This will be hard, but try to pick the ONE BEST musical theatre song of all time. Only ONE, it's hard...I know. It'll be interesting to see how people's views differ.
Mine would have to be, big surprise, "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd.
"One no longer loves one's insight enough once one communicates it."
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
"Chicago is it's own incredible theater town right there smack down in the middle of the heartland. What a great city! I can see why Oprah likes to live there!" - Dee Hoty :-D
That's a hard one...each show, I find, has it's own best and then tries to contend with the other "bests" from each show...really, right now I'm just rambling on as a way of procrastinating...because I'm not sure that I have an answer...hmm....I guess it depends on what you're LOOKING for in the song..........I don't really like Wonderful Town but I think that Bernstein's "Wrong Note Rag" is ingenious.... but I think...I think my vote is going to go to..."Painting Her Portrait" from Jane Eyre
I don't think its possible to choose a BEST OF ALL TIME...there is none - it changes from moment to moment.
"I don't really get the ending,all i can go with is when after several months,Judith saw Pat sang,and later she kissed him on the toilet,after that the story back to where Pat went down from the stage after he'd sung,and he went to the italian lady.I just don't get it,what Judith exatcly meant when he kissed Pat that she had seen,and did Pat end up together with The Italian Lady?Please help me,thank u very much!"
Quote from someone on IMDB in reference to a movie he/she didn't understand. Such grammar!
I think I am suprising myself when I say this, but I am going to go with "Being Alive" from Company.
"First up was Max who sang "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" [...] I haven't seen that big of a reaction to a stair descent since Audra left the attic in Ragtime." --Seth Rudetsky
It's impossible to pick only one. Off the top of my head, I'd have to say If I Loved You from Carousel. Gorgeous melody with subtle poignant lyrics that lie so well in the rhythm and melody balanced with exquisite dynamics to perfectly articulate the tension and excitement of the moment. There really is no other song like it. The first tried it with People Will Say We're in Love in Oklahoma, but it was much softer and cuter more humor than nervous tension. Then they tried it again later with Twin Soliloquies in South Pacific, but because the lyrics were their direct thoughts and desires, the subtlety was completely lost and the melody was weak and broken up which loses all the tension in the moment. Finally, they hit it again without lyrics at all in the famous dance sequence during Shall We Dance in The King and I. But If I Loved You is really a perfectly constructed song.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Oh god it always changes for me but I'd like to say, at least at the moment, Cabaret.
Rosencrantz: "Be happy - if you're not even HAPPY what's so good about surviving? We'll be all right. I suppose we just go on."
- from Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
I think that No One is Alone from into the woods is a beautiful song. maybe not the best but I can't think of much else at the moment. just watched the dvd for the first time(never heard the recording of it) and i must say that i now love it!
Springtime for Hitler from Producers. It is so hard to pick just one because there are so many songs to choose from!
"Hold your head up high!"- Honk!
"The Phantom of the Opera is there inside my mind." - Phantom of the Opera
"Never put your own money into a show...that's TABOO!" - Nathan Lane in The Producers
Just one and only one? Well if my life was on the line, I'd have to pick "The Impossible Dream" from MoLM. B Man that was hard.
"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."
Conan O'Brien
A song that, out of context, can be funny and light, heartbreaking and poignant, or somewhere in between, all based on the interpretation of the singer. Amazing.
This is the moment- jeckyll and hyde if i can only pick one....a close tie would be the impossible dream, and gimme gimme
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
"It does what a musical's supposed to do. It takes you to another world, and it gives you a little tune to carry with you in your head for when you're feeling blue."
"It Sucks To Be Me" Avenue Q Ask me 5 minutes later, I might change my mind. Then again, maybe not. Do's anyone want to put "Shakalata Baby" on this list? Kind of kidding, but I just heard that one before, and I've gotta admit: I'm getting to like it!
Wow...this one really has me thinking. I'm very tempted to agree with "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd. I think one of the greatest songs written in recent years was "At the Fountain" from Sweet Smell of Success.