though I have not seen a production "LEARNING TO LET GO" from Elegies, For Angels Punks and Raging Queens just destroys me, as does "ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS" from Tick, Tick, Boom also reduces me to a puddle every time.
The reprise of "Falling Slowly" from Once Move On/Sunday - Sunday in the Park With George I Am the One - Next to Normal How it Ends/Be the Hero - Big Fish Good Thing Going - Merrily We Roll Along Fifty Percent - Ballroom How Glory Goes - Floyd Collins Let the Sunshine In - Hair (this may have been due to the fact that I had a massive amount of vodka in my system when I saw it)
Definitely the part of the finale to MAN OF LA MANCHA where Aldonza starts singing "Dulcinea" and "The Inpossible Dream," and as the OP said, "Children & Art."
A lot of mine have already been said but I would like to add:
- "Pretty Funny" among others from Dogfight - "When There's No One" from Carrie - "How Could You" among others from Scandalous - "This Man" from Chaplin
"The Letter" from Billy Elliot "Learn to Live Without" & "Always Starting Over" from If/Then "You Must Love Me" from Evita (movie, obvs) "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" from RENT "With You" from Ghost "Heaven Help My Heart" from Chess
I don't necessarily sob openly whenever I hear these, but I've gotten a little misty-eyed at least once.
The finale of "Les Mis" and the last scene in "Carousel" get me every time. "Wishing You were Somehow Here Again" moves me to tears when I think about it at home because it makes me remember my own beloved, musical father. There's a Jewish song, I think by Doug Kotler, that they often sing in synagogue before the Kaddish Prayer -- "A Rose in December" -- that always gets me crying. I guess death stuff does it to me -- I clutched my dog and sobbed at the end of "Marley and Me." I always want to cry at the last line in "The Phantom of the Opera," the reprise of "Music of the Night," "It's over now, the music of the night." As for "Music of the Night" itself, it's my favorite song of all time, but it doesn't make me want to cry -- instead it makes me think about much happier activities.
Audrey, the Phantom Phanatic, who nonetheless would rather be Jean Valjean, who knew how to make lemonade out of lemons.
"Fable" from The Light in the Piazza always has me in tears by the end.
Many parts in Next to Normal as well, but the worst to me isn't even in one of the songs- the bit where Diana remembers Gabe and Dan finally tells her what happened. "And I was a child raising a child... we stayed up all night. Most nights you slept at his side. But still he just cried..." That part destroys me.
^The part that destroys me in Next to Normal are the lines in Aftershocks... "Your life goes back to normal now, or so they all believe. Your heart is in your chest again, not hanging from your sleeve." As someone who studies psychology (humanistic and existentialism) it hits HARD. I adore Next to Normal.
And I'm glad a lot of people are saying SITPWG. My friends think it's crazy how emotional I get over the show!
Phew, this would normally be a long list, but I'll make it short
"The Letter" - Billy Elliot. I had a rough time coming out with my family, and my best friend sang it to me and changed the words around a bit and since then I cry. "I Don't Care Much" - Cabaret "Losing My Mind" - Follies "No One Is Alone" - Into the Woods The final scene of Ghost, especially when she sees him again "Finishing the Hat" - Sunday... "As If We Never Said Goodbye" - Sunset Boulevard. Especially if they can really hit that "I've come home at last"
Then, Phantom of the Opera was my first show, and I've seen it four times. Every time I cry during the Overture just because it reminds me of what's put me on my path of life. And then the end when he starts singing "Masquerade" to the monkey. Ugh the feels.
For Good-Wicked I Hate You, I Love You-If/Then Hang the Moon-Smash Always Starting Over-If/Then With You-Ghost Last Night of the World-Miss Saigon I'd Give my life for you-Miss Saigon All I ask of you(phantom part)-The Phantom of the Opera Legally Blonde(I'm not kidding)-Legally Blonde the Musical Edelweiss-The Sound of Music Climb Ev'ry Mountain(Audra McDoanld version)-The Sound of Music Live
One song interpretation that had me bawling was "Old Friend" sung by Renee Elise Goldsberry this past summer in "I'm Getting My Act Together..." at Encores. The whole audience was BLOWN AWAY.
Attend the tale of Bovine Boy
His party threads we all enjoy
But does he have Mad Cow Disease?
He doesn't eat beef - but cows skating? - oh please!!!
With cocoa!?!
And lemonade!?!
The heifer-mad poster of Broadway
(World)
Most shows I've only experienced via the cast recording so the list of sad shows that I've seen is limited, but I remember full on sobbing at a regional production of The Scarlet Pimpernel when Marguerite sang "I'll Forget You." Up until then the show is mostly a musical comedy with lots of laugh out loud scenes that are made even funnier if the actor playing Percy throws in some improvised lines, but then that scene comes along and Marguerite is facing the guillotine sure that she will never see Percy again and that he'll never know the truth about her and she sings that song and I just lost it. It felt good though.