News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

They say that falling in love is wonderful... and doesn't Broadway know it! 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.

Category:
Photo
Performer
The Roommate | Company | War Paint | Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown | Gypsy | Sweeney Todd | Noises Off | Master Class | Anything Goes | Oliver! | Evita
It's not a musical theater song, but "A Case Of You" by Joni Mitchell because it's besotted, it's filled with sex, it's love goo.
Photo
Performer
Once Upon a Mattress | Sweeney Todd | The Music Man | Violet | Anything Goes | Shrek | Little Women | Thoroughly Modern Millie
I'm a big fan of "I Turned the Corner" from Thoroughly Modern Millie. That's a pretty good love song!
Photo
Performer
Redwood | Frozen | If/Then | Wicked | Rent
"One Hand, One Heart" from West Side Story. That's my favorite!
Photo
Performer
Old Friends | Hello Dolly! | Follies | A Little Night Music | Gypsy | Annie Get Your Gun | Into The Woods | Song and Dance | Sunday in the Park with George | Broadway Legend
When I was in Hello, Dolly!, I was so amazed at how beautifully constructed that show is. I think "It Only Takes a Moment" is quite a beautiful love song for Valentine's Day.
Photo
Performer
Kinky Boots | Angels in America | Ghetto Superstar | Grease | Five Guys Named Moe | Miss Saigon
My choice is: "A Quiet Thing" by Kander & Ebb, I think from Flora The Red Menace. Because when we grow up and allow ourselves to embrace an adult concept of love - it's complex but simple, terrifying but empowering, focused, awesome, quiet...
Photo
Performer
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends | Here Lies Love | Once on This Island | Allegiance | Flower Drum Song | Miss Saigon | Les Miserables
"Maria" from West Side Story. What an ode that is, from a young man who meets this beautiful young woman. Despite the reality of their circumstances, he still finds love. It's gorgeous!
Photo
Performer
Sweeney Todd | Moulin Rouge! | Wicked | Next to Normal | Catch Me If You Can
My favorite Broadway love song is “If I Loved You”. An old one. They don’t call them classics for nothing, folks.
Photo
Performer
Nobody Cares | My Fair Lady | Meteor Shower | She Loves Me | Gypsy | The Wedding Singer | The Secret Garden
Well, it's funny because my dad, Sal, his birthday is on Valentine's Day, so we call it "Sal-entine's Day," and his favorite song is "The Impossible Dream."
Photo
Performer
Into the Woods | The Cher Show | The Mystery of Edwin Drood | Anything Goes | 9 To 5 | The Pirate Queen | Wicked Tour | The Boy From Oz
From the musical theatre canon? It's "If I Loved You" from Carousel. I love it because it's not definite. The actor is thinking of the 'whys' and when the audience listens, they get to be in on the though process... all of the doubts, hope, and possibility of the song. It touches me in a beautiful way.
Photo
Performer
The Queen of Versailles | On the Twentieth Century | Promises | Promises | The Apple Tree | Wicked | You're a Good Man Charlie Brown
There are many by Rodgers and Hart that I love. I was in Babes In Arms at the Guthrie and I loved "Everything I've Got Belongs to You." I think it says a lot about who I am. With all of the fights, the good times, bad times, fun times, throwing plates, and crying fits...everything I have is yours. To me, that's true love, though maybe in my twenties I would have chosen a differnt song!
Photo
Performer
Kimberly Akimbo | Gigi | Cinderella | Sister Act | The Light in the Piazza
I have two! "Love to Me" from The Light in the Piazza. That gorgeous lush romantic music by Adam Guettel! The confidence and stillness of Fabrizio as he declares his love for Clara in the early hours of their wedding day! As sung so deliciously by Matthew Morrison, this one is a tear-jerker! Good tears! Also, "Anagram" from Kimberly Akimbo, The surprise of David Lindsay-Abaire’s lyric as Kim and Seth both solve their own puzzles: Seth finds a delightful anagram for Kim’s name, and Kim discovers her true feelings for Seth, as their tender friendship unfolds. The vitality and delight of Jeanine Tesori’s music is so refreshing and real. This song is A JOY to sing every night!
Photo
Performer
Days of Wine and Roses | Into the Woods | The Ferryman | Something Rotten | Hamilton | Shrek
One of my favorites is "When I First Saw You from Dreamgirls. When I first saw you, I said Oh my, that's my dream! That sentiment is pure gold.
Photo
Performer
Wicked movie | The Color Purple
“Fools Fall in Love” from Smokey Joes Cafe.
Photo
Performer
Anything Goes | Wicked | Chicago | Cabaret
My favorite Broadway love song is "If I Loved You" from Carousel.
Photo
Performer
Moulin Rouge! | Into the Woods | Pretty Woman | Groundhog Day | Rocky | On The Twentieth Century
