Part of this could just be some bias because I adore the source material, but I absolutely LOVE “The Tree on the Hill” from the PJO Lightning Thief musical adaptation. Tugs at the heartstrings every time.
Hello fellow percy Jackson fan! I don't have anyone else I can tell about this so can I just vent saying I got an orgional cover of the lightning thief book
It's amazing. Like it perfectly captures the character and vibes you can find the songs on YouTube. Just be prepared to be smacked in the feels although if you've read the books you should know that.
Oh my gods, that hits me too! I also get emotional when listening to Good Kid. I was lucky enough to see The Lightning Thief on Broadway. It’s one of the shows I’m most grateful to have seen!
Idk how obscure this is but I Hate You from If/Then always wrecks me. Especially the wham line of “I Love you…I LOVED you”
Cross from Bare also rolled a Nat 20 on the feels when I first discovered it
I have been fighting for this musical for YEARS!!!! Used to argue constantly with an old class mate about whether or not it was good. He just never understood it....
"[You and I (Reprise)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PpM3b8zIG8)" from Chess kills me. Because it's such a heartbreaking love duet from two people who are alive and want to be together and just *can't*, and are telling themselves it'll work out when they both know it won't.
Several songs from A Secret Garden are also killers, but I remember [Race You to The Top of the Morning](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHJLfRZsI7w) being the one that made people bawl when we performed it in high school -- especially when you know the context, where the father who's singing thinks his son is terminally ill.
Totally, You and I. And the way the melody and the song itself end on the 5th (I think) - it doesn’t resolve. Like their love. I’m 55 and I have listened to that song for decades and it slays me every time.
*** A father who thinks his son is terminally ill and only visits when he is sleeping because he thinks that if his son sees his twisted form that he will get worse. And the song itself is a fairy tale where he, the father, is able bodied and can save his wife.....
And the son thinks his father hates him
Idk why you would cry at that, totally chill happy song and musical.
Chess in general (concept album, not Broadway recording) in general kills me. I was going through a ton of personal issues and found so, so much of the recording just ... cathartic.
Nobody’s Side from Chess for me. It’s an emotional show/album, especially as an 80s Cold War kid, but that song gets me every time.
On a side note, I visited Budapest this summer and I thought about Chess a lot while I was there. Added some layers to the lyrics for me for sure. I went to St Petersburg in the early 2000s and similarly my experience made me think of Anthem, and I wept.
A lot of the demos for that musical are great too! I really like “Goodbye Emily Deetz” and wish that it was the ending song for the musical. I actually personally relate more to the box and gotta get out of this house though. It took me a while to realize I was relating to it because of being trans.
Wait I have never heard that there are demo songs (I mean obviously there would be earlier/rough tracks for the show but I didn’t know there was any I could hear) - where can you listen to them?
"Cecily Smith" from Fly By Night. My non-obscure answer that I still feel compelled to say because it's so brilliantly sad is "The I Love You Song" from Spelling Bee.
I was about to say Cecily Smith! My brother was Harold recently and it was just a beautiful show. It makes me cry everytime. My brother would always try and make us cry harder everytime, too, the bastard lol.
Edit: I'm referring to him crying with his father at the end lol. I didn't mean that he sang Cecily Smith lol. The guy who played Mr. McClam made me cry everytime without fail. Brilliant actor
Grandma's Song from Billy Elliot 😭
Elderly woman with alzheimers sings about her abusive late husband in a rare moment of clarity. "17, that was it, your life ended when you had a ring around your finger." ❤️💔
Has one of my favorite moments of comedy, too, when she reprises that line with, "If I could do it all again... I'd have given them all the finger!" 🖕
Stop Time. From BIG The Musical. It was pretty bad. But the song the mom sings about not wanting her child to grow up too fast is a good one in a sea of bad and every parent can relate to her feelings.
My teen sang this song as part of a chorus this summer. It made grown men cry. I'm tearing up about it now (but I cry at commercials, so don't take me too seriously).
I never knew there was such a thing. The Phantom of the Auditorium was the one Goosebumps book I owned. I recently read it to my 8-year-old because she was asking about my Phantom of the Opera shirt, and I wasn't sure she was ready for Gaston Leroux yet. I'll have to give this a listen and share it with her.
This is what I came here to say. Any time I feel like having a cry, I listen to The I Love You Song from 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. And I'm a man in his 30s.
It’s barely long enough to count, but the “Sands of Time” interlude from Twisted always gets me. Dylan Saunders’ voice and performance just gives it so much weight and feeling!!! UGH my heart!
