Showtunes that evoke nostalgia and maybe a little regret?

[BelovedSophie]

Posted: 9/15/20 at 9:15am

For me, the montages in A Chorus Line do the trick. I think mainly because that's what they're about. What about you guys 

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 9/15/20 at 9:51am

“I Wish I Could Go Back To College” from Avenue Q

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Posted: 9/15/20 at 10:53am

Literally all of “Follies.”

[jo]

Posted: 9/15/20 at 11:52am

I Dreamed a Dream  from LES MISERABLES

and particularly in the context of her life as fully narrated in VictorHugo's book.

Updated On: 9/15/20 at 11:52 AM

[kdogg36]

Posted: 9/15/20 at 12:17pm

“Our Time” does it for me. 

[carnzee]

Posted: 9/15/20 at 12:47pm

Indeed, my first thought when I saw the thread title was FOLLIES. I also second "Our Time."

"Another Winter in a Summer Town"-- GREY GARDENS

"Somewhere That's Green"-- LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
 

The reprise of "Camelot" at the end of CAMELOT

Updated On: 9/15/20 at 12:47 PM

[Leaf Coneybear]

Posted: 9/15/20 at 1:10pm

"The I Love You Song" from Spelling Bee

"Happiness" from Charlie Brown

"Being Alive" from Company always makes me emotional

"Dust and Ashes", "Pierre & Natasha" and "The Great Comet of 1812" all make me feel some sort of way

Finally, the song to end all songs (in terms of nostalgia): "When I Grow Up" from Matilda. Always makes me think about how I thought my life would be as a kid. Now that I'm an adult and it's nothing like that this song really hits hard

[Fan123]

Posted: 9/16/20 at 4:19am

"Try To Remember" from The Fantasticks

"Tango Dancer" and "Prayer" from Ghost Quartet

"I Waltz Alone" from Grand Hotel

"I Raise My Cup To Him" from Hadestown

"Good Thing Going" from Merrily We Roll Along

"With So Little to Be Sure Of" from Anyone Can Whistle

"They Can't Take That Away From Me" from Crazy For You (and elsewhere)

"Will You" from Grey Gardens

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 9/16/20 at 7:43am

"Another Winter in a Summer Town" - Grey Gardens

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/16/20 at 7:53am

The Les Miz parody number from Forbidden Broadway

Posted: 9/16/20 at 8:23am

“Since You Stayed Here”, a ballad from Act II of Brownstone.

[carnzee]

Posted: 9/16/20 at 1:08pm

Fan123 nailed it with "Try to Remember." I can't imagine another number that so perfectly fits the bill.

[VotePeron]

Posted: 9/16/20 at 2:10pm

Omar Sharif is the first one that pops into my head. 

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 9/16/20 at 4:08pm

THE NIGHT WALTZ...opening musical number in  A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC...the main theme is "Remember"...

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 9/16/20 at 4:49pm

I also thought of "Our Time" even though the song on its face is supposed to be youthful and optimistic. It's about looking forward to the future when they realize their dreams. It only evokes nostalgia and regret because we already know what happens to the characters by the time they sing this song because the story is told backwards, which makes a happy-on-it's-face song turn out to be quite a bummer.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 9/16/20 at 8:20pm

Adding a few that came immediately to mind:

— Agree re Follies
— Once Upon a Time (All American)
— Always Mademoiselle (Coco)
— Far From the Home I Love (Fiddler)
— I Remember it Well (Gigi)
— Maybe (Annie)
— Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Meet Me in St. Louis)
— Liaisons (ALNM)
— I Don’t Want to Know (Dear World)
— Move On (SITPWG)
— Cabaret (Cabaret)
— Nowadays (Chicago)
— Long Ago (Half a Sixpence)

[morosco]

Posted: 9/16/20 at 8:54pm

Okay, not specifically a showtune but "Yesterday, When I Was Young" (music by Charles Aznavour, english lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and brilliantly sung on Broadway by Lena Horne in The Lady and Her Music) is a stunning heart breaker. 

Lena Horne-Yesterday When I Was Young

Yesterday, when I was young
The taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game
The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame
The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned
I always built to last on weak and shifting sand
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of the day
And only now I see how the years ran away

Yesterday, when I was young
So many happy songs were waiting to be sung
So many wild pleasures lay in store for me
And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see
I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out
I never stopped to think what life was all about
And every conversation I can now recall
Concerned itself with me and nothing else at all

Yesterday the moon was blue
And every crazy day brought something new to do
I used my magic age as if it were a wand
And never saw the waste and emptiness beyond
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride
And every flame I lit too quickly, quickly died
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away
And only I am left on stage to end the play

There are so many songs in me that won't be sung
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue
The time has come for me to pay for
Yesterday, when I was young

Updated On: 9/16/20 at 08:54 PM

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 9/16/20 at 9:09pm

"This Nearly Was Mine" from South Pacific.

 

 

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 9/17/20 at 1:02am

For regret, look no further than Follies... the show might as well be called “Regret: the musical.”

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 9/17/20 at 1:03am

Oh and of course “Send in the Clouds,” “try to remember,” “I don’t remember you,” “I don’t care much.”

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/17/20 at 11:37am

I Don't Want to Know  DEAR WORLD

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 9/17/20 at 11:48am

Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again from The Phantom of the Opera.  The line "no more gazing across the wasted years" always hits me different when I see/hear it and it has made me reflect on so many different things and people and events in my past. 

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 9/17/20 at 4:52pm

‘Beautiful’ from Sunday in the Park with George

Sundays-
Disappearing
As we look

You make it beautiful

Oh, Georgie, how I long for the old view

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 9/17/20 at 7:10pm

"Ohio" from Wonderful Town.  Here, Rosalind Russell and Jacqueline McKeever in a 1958 telecast.

 

 

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 9/20/20 at 5:25am

“You Gotta Have Heart” Damn Yankees

“Once in Love with Amy”. Ray Bolger. Where’s Charlie

Thanks, Morocco. I heard “Yesterday When I Was Young” a few days ago on the Sirius Sinatra Channel and I couldn’t believe that it was barely familiar to me. Regrets