They're the most romantic songs on Broadway. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Broadway show tunes that make us swoon.
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00:00Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger.
00:10Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Broadway show tunes that make us swoon.
00:16There's a place for us, a time and place for us.
00:27Number 10. On My Own, Les Miserables.
00:31Without a hope, without a friend, without a face to say hello to.
00:36And now the night is near. Now I can make believe he's here.
00:45In a musical full of tragic figures, Eponine is one of the saddest.
00:49Her act two number, On My Own, almost instantly became one of Les Mis' signature moments.
00:54The poor, unfortunate daughter of thieving innkeepers, Eponine is in love with the young and handsome revolutionary Marius.
01:01He's in love with someone else. Even if he wasn't, he probably still wouldn't see her.
01:06And although I know that he isn't mine, still I say, there's a way for us.
01:18Anyone who's ever been on the losing end of an unrequited crush is sure to hang on every word of her show-stopping anthem to longing,
01:25and that hopeless head-over-heels kind of love.
01:28I love him, but only on my own.
01:43Number 9. All I Ask of You, The Phantom of the Opera.
01:47Let daylight dry your tears. I'm here with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you.
01:59In this epic musical, The Phantom begins enacting a reign of terror on the Paris Opera.
02:04Christine Daae, the soprano with whom he's obsessed, flees to the scenic roof of the building,
02:09where her enamored childhood sweetheart Raoul finds her.
02:12A fever pitch of emotion follows, set to one of the musical's grandest melodies.
02:16Tell me, stay with me each night, each morning. Say you love me.
02:27Oh, I do.
02:30Christine and Raoul make their loving requests to one another, promising to be each other's light
02:35in a world full of murderous phantoms and screaming prima donnas.
02:39The song builds to a brilliant and overwhelming crescendo as they kiss, hit some near-impossible notes,
02:44and bring it in for an equally impossibly soft landing.
03:04Number 8. Suddenly Seymour, Little Shop of Horrors.
03:08Lift up your head, wash off your mascara. Here, take my Kleenex, wipe that lipstick away.
03:17This science fiction musical concerns plant store employee Seymour Krelborn,
03:21making a Faustian bargain with a carnivorous plant from outer space.
03:25Audrey's the bombshell he's in love with, but whose taste in men betrays a disturbingly negative self-image.
03:31In Suddenly Seymour, she realizes the soft-spoken Seymour may be the man she's been looking for,
03:36and he realizes she actually loves him back.
03:57Finally coming together, their duet is almost rapturous.
04:00You almost forget he's just fed her repugnant and sadistic boyfriend to the plant he named after her.
04:06Love forgives a lot of sins.
04:31Number 7. If I Loved You, Carousel.
04:52This is a true classic of the musical theater.
04:55Carnival barker Billy Bigelow and mill worker Julie Jordan have only just met,
04:59but their attraction is growing. They're unable to come out and say how they feel about each other.
05:04So If I Loved You is full of timid hypothetical situations.
05:08What would it actually feel like if they were in love?
05:22Between their moments of honesty, they sing about the weather instead.
05:26When Carousel was revived on Broadway a few years back,
05:29Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical generated considerable controversy, and with good reason.
05:34Billy and Julie are not exactly couple goals, but on its own, the song is one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's very best.
05:40Time and again I would try to say
05:45All I'd want you to know
05:53Number 6. I'll Cover You, Rent.
05:56In a total 180, this love song near the end of Act 1
06:00finds Professor Tom Collins and Angel Dumont-Chouinard confessing their love.
06:04Full of sweet harmonies and earnest feeling, the duet takes the form of a promise
06:09and a clever re-appropriation of the show's title and themes.
06:12I think they meant it when they said you can't buy love
06:16Now I know you can rent it
06:18At least you are my love on life
06:25The two know more than most about how precious life is.
06:28With whatever time is left on the lease of their lives, they'll be each other's comfort and peace.
06:33Wherever, whatever, I'll be your coat
06:37You'll be my king and I'll be your castle
06:41No, you'll be my queen and I'll be your moat
06:46If that doesn't make you cry the first time, the second act reprise of the song is another story.
06:51Collins vows to keep his promise, even if Angel is gone.
06:54Oh lover, I'll cover 525,600 dead
07:10One of the most acclaimed Broadway musicals is also one of the darkest,
07:14and yet still one of the most romantic.
07:16I was half convinced I'd waken
07:20Satisfied enough to dream you
07:24Happily I was mistaken
07:28Anthony, the idealistic young sailor, is struck by the image of Joanna at her window.
07:33She's a caged bird, and he's smitten by her and instantly realizes he must save her.