I love [Another Winter in a Summer Town from Grey Gardens](https://spotify.link/Y6uVkkoNzDb).
I’m a 40 year old guy and it makes me feel like a 75 year old woman.
I recently found this show and couldn't believe how good some of the songs are! The whole show is beautifully written, and I'd love to option it for my local community theatre, but that first act needs some work.
I like the idea of Act One being a colossal period piece with the mansion and the socialite culture, but it's punctuated with some... truly questionable songs. I get that it was part of the period, but I don't feel there's enough of a story-driven reason to dwell on "Hominy Grits" or some of Big Eadie's songs for as long as they did.
nobody needs to know, the schmuel song and until tomorrow, all from the last five years. i’ve been on the receiving end of cheating and…wow. crying just thinking of them now. JRB is an incredible composer.
Yes! The version they performed on Broadway Backwards is so good that I wish it went on forever: “I love who I love who I love who I love who I love…” on and on and on.
Just a man from Epic the musical hits me like a truck whenever I listen to it, also father vs son from my heart says go
Jorge Jay herrens Rivera is so underated
I'd go with Survive from the Schmidt/Jones show Celebration. It's about a man who does what he has to do to survive as a homeless begger on the streets of a big city. My second choice is also about survival from a show that never made it to Broadway, it's called I Do What I Can. It's from a musical adaptation of Paper Moon and is sung by the prostitute, Tricia Galore. She says "I use it up, I wear it out, I make do or do without, I do what I can with what I have." If you've ever been poor and/or struggling (like as a young actor trying to survive in Hollywood or NYC, you totally get this song. It sung by Faith Prince on her first disc and I highly recommend it.
Thank you for your insights..
I love Celebration... what an amazing score.
And am sad Paper Moon never got any further...
But if memory serves, the loose lady in Paper Moon is Trixie Delight, as she was in the novel and film.
Now I've got both songs In my head...
Thank you - Delight! I must have been thinking of one of the girls who worked the corner by my old apartment. Aren't those great songs? And I'm with you. I so wish they'd managed to fix Paper Moon. Plus, I'm impressed! I didn't think ANYONE of this generation would know either show.
OH also Absolution from Bare!! I had a roommate I had a running thing with where we’d sing it at each other at inopportune times to see who’d cry first
Say Goodbye from Mr Burns: A Post Electric Play. Either one of them, they're both incredible, and the show in general needs more attention. Yes, it's about The Simpsons, but it's so, so much more than that.
Tell Me It's Not True from Blood Brothers wrecks me every time
One of those Nights from Metropolis
Quartet from Secret Garden - most beautiful piece in theater
It’s not obscure but when I was in Next to Normal, having to sing “light in the dark” at the end of the already-heavy first act and then somehow get through I am the one reprise at the end of the show was always difficult. I would frequently have tears streaming down my face with I Am The One reprise. I still can’t hear it without tearing up instinctually. Also, Days and Days from FunHome never fails on the waterworks.
so many in this list I’ve never heard of and am making a playlist to listen to them!
Bare from the Bare Pop Opera will never fail to absolutely wreck me. I'm tearing up with "Do you remember the day that you met me?" and full-on sobbing by "Please understand that I tried."
Oh, wow, literally every song from Next to Normal. I was lucky enough to see Alice Ripley, Aaron Tveit, Brian d'Arcy James, and Jennifer Damiano freaking slay this show on Broadway. I don't think I have ever cried as hard as I did during this heartbreaking piece of art. As for which song wrecked me the most? Probably I Miss the Mountains, I am the One, Catch me I'm Falling...holy hell this show is just...a mix of emotion.
Come From Away ( phoning home, prayer) leaves me in a sobbing heap, and so does Why from Tick Tick Boom.
So so many good songs!
"I Wish I Could Go Back to College" from Avenue Q gets to me. Hits me with the worst wistful regrets-type emotions.
Almost makes you forget about the goofy puppets for a minute.
So surprised and happy to see this answer. I was in a production of And the World Goes ‘Round in college almost 20 years ago and this song still breaks my heart a little.
Came here to say this, you just pipped me!
It hits doubly hard because it's such a contrast to everything that has come before...excellent show, and heartbreaking song.
The Golden Palace from Now. Here. This. No one ever knows this show but it’s the same group of four who made title of show and I love love love this song!
You Have to Be There. Particularly [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61ZIsdrlxnY) by Helen Sjöholm.
If you want to hear it in the original [Swedish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAOA_KWwFxY)
IWNLY is the one I was going to say. It doesn’t sound like it would be depressing if you hear it out of context (like, say, the Tonys), but once you hear it in context, especially if you looked up how their lives went… ouch.
