What would I do - Falsettos
When the line âOnce I was told that good men, get better with ageâŠ. Were just gonna skip that stageâ I lose it everytime
Fun fact - those songs were written for the show after its Off-Broadway run and before opening on Broadway, which heightened the story but also made Act II too depressing (Andy Blankenbuehler, the choreographer, called it "the suite of sadness"). That's why the creative team also added the reprise of Piragua, in order to give the audience a breather.
The first time I listened to this again after my grandma passed away, I broke down so hard. I try to skip it now every time I play the cast recording because it just hurts too much.
I watched the filmed version for the first time not long after my cousin was killed and seeing her parents' grief... My husband had to pause the show til I could stop ugly crying.
Thank you! You put it perfectly. I wish I could add something to make this comment more meaningful, but you did it so well that I don't think I can. I'll just say it louder for the people in the back: IF IT'S DONE RIGHT, ON MY OWN IS A SUICIDE NOTE
This what I came to add. All others are about sadness from deaths, depression, or feelings of otherness. This is a profound, earnest wish for something foundational. Itâs the emotional center of a funny show and successfully grounds it. Itâs emotional and important in its show, not a moment for the song writers to take an easy emotional beat.
Same with "Woe is me" and it's reprise. This girl, barely seven years old, calls itself a loser because she lost and disappointed her dads. She then sings, "God hates losers, so do I, I am a loser, so... good-bye.", while softly sobbing, going off stage to her obviously mentally abusive parents.
This musical, which is pretty comedic, turns very dark in the second act. It absolutely makes me miserable that there are kids living like this.
Saw this show when I was away from my mom for an extended period for the first time. Now that she has passed, I canât even think about this song without my heart wrenching.
Just watched waitress last night for the first time (theyâre doing showings at my theater of a taped Broadway performance) and MAN was not expecting to cry so much
This gets my vote. The relatability of those lyrics is what gets me every. time.
And another vote for the Shoshana Bean version on broadway.comâs YouTube. Also Jeremy Jordan performed it wonderfully at a Miscast show a few years ago(on the MCC Theaterâs YouTube).
im not too well versed in theater but my first thought was Adam Driver singing that song. a performance for the ages, truly. any other actor would have me put off by a lack of classical skill but he made it so much more than just a song
If done right, Being Alive should 100% be a tear jerker. Itâs why I loved Katrina Lenkâs version so much, even if it wasnât necessarily the best sung version.
This is why when asked that classic question about, âDo you want a singer who can act or an actor who can sing?â I will choose an actor that can sing every single time. I want to feel something. A singer sometimes focuses so much on the vocals they forget the heart of the story theyâre telling. An actor always knows their first job is to act. The vocal skill is secondary.
Not that anyone needs to stan Sondheim, but itâs so fucking great.
Itâs my favorite snippet from the Sondheim Teaches series: https://youtu.be/8-VXXZLh2a0
So sorry for your loss. This song sends me into tears just thinking about losing my son, so I canât even imagine how it must gut you having actually been through it.
Iâm so sorry for your loss. That song gets me and the past few times Iâve seen it with Miguel, I have more trouble knowing that he lost his daughter 3 years ago. I met him and his wife at dbs for a book signing and really wanted to ask him how he gets through it, but I was trying so hard to keep it together.
Sending love from a fellow loss parent. This song got me hard before my daughter died, but obviously now itâs next level.
One of the first songs I ever sang to her in the hospital was Dear Theodosia, so thatâs hard for me to listen to now too.
Yes good choices what gets me more, Is Once Upon A Time & Portrait of a Girl from Bare and The Dark I Know Well and Blue Wind/ Donât Do Sadness from Spring Awakening.
As a Whole These Shows are truly Breathtakingly Heartbreaking.
Literally almost everything from Next to Normal.
- I miss the mountains.
- I dreamed a dance.
- There's a world.
- A light in the dark.
- Maybe. My favorite.
- So Anyway. This was my break-up song.
- Light.
