Saddest songs in musical theater - Page 3

[mamaleh]

Posted: 6/27/18 at 5:12pm

"I Don't Remember You" from THE HAPPY TIME.

"I Wonder How It Is" and "Weary Near to Dying" from HENRY, SWEET HENRY

"Sweet River" cut from 110 IN THE SHADE  but included on LOST IN BOSTON Vol. 1. 

[atuomala]

Posted: 6/27/18 at 5:45pm

For me it’s “Words Fail” and “Burn.”

[Demitri2]

Posted: 6/27/18 at 6:11pm

Another vote for "The Music That Makes Me Dance" from FUNNY GIRL. Unfortunately, Styne's wonderful and heartfelt melody (along with Merrill's equally first rate lyrics) never made it into the film instead being replaced by Brice's signature song. Thus many having only seen the film never got to hear Babs singing the definitive version unless they had the OBC recording.

(Demitri, who is wondering if Mamaleh ever saw HENRY, SWEET HENRY? I can still remember all these many years later, Michael Bennett's masterful staging of "I Wonder How It Is To Dance With A Boy?." As the scene gradually changed from Val's bedroom to the actual dance floor, what one viewed on stage had an almost cinematic feel to it. Everything moved as if it was actually choreographed to accompany the ongoing music. With mute shades of purple and blue lighting giving it an almost dreamlike quality, the whole thing was beautiful to watch. Since I'd never seen anything on stage quite like this before (until later with shows like FOLLIES and DREAMGIRLS), it truly made an impression on me as a kid.    

[Crazy NooNooHead]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 12:35am

Just reading some of these titles is making me feel things!

"What Would I Do?" from Falsettos is the only song that makes me cry every single time I hear it. Does this stop me from listening to the cast recording on public transportation? Of course not! :-P

[Great Dame]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 1:47am

Everyone is going to hate on me, but "With You" from Ghost was freaking sad. I'm a sucker for the more modern stuff personally, but ya, for me that one is the saddest. That melody is hauntingly beautiful, I cry like a baby haha! It's Quiet Uptown is a really good one too that I saw someone else mention.

[brox22]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 2:33am

The Barber and his Wife from Sweeney Todd always makes me feel for Sweeney
Also the Beggar wWoman's Lullabye

[bear88]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 2:45am

"Somewhere" - West Side Story

[SNAFU]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 11:26am

Flesh Failures/Let the Sun Shine In- HAIR

 

[JustAnotherNewYorker]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 12:13pm

Momma look sharp, from 1776

[Crazy NooNooHead]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 12:20pm

Great Dame said: "Everyone is going to hate on me, but "With You" from Ghost was freaking sad. I'm a sucker for the more modern stuff personally, but ya, for me that one is the saddest. That melody is hauntingly beautiful, I cry like a baby haha! It's Quiet Uptown is a really good one too that I saw someone else mention."

I agree! Most of the score to Ghost didn't really stick with me (I liked it at the time, I just don't remember a lot of it now), but "With You" definitely sucker punched me in the feelings.

[typedoutandstayout]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 1:02pm

"Loving You" from Passion (SUCH an underrated show, but it will literally break your heart)

"No One is Alone" from Into The Woods

"You Don't Know This Man" from Parade

"What I Did For Love" from A Chorus Line

[BroadwayAndSports]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 2:02pm

There are a ton of moving songs but the saddest? "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" from RENT and "Words Fail" from DEAR EVAN HANSEN.

[Great Dame]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 2:09pm

SNAFU said: "Flesh Failures/Let the Sun Shine In- HAIR

"

 

Ugh!!!! GOOD ONE! 

 

[amoni]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 3:48pm

"Stranger in This World" & "Petrified"..."Taboo"

[SempreLiberal]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 12:04am

I agree a lot that have been mentioned:

“I’ll Cover You (Reprise)” from Rent

“Around the World” from Grey Gardens

“Children and Art” from Sunday

“It’s Quiet Uptown” and “”Who Lives Who Dies...” from Hamilton

“Empty Chairs af Empty Tables” from Les Miserables (I’d also add “Valjean’s Death“.)

“This Nearly Was Mine” from South Pacific

“Left Behind” from Spring Awakening

I’d also add: 

“Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins 

”Fable” from The Light in the Piazza hits me like a kick in the gut - it is so poignant, and I cannot stop crying when I hear it.

“Old Folks”  from Jacques Brel

Updated On: 6/29/18 at 12:04 AM

[lachri5]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 12:21am

"The Saddest Song" from Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Boom! Case closed, NEXT!

Updated On: 6/30/18 at 12:21 AM

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 1:09am

Nice theme for a thread, but "sad" is a little too inclusive to me.

Good Thing Going is sad.

Not a Day Goes By is despairing.

What's the Use of Wond'rin' is sad and touching.

This Nearly Was Mine is despairing.

Send in the Clowns is sad.

Little Girl Blue (Rodger and Hart, 1936, Jumbo) is despairing.

When I was very young The world was younger than I, As merry as a carousel

The circus tent was strung With every star in the sky, Above the ring I loved so well

Now the young world has grown old

Gone are the tinsel and gold

Sit there, and count your fingers, What can you do? Old girl, you're through

Sit there, and count your little fingers, Unlucky, little girl blue

How could a soul as sensitive as Lorenz Hart have had no one who loved him?

 

 

[Shh_413]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 4:49am

Not really the song itself, but just Clopin's line in "In a Place of Miracles" from Hunchback of Notre Dame.

"Romanis again must roam
Could there be a country kinder to our race?"

It's easy to get distracted by Quasimodo's despair about being forever alone that you forget the subplot regarding the discrimination of the Romanis and it's sadder considering it's the real-world context present even today.

[persephone88]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 7:11am

Words Fail from DEH
Telephone Wire from Fun Home
She Used to Be Mine from Waitress
How It Ends from Big Fish
I'm Here from The Color Purple
In the Bedroom Down the Hall - DEH (unreleased)
As Long As He Needs Me - Oliver
Alone In The Universe - Seussical
Thank Goodness - Wicked
We'll Meet Tomorrow - Titanic

Updated On: 6/29/18 at 07:11 AM

[BroadwayAndSports]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 3:49pm

Saw BANDSTAND at the movies again last night, and man "Welcome Home" is such a heartbreaking song. Add that to the list. 

[youwillbefound2]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 5:16pm

I Dreamed a Dance from Next to Normal (or anything from Next to Normal basically)
So Big/So Small and For Forever from DEH

[ameliewormwood]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 10:56pm

Without a doubt Days and Days from Fun Home.

[BroadwayNoob]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 11:56pm

As soon as Whizzer gets to the hospital Falsettos just goes downhill from there.

 

And Hold Me In Your Heart from Kinky Boots can hit me hard if I'm in a sad mood

[Princeton2]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 2:06am

Slipping Through My Fingers - Mamma Mia
The Letter- Billy Elliot

[Withonelook2]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 4:52pm

I Dreamed a Dream