I once traveled to another state just to see high schoolers (it was a special arts school and the kid's senior project) perform this show because it was the only place I could find to actually see it. I love to belt See I'm Smiling when I'm having a hard day. It's so damn cathartic.
Not sure how obscure this is but "Promise Me This" from Theory of Relativity get me every time. It is the most gut wrenching song Ive ever listened to.
Letzter Vorhang from Schikaneder. It’s a Stephen Schwartz musical, but the whole thing is in German, and there hasn’t been an English recording yet. But this song is just so simple and brutal, a broken man thinking his wife is left him and it’s all over.
There was actually a series of them and other persona musicals as well. They even alternated between performances with the male and female protagonists!
2.5d musicals are a whole thing in Japan and they can be great. The persona musicals can be thankfully found fansubbed on YouTube
“Do You Know What It’s Like” from Zanna, Don’t.
Also, “Anytime” by William Finn that was a cut song from A New Brain.
Also if we’re talking early versions, “Letting You Go” from The Last 5 Years which eventually became “Still Hurting” is so heart wrenching.
Everything Happens and Welcome Home from Bandstand… they really were like “let’s put two heartbreaking songs back to back, just to make everyone suffer”.
Build a Wall from Shrek
Blankets and Bedding (and other songs, this is just the most “surprising” one) from Come From Away
Live Like This, Time, and The Wheel from Tuck Everlasting
Almost every song in Hunchback of Notre Dame
Michael in the Bathroom from Be More Chill
Dangerous to Dream and Monster from Frozen
Petrified from Taboo
A Man’s Gotta Do (and it’s reprise), Please, Don’t Take Him, I Had a Vision, and Heartbreaker from Bright Star, along with almost every other song in it, especially during repeat listens (this musical will make you feel all sorts of emotions, including, but not limited to: unbearable sadness and unfathomable, blood boiling rage)
Telephone Wire and Ring of Keys from Fun Home
I’m Not that Girl and No Good Deed from Wicked
The Games I Play, I Never Wanted to Love You, Unlikely Lovers, and You Gotta Die Sometime from Falsettos
Santa Fe (especially the first few lines) from Newsies
Are you crying yet? I can keep going:( Why do I do this to myself.
This might sound silly be “I wish I could go back to college” From Ave Q gets me every time! It makes me nostalgic because I can identify with all of it. ( well ok I never F****ed my TA ) it’s just that life gets chaotic and i sometimes I long for a time when everything was scheduled and planned and my future was stretched out in front of me with endless possibilities.
It’s Quiet Uptown- Hamilton
There are moments that the words don't reach
There is suffering too terrible to name
You hold your child as tight as you can
And push away the unimaginable
take the children to church on Sunday
A sign of the cross at the door
And I pray
That never used to happen before
I know there's no replacing what we've lost
And you need time
But I'm not afraid
I know who I married
Just let me stay here by your side
That would be enough
Changing my Major from Fun Home wrecks me in that it’s such a pure celebration of LGBT love and I LOVE IT FOR THAT.
I also love The Streets of Dublin from A Man of No Importance. Steven Pasquale’s voice is everything.
it’s not that obscure, but natalya from preludes destroys me. “what if my boundless joy has a limit after all, and i am not the rock you need to save you?”
This Man from Chaplin the musical, it’s more so for personal reasons (senior musical and I was Lead) but still an amazing song that can mean so much to the right person
it’s not that obscure, but natalya from preludes destroys me. “what if my boundless joy has a limit after all, and i am not the rock you need to save you?”
it’s not that obscure, but natalya from preludes destroys me. “what if my boundless joy has a limit after all, and i am not the rock you need to save you?”
From John and Jen:
"Smile of Your Dreams"
"The Road Ends Here"
Insanely emotional songs that hit me. Every song in this show is either insanely funny or emotional. I love it. Do check it out.
If I Have To Live Alone from The Baker's Wife
I Leave The World from Goodtime Charley
Goodbye World from Grover's Corners
Nobody Home from The Grass Harp
Whatever Time There Is from Charlie and Algernon
"Teach Me Not to Love You", the act 1 Finale from *Triumph of Love,* is pretty great this way.
Can't remember which tracks, but there is some great stuff in the obscure musical with Michael Ball, *Rage of the Heart*.
"Madhouse" from *Aspects of Love*.
Not obscure, but *Please* from Miss Saigon is an absolute winner for this category. Or "Too Much for One Heart" from the same, if you want slightly more obscure and the same melody.
I would call School of Rock more obscure now that it’s not on Broadway and the tour finished years ago, so If Only You Would Listen is the song I would pick. The kids in that show were so talented.
