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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
Rocktopia
My favorite love song from Broadway is Funny Girl's "The Music That Makes Me Dance." I mean, anything Barbra Streisand does turns to gold for me, so her voice on anything. And Funny Girl is one of my favorites, all-time favorites, so that's mine.
Performer
Wolf Hall: Parts 1 and 2
What is my favorite Broadway love song? "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues. It’s not strictly speaking ‘Broadway’ but it’s a bloody good song!
Performer
Chicago
My favorite Broadway love song is “Come What May“ from Moulin Rouge! Considering the fact that my husband and I just recited our wedding vows to one another, this song really does sum it up. No matter what comes, whatever trials and tribulations, I’ll love you until my dying day. That’s it right there.
Performer
Wit | Rabbit Hole | The Women | Indiscretions | Angels in America | Hurlyburly | The Vagina Monologues
"Come to Me, Bend to Me" from BRIGADOON.
Performer
Bronx Bombers | Lombardi | The Lion in Winter
"Origin of Love" from Hedwig. So psyched to see Neil Patrick Harris kill it in Michael Mayer's production this spring.
Performer
The Heart of Rock and Roll | King Kong | Ghost
This might be an obvious one but "If Ever I Would Leave You". My now husband and I first started dating in college right around his showcase season. He was a senior when I was a sophomore and If Ever I Would Leave You was his showcase song. Lemme tell youuuu I absolutely swooned... it always makes me think of him when I hear it.
Performer
Water for Elephants | Parade | Bright Star | Escape to Margaritaville | Bright Star | Jesus Christ Superstar
“Daybreak" from Floyd Collins is not a romantic love song but a song between brothers and a harkening back to a childhood memory and then ultimately about being there for each other. So it’s still a love song. Hard to pick a favorite song but this one is on my mind cause this FC is a show I’m dying to do and was just listening to and showing my friend Jason Danieley’s perfect voice.
Performer
Jersey Boys
"Sandy" from GREASE (the movie). I know its not in the original stage version, but it should be! Travolta is God! Or "Younger Than Springtime" from SOUTH PACIFIC.
Performer
Ragtime | Chaplin | Jekyll & Hyde
"All the Things You Are". It's and old operetta and I love it!
Performer
The Prom
Mine is "Marry Me" by Kander and Ebb. The line "you may not know it yet, but I'm the best you'll get," though unintentionally snarky, is so sweet and charming. Also the melody and chords of the song are so tender.
Performer
Finian's Rainbow | The Seafarer | The Weir
"Younger Than Springtime" from SOUTH PACIFIC. South Pacific is my favorite musical and I performed Lt. Cable a long time ago!
Director
Catch Me if You Can | Love Never Dies | Impressionism | How the Grinch Stole Christmas | The Coast of Utopia
'Goodbye' from Catch Me If You Can- for all the obvious reasons!
Performer
One Day
"Without Love" from Hairspray is my favorite. I can't listen to it without singing along and instantly smiling.
Performer
The Music Man | Fiddler on the Roof | Grease
"Seasons of Love" from Rent. It's just so beautiful and reminds you to not take every moment for granted, to really invest and participate in your own life and not be afraid. Every time I hear it, it gives me chills.
Performer
Honeymoon in Vegas | Annie | Sunday in the Park with George
I will say, "All the Things You Are" because I feel like that's a traditional love song but the core progressions are so unexpected that it makes it so interesting and full and rich. It's not a "paint by numbers" love song. It's really complicated.
Performer
Irving Berlin's White Christmas | Into the Woods | Annie Get Your Gun
"Come To Me, Bend To Me" from BRIGADOON.
Performer
The Book of Mormon | The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
'Will He Like Me' from She Loves Me
Performer
The Cher Show
What is my favorite Broadway love song? Is that a trick question?! There are so many good ones to choose from, but I have to say it’s a tie between “Ten Minutes Ago” from Cinderella, “So Mane People” from Saturday Night, and “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” from The Lion King. What can I say? I’m a hopeless romantic :)
Performer
Machinal | Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
"Changing My Major" from Fun Home and "What Is It About Her?" from Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party.
Performer
Moulin Rouge! | West Side Story | In the Heights
My favorite Broadway love song is “I Could Have Danced All Night”. It’s old school.
Performer
The Woodsman
It was unsettling when I realized how many love songs that I adore are actually sad, break up songs. I'm gonna choose to not look too deeply into that. But in keeping with that theme, there's a video on YouTube somewhere of beautiful, older Dorothy Loudon ( the original Ms. Hannigan) at some Sondheim celebration concert singing a mash up of "Losing My Mind" from Follies and "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" from Company that was both very moving and so, so funny. She goes from being totally forlorn and melancholic to then being so angry to then just going completely bonkers. It's great. 'Cause you know, it's just like how love is, right?!
Performer
Bandstand | Grease | Bonnie and Clyde | Cinderella
My favorite, most romantic Broadway love-song ever is "Some Enchanted Evening." In addition to the gorgeous melody and orchestration, the lyrics are so beautifully pure and romantic. It's about love at first sight, that unexplainable feeling of finding true love from across a crowded room. It makes me cry almost every time I hear it.
Performer
Celebrity Autobiography | Comedian
"On the Street Where you Live" from MY FAIR LADY.
Performer
Bandstand
"Hero and Leander" by Adam Guettel (from Myths and Hymns)
Adam Guettel is a genius. Somehow he has found music and lyrics to translate the peaks and crashes of love, into song.
Geoff Packard.
Performer
Flashdance | Rock of Ages | Legally Blonde
“Send in the Clowns” is the best unrequited love song.
Performer
School of Rock | Newsies the Musical
I love the song, "Something to Believe In" from Newsies. The music is so beautiful and I absolutely loved hearing Kara Lindsay and Corey Cott belt their faces off each night!
Performer
The 39 Steps | Curtains | The Woman in White
I choose "Love to Me" from THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA as the most romantic song EVER!! It's what every girl wants to hear from her boy.
Performer
The Music of Neil Berg | Li'l Abner
It would have to be "When Did I Fall in Love?" from FIORELLO, music and lyrics by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick. It never gained the popularity as most of the others - but, it sure was a great one.
Performer
A Bronx Tale
"On The Street Where You Live" from MY FAIR LADY. The perfect match of music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. When it goes into the bridge "Oh that towering feeling," I'm gone.
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