Top 10 Greatest Broadway Swan Songs
These Broadway swan songs do the final curtain justice. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most gut wrenching or memorable last songs from musical characters who die during or shortly after their number.
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00:00 [Music]
00:06 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most gut-wrenching or
00:11 memorable last songs for musical characters who died during or shortly after their number.
00:17 We're revealing some big character deaths, so here is a spoiler alert.
00:21 [Music]
00:36 Number 10. Final sequence. Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
00:41 [Music]
00:54 A lot goes down in the last few minutes of Sweeney Todd. The title barber learns that his wife,
00:59 whom he thought dead, was alive the whole time and he's killed her.
01:02 "I know you, she said. You knew she lived. From the first moment I walked into your shop,
01:12 you knew my Lucy lived."
01:14 After dispatching his treacherous partner in crime in her own pie oven,
01:18 Sweeney can only cradle his lost love's body. As he reprises the first act number,
01:23 "The Barber and His Wife," he becomes victim to his own razor.
01:27 "There was a barber and his wife, and she was beautiful."
01:38 This is the song that first spells out Sweeney's motivations. He sings it once more when he
01:42 realizes that his vengeance has destroyed the very person he was trying to avenge.
01:47 "And he was... naive."
01:58 Number 9. Man of La Mancha Reprise, Man of La Mancha.
02:02 [Music]
02:15 As far as deathbed songs go, this one is quite a ride. The delusional knight Don Quixote is
02:21 flanked on either side by his faithful manservant Sancho and Aldonsa, the woman he insisted on
02:26 calling his lady. Trying to rouse him from his deathbed hallucinations, they play into his
02:32 delusions, reminding him of his calling as a knight. With the help of his friends, the old
02:37 man is able to remember his undying quest for chivalry and honor.
02:40 [Music]
02:51 Despite this last show of strength, he dies as he sings with his companions.
02:55 It's a sudden and heartbreaking end. In a way, it's meaningful that he gets to go out
03:00 as the hero and champion he believed he was.
03:02 [Music]
03:14 Number 8. Edges of the World, Fun Home.
03:17 "I guess I'm older. And it's harder when you're older to... begin."
03:25 This adaptation of Alison Bechdel's tragicomic memoirs find the artist and writer reconciling
03:30 with her father's death. Her father Bruce's last song in the show is a solo of growing
03:35 desperation and panic. Soon after, we learn he deliberately walked into traffic, leaving only
03:41 memories and unresolved questions behind.
03:43 "But the edges of the world that held me up have gone away. And I'm falling into nothingness or
03:53 flying into something so sublime."
03:58 Much of the show's power is derived from the Alison of today trying to intervene or change
04:03 the events of the past, and finding she can't. What makes this song so devastating is not just
04:08 what happens after, but how she watches her father spinning out, unable to make sense out
04:13 of his life, and can't intervene. She can't change the past. It's only something she can look back on.
04:19 "Oh my god, why am I standing here?"
04:28 "When I die, which should be very shortly, I want you to give me to the plant so that it can live
04:48 to bring you all the wonderful things you deserve."
04:52 The dying Audrey realizes that her dreams of being somewhere that's green can happen. Her last wish
04:57 is for Seymour to feed her to the carnivorous plant that's mortally wounded her.
05:01 "And if I'm in the plant, then I'm part of the plant. So in a way, we'll always be together."
05:10 This ending is a lot more poetic and beautiful than it sounds out of context.
05:14 "Somewhere That's Green" is one of musical theater's most beloved "I Want" songs,
05:19 but when it comes back around at the end of the show, it's like a knife to the heart.
05:23 "You'll water me, and care for me. You'll see me bud and bloom."
05:32 It was so rough for test audiences of the 1986 film adaptation
05:36 that the ending had to be changed before it was released.
05:39 "I'll be somewhere that's green."
06:03 It's also not the only swan song the movie dropped. Even the dentist's swan song got the gas.
06:09 "But don't let that fact deceive you, any moment I could die. Though I giggle and I chortle,
06:16 bear in mind I'm not immortal. Why this whole thing strikes me funny, I don't know."
06:20 "Where is my son?"
06:26 "Mr. Hamilton, come in. They brought him in a half an hour ago. He lost a lot of blood."
06:32 The estranged Alexander Hamilton and his wife Eliza join their son Philip after he's wounded
06:37 in a duel. As they spend what will be their last few moments together as a family, the parents
06:42 plead for their son to stay alive. With his last breaths, Philip can only apologize to his parents.
06:48 Their voices are hushed, desperate, and weak with emotion and pain.
06:52 "Mom, I'm so sorry for forgetting what you taught me."
06:58 "My son."
06:59 "We played piano."
07:00 "I taught you piano."
07:02 What's especially heartbreaking is what goes unspoken. Alexander's guilt over his role in
07:08 the situation goes unexpressed. Eliza, though still hurt over his infidelity, is too distraught
07:14 to remember how angry she is. It all coalesces into one of the show's most heartbreaking moments.
07:20 "Good and it's what God sent, she said sweeten it."
07:23 "Good and it's what God sent, she said sweeten it."
07:29 "Saltween, saltween."
07:33 Number 5. It All Fades Away - The Bridges of Madison County
07:42 "There was something in a desert. There was some place wild and green.
07:49 And a child in a village I passed through."
07:56 Years after their brief but earth-shaking affair, Robert remembers Francesca fondly.
08:01 His last song before his offstage death is a confession that, despite having seen virtually
08:06 every corner of the earth, the only experience of his life that means anything is his time with her.
08:12 "I have sailed across the oceans, past the cities and the farms,
08:22 on a never-ending quest for something new."
