The Greatest MT Song Ever Written

[BurlyBeaR]

It was just suggested on the 2021 Golden Age of Broadway Proms show that Some Enchanted Evening was the greatest musical theatre song ever written. 

Of course anyone with any taste knows that this is wrong, and the greatest is actually Something Baaaaad from Wicked 🧙‍♀️ 🐐 

But what do you think?

[Jon]

I quite like Some Enchanted Evening but my favourite R&H song is Shall We Dance from The King and I.

[AddisonMizner]

Even though it is a full ensemble number, I would say “Make Our Garden Grow” from Candide. Probably one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, period.

[anthony40]

For me personally, it's Sunday from Sunday in the Park with George, for the harmonies alone

[Deleted]

Nah, not Something Baaaaad. Surely Sleeping On Our Own from Martin Guerre?

Very interesting question. Impossible to answer! And very hard to answer objectively without just turning to one's personal favourite melodies. I guess to have such an accolade, you'd need a stunning melody that also has huge dramatic purpose at a key moment in a well written plot.

As If We Never Said Goodbye.
Memory.
Don't Cry For Me Argentina.

I'd say One Day More but it's been popularised and performed out of context in low rent TV shows etc so much, I think people can forget how sensational it is.
BUT - in the 80s at The Palace Theatre - that's got to be up there.

[AddisonMizner]

Aug 7, 2021 18:57:00 GMT anthony40 said:

For me personally, it's Sunday from Sunday in the Park with George, for the harmonies alone

“Sunday” would be my second choice. I agree. It is absolutely beautiful!

[Jon]

It's quite hard to pinpoint what is a greatest Musical theatre song because there's so many across different eras to choose from.

[Deleted]

Aug 7, 2021 19:28:33 GMT Jon said:

It's quite hard to pinpoint what is a greatest Musical theatre song because there's so many across different eras to choose from.

Indeed. It's not really a question you can answer!

[sleepflower]

One Day More for me, it's rousing, feels like a proper epic, and encompasses most of the cast

[crabtree]

Indeed, Sunday does it for me, and all these years on, Send in the clowns still works for me.

[WireHangers]

Climb Ev’ry Mountain is the greatest MT song ever written.

[dontdreamit]

Has to be Gethsemane for me

[Being Alive]

If I Loved You from Carousel for me

[FairyGodmother]

Oklahoma would be in with a shout for me.

I just wouldn't know what to base it on though. If you asked me for best overture/romantic duet/make ballad I'd still struggle!

[oxfordsimon]

I can make a strong case for Tonight from WSS. As a quintet, it creates narrative and character brilliantly and really does contribute to the drama of the moment.

Musically it is a masterpiece of construction. Complex but always comprehensible.

It shows Bernstein as a composer who truly worked as well in the classical and Broadway traditions.

Without this, we would not have had One Day More.

[scarpia]

Aug 8, 2021 0:43:05 GMT oxfordsimon said:

I can make a strong case for Tonight from WSS. As a quintet, it creates narrative and character brilliantly and really does contribute to the drama of the moment.

Musically it is a masterpiece of construction. Complex but always comprehensible.

It shows Bernstein as a composer who truly worked as well in the classical and Broadway traditions.

Without this, we would not have had One Day More.

Completely agree with this.

[juicy_but_terribly_drab]

Aug 8, 2021 0:43:05 GMT oxfordsimon said:

I can make a strong case for Tonight from WSS. As a quintet, it creates narrative and character brilliantly and really does contribute to the drama of the moment.

Musically it is a masterpiece of construction. Complex but always comprehensible.

It shows Bernstein as a composer who truly worked as well in the classical and Broadway traditions.

Without this, we would not have had One Day More.

I love it too, but Sondheim definitely wouldn't agree with you haha. He hates those lyrics (though maybe what he considers his most embarrassing only appear in the duet? I'd have to go away and have another listen to see).

[alece10]

Sunday for me as well. Still makes me cry everytime I hear it.
Closely followed by Make Our Garden Grow from Candide.

[jaffe]

If Some Enchanted Evening is the example, I'd go with If I Loved You, from Carousel. The bench scene is sublime. I do admire the way Some Enchanted Evening is used in South Pacific, so it's a close thing.

But I think the second act Johanna, in Sweeney Todd, is probably the greatest piece of extended writing in musical theatre.

A Weekend in the Country, as a piece of ensemble writing is the greatest. (I also love Make Our Garden Grow - constrained, as it is, theatrically).

[oxfordsimon]

Aug 8, 2021 14:55:30 GMT juicy_but_terribly_drab said:

Aug 8, 2021 0:43:05 GMT oxfordsimon said:

I can make a strong case for Tonight from WSS. As a quintet, it creates narrative and character brilliantly and really does contribute to the drama of the moment.

Musically it is a masterpiece of construction. Complex but always comprehensible.

It shows Bernstein as a composer who truly worked as well in the classical and Broadway traditions.

Without this, we would not have had One Day More.

I love it too, but Sondheim definitely wouldn't agree with you haha. He hates those lyrics (though maybe what he considers his most embarrassing only appear in the duet? I'd have to go away and have another listen to see).

Take away the lyrics and replace them with nonsense words and I think the music still conveys all you need to know about what is going on.

I don't particularly care what Sondheim thinks about those lyrics. He might not be 100% happy with them but they work for an audience member. And surely that is what matters. What we hear matters more than what a lyricist thinks.

[Jan]

"Greatest" maybe not, but "Reviewing the Situation" from Oliver is absolute musical theatre genius. As are the rest of the songs in it.

[juicy_but_terribly_drab]

Aug 8, 2021 17:13:30 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Aug 8, 2021 14:55:30 GMT juicy_but_terribly_drab said:

I love it too, but Sondheim definitely wouldn't agree with you haha. He hates those lyrics (though maybe what he considers his most embarrassing only appear in the duet? I'd have to go away and have another listen to see).

Take away the lyrics and replace them with nonsense words and I think the music still conveys all you need to know about what is going on.

I don't particularly care what Sondheim thinks about those lyrics. He might not be 100% happy with them but they work for an audience member. And surely that is what matters. What we hear matters more than what a lyricist thinks.

I don't disagree, I just think it's funny that what some consider one of the best shows ever on all points is looked down upon by one of its creators!

[oxfordsimon]

Sondheim has always been a strange beast. Sn amazing body of work and a living legend who connects us directly to Hammerstein and the legends of the past.

But he is someone who has been admired more than adored and has certainly struggled to find real popular acclaim.

MT would be much poorer without him and he is to be cherished.

But he has always made some idiosyncratic choices that have not always paid off. And his WSS lyrics only fail for me when they (understandably) avoid swear words that would be part of gang talk.

[Jon]

I do wonder if Sondheim wasn't as keen being solely the lyricist on both WSS and Gypsy compared to his own shows where he composed the score and wrote the lyrics.

[couldileaveyou]

Aug 8, 2021 17:47:36 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Sondheim has always been a strange beast. Sn amazing body of work and a living legend who connects us directly to Hammerstein and the legends of the past.

But he is someone who has been admired more than adored and has certainly struggled to find real popular acclaim.

MT would be much poorer without him and he is to be cherished.

But he has always made some idiosyncratic choices that have not always paid off. And his WSS lyrics only fail for me when they (understandably) avoid swear words that would be part of gang talk.

He really wanted to say f*** in "Gee Officer Krumpke" but they didn't let him. He wanted to be the first person to write it on Broadway lol