Happy Valentine's Day, y'all: Nashville's Favorite Love Songs

In a town where everyone from your next-door neighbor to your favorite barista - from your dental hygienist to your manicurist, your seatmate on the bus, your friendly neighborhood bartender and maybe even the guy who does your taxes - is a songwriter, you'll find that there's never a shortage of opinions on the topic of favorite songs. Ask a cross-section of Nashville theater-types what their favorite love song is from the annals of musical theater and you're going to get a barrage of answers.

In honor of Valentine's Day (and in a blatant rip-off of BroadwayWorld.com's similar query to the denizens of the Great White Way), we posed that very question to some of our favorite theater community-dwellers in yet another not-so-scientific survey. So, if you're thinking about putting together a playlist of favorite love songs - or if you're searching for the perfect tunes to play in the background while you set the scene for a romantic evening with your own Valentine, here are some suggestions:

• Rita Frizzell: "If I Loved You" from Carousel.

• Halee-Catherine Culicerto: "Roll in the Hay" from Young Frankenstein. "Ooh, I forgot about 'Dangerous Game' from Jekyll and Hyde...maybe the kind of love you want to avoid."

• Rowena Soriana Gonzalez Aldridge: "You Made Me Love You" from Irene, "Just in Time" from Bells Are Ringing and "I Got Lost In His Arms" from Annie Get Your Gun: "I've done all three of these shows (many years ago) and I think these songs are some of the best - and unfortunately overlooked songs - in musical theater."

• Joshua Waldrep (who will be part of the upcoming Chess in Concert, presented by Street Theater Company February 24-27): "Love Song" from Pippin and "I'll Cover You" from Rent.

• Debra Barrett Graham: "Loving You" from Passion: "It is not a romantic song, but it's so expressive for those of us with 20+ years with a best friend, a lover, the father of my children and lifelong companion..."

• Scott Rice (who's in rehearsal for Blackbird Theater Company's production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, running February 25-March 12 at David Lipscomb University's Shamblin Theatre): "They Were You" from The Fantasticks, "So Many People" from Saturday Night and "Love to Me" from The Light in the Piazza.

• Robert Stone: "As Long As He Needs Me" from Oliver.

• Amy Prough Stumpfl: "I Have Dreamed" from The King and I, "Not While I'm Around" from Sweeney Todd, "People Will Say We're In Love" from Oklahoma and "Somewhere" from West Side Story.

• Jama Bowen: "My Cup Runneth Over" from I Do, I Do.

• Elizabeth Davidson: "Shouldn't I Be Less in Love With You?" from I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change: "I saw I Love You, You're Perfect... Sunday and there is a beautiful song that Bakari King sings about his wife to whom he has been married to a long time about whether or not he still loves her. It's beautiful."

• Amanda Lamb: "Love Song" from Pippin: "I love its quirkiness."

• Paula Hester Chandler: "People Will Say We're in Love" from Oklahoma: "It's from a long time back, even before my time, but it's still one of my favorite songs."

• Jennifer Bennett: "'Til There Was You" from The Music Man.

• Kim Thornton Nygren (currently onstage in Jones/Hope/Wooten's 'Til Beth Do Us Part, directed by Martha Wilkinson, for Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre): "Someone Like You" from Jekyll and Hyde and "How Could I Ever Know" from The Secret Garden.

• Jaclyn Lisenby Brown: "Yesterday I Loved You" from Once on this Island.

• Bonnie Keen: "How Could I Ever Know" from The Secret Garden.

• Laura Matula (who stars in Street Theatre Company's upcoming Chess in Concert, February 24-27): "A Little Fall of Rain" from Les Miserables, "Sun and Moon" from Miss Saigon and "Being Alive" from Company.

• Patrick Kramer (who's playing Felix Unger in Nashville Dinner Theatre's production of The Odd Couple through March 5): "Follow Your Heart" from Urinetown the Musical.

• Henry Kevin Haggard (who stars as Ray in Tennessee Repertory Theatre's production of Steven Dietz's Yankee Tavern, onstage at TPAC's Johnson Theatre through Saturday, February 19): "Corner of the Sky" from Pippin.

• Christina Marie Jones: "I Love You Because" from I Love You Because.

• Lisa Truley Dunaway: "'Til There Was You" from The Music Man.

• Rollie Mains (music director for Street Theatre Company's recent I Love You, You're Perfect Now Change, who's now musical director for the upcoming Chess in Concert): "A Bushel and A Peck" from Guys and Dolls: "My mom used to sing to me, 'I love you a bushel and a peck,' she didn't know hardly any of the wors...just the first couple of lines."

• Britt Byrd (in rehearsals for Blackbird's production of Arcadia, directed by Ted Swindley): "All I Ask of You"from Phantom of the Opera.