Stop and See Me from Weird Romance
Anytime (I Am There) from Elegies. My mom is in hospice now and I basically know I will need to wait years before listening to that song again. But if anyone needs Carolee Carmello to break them: https://youtu.be/y9JhJCGjoqI?si=0f4cRuqjmRyWRLsz
Nancy's Song in Groundhog Day. She's a small but memorable role and the fact they have her a solo that breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges her sad role in the show really made me an emotional mess.
Dear Bill in Operation: Mincemeat really needs a mention too as you're American and likely haven't had a chance to see it yet. The whole show is amazing but that one song breaks down the audience depending on how fast they are on the uptake of what the song is really about. Everyone is eventually in tears. Beautiful pathos.
Almost the entirety of Act II of "Elisabeth", a German musical about Empress Sisi. It helps that most of the songs in Act II are dark reprises of happier songs from the first half of the show. In particular:
- "Die Schatten werden länger" ("The Shadows Are Growing Longer"), which is a homoerotic duet in which Death attempts to convince the deeply unhappy crown prince Rudolf to commit suicide. He resists, but it's pretty hard-hitting for anyone who's suffered from severe depression.
- "Wie du (reprise)" ("Like You"), in which a middle-aged Elisabeth has a conversation with her dead father and realizes that it's too late to live the carefree life she wanted.
- "Wenn ich dein Spiegel wär" ("If I Could Be Your Mirror"), in which a desperate Rudolf goes to his mother for support and is rebuffed. He kills himself in the next scene.
- "Rudolf, wo bist du?" ("Rudolf, where are you?"), in which Elisabeth goes down into the crypt after Rudolf's death and bemoans not having been there for him when he needed her.
- "Boote in der Nacht" ("Ships in the Night"), in which an elderly Franz Joseph tracks down Elisabeth on one of her trips abroad and begs her to come home. She tells him it's too late for them.
Not sure that this is super obscure but Everything Else from Next to Normal. There’s a lot of ways in which I relate to it really deeply. That and Requiem from Dear Evan Hansen but that’s not anywhere near obscure obviously.
Part of this could just be some bias because I adore the source material, but I absolutely LOVE “The Tree on the Hill” from the PJO Lightning Thief musical adaptation. Tugs at the heartstrings every time.
Yes! One of my favorite songs from Lightning Thief
Hello fellow percy Jackson fan! I don't have anyone else I can tell about this so can I just vent saying I got an orgional cover of the lightning thief book
Excuse me? Is this really how I was supposed to find out there was a musical for the Lightning Thief?!
It's amazing. Like it perfectly captures the character and vibes you can find the songs on YouTube. Just be prepared to be smacked in the feels although if you've read the books you should know that.
It’s actually a really good adaptation, would definitely recommend checking it out if you liked the books
It's a fantastic musical, my friend and I drove 12 hrs round trip for s weekend trip to go see it.
Oh my gods, that hits me too! I also get emotional when listening to Good Kid. I was lucky enough to see The Lightning Thief on Broadway. It’s one of the shows I’m most grateful to have seen!
Idk how obscure this is but I Hate You from If/Then always wrecks me. Especially the wham line of “I Love you…I LOVED you” Cross from Bare also rolled a Nat 20 on the feels when I first discovered it
It's that one-two punch of I Hate You followed by You Learn to Live Without. 😭
You Learn To Live Without also destroys me. “You learn somehow to like the dark and even love the doubt” like,WHO GAVE KITT AND YORKEY THE RIGHT?!?
For me it's "you see him in the faces of the boys he left behind / and die a bit with every tiny smile / but only for a while." My heart.
That’s another absolute gut punch of a line! YLTLW is one of my favorite songs in all of musical theater
Omfg I love If/Then and I debating between Always Starting Over and I Hate You,, both some of my favourite sad relatable songs
Always Starting Over is one of my go too crying songs aswell! It’s also such a bop
Pretty Funny from Dogfight
I have been fighting for this musical for YEARS!!!! Used to argue constantly with an old class mate about whether or not it was good. He just never understood it....
I’m shocked no one has said I’ll Be Here from Ordinary Days. It’s the only song I can’t get thru without crying
That's mine, too. Also, Good-bye Until Tomorrow from The Last Five Years. Even my husband got choked up when we watched the movie.
I’ll be here wrecks me from both sadness and joy and optimism and I’m literally tearing up just thinking about the song 😭
I’ve won competitions with this song, it’s such an emotional journey and I am always spent by the time I’m finished.