07:38I'll steal you, Joanna
07:47I'll steal you
07:51Singing this ode to Joanna's golden hair,
07:53Anthony promises he will take her away from the cruel and oppressive Judge Turpin.
07:57Until then though, he assures that he will be with her in spirit.
08:01Much like the rest of the show, his song for her is equal parts creepy and gorgeous.
08:06Till I'm with you then, I'm with you there
08:10Sweetly buried in your yellow hair
08:21When I'm close to you dear
08:27The stars fill the sky
08:33So in love with you am I
08:39Cole Porter is well known for his sophisticated wit and jaunty melodies,
08:43but he's equally at home with songs of unrequited love,
08:46like this standard from Kiss Me Kate.
08:48The musical centers around the personal lives and troubles of a group of actors
08:52putting on a production of The Taming of the Shrew.
08:54With my joy delirious
09:02When I knew that you could care
09:10Sung by the actress Lily Vanessie to her ex-husband Fred,
09:13it's a plea wrapped in a declaration of love.
09:16She's so in love with him that it's torturous and cruel.
09:19The numbers reprise and the second act finds Fred singing it back to her.
09:22It's intense, vulnerable, and earnest in a way that only the greatest love songs are.
09:27So in love, so in love
09:36So in love with you, my love
09:48Make of our vows one last vow
09:56Even death won't part us
10:04A musical based on Romeo and Juliet wouldn't be much of a success
10:07if it didn't have one of the most romantic scores of all time.
10:10Somewhere is a crowd pleaser,
10:12but you could argue it doesn't necessarily have to be about romantic love.
10:16Not so with One Hand, One Heart.
10:18The two star-crossed lovers vows to each other
10:20as they imagine what their wedding might look like.
10:23Now it begins, now we start
10:30One hand, one heart
10:38Composer Leonard Bernstein had actually composed the melody for another show,
10:42but loved it so much he found a place for it in West Side Story.
10:45It's clear why he couldn't let it go.
10:47It's a breathtaking piece of music.
10:50Even death won't part us now
11:09There were bells on the hill
11:14But I never heard them ringing
11:19Wedding playlists were never the same
11:21after the music man dropped this one on the world.
11:24Simple, elegant, and brimming with feeling.
11:26Librarian Marion Perreault's confession of love for the grifter Harold Hill
11:30is the definition of romance.
11:32The lyrics tell of Marion's shift in perspective since meeting Harold.
11:36But I never heard it singing
11:41No, I never heard it at all
11:47Till there was you
11:51Birds sing, bells ring.
11:53The world is full of beauty she didn't see or hear
11:56until he awakened it in her.
11:57Okay, well, if that's not a declaration of love, what is?
12:01This one was so irresistible,
12:03even the Beatles themselves got in on the action.
12:05When there was music
12:09And wonderful roses
12:12They had sent me
12:14Before we unveil our top pick,
12:16here are a few honorable mentions.
12:18What more can I say?
12:20Falsettos.
12:21Marvin ponders his love for Whizzer.
12:23I sing more on delay
12:29What more can I say?
12:32Loving you.
12:33Passion.
12:34Fosca admits that her love for Giorgio is her entire purpose for living.
12:38Gives me voice to say to the world
12:44This is why I live
12:49On the street where you live, My Fair Lady.
12:51Freddie's so in love, he'll wait for Eliza all night if he has to.
12:55The towering feeling
12:58Just to know
13:01Somehow you are near
13:04Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered.
13:06Pal Joey.
13:07An ode to how love makes you a little crazy.
13:10And wouldn't sleep
13:12When love came and told me I shouldn't sleep
13:16Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered am I
13:25Unexpected song.
13:27Song and dance.
13:28A soaring Andrew Lloyd Webber ballad famously performed by Bernadette Peters.
13:32I have never felt like this
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13:54Number 1.
13:55Some Enchanted Evening, South Pacific
13:58In this Rodgers and Hammerstein song,
14:00Emile Debecque woos Nellie Forbush with poetic imagery of strangers meeting in crowded rooms and hearing her laugh in his dreams.
14:07You know even then
14:12That somewhere you'll see her again and again
14:21Some Enchanted Evening moves with such ease that it almost feels effortlessly written.
14:26Of course, that's the trick.
14:28It's a perfect encapsulation of how the most stirring songs can be so simple.
14:32Who can explain it?
14:35Who can tell you why?
14:38Fools give you reasons
14:42Wise men never try
14:51Andrew Lloyd Webber himself cites the song as the best ever written for a musical.
14:55Countless covers by stars as varied as Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand and The Temptations
15:01is proof that the song's beauty can stand on its own.
15:04Never let her go
15:19What Broadway song makes you believe in love?
15:21Let us know in the comments.
15:23I long to discover
15:25Something as true as this is
15:31Do you agree with our picks?
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