08:27 With its folk infusions, the song explodes into a powerful climax of music and feeling.
08:34 Words become meaningless, giving way to soaring vocalizations that are downright spiritual.
08:40 "Ahhhhhhhhh."
08:43 In a musical all about missed chances, fleeting opportunities, and impossible choices, it serves
08:59 as the character's acceptance that just those few days of happiness were worth a lifetime of
09:04 everything else. "It all fades away."
09:09 "It all fades away, but you."
09:15 Number 4. Make Them Hear You - Ragtime
09:19 "Go out and tell our story. Let it echo far and wide. Make them hear you."
09:30 After his love is unjustly killed by the Secret Service,
09:34 Colehouse Walker Jr. and his comrades take a New York library hostage. Before walking out to what
09:40 essentially acts as a police firing squad, Colehouse tells his comrades that violence
09:44 will get them nothing. "And say to those who blame us for the way we chose to fight,
09:52 that sometimes there are battles that are more than black or white."
10:02 If they want to fight, they must use their words. His change of heart,
10:06 underscored by mournful horns, highlights one of the show's most prevalent themes.
10:10 "And tell them in our struggles, we're not the only ones. Make them hear you."
10:19 Holding up stories of injustice makes them harder to ignore.
10:23 It ensures that, in telling the story of America, the oppressed will not be forgotten.
10:28 "I'll be near your heart, yeah."
10:50 Number 3. Contact - Rent
10:53 "Hot, hot, hot, sweat sweet. Wet, wet, wet, red heat. Touch, hate, hot, deep, sweat sweet."
11:04 Soon after we meet Angel, a drag performer, she falls in love with Collins, a professor.
11:09 The two bond over their HIV-positive status. Angel's death in the middle of Act 2 is one
11:15 of the show's defining moments. Angel's last appearance as a living member of the ensemble
11:20 is a diva solo in the middle of the steamy number Contact.
11:23 "Take me. Take me, yeah."
11:33 Breaking through the cacophony of sex and breakups occurring on stage,
11:37 she makes a searing plea that takes on a double meaning considering the context.
11:41 The presentation of her actual death varies from production to production,
11:45 but it always brings the action to a heart-thumping stop.
11:48 "It was bad for me. Was it bad for you?"
11:51 "It's over."
11:52 "It's over."
11:53 "It's over."
11:54 "It's over."
11:55 Number 2. Moments in the Woods - Into the Woods
12:04 "Was that me? Was that him? Did a prince really kiss me? And kiss me, and kiss me."
12:15 The Witch gets points for the most stylish exit, but this one's a real shocker.
12:20 The baker's wife, having dabbled in a little unexpected extramarital activity with a prince,
12:25 ruminates hilariously on her life and the choices to be made in it.
12:28 "Must it all be either less or more, either plain or grand, is it always or is it never and?
12:36 That's what woods are for."
12:40 Her realization that having had the option for something else suddenly makes her real life all
12:44 the more dear to her is the kind of complexity and humor Stephen Sondheim was known for.
12:50 "Just remembering you've had an 'and' when you're back to 'or'
12:54 makes the 'or' mean more than it did before."
13:00 The baker's wife is just making peace with her life as it is.
13:05 "Now I understand, and it's time to leave the woods."
13:14 The fact that she's stomped on by the giant immediately afterward is a devastating and
13:18 ironic counterpoint. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
13:24 Judas' Death, Jesus Christ Superstar. Overcome with guilt over his betrayal,
13:29 Judas curses God and ends his torment.
13:32 "God, I'll never know why you chose me.
13:37 Why you're a crime! You're pure, bloody crime!"
13:45 Eva's Final Broadcast, Evita. Eva Perón says goodbye to Argentina.
13:49 "The truth is I shall not leave you, though it may get harder for you to see me."
14:04 How Glory Goes, Floyd Collins. Trapped in a cave,
14:07 an adventurer accepts his impending death.
14:09 "Barn doors rising, bread fill up the air, from open kitchens everywhere.
14:17 Familiar faces, far as you can see, like a family."
14:27 Tell Her I Love Her, Urinetown. A ghost sings words of comfort.
14:33 "I see them standing hand in hand, and teeth to take and glad to lend.
14:40 This tale is told, I see it in this land."
14:47 Roses at the Station, Grand Hotel. Fatally wounded,
14:51 the Baron dreams of the woman he'll never see again.
14:54 "Here in my mind, with the seconds running out of my life,
14:57 with the seconds running out of my life, I'm as close as I'll ever get to you.
15:01 At the station."
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15:22 Number 1. A Little Fall of Rain, Les Miserables.
15:26 "Don't you fret, Monsieur Marius, I don't feel any pain. A little fall of rain."
15:38 There might be more swan songs in Les Mis than any other musical.
15:43 Everyone gets their moment to suffer to a melody.
15:46 Fantine's song to her daughter broke our hearts in the first act.
15:49 The finale, where the ghosts of the entire cast sing Jean Valjean to the afterlife,
15:54 is a tearjerker for sure. But the one that feels most painful and urgent is the swan song of Eponine.
16:00 "And you will keep me safe, and you will keep me close. I'll sleep in your embrace at last."
16:14 Having been shot in the firefight at the barricade, Eponine grows weak in Marius' arms.
16:20 Their short, sweet duet, "A Little Fall of Rain," is in some ways her happiest moment.
16:25 It's the only time she'll ever get to be in the arms of the man she loves. And somehow, that's okay.
16:31 "And rain, and rain, will make the flowers, will make the flowers, grow."
16:45 Did any of these songs have you reaching for tissues? Let us know in the comments.
16:49 "What is a legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.
16:54 I wrote some notes at the beginning of a song someone will sing for me."
16:58 Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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