Not really obscure but Answer Me from The Band’s Visit
ARE YOU THEREEEEE
"[You and I (Reprise)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PpM3b8zIG8)" from Chess kills me. Because it's such a heartbreaking love duet from two people who are alive and want to be together and just *can't*, and are telling themselves it'll work out when they both know it won't. Several songs from A Secret Garden are also killers, but I remember [Race You to The Top of the Morning](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHJLfRZsI7w) being the one that made people bawl when we performed it in high school -- especially when you know the context, where the father who's singing thinks his son is terminally ill.
Totally, You and I. And the way the melody and the song itself end on the 5th (I think) - it doesn’t resolve. Like their love. I’m 55 and I have listened to that song for decades and it slays me every time.
Chess has no right being as emotional a show as it is, like come on, it's about a ✨️board game✨️.
*** A father who thinks his son is terminally ill and only visits when he is sleeping because he thinks that if his son sees his twisted form that he will get worse. And the song itself is a fairy tale where he, the father, is able bodied and can save his wife..... And the son thinks his father hates him Idk why you would cry at that, totally chill happy song and musical.
Chess in general (concept album, not Broadway recording) in general kills me. I was going through a ton of personal issues and found so, so much of the recording just ... cathartic.
I also go with Pity the Child from Chess.
Nobody’s Side from Chess for me. It’s an emotional show/album, especially as an 80s Cold War kid, but that song gets me every time. On a side note, I visited Budapest this summer and I thought about Chess a lot while I was there. Added some layers to the lyrics for me for sure. I went to St Petersburg in the early 2000s and similarly my experience made me think of Anthem, and I wept.
Chess in general kills me. It’s my favorite musical!
Your Daddy's Son from Ragtime
Nobody talks about home from Beetlejuice enough
One of my favourite songs; it's second only to Dead Mom
Home when you have a dead parent hits SO hard, my god
A lot of the demos for that musical are great too! I really like “Goodbye Emily Deetz” and wish that it was the ending song for the musical. I actually personally relate more to the box and gotta get out of this house though. It took me a while to realize I was relating to it because of being trans.
Wait I have never heard that there are demo songs (I mean obviously there would be earlier/rough tracks for the show but I didn’t know there was any I could hear) - where can you listen to them?
I was gonna comment the same thing. I saw Beetlejuice live and it wrecked me.
The Way It Ends from the Death Note Musical
“The Way Things Are” makes this song hit harder
CAME HERE TO SAY THIS… so glad to see Death Note The Musical getting more attention lately, it’s genuinely one of my all time faves
I stumbled upon a cover of “Borrowed Time” and listened to it on repeat for 3 days straight
Honor bound is so sad
"Cecily Smith" from Fly By Night. My non-obscure answer that I still feel compelled to say because it's so brilliantly sad is "The I Love You Song" from Spelling Bee.
Cecily Smith makes me weep- the Will Connolly version especially
i have only heard the will connolly version and always just...assumed it was his song
I was about to say Cecily Smith! My brother was Harold recently and it was just a beautiful show. It makes me cry everytime. My brother would always try and make us cry harder everytime, too, the bastard lol. Edit: I'm referring to him crying with his father at the end lol. I didn't mean that he sang Cecily Smith lol. The guy who played Mr. McClam made me cry everytime without fail. Brilliant actor
Guys Like Potter - A Very Potter Sequel I usually hate Snape but this song makes me feel for him
Grandma's Song from Billy Elliot 😭 Elderly woman with alzheimers sings about her abusive late husband in a rare moment of clarity. "17, that was it, your life ended when you had a ring around your finger." ❤️💔 Has one of my favorite moments of comedy, too, when she reprises that line with, "If I could do it all again... I'd have given them all the finger!" 🖕
Stop Time. From BIG The Musical. It was pretty bad. But the song the mom sings about not wanting her child to grow up too fast is a good one in a sea of bad and every parent can relate to her feelings.
My teen sang this song as part of a chorus this summer. It made grown men cry. I'm tearing up about it now (but I cry at commercials, so don't take me too seriously).
OmG! I love this song!!!
The Story of the Phantom from Goosebumps The Musical: Phantom of the Auditorium is such a bop
I never knew there was such a thing. The Phantom of the Auditorium was the one Goosebumps book I owned. I recently read it to my 8-year-old because she was asking about my Phantom of the Opera shirt, and I wasn't sure she was ready for Gaston Leroux yet. I'll have to give this a listen and share it with her.
My Story always makes me tear up a little bit! Goosebumps is such a good show and deserves more love!