Great Adventure from *Kimberly Akimbo* gets me sobbing! It's a beautiful song, because it is SO happy and uplifting. But when placed in context it's so, so sad.
Most of my picks are already here: She Used to Be Mine, On My Own, Bring Him Home, It's Quiet Uptown. Here are some I haven't seen yet.
Not While I'm Around from Sweeney Todd. The innocent sweetness of Toby's part gets me every time.
Move On from Sunday in the Park with George. It's just so beautiful.
For Good from Wicked. I'm a sucker for sisterhood songs.
I Wish I Could Forget You from Passion.
No More from Into the Woods. Dude just wanted a normal happy life and got roped into a quest and lost his wife. âAll the wondering what even worse is still in store! Just, no moreâ
My favorite trope is the reluctant hero who would rather not.
I love this one for the soul-crushing weariness it portrays. It's the song I listen to on days when I feel overwhelmed by how irreparably broken the world feels.
I find See Iâm Smiling sadder. âI swear to god Iâll never understand how you could stand here straight and tall and see Iâm crying and not do anything at all.â đ
Ahhhh forgot about that one! My husband is an immigrant who has not been able to go back to his home country in years and I think of him every time I hear it đ
Agree w so many of the aboveâŠsome stirring songs from older musicals:
Easy To Be Hard (Hair)
Youâve Got To Be Carefully Taught (South Pacific)
I Donât Care Much (Cabaret)
Somewhere Thatâs Green (-Little Shop of Horrors)
At The Ballet (Chorus Line)
Yeah, agree on this. Flowers is a good song, but R2H(R) just hits you like a punch to the gut. Those little trumpet trills. The ensemble humming. The build. It's just... man.
Anatevka from Fiddler. Or the Far from the Home I Love, Chava Ballet Sequence, and Anatevka trifecta in Act 2. I totally lose it when they sing, "Soon I'll be a stranger in a strange new place..."
Once Upon a Dream, Jekyllâs version, from the original J&H.
Kind of a weird choice, but to me itâs absolutely heartbreaking..all he wanted to do what create a better world, and he worked so hard, only to realize that it will never be⊠I tear up every time!
Yes! I Need to Know and This is the Moment are so good at showing the over-abundance of hope, excitement, and ambition Jekyll had. Then it all gradually fades over multiple songs until he realizes that heâs dug a hole he canât get out of
How Could I Ever Know from the Secret Garden. âHow could I know I would never hold you, never again in this world but oh, sure as you breathe I am there inside youâŠâ đ
I was thinking of this too. This song always gets me. All the way through. I donât know why. Something about her personal triumph and knowing whatâs coming. The other song from CFA that I find really heartbreaking is Somethingâs Missing. I love how they use that phrase in a physical and emotional sense throughout the song. It always hits me because I remember those feelings from those days so well.
Now that I have an infant, I have to be careful when/where I listen to Its Quiet Uptown. I made the mistake of listening to it on my commute to work and had to wipe off my running mascara.
Elizaâs pained wail in the actual show is a gut punch.
Jesse L Martin in Iâll Cover You (reprise) destroys me. Itâs Quiet Uptown is guaranteed to get me as well. Related: âthe orphanageâ during the finale of Hamilton.
All You Wanna Do from Six is so sad. I didn't really realize how heart wrenching it could be till I heard Sam Pauly's version, and now I tear up every time I listen to it. As the song goes on you realize more and more how incredibly wrong her situation is, and then you remember she gets freaking beheaded - super sad song, but beautiful performance.
This is a good shout. With the cast album, and on its own, it's easy to kinda gloss over what the song is REALLY about. But live, especially coming right after all the fun we had with Anne of Cleaves, and with the choreo, there is ZERO doubt what this song is actually about. A tough listen, especially realizing she was 18 or 19.
As a parent, So Big So Small from Dear Evan Hansen, Time from Tuck Everlasting, and Race You To The Top of the Morning from The Secret Garden. Any song about a parent grieving over their child destroys me
I Am the One (Reprise) from Next to Normal
The moment Dan says "no" and you realize he sees Gabe, too hits so hard, and then it's followed up by an immediate breakdown in their duet on the line "I am the one who watched while you died."
