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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.
Industry
Grease | 'You're the One That I Want,' Guys and Dolls | The King and I | Saturday Night Fever
"Maria" from WEST SIDE STORY
Performer
Spamalot | Chicago | Hamilton | Freestyle Love Supreme | Aladdin | Memphis
There are so many songs that come to mind, but right now it's "Sarah Brown Eyes" from Ragtime. There is something about singing about that first moment of meeting that person who you know is the one. You scrape away all pretense. You throw away all that mess of bravado and adjust yourself in meeting for the first time. It's so romantic, and though it goes to a sad place, that song in that moment is one of the most romantic moments ever.
Performer
An Enemy of the People
My favorite Broadway love song is and will always be “Somewhere” from West Side Story. It is heartbreaking, it is beautiful, and it is timeless. Bernstein/Sondheim forever.
Producer
Hadestown | Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
My favorite Broadway love song is “Johanna” from Sweeney Todd. It’s just a song that has always touched me really deeply, both because the melody is an earworm, and the passion of a young man who is thinking about this woman and imagining the possibility and the purity of who she is and what their life could be together. I’ve just always felt it to be truthful and beautiful.
Performer
Kimberly Akimbo
My favorite Broadway love song is "Do You Love Me?" from Fiddler on the Roof. I love the whole show, but I think this song specifically embodies love that has endured many hardships. Love that had lasted a long time, and love that is real.
Performer
What the Constitution Means to Me
Truth be told, I am a complete sucker for "Unexpected Song" by Andrew Lloyd Webber from Song & Dance. I think most people, or most people I know anyway, want love to sneak up on them the way that this deceptively simple and casual melody suddenly grabs you by the glands.
Performer
MJ
My favorite Broadway love song is probably “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors. Two unlikely people finding true love despite their quirks. To me, true love is acceptance… loving the person as they are but in a way that inspires them to be even better. Seymour lets Audrey know he’s there to provide “sweet understanding”. To encounter your “person” who just GETS you and is willing to put in the effort to understand all of who you are… yeah, you won.
Performer
MJ
I would have to choose “In A Sentimental Mood” from Sophisticated Ladies. It just paints the picture of how falling in love feels, looks and sounds like. Fantasy mixes with reality, new heights of emotions are introduced to your soul and you simply feel like melted butter or a warm fireplace after a cold NY walk. Every time I listen to this song, whether single or taken, I just fall in love with being in love all over again.
Performer
Ain't Too Proud | Motown
My favorite Broadway love song is “My Funny Valentine” because it’s been covered so many times by different people and I just love the sentiment of it, it’s so great
Performer
Endlings
This is of course an impossibly hard question, but my gut reaction was “Talk to Me” from Bye Bye Birdie. I played Albert Peterson my senior year of high school and love how sweet and simple it is. It’s also a very emotionally healthy love song, which I think is rare. When I randomly saw Charles Strouse at a show years later, I ran up to him to tell him how underrated I thought that song was.
Performer
Tommy | Aladdin | Les Miserables | The Lion King
I love "Maria" from West Side Story. That music just sweeps you up and makes you feel like you’re flying. Thank you, Leonard Bernstein!
Performer
The Present
"Some Enchanted Evening” for its soaring romanticism, melody and wonder in that first magical moment, “If I Loved You" for its truthful perfection, and finally - I'm greedy but it’s love and the world is going to need it - "One Hand, One Heart” from the masterpiece that is West Side Story. It is quite simply pure and very beautiful - play it once a week for the next four years, America!
Performer
Funny Girl
The first musical I saw was a high school production of Brigadoon, and I was completely transported from the top of the show. Then, came the scene, when Charlie sings "Come to me, Bend to me", and the tenor playing him had one of those "spinning-sunshine" voices...and I just left the planet. It still kills me every time.
Industry
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical
“If I Loved You” from Carousel. Just an awesome classic Broadway ballad - heartrendingly sweet and complex.
Performer
Hamilton | Matilda the Musica | Newsies
"Three Little Words" from Ghost. It's beautiful and not overdone....and maybe because I struggle myself with saying it at times :/ Granted... I haven't had someone to say it to in YEARS! #WhereAreYouSoulMate?
Performer
Barococo
"They Were You," from The Fantasticks; and "As Long as She Needs Me," from Oliver.
Performer
Memphis | All Shook Up | Caroline or Change | Titanic | Sunday in the Park With George
Got to be " Some Enchanted Evening".
Performer
Days of Wine and Roses | Tina | Once On This Island | After Midnight
"Wheels of a Dream" from Ragtime. That songs tells an incredible story of a love that was broken.
Performer
GUYS & DOLLS | Proof | Radiant Baby
"I Got Lost in His Arms" from Annie Get Your Gun perfectly captures the sensation of literally falling head over heels. However, if it's romance you're looking for, I highly recommend standing in front of Craig Bierko as he stares into your eyes and sings "I've Never Been In Love Before" as Sky Masterson. The song is so potent I almost forget to join in because my knees are buckling. Truly one of the greatest love songs ever written -- a tender and thrilling celebration of the miraculous moment you find "the one." Thank you Frank Loesser!
Performer
Six | Hamilton
I love "Love Song" from Pippin. I think it's so beautiful and simple and it gives me all the feels!
Performer
Wolf Hall: Parts 1 and 2
From Cardinal Wolsey… My favorite Broadway love song is "September Song" from Knickerbocker Holiday.
Performer
Sunset Boulevard | Aladdin
My favorite Broadway love song is "A Whole New World" from Aladdin because I think it's what it's all about.
Performer
Priscilla Queen of the Desert
'If Ever I Would Leave You' from Camelot. My parents played the album all the time when I was a child, and it stays with me all these years later
Performer
The Color Purple | The Winter's Tale | Peter and the Starcatcher | The Merchant of Venice
One of my favorite love songs of all time is "Feels Like a Home" by Randy Newman from Faust. I love this song because of its simplistic melody; it yearns, it is resolved, it has learned to respect the need for love.
Performer
The Phantom of the Opera | On the Town | Hair | Hands on a Hardbody | Catch Me If You Can
I have to say "Embraceable You" from GIRL CRAZY!
Performer
The Drowsy Chaperone | Damn Yankees | Will Rogers Follies
"Will He Like Me?" From SHE LOVES ME. Its such a beautiful song. "Will he know that there's a world of love waiting to warm him?" Heartbreakingly romantic.
Performer
Something Rotten! | Bullets Over Broadway
Mine is "Would You Light My Candle" from Rent. I used to passionately improv dance to that song along in my bedroom - ha!
Performer
On Sugarland
“When I First Saw You” from Dreamgirls. I really love this song because it reminds me of my first real crush back in middle school. You’re so young and naive and you swear your little crush is like the most important thing in the world. That puppy love lol!
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