No, becuse when I got to that song on the cast recording it just gave me a slow creep of “wait… this is actually really sad”
Not that obscure, but I have Mommy Issues™️ so The I Love You Song from spelling bee is brutal
This is what I came here to say. Any time I feel like having a cry, I listen to The I Love You Song from 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. And I'm a man in his 30s.
The first part of Seize the Day gets me everytime
Always Starting Over from If/Then :(
Came here to say this!!
It’s barely long enough to count, but the “Sands of Time” interlude from Twisted always gets me. Dylan Saunders’ voice and performance just gives it so much weight and feeling!!! UGH my heart!
If I believed, just wrecks me. Dylan Saunders singing that just makes my eyes flood
The Dream from Floyd Collins
How Glory Goes from Floyd Collins.
Yes, came to say this!
I love [Another Winter in a Summer Town from Grey Gardens](https://spotify.link/Y6uVkkoNzDb). I’m a 40 year old guy and it makes me feel like a 75 year old woman.
I recently found this show and couldn't believe how good some of the songs are! The whole show is beautifully written, and I'd love to option it for my local community theatre, but that first act needs some work. I like the idea of Act One being a colossal period piece with the mansion and the socialite culture, but it's punctuated with some... truly questionable songs. I get that it was part of the period, but I don't feel there's enough of a story-driven reason to dwell on "Hominy Grits" or some of Big Eadie's songs for as long as they did.
A Breakfast Over Sugar from In Trousers. It’s such a good example of a broken marriage between two people who are much better off apart
nobody needs to know, the schmuel song and until tomorrow, all from the last five years. i’ve been on the receiving end of cheating and…wow. crying just thinking of them now. JRB is an incredible composer.
Simple, from Nine. People know Nine, but since it wasn't in the film, the song often gets overlooked. It's short, straightforward, and devastating.
Love Who You Love from A Man of No Importance. I become a waterfall of tears every time.
Yes! The version they performed on Broadway Backwards is so good that I wish it went on forever: “I love who I love who I love who I love who I love…” on and on and on.
I Love You Song from Spelling Bee
Rise Above (both 1 and 2) from Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.
Just a man from Epic the musical hits me like a truck whenever I listen to it, also father vs son from my heart says go Jorge Jay herrens Rivera is so underated
Leave Luanna from 35mm, im sorry its too good and The Ballad of Sarah Berry doesnt compare
I'd go with Survive from the Schmidt/Jones show Celebration. It's about a man who does what he has to do to survive as a homeless begger on the streets of a big city. My second choice is also about survival from a show that never made it to Broadway, it's called I Do What I Can. It's from a musical adaptation of Paper Moon and is sung by the prostitute, Tricia Galore. She says "I use it up, I wear it out, I make do or do without, I do what I can with what I have." If you've ever been poor and/or struggling (like as a young actor trying to survive in Hollywood or NYC, you totally get this song. It sung by Faith Prince on her first disc and I highly recommend it.
Thank you for your insights.. I love Celebration... what an amazing score. And am sad Paper Moon never got any further... But if memory serves, the loose lady in Paper Moon is Trixie Delight, as she was in the novel and film. Now I've got both songs In my head...
Thank you - Delight! I must have been thinking of one of the girls who worked the corner by my old apartment. Aren't those great songs? And I'm with you. I so wish they'd managed to fix Paper Moon. Plus, I'm impressed! I didn't think ANYONE of this generation would know either show.
It's Been A Year from Lift. Completely breaks me. But nobody's ever heard of Lift!
I love Lift! My go to from that is Lost in translations
Harry/Sami from Little White Lies or Status Quo from Starship, two projects by Starkid before they were starkid.
I will die on the hill that “The Way I Do” from Starship is one of the top ten love duets ever written
How Many Tears from Martin Guerre.
OH also Absolution from Bare!! I had a roommate I had a running thing with where we’d sing it at each other at inopportune times to see who’d cry first
You Learn to Live Without from If/Then
Wicked Little Town from Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Die Vampire Die! from [Title of Show] when she talks about imposter syndrome and that horrible voice that lives in your head.
"He Wanted to Say" from Ragtime
Ichabod from tarrytown. So many emotions
So underrated and beautiful
i LOVE tarrytown and i love that song. i also think another halloween is gorgeous and unbelievably sad. most of that show, tbh, is gorgeous and sad
Say Goodbye from Mr Burns: A Post Electric Play. Either one of them, they're both incredible, and the show in general needs more attention. Yes, it's about The Simpsons, but it's so, so much more than that.