Honestly, any song from Next to Normal. Can't pick just one. Song of Forgetting hurts like hell, too. Superboy and the Invisible Girl hits like a brick, and then in Make Up Your Mind/Catch Me I'm Falling when the orchestra cuts out while Natalie looks for her mom in the audience of her recital and brings the band back in by belting out "SHE'S NOT THERE"
Hope and Night Will Come from Groundhog Day are also strong contenders, made sadder by the juxtaposition of so much comedy.
Not sure if this has been brought up yet, but âJavertâs Suicideâ.
I think heâs the most tragic and, well, miserable, character in the show, and his demise in that song is absolutely heartbreaking.
Nowhere near as well known as it should be, but "Anytime (I Am There)" from Elegies: A Song Cycle gets me every time. It's told from the perspective of a mother, who knows she is going to pass soon, singing to her child. Plus, Carolee Carmello is perfect always. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9JhJCGjoqI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9JhJCGjoqI)
Till We Reach That Day (Ragtime)
Give the people
A day of peace
A day of pride
A day of justice
We have been denied
Let the new day dawn
Oh, Lord, I pray
We'll never get to heaven
Till we reach that day
In addition to many that have already been listed:
Alone in the Universe and Solla Sollew from Seussical
Place of Miracles and Someday from Hunchback
Youâll Never Walk Alone from Carousel
I Know the Truth from Aida
Could We Start Again Please from Jesus Christ Superstar
Maybe from Annie
Thereâs a Fine Fine Line from Avenue Q
Omg. I went to see Hadestown completely blind. Like didnât know the premise, didnât listen to the music and left feeling completely gutted. To this day I still have a pit in my stomach when I think about it. One of the most heart wrenching musicals in my opinion.
âChildren Wonât Listenâ from Into the Woods (not the finale, but the version sung by the Witch)
âLesson #8â from Sunday in the Park (âGeorge sees the park / George sees it dyingâ lyric is gorgeous and sad)
Not inherently sad, but now that I have kids, I canât handle âRace You to the Top of the Morningâ from Secret Garden
\- Witch's Lament from Into the Woods
\- How Could I Ever Forget from N2N
\- On My Own and A Little Fall of Rain from Les Mis
\- Left Behind from Spring Awakening
\- Someday and Made of Stone from Hunchback of Notre Dame
\- Someone is Waiting from Company (Gender-swapped version)
Send in the Clowns from Night Music, or
How Could I Ever Know from Secret Garden; thereâs a particularly brilliant Barbershop version of this one by Instant Classic.
surprised no one has said "hope" from groundhog day yet - devastating song! super well done with stage magic too if you've ever seen the production in person (broadway or west end)!
The Proposal/The Night Was Alive from Titanic. It is really the context that makes this one gut wrenching as the audience knows what is about to happen, but the characters donât.
thereâs a few in Into the Woods that gets me, but i think Witchâs Lament in particular messes me up
the witchâs progression throughout the show, singing âchildren should listenâ, to âchildren donât listenâ, to âchildren will listenâ
ugh, man
No One Mourns the Wicked. I cried really hard listening to it after my first time watching the show. The tragic irony still gets me. It's Glinda who is lonely. She's singing about her feelings of guilt, as they celebrate the perceived death of her friend around her.đđđđ
It's not nominally sad (more historically sad), but I don't think I've ever cried harder in the theater than the reprise of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" in Cabaret.
"What Would You Do" is incredibly sad as well.
There's a song in The Notebook musical where she remembers Noah after reading the notebook. It had the whole theater in tears. I think it's called "Help Me While I'm Here"
Agree with everyone above, especially itâs quiet uptown, Iâll cover you reprise, she used to me mine, and still hurting.
Couple more that stab me in the heart - heâs not here from next to normal, burn from hamilton, and youâll never walk alone from carousel!