• Margaret Cheesman Brandon: "If I Loved You" from Carousel.

• Lane Wright: "My Heart is So Full of You" from The Most Happy Fella, "When Did I Fall in Love" from Fiorello and "Losing My Mind" from Follies.

• Todd Rowan: "I Chose Right" from Baby.

• Jack Chambers (now in rehearsal for ACT 1's upcoming production of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana, directed by Anne-Geri Fann and opening March 4): "So Many People" from Saturday Night and Marry Me A Little.

• Denice Hicks (artistic director of Nashville Shakespeare Festival): "I Got Love" from Purlie: "It's as joyous a love song as you'll ever sing!"

• Mark Beall: "Epiphany" from Sweeney Todd.

• Amanda Virgillito Saad: "Someone To Watch Over Me" from Oh, Kay!

• Molly Breen (who just completed a run in SistaStyle's children's show, Boo's Black History Blues - written by Mary McCallum - and the one-night-only stand of SistaSpeaks!): "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera, "If I Loved You" from Carousel, "Sun and Moon" from Miss Saigon, "Tell Me to Go" from Martin Guerre and "Without You" from Rent.

• Scott Logsdon (singer/actor/director and the writer of the recent An American Country Christmas Carol staged reading at Boiler Room Theatre): "If I Loved You" from Carousel: "Slightly ambivalent, full of pain, regret, fear of rejection and still somehow hopeful - kind of sums it all up..."

• Rosemary Fossee (named as one of 2010's Most Promising Actors at First Night, The Nashville Theatre Honors last September and now a senior at Franklin Road Academy): "They Were You" from The Fantasticks.

• Ben Van Diepen (who played Mark in Rent and Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar at Boiler Room Theatre and was in the most recent national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar): "Too Many Morning" from Follies.

• Evan Taylor Williams (this week he opens in Circle Players' The Wedding Singer, running February 18-March 6 at Donelson's Larry Keeton Theatre; see www.circleplayers.net for details): "People Will Say We're in Love" from Oklahoma, "All The Wasted Time" from Parade, "On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady, "Suddenly Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors, "You Are Love" from The Fantasticks, "'Til There Was You" from The Music Man, "As Long As You're Mine" from Wicked, "I Should Tell You" from Rent, "Rosemary" from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera... "and, of course, 'Grow Old With You' and 'If I Told You' from the show I'm currently in: The Wedding Singer!"

• Phil Perry: "My Mystery of Love" from The Fantasticks.

• Rebecca Holden (the actress/singer/dancer, who makes her home at least part of the time in Nashville and is a veteran of TV - Knight Rider and General Hospital, among a host of shows -theater in Nashville, having played Lola in my production of Damn Yankees back in the day): "As Long As He Needs Me" from Oliver: "Dysfunctional relationships are alive and well!"

• Corrie Miller (currently starring as Annie Oakley in the Boiler Room Theatre production of Irving Berlin's classic musical Annie Get Your Gun): "My Man" and "The Music That Makes Me Dance" from Funny Girl, "I Got Lost In His Arms" from Annie Get Your Gun, "I Don't Know How To Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar, "I Will Be Loved" from I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, "I'd Give My Life For You" from Miss Saigon and "Without You" from Rent.

• Daron Bruce: "If Ever I Would Leave You" from Camelot.

• Amie Lara: "Please" and "I Still Believe" from Miss Saigon, "There's a Fine, Fine Line" from Avenue Q, "Your Eyes" from Rent, "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera, and "I'm Not That Girl" and "As Long as Your Mine" from Wicked.

• Neil Bergman (who just closed his run as Max in Ken Ludwig's Lend Me a Tenor at the Larry Keeton Theatre): ‎"Nothing's Gonna Harm You" from Sweeney Todd, "'Til There Was You" from The Music Man, "Miracle of Miracles" and "Do You Love Me?" from Fiddler On The Roof.

• Kenneth Stalsworth: ‎"You Walk with Me" from The Full Monty: "One of the few times I have cried in public."

• Ginger Newman (the first First Night Award winner for outstanding lead actress in a musical for her performance in Tennessee Rep's Evita and now the music director of The Larry Keeton Theatre and whose cabaret act is a favorite throughout the world): "Moonfall" from The Mystery of Edwin Drood, "Nothing's Gonna Harm You" from Sweeney Todd, "If He Walked Into My Life" from Mame, "The Story Goes On" from Baby, "Mama a Rainbow" from Minnie's Boys and "If I Sing" from Closer Than Ever and, of course, "There's a Fine, Fine Line" from Avenue Q...and I could go down a dark, sarcastic path, but why bother?

Pictured (from top to bottom): Joshua Waldrep, Kim and Matt Nygren, Evan Taylor Willliams and Russell Davis and Ginger Newman