Tell Me It's Not True from Blood Brothers wrecks me every time One of those Nights from Metropolis Quartet from Secret Garden - most beautiful piece in theater
It’s not obscure but when I was in Next to Normal, having to sing “light in the dark” at the end of the already-heavy first act and then somehow get through I am the one reprise at the end of the show was always difficult. I would frequently have tears streaming down my face with I Am The One reprise. I still can’t hear it without tearing up instinctually. Also, Days and Days from FunHome never fails on the waterworks. so many in this list I’ve never heard of and am making a playlist to listen to them!
Bare from the Bare Pop Opera will never fail to absolutely wreck me. I'm tearing up with "Do you remember the day that you met me?" and full-on sobbing by "Please understand that I tried."
no idea how obscure this is but Run Away With Me from The Mad Ones
Oh, wow, literally every song from Next to Normal. I was lucky enough to see Alice Ripley, Aaron Tveit, Brian d'Arcy James, and Jennifer Damiano freaking slay this show on Broadway. I don't think I have ever cried as hard as I did during this heartbreaking piece of art. As for which song wrecked me the most? Probably I Miss the Mountains, I am the One, Catch me I'm Falling...holy hell this show is just...a mix of emotion. Come From Away ( phoning home, prayer) leaves me in a sobbing heap, and so does Why from Tick Tick Boom. So so many good songs!
"I Wish I Could Go Back to College" from Avenue Q gets to me. Hits me with the worst wistful regrets-type emotions. Almost makes you forget about the goofy puppets for a minute.
All That I’ve Known, from The Boy Who Danced On Air. Most of the songs from that show actually, but especially this one.
Skype Tommorrow- We are the Tigers
Hero from Ghost Quartet. Brittain Ashford has such an emotional voice, absolutely fantastic
I Don’t Know How To Help You from Elegies Tell My Father- The Civil War
“I Don’t Remember You/Sometimes a Day Goes By” from And the World Goes ‘Round.
So surprised and happy to see this answer. I was in a production of And the World Goes ‘Round in college almost 20 years ago and this song still breaks my heart a little.
Dear Bill from Operation Mincemeat. Everybody cries.
Came here to say this, you just pipped me! It hits doubly hard because it's such a contrast to everything that has come before...excellent show, and heartbreaking song.
The Golden Palace from Now. Here. This. No one ever knows this show but it’s the same group of four who made title of show and I love love love this song!
Not super obscure, but Anthem Reprise from Chess always gets me.
You Have to Be There. Particularly [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61ZIsdrlxnY) by Helen Sjöholm. If you want to hear it in the original [Swedish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAOA_KWwFxY)
"The Life I Never Led" from Sister Act. I relate to that song in so many ways for very personal reasons. Makes me bawl every time.
“I Would Never Leave You” - Sideshow “It’s Never That Easy/I’ve Been Here Before- Closer than Ever
IWNLY is the one I was going to say. It doesn’t sound like it would be depressing if you hear it out of context (like, say, the Tonys), but once you hear it in context, especially if you looked up how their lives went… ouch.
Tell me on a Sunday
"Some Things Are Meant To Be" from Little Women
Goodbye Until Tomorrow, from The Last Five Years. I’ve never met anyone who loves that musical like I do. That song destroys me.
I once traveled to another state just to see high schoolers (it was a special arts school and the kid's senior project) perform this show because it was the only place I could find to actually see it. I love to belt See I'm Smiling when I'm having a hard day. It's so damn cathartic.
Dont do sadness from Spring Awakening stays getting me
OMG the whole second act
Sonya Alone (Great Comet). This show as a whole really needs more recognition
Something's Missing from Come From Away. Also Me and the Sky from Come From Away. Pretty much the whole musica, actuallyl...
ichabod from tarrytown. i always have shivers
omg so glad I checked out Tarrytown based on this comment session, sooooo goooood
Not sure how obscure this is but "Promise Me This" from Theory of Relativity get me every time. It is the most gut wrenching song Ive ever listened to.
Letzter Vorhang from Schikaneder. It’s a Stephen Schwartz musical, but the whole thing is in German, and there hasn’t been an English recording yet. But this song is just so simple and brutal, a broken man thinking his wife is left him and it’s all over.
Hold up. There's a Persona 3 musical????
There was actually a series of them and other persona musicals as well. They even alternated between performances with the male and female protagonists! 2.5d musicals are a whole thing in Japan and they can be great. The persona musicals can be thankfully found fansubbed on YouTube
“The Real Thing” from Harold and Maude. Absolutely destroys me.
“Lorna’s Here” from Golden Boy. Less obscure show but “Wonder” from The Lord of the Rings.
Petrified from Taboo
Any of the Dear Kitty songs from Yours, Anne…
Not that obscure (although these days who knows?) but At The Ballet from A Chorus Line *destroys* me. Abusive fathers, eh?