My favorite Broadway song, I'm choosing one from Groundhog Day, because it means so much to me, it's so important to me. It's called "Seeing You." It is about seeing someone maybe you've seen every day of your life over and over again but then taking a chance to see them for the first time, reset your brain, look through their eyes. It's beautiful and I can't wait to sing it.
Photo
Performer
Moulin Rouge! | Jagged Little Pill | Anastasia | Wicked | The Bridges of Madison County
One of my favorites is from Sunset Boulevard- "Too Much in Love to Care." It's a big, sweeping love ballad at the end of the show and it takes the audience out of the vibe that the rest of the show lives in. It's really beautiful
Photo
Performer
Hamilton | Bring it On | In the Heights | Encores! Merrily We Roll Along
"So In Love" by Cole Porter is the correct answer. Everyone else is wrong.
Photo
Performer
Days of Wine and Roses | Kiss Me Kate | The King and I | The Bridges of Madison County | South Pacific | The Light in the Piazza
One of them has to be "Love to Me" from The Light in the Piazza. I love it because he didn't know how to say it to her, but he's saying 'I love you because you don't know you're lovable.' It's about deserving love, no matter who you are or what you are and that the person loves you BECAUSE of those things. Who doesn't want to be known for who they truly are?
Photo
Performer
Gutenberg! The Musical | Falsettos | The Book of Mormon | Jersey Boys
"If I Loved You" from Carousel. A perfect, perfect love song. Or 'The Next Ten Minutes' from Last Five Years. Also pretty damn perfect.
Photo
Performer
Shuffle Along | Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown | Ragtime | Kiss Me Kate | Man of La Mancha | Mail
I love "How Long Has This Been Going On?" from FUNNY FACE. Slightly more than 100 words. Beautiful melody, great simple, spare lyric that says loads about truly falling in love for the first time. One of the most sensual songs ever written. Makes me want to have a cigarette after I sing it. And I don't even smoke!
Photo
Performer
Funny Girl | I Can Get It For You Wholesale | Nightclubs | Television | Films | Concerts | Recordings | Director | Activist
The first song that comes to mind is Rodgers & Hammerstein's "If I Loved You" from CAROUSEL. It's just about the most perfect love song written for the theater. I admire the intelligence of the lyric's premise -- two people each too shy to express their love, so they couch their true feelings in the form of a question, and then pretend it hardly matters...when of course they know it does. With its heart swelling melody, it never ceases to touch people. A few years ago during my last concert tour I loved singing Maury Yeston's "Unusual Way" from NINE. It's about those kinds of relationships where love isn't easily defined.
Photo
Performer
The Last Five Years | Tina | Shuffle Along | Dreamgirls National Tour | Bring it On
"Not While I'm Around" from Sweeney Todd. This song always makes me tear up. It makes me think of love on so many different levels. Everytime I hear this song it reminds me of my father and the unconditional love we share. If you ask me, nothing can beat unconditional love and the love of family!
Photo
Performer
The Great Gatsby | Little Shop of Horrors | American Son | The Last Five Years | Newsies | Bonnie & Clyde | Rock of Ages | West Side Story
The first one that comes to mind is "Falling Slowly" from Once. That was always one of my favorite movies and I loved the Broadway show.
Photo
Performer
The Minutes | Carousel | Waitress | Beautiful
The first love song that popped into my head is "It Takes Two" from Into the Woods because I can't think of a better, there's all kinds of sweeping love ballads, but that gets down to it, the nitty-gritty of what it is to be with somebody.
Photo
Performer
A Christmas Carol | The Color Puple | If/Then | Once on This Island
I love "What About Love" from The Color Purple. This song speaks of the surprise and exhilaration of love discovered between two unlikely hearts.
Photo
Performer
Heart of Rock and Roll | Bandstand | Newsies | Gigi
"You Matter to Me" from Waitress has been on me and my wife's playlist recently. It's so incredibly beautiful, and it has extra contextual beauty knowing we are going to have a baby in April!
Photo
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.
Photo
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...
Photo
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.
Photo
Performer
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends | Lempicka | The Prom | Bandstand | 42nd Street | Mamma Mia! | The Drowsy Chaperone | Elf
"Not While I'm Around" from Sweeney Todd. I was introduced to that song when... you know you go through a certain time in your life and I really needed to hear something like that. So that represents such love to me that song, such love and caring.

Videos


TICKET CENTRAL

Recommended For You