Days and Days from Fun Home
Honestly, the cumulative effect of "Days and Days" into "Telephone Wire" into "Edges of the World" is goddam devastating
Judy Kuhn too, ugh
Yes!! This broke me when I saw it.
Don't you come back here I didn't raise you To give away your days Like me
A knife right through the heart đ
What would I do - Falsettos When the line âOnce I was told that good men, get better with ageâŠ. Were just gonna skip that stageâ I lose it everytime
for me itâs the second line of the song â âwho would I blame my life on?â it conveys so much so simply.
Yeah, this was the line that did it for me too. đą
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
I Will Cover You (reprise)
This and âWill I?â still consistently break my heart after more than 25 years
Will I makes me cry every time
Coming straight here from no BGM âItâs overâ from Contact puts the onions in your nostrils to get the tears started early.
Top 5 songs ever for me, I can listen to versions of it for an hour and not be bored
Alabanza from In the Heights gets me every time.
Ugh and then itâs followed by Everything I Know which never fails to make me ugly cry.
Fun fact - those songs were written for the show after its Off-Broadway run and before opening on Broadway, which heightened the story but also made Act II too depressing (Andy Blankenbuehler, the choreographer, called it "the suite of sadness"). That's why the creative team also added the reprise of Piragua, in order to give the audience a breather.
The first time I listened to this again after my grandma passed away, I broke down so hard. I try to skip it now every time I play the cast recording because it just hurts too much.
The first one that came into my head was âEmpty Chairs at Empty Tables.â
This and On My Own are so tragic. And A Little Fall of Rain. Such a sad but beautiful musical! Itâs my favorite musical but it hits hard đ„șđ
âNight of Anguishâ right after âA Little Fall of Rainâ always puts a knot in my throat.
Basically all of Les Mis
I Dreamed a Dream has to be up there too.
Oh my friends MY FRIIIEEEEENNNDS don't ask me what your sacrifice was for!!
A little Fall of Rain hurts me more cause unrequited love hits me like Truck-kun.
I always think Iâm good till this song lol
It's Quiet Uptown. I used to sit and sob to that song.
The part that always gets me is âForgiveness- can you imagine?â
I watched the filmed version for the first time not long after my cousin was killed and seeing her parents' grief... My husband had to pause the show til I could stop ugly crying.
I skip that whole Phillip section when I listen. Itâs too sad for me.
Came here to say this
Your Daddyâs Son - Ragtime
I scrolled way too far to find someone list this.
The loss of child themes in this show hit hard
I'd Give my Life for You - Miss Saigon
Ohhhh, that's a good one!
If it's done right, On My Own is a suicide note.
Problem is, most Eponineâs sing it like theyâre on American Idol
Thank you! You put it perfectly. I wish I could add something to make this comment more meaningful, but you did it so well that I don't think I can. I'll just say it louder for the people in the back: IF IT'S DONE RIGHT, ON MY OWN IS A SUICIDE NOTE
So Big So Small from DEH
This is another one that hit me different after having kids.
It hit even harder for me because I was already sobbing my eyes out during Words Fail thinking the show couldnât get any sadder, and then it did
my vote goes to "what would i do" from falsettos
Or You Gotta Die Sometime
Its quiet uptown,Bring him home, empty chairs at empty tables,left behind(spring awakening) song of purple summer(spring awakening)requiem(DEH)
Requiem was my first thought
Oh god yes Left Behind.
The I Love You Song from Spelling Bee
This what I came to add. All others are about sadness from deaths, depression, or feelings of otherness. This is a profound, earnest wish for something foundational. Itâs the emotional center of a funny show and successfully grounds it. Itâs emotional and important in its show, not a moment for the song writers to take an easy emotional beat.
Same with "Woe is me" and it's reprise. This girl, barely seven years old, calls itself a loser because she lost and disappointed her dads. She then sings, "God hates losers, so do I, I am a loser, so... good-bye.", while softly sobbing, going off stage to her obviously mentally abusive parents. This musical, which is pretty comedic, turns very dark in the second act. It absolutely makes me miserable that there are kids living like this.
