like it would qualify, which is "The Way We Were." It's so romantic and it's not sappy, there's history to it and then thinking about the way Marvin Hamlisch laid it all out. For me it's the best.
Performer
Funny Girl | Glee | Spring Awakening | Fiddler on the Roof | Les Miserables | Ragtime
"Say It Somehow" from The Light in the Piazza is by far the most romantic Broadway song!
Performer
The Great Gatsby | Hadestown | Miss Saigon
My favorite Broadway love song would absolutely have to be "Freak Like Me". By Patrick Page. And the cast of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Oh yes.
Performer
Pretty Woman | Legally Blonde | Saturday Night Fever | Footloose | The Great American Trailer Park Musical
Mine would have to be "Our Love Is Here To Stay", not only because Gershwin is unrivaled in sheer genius as far as I'm concerned, but I was lucky enough to have been in the "long" running "Fascinating Rhythm" and listening to my co-stars sing that song every night into the finale' (which was Hang On to me), gave me chills and still brings back some of my best and happiest Broadway memories as a performer...
Performer
Assassins | American Son | Junk | The Robber Bridegroom | The Bridges of Madison County
"Loving You," by Stephen Sondheim, pretty great. "Loving you is not a choice it's who I am," that guy writes good lyrics.
Performer
Company | The Prom | Chicago | Shrek the Musical | Matilda | Pippin
My current Broadway love song is: I just Want to dance with you...from THE PROM ...it’s beautiful and perfect....letting the world melt away with that one special someone...That’s the one!!
Performer
Into the Woods | The Parisian Woman | Amelie | Hamilton | Natasha | Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
"Do You Love Me?" From Fiddler on the Roof. It is one of the scariest things one can ask another person. It is brave and vulnerable. It makes your heart strings pull and your stomach drop. That song shows a different kind of love than the ones we usually see on Broadway. There is something beautiful about how unsatisfying Golde's answers are. But then at the end they say "After 25 years it's nice to know" we have a little glimpse of their deep love for each other. *sigh*
Performer
Hello Dolly! | Dear World | Triumph of Love | Sunset Boulevard | Carrie | The Mystery of Edwin Drood | Song & Dance | Cats | Pippin | Promises | Promises | 1776
"You're Nearer" from TOO MANY GIRLS by Rodgers and Hart.
Performer
LIZA'S AT THE PALACE...! | Flora | The Red Menace | Chicago | The Act | The Rink | Victor/Victoria
"A Quiet Thing" from FLORA, THE RED MENACE
Performer
Driving Miss Daisy | The Best Man | A Little Night Music | Blithe Spirit | Deuce | Mame | Sweeney Todd | King & I | Gypsy | Dear World | Anyone Can Whistle
"If I Loved You" from Carousel because it reminds me of my first love...
Performer
Tootsie | Act One | Cinderella | Billy Elliot
"Not While I'm Around." I think it's beautiful. I know it's between more of a mother and son, but the lyrics aren't excessive and I think it's so succinct and beautiful.
Performer
Gutenberg! The Musical | The Book of Mormon | The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Anything from Dance of the Vampires.
Performer
Anastasia | Carrie | Mamma Mia!
I really like "You Shine" from Carrie. But I also really love the Gershwin song- "They Can't Take that Away From Me." Life is filled with little moments. I love how the singer celebrates all of the little things that make his love wonderful, regardless of what their future holds. I think that is such a beautiful song.
Performer
Pictures From Home | Moulin Rouge! | My Fair Lady | Fiddler on the Roof | Cabaret | The Snow Geese | Follies | South Pacific | The Drowsy Chaperone
My favorite Valentine’s Broadway love song is “Some Enchanted Evening” because that’s the way I felt when I first saw my wife.
Performer
Little Shop of Horrors | Hedwig and the Angry Inch | Kinky Boots
My favorite Broadway love song is "The Origin of Love," obviously. I mean, how can it not? It's a beautiful song, it's beautifully written lyrics, it's the perfect song. The perfect love song.
Performer
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying | Annie Get Your Gun | Beauty and the Beast | Les Miserables
All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera. I love the melodies in the song. I feel like the music compliments the acting and the story line in a truly remarkable way.
Performer
Pictures from Home | Gary | Angels in America | The Nance | The Addams Family | November | The Odd Couple | The Frogs | The Producers | A Funny Thing Happened... | Guys and Dolls | Love! Valour! Compassion!
"Too Many Mornings". It always makes me cry. Missed opportunity, longing and regret, exquisite lyrics and a melody that breaks your heart. That Sondheim kid has a big future.
Performer
Angels in America | The Unsinkable Molly Brown | Fun Home | Ring of Fire
My favorite Broadway love song is Maury Yeston's "Unusual Way" from Nine. It's very haunting and it gets at something really complicated. I feel it very deeply.
Performer
The Visit | West Side Story | Chicago | Kiss of a Spider Woman | Nine | Bye Bye Birdie |
"Only Love" from ZORBA by Kander & Ebb. I love it because of the simplicity of the lyrics and the beautiful melody.
Performer
Here Lies Love | Once on This Island | Allegiance | Flower Drum Song | Miss Saigon | Les Miserables
Yes, I am going to be absolutely biased and say "Sun and Moon" (MISS SAIGON). I don't know of any other song ever written where the two lovers are singing in complete metaphor, likening themselves to two celestial beings that should never meet, but somehow still do. It's magical, tender and exciting, starting and ending as quiet as the night sky. It still gets a huge sigh from me whenever I hear it, either live or recorded, and I have a sentimental attachment to it as it's the first song from the show I ever learned.
Performer
POTUS | Hey | Look Me Over! | Sondheim on Sondheim | Into the Woods | Kiss of the Spider Woman | Mule Bone | Sarafina!
My favorite Broadway love song is "Where Is Love?" It makes me cry all the time!
Performer
She Loves Me | First Date
I don't know if it's exactly a love song, but I love the song "Worlds Apart" from Big River. I mean, it's kind of a friendship love song, but it's more like a bigger concept. That whole show, that whole score is so incredible. I would go with that as my favorite.
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