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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.
Composer/Lyricist
Here We Are | Merrily We Roll Along | Sweeney Todd | Into the Woods | A Catered Affair | 110 in the Shade | LoveMusik | The Apple Tree | A Chorus Line | The Color Purple | Pacific Overtures | The Frogs | Allegro | Passion | Nine | Follies | Into the Woods | Promises | Promises | Sweeney Todd | Baby | A Little Night Music | Company
My pick is "Why Did I Choose You?" from the 1965 flop The Yearling by Herbert Martin and Mickey Leonard. One of the many things I love about this song is that it is one of the very few songs that ends in a different key than the one in which it begins. Changing key imperceptibly, it takes the listener to a new and different place than where he or she had started.
Performer
Julius Caesar | American Dream | Building the Wall | The Librabry | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Some people might not consider it a love song, but I love "It's Quiet Uptown". It's about forgiveness and it absolutely is about love, ultimately.
Performer
A View From the Bridge
There are so very many beautiful and affecting love songs but I'll throw a little love to Maury Yeston and his song "Unusual Way" from NINE. It's sophisticated and complex in a way that some others are not and I think it reflects a mature love that is no less heartfelt than a simple one.
Performer
On a Clear Day | Arcadia | Sunday in the Park with George | In My Life
Even though it's kind of creepy to say so, I love Sondheim's 'Unworthy of Your Love' from Assassins. The melody makes me well up almost immediately. Gorgeous.
Performer
The Play That Goes Wrong
My favorite Broadway love song is “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.” I was first introduced to it through the Sinatra version, which is still my favorite - I love how melancholy yet hopefully (hopelessly?) romantic it is. Then when learning about its context in Pal Joey it underscored how complex and funny and unvarnished the song really is - a great encapsulation of the ups, downs, and resilience of love, whether meant to be or ill-fated.
Performer
Six
My favorite Broadway love song is "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" from Rent. It's about being able to love someone and care about them regardless of how close or far away they are.
Performer
Oklahoma!
My favorite love song is “My Best Girl” from Mame, sung to his aunt.
Creative
The View Upstairs
"Wicked Little Town" from Hedwig! I don't believe in unqualified, idealistic everything is perfect love songs because life ain't like that. Wicked Little Town is the darkest, cynical yet gorgeous love song I've ever heard in a musical. It's kinda like, well you could get infatuated with anyone really, but if you've got no other choice you might as well let me guide you through this stormy fucked up world. I love that.
Performer
Rocktopia | American Idiot | Jesus Christ Superstar | Rent
My favorite Broadway love song has to be "Last Night on Earth." I mean, I was a part of American Idiot, but there's something about that song that just absolutely grips my heart. It's a great testimony to love and affection and heartache. It's a classic love song to me.
Performer
The Bridges of Madison County | Finding Neverland | Wicked | Fiddler on the Roof
I love love. The song that's on a loop for me is "One Second and a Million Miles" from The Bridges of Madison County. I can't change!
Performer
The View Upstairs
"Come Rain or Come Shine," from St. Louis Woman. Because of its absolute devotion to love, even under the most challenging of life's circumstances.
Performer
The Lion King
I'm going to have to go with "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" from Porgy and Bess. I love it because it's a beautiful song and a testament of two people finding love despite their disadvantages and unsavory past.
Performer
Something Rotten! | Aladdin
“Without You” from Rent. I love that song because it really gets to the heart of how you feel when you’re madly in love with someone. When I did that show, I would listen to it and cry.
Performer
Machinal | The Road to Mecca | Pygmalion | Prelude to a Kiss
"Ev'rything I Love" from Cole Porter's Let's Face It.
Performer
Titanique
My favorite Broadway Love Song is "All I Ask Of You" from Phantom of The Opera.
Industry
New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players
My favorite love song is from the world of Gilbert and Sullivan. It is from The Pirates of Penzance, which was on Broadway originally in the 1980’s and has received various revivals since. The song is “Ah, leave me not to pine” and it is one of the most beautiful love duets ever- sung by Mabel and Frederic when they discover they must part for many years. It’s one of the most tender and sad moments in all of musical theatre, but an expression of true love with a beautiful orchestral accompaniment. I have played the Pirate King for most of my career, but I always enjoy listening to this duet by the soprano and tenor from the wings.
Industry
New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players
“I’ve Never Been in Love Before” from Guys and Dolls
Performer
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Tuck Everlasting | Wicked
The two Broadway love songs that have always spoken to me the most, and are almost always guaranteed to make me cry are: "All the Wasted Time" - Parade, "Move On" - Sunday in the Park with George. Both songs I heard for first time in acting school performed in class by colleagues and they just devastated me. I still feel the same way about the songs today.
Performer
HAIR
“All the Things you Are" by Kern and Hammerstein from VERY WARM FOR MAY.
Performer
Sign of the Times | The Color Purple | King Kong | The Play That Goes Wrong
My favorite Broadway love song is "I'm Here" from The Color Purple. I heard it sung 100 times by Cynthia Erivo when I was in the cast. It's a song about falling in love with yourself and that you are enough.
Performer
Scandalous | The Fantasticks | Seven Brides For Seven Brothers | The Girl In The Frame | The Selfish Giant
Can it be Off-Broadway? Ok, I'm including that too. Because while there are some amazing love songs out there (“If Ever I Would Leave You”, “Maria”, “On the Street Where You Live” and even the beautiful “They Were You” that I get to listen to every night), ‘The Next Ten Minutes” from The Last Five Years trumps them all for me. It's so beautifully written – hauntingly simple at first and then soaring during the duet section. I get chills just thinking about it. I sang it at a rehearsal dinner for some friends of mine who were getting married, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house – including mine.
Performer
Hercules | Escape to Margaritaville | The Color Purple | Violet
My favorite Broadway love song is “All I Ask of You” because it’s really beautiful, and the women that sing it can sing really high and very beautifully and very lyrically and sometimes coloratura-lyrically.
Performer
Aladdin
I can’t think of a song that captures that thrill of first love better than “Shiksa Goddess” from The Last Five Years. Jason Robert Brown perfectly expresses the excitement of “waiting for someone like you.” Plus, as a nice Jewish boy who’s been with a blond goy for over 8 years, it has a special resonance.
Performer
Trip of Love | Mamma Mia!
My favorite Broadway love song is "With Every Breath I Take" from the musical City of Angels, it is just heart-breakingly beautiful. Written by Cy Coleman and David Zippel WHAT A PAIR!!!!!
Performer
The Prom
My favorite love song is "For Good" from Wicked. It speaks to a different kind of love- friendship. It's not just romantic love that's important in our lives. It's also our friends and family. Those types of love are also so fulfilling and beautiful. And being able to acknowledge that a relationship can grow starting from a really complicated place, but learning more about ourselves through the people we encounter is so beautiful.
Performer
My Fair lady | Hello Dolly! | The Scottsoro Boys
"Being Alive" from COMPANY.
Performer
Vanya | Sonia | Masha and SpikeThe Little Dog Laughed | Lucky Stiff
The song that is popping into my head is "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" but I also vote for "Losing My Mind" as best unrequited love song. Advice for those who find themselves without a valentine....Dont listen to "Losing My Mind"
Performer
Jekyll and Hyde
I think my favorite Broadway love song is “If I Loved You” from Carousel. It is impossible for me to think of that song outside of the context of the bench scene, which I think is the most beautifully romantic scene in the entire repertory.
Performer
A Chorus Line
"Take Me for What I Am" from Rent. I just love that song. Like take me for who I am, you know what I'm talking about? It's just, I sing it out loud, it's great. Take me for what I am, I don't know, that's my song!
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