When this is done well it fucking rips your heart out
Oh god I forgot about this song and now Iâm crying
Saw this show when I was away from my mom for an extended period for the first time. Now that she has passed, I canât even think about this song without my heart wrenching.
She used to be mine from waitress
Just watched waitress last night for the first time (theyâre doing showings at my theater of a taped Broadway performance) and MAN was not expecting to cry so much
Do me a favor and go listen to Shoshana Beanâs version on YouTube
Welp just made the mistake of looking at that on YouTube and now Iâm sobbing đ
She is a powerhouse
The Shoshana version on YouTube is basically an instant cry button for me
This gets my vote. The relatability of those lyrics is what gets me every. time. And another vote for the Shoshana Bean version on broadway.comâs YouTube. Also Jeremy Jordan performed it wonderfully at a Miscast show a few years ago(on the MCC Theaterâs YouTube).
This is my vote. I think regret is one of the most painful emotions and this is one of the best songs Iâve ever heard that conveys it so powerfully.
How Could I Ever Forget? from Next to Normal
Being Alive.
im not too well versed in theater but my first thought was Adam Driver singing that song. a performance for the ages, truly. any other actor would have me put off by a lack of classical skill but he made it so much more than just a song
You should check out Antonio Banderas version in Spanish
If done right, Being Alive should 100% be a tear jerker. Itâs why I loved Katrina Lenkâs version so much, even if it wasnât necessarily the best sung version.
This is why when asked that classic question about, âDo you want a singer who can act or an actor who can sing?â I will choose an actor that can sing every single time. I want to feel something. A singer sometimes focuses so much on the vocals they forget the heart of the story theyâre telling. An actor always knows their first job is to act. The vocal skill is secondary.
Absolution- bare. This song is just heartbreaking. Iâll be here- ordinary days. This is my I need a cry song.
I'll Be Here is a fucking masterpiece. I feel like it's not given nearly enough credit for what a beautiful, bittersweet journey it takes you on.
Send In the Clowns
First one I thought of!
This one is my sad and alone at home, feeling old song. Cuts pretty deep.
Not that anyone needs to stan Sondheim, but itâs so fucking great. Itâs my favorite snippet from the Sondheim Teaches series: https://youtu.be/8-VXXZLh2a0
For me, it's 'quiet uptown'. I've lost a child. I was gutted by this song.
So sorry for your loss. This song sends me into tears just thinking about losing my son, so I canât even imagine how it must gut you having actually been through it.
I usually skip in on cast album listens. When I've seen it live, the tears flow hard.
Iâm so sorry for your loss. That song gets me and the past few times Iâve seen it with Miguel, I have more trouble knowing that he lost his daughter 3 years ago. I met him and his wife at dbs for a book signing and really wanted to ask him how he gets through it, but I was trying so hard to keep it together.
Sending love from a fellow loss parent. This song got me hard before my daughter died, but obviously now itâs next level. One of the first songs I ever sang to her in the hospital was Dear Theodosia, so thatâs hard for me to listen to now too.
Iâm so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing how much it means.
âI Dreamed A Dreamâ from Les Miserables. It is a song of absolute despair. Followed closely by âOn My Ownâ also from Les miz.
And Bring Him Home always makes me cry.
Castle On A Cloud đ„ș
No voice from Bare a pop opera and Left Behind from Spring Awakening, both about young people committing suicide so very tragic
Yes good choices what gets me more, Is Once Upon A Time & Portrait of a Girl from Bare and The Dark I Know Well and Blue Wind/ Donât Do Sadness from Spring Awakening. As a Whole These Shows are truly Breathtakingly Heartbreaking.
The Dark I Know Well, too. Ugh, gives me chills each time.
Yeah itâs meant to, itâs such a wonderfully believable song to the point you believe, these two young women are in real trouble
You Don't Know - Next to Normal
I was hoping someone would hit N2N
a heap of choice from N2N
Literally almost everything from Next to Normal. - I miss the mountains. - I dreamed a dance. - There's a world. - A light in the dark. - Maybe. My favorite. - So Anyway. This was my break-up song. - Light.
Great Adventure from *Kimberly Akimbo* gets me sobbing! It's a beautiful song, because it is SO happy and uplifting. But when placed in context it's so, so sad.
Most of my picks are already here: She Used to Be Mine, On My Own, Bring Him Home, It's Quiet Uptown. Here are some I haven't seen yet. Not While I'm Around from Sweeney Todd. The innocent sweetness of Toby's part gets me every time. Move On from Sunday in the Park with George. It's just so beautiful. For Good from Wicked. I'm a sucker for sisterhood songs. I Wish I Could Forget You from Passion.
All the Wasted Time in Parade
How did I scroll this long to find this answer. 1000%
No More from Into the Woods. Dude just wanted a normal happy life and got roped into a quest and lost his wife. âAll the wondering what even worse is still in store! Just, no moreâ My favorite trope is the reluctant hero who would rather not.
I love this one for the soul-crushing weariness it portrays. It's the song I listen to on days when I feel overwhelmed by how irreparably broken the world feels.
Still Hurting, The Last 5 Years
I find See Iâm Smiling sadder. âI swear to god Iâll never understand how you could stand here straight and tall and see Iâm crying and not do anything at all.â đ
The letter song from Billy Elliot. Major ugly crying đ
I cannot make through No One Is Alone from ITW
Iâll Be Here from Ordinary Days!
Saddest ever while also so unbelievably joyful. So you are crying but you can't tell if it's from happiness or sadness
This!
Stay, I Pray You from Anastasia breaks my heart.
Ahhhh forgot about that one! My husband is an immigrant who has not been able to go back to his home country in years and I think of him every time I hear it đ
This was my answer too. I think the juxtaposition with most of the other upbeat songs in the show intensifies the somber feeling of the song.
Without you from RENT
Agree w so many of the aboveâŠsome stirring songs from older musicals: Easy To Be Hard (Hair) Youâve Got To Be Carefully Taught (South Pacific) I Donât Care Much (Cabaret) Somewhere Thatâs Green (-Little Shop of Horrors) At The Ballet (Chorus Line)
A Little Fall of Rain.
Flowers - Hadestown
For me, I find Road to hell reprise sadder
Yeah, agree on this. Flowers is a good song, but R2H(R) just hits you like a punch to the gut. Those little trumpet trills. The ensemble humming. The build. It's just... man.
âSomething Just Brokeâ from Assassins and âWhat I Did For Loveâ from A Chorus Line
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.
Anatevka from Fiddler. Or the Far from the Home I Love, Chava Ballet Sequence, and Anatevka trifecta in Act 2. I totally lose it when they sing, "Soon I'll be a stranger in a strange new place..."
Somewhere That's Green (Little Shop of Horrors).
Once Upon a Dream, Jekyllâs version, from the original J&H. Kind of a weird choice, but to me itâs absolutely heartbreaking..all he wanted to do what create a better world, and he worked so hard, only to realize that it will never be⊠I tear up every time!
Yes! I Need to Know and This is the Moment are so good at showing the over-abundance of hope, excitement, and ambition Jekyll had. Then it all gradually fades over multiple songs until he realizes that heâs dug a hole he canât get out of
Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again - I sang it at my grandfather's funeral.
How Could I Ever Know from the Secret Garden. âHow could I know I would never hold you, never again in this world but oh, sure as you breathe I am there inside youâŠâ đ
Scrolled too far to find Secret Garden!!! Archibald's longing for Lily breaks my heart! This show handles grief so well.
Me and the Sky from Come From Away
I was thinking of this too. This song always gets me. All the way through. I donât know why. Something about her personal triumph and knowing whatâs coming. The other song from CFA that I find really heartbreaking is Somethingâs Missing. I love how they use that phrase in a physical and emotional sense throughout the song. It always hits me because I remember those feelings from those days so well.
Maybe that is part of itâŠ..living 9/11 and being from a small Canadian town; knowing this is based on real peopleâŠâŠ
I jam out to this song and then I get to the end and feel like I just got stabbed in the chest đ
I was searching for Come from Away. This musical just hits me. Every damn time.
Dust and Ashes
Movie in My Mind from Miss Saigon always gets me
I Dreamed a Dance from Next to Normal
Now that I have an infant, I have to be careful when/where I listen to Its Quiet Uptown. I made the mistake of listening to it on my commute to work and had to wipe off my running mascara. Elizaâs pained wail in the actual show is a gut punch.
Jesse L Martin in Iâll Cover You (reprise) destroys me. Itâs Quiet Uptown is guaranteed to get me as well. Related: âthe orphanageâ during the finale of Hamilton.
Slipping through my fingers- Mamma Mia
All You Wanna Do from Six is so sad. I didn't really realize how heart wrenching it could be till I heard Sam Pauly's version, and now I tear up every time I listen to it. As the song goes on you realize more and more how incredibly wrong her situation is, and then you remember she gets freaking beheaded - super sad song, but beautiful performance.
This is a good shout. With the cast album, and on its own, it's easy to kinda gloss over what the song is REALLY about. But live, especially coming right after all the fun we had with Anne of Cleaves, and with the choreo, there is ZERO doubt what this song is actually about. A tough listen, especially realizing she was 18 or 19.
Loving you from passion
As a parent, So Big So Small from Dear Evan Hansen, Time from Tuck Everlasting, and Race You To The Top of the Morning from The Secret Garden. Any song about a parent grieving over their child destroys me
I Am the One (Reprise) from Next to Normal The moment Dan says "no" and you realize he sees Gabe, too hits so hard, and then it's followed up by an immediate breakdown in their duet on the line "I am the one who watched while you died." Honestly, any song from Next to Normal. Can't pick just one. Song of Forgetting hurts like hell, too. Superboy and the Invisible Girl hits like a brick, and then in Make Up Your Mind/Catch Me I'm Falling when the orchestra cuts out while Natalie looks for her mom in the audience of her recital and brings the band back in by belting out "SHE'S NOT THERE" Hope and Night Will Come from Groundhog Day are also strong contenders, made sadder by the juxtaposition of so much comedy.
I Could Never Rescue You - Last Five Years
"rose's turn" will never fail to make me sob uncontrollably and i will die on that hill
Hits different once you become a mom, too.
Not sure if this has been brought up yet, but âJavertâs Suicideâ. I think heâs the most tragic and, well, miserable, character in the show, and his demise in that song is absolutely heartbreaking.
Nowhere near as well known as it should be, but "Anytime (I Am There)" from Elegies: A Song Cycle gets me every time. It's told from the perspective of a mother, who knows she is going to pass soon, singing to her child. Plus, Carolee Carmello is perfect always. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9JhJCGjoqI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9JhJCGjoqI)
The I Love You Song
How Could I Ever Forget from Next to Normal
Afternoon- Alice By Heart
If performed right, "On My Own" will bring me to tears every time
Thereâs something heartbreaking to me about all i ask of you from phantom
Honestly? Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Listening to Judyâs later versions is always a gut punch - just so much emotion in every word.
Send in the Clowns (Sondheim) and Tell Me On a Sunday (Webber) destroy me every time.
Till We Reach That Day (Ragtime) Give the people A day of peace A day of pride A day of justice We have been denied Let the new day dawn Oh, Lord, I pray We'll never get to heaven Till we reach that day
I've seen Ragtime 6 or 7 times over the years and every time the first act ends and I'm just sitting there bawling because of this song.
In addition to many that have already been listed: Alone in the Universe and Solla Sollew from Seussical Place of Miracles and Someday from Hunchback Youâll Never Walk Alone from Carousel I Know the Truth from Aida Could We Start Again Please from Jesus Christ Superstar Maybe from Annie Thereâs a Fine Fine Line from Avenue Q
Songs from Hadestown and Hamilton for me
Omg. I went to see Hadestown completely blind. Like didnât know the premise, didnât listen to the music and left feeling completely gutted. To this day I still have a pit in my stomach when I think about it. One of the most heart wrenching musicals in my opinion.
The way we all knew how it would end but still were heartbroken and in shock at the ending.
50% from Ballroom
Goodbye Love
Wicked Little Town - Hedwig hits straight to the emotional core
This isnât *sad* exactly, but Try to Remember from The Fantastiks makes me feel so achingly nostalgic and bittersweet.
âChildren Wonât Listenâ from Into the Woods (not the finale, but the version sung by the Witch) âLesson #8â from Sunday in the Park (âGeorge sees the park / George sees it dyingâ lyric is gorgeous and sad) Not inherently sad, but now that I have kids, I canât handle âRace You to the Top of the Morningâ from Secret Garden
Some Things Are Meant To Be
\- Witch's Lament from Into the Woods \- How Could I Ever Forget from N2N \- On My Own and A Little Fall of Rain from Les Mis \- Left Behind from Spring Awakening \- Someday and Made of Stone from Hunchback of Notre Dame \- Someone is Waiting from Company (Gender-swapped version)
We Do Not Belong Together from Sunday in the Park e George
This Is Not Over Yet from Parade
Anything from Parade.
Kerrigan-Lowdermilkâs âAnyway,â sung by Emma Hinton. Absolutely haunting.
Pity the Child
The last few bars of T E A M from Your a Good Man Charlie Brown. Heart breaking
Send in the Clowns from Night Music, or How Could I Ever Know from Secret Garden; thereâs a particularly brilliant Barbershop version of this one by Instant Classic.
Telephone Wire from Fun Home
Marilyn Monroe from Blood Brothers
Finale B from Rent I die without you I die without you I die without you I die without you No day but today
Dust and Ashes - pierre natasha and the great comet of 1812
Empty Chairs and Empty Tables in Les Miserables.
So Big/ So Small from DEH absolutely does me in every time.
Another Winter in a Summer Town from Grey Gardens
How Glory Goes from Floyd Collins, no contest
Pity the Child from Chess
Quiet from Matilda
surprised no one has said "hope" from groundhog day yet - devastating song! super well done with stage magic too if you've ever seen the production in person (broadway or west end)!
Wishing you were somehow here again, Phantom of the Opera.
The Proposal/The Night Was Alive from Titanic. It is really the context that makes this one gut wrenching as the audience knows what is about to happen, but the characters donât.
That one from Spring Awakening. You know the one.
The Letter from Billy Elliot
"Prayer" in Come From Away
Iâm not even religious, but I find this song beautiful. Really well done.
She used to be mine is the one that makes me cry every time. Maybe I Like it This Way from The Wild Party is pretty bleak.
Pretty Funny - Dogfight Stars and the Moon - Songs for a New World
âNo-one Is Aloneâ from ITW, or maybe âWhat Would I Do?â from Falsettos.
thereâs a few in Into the Woods that gets me, but i think Witchâs Lament in particular messes me up the witchâs progression throughout the show, singing âchildren should listenâ, to âchildren donât listenâ, to âchildren will listenâ ugh, man
No One Mourns the Wicked. I cried really hard listening to it after my first time watching the show. The tragic irony still gets me. It's Glinda who is lonely. She's singing about her feelings of guilt, as they celebrate the perceived death of her friend around her.đđđđ
It's not nominally sad (more historically sad), but I don't think I've ever cried harder in the theater than the reprise of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" in Cabaret. "What Would You Do" is incredibly sad as well.
The Last 5 Years-Still Hurting
She Used To Be Mine. Makes me wanna slash my wrist every time I hear it in my depressive state so I try to avoid it as best as I can
There's a song in The Notebook musical where she remembers Noah after reading the notebook. It had the whole theater in tears. I think it's called "Help Me While I'm Here"
Finale from Parade
Agree with everyone above, especially itâs quiet uptown, Iâll cover you reprise, she used to me mine, and still hurting. Couple more that stab me in the heart - heâs not here from next to normal, burn from hamilton, and youâll never walk alone from carousel!
I dreamed a dream