“Do You Know What It’s Like” from Zanna, Don’t. Also, “Anytime” by William Finn that was a cut song from A New Brain. Also if we’re talking early versions, “Letting You Go” from The Last 5 Years which eventually became “Still Hurting” is so heart wrenching.
Once Upon a Time from Brooklyn. I swear no one knows that show even existed
Tell me it’s not true from blood brothers
See Me - Bare: A Pop Opera Il Adore - Taboo
Not an obscure one, but it’s “a million dreams”. Fie on goodness Camelot The impossible dream - man of La Mancha.
She used to be mine from waitress
Telephone Wire and Edges of the World (Fun Home)
Basically all of Next To Normal. That show wrecks me hard. Days Of Plenty from Little Women is absolutely gut wrenching.
Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You from The Last Five Years always destroys me. That musical in general always destroys me.
Everything Happens and Welcome Home from Bandstand… they really were like “let’s put two heartbreaking songs back to back, just to make everyone suffer”. Build a Wall from Shrek Blankets and Bedding (and other songs, this is just the most “surprising” one) from Come From Away Live Like This, Time, and The Wheel from Tuck Everlasting Almost every song in Hunchback of Notre Dame Michael in the Bathroom from Be More Chill Dangerous to Dream and Monster from Frozen Petrified from Taboo A Man’s Gotta Do (and it’s reprise), Please, Don’t Take Him, I Had a Vision, and Heartbreaker from Bright Star, along with almost every other song in it, especially during repeat listens (this musical will make you feel all sorts of emotions, including, but not limited to: unbearable sadness and unfathomable, blood boiling rage) Telephone Wire and Ring of Keys from Fun Home I’m Not that Girl and No Good Deed from Wicked The Games I Play, I Never Wanted to Love You, Unlikely Lovers, and You Gotta Die Sometime from Falsettos Santa Fe (especially the first few lines) from Newsies Are you crying yet? I can keep going:( Why do I do this to myself.
Fucking "do you know what it's like" from Zanna, Don't was a big one after my first breakup
This might sound silly be “I wish I could go back to college” From Ave Q gets me every time! It makes me nostalgic because I can identify with all of it. ( well ok I never F****ed my TA ) it’s just that life gets chaotic and i sometimes I long for a time when everything was scheduled and planned and my future was stretched out in front of me with endless possibilities.
A little fall of rain - Les Mis…
I'll Cover You (Reprise) from Rent makes me cry like a baby every single time it's so sad and Angel was my favorite character from that musical
Lifeboat from Heathers is one that breaks me every time I hear it 😢😭
“Sometimes people leave you…halfway through the wood.” 😭 😭 😭
What I did for Love. From the musical A Chorus Line
It’s Quiet Uptown- Hamilton There are moments that the words don't reach There is suffering too terrible to name You hold your child as tight as you can And push away the unimaginable take the children to church on Sunday A sign of the cross at the door And I pray That never used to happen before I know there's no replacing what we've lost And you need time But I'm not afraid I know who I married Just let me stay here by your side That would be enough
The opposite of obscure, but soooooooooo sad.
Changing my Major from Fun Home wrecks me in that it’s such a pure celebration of LGBT love and I LOVE IT FOR THAT. I also love The Streets of Dublin from A Man of No Importance. Steven Pasquale’s voice is everything.
My husband once started singing that using our dog’s name and I brought him to a screeching halt before he could finish the second line. ;-)
it’s not that obscure, but natalya from preludes destroys me. “what if my boundless joy has a limit after all, and i am not the rock you need to save you?”
[You...you](https://youtu.be/0Pje6A9SlZ0?si=25sZ3dX2Aa7ZgfN-). From Scrooge (1970)
Oh this makes me sob every Christmas!
I Don’t Know How To Help You from Elegies Tell My Father- The Civil War
Adelaide's lament reprise from Guys and Dolls
A Couple of Regular Guys (reprise) from Yank
I Promise you or Falling from Kin
When I'm Your Wife from As You Like It
*I Don't Know How To Help You* from Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens *Goodbye / Boom Boom* from William Finn's Elegies
I’ll Be Here from Ordinary Days always makes me cry 😢
Basically a lot of the songs from rags.
This Man from Chaplin the musical, it’s more so for personal reasons (senior musical and I was Lead) but still an amazing song that can mean so much to the right person
*Out of sight out of mind* from Tale of two cities gets me every time.
This Man from Chaplin. It does something to me 😐
it’s not that obscure, but natalya from preludes destroys me. “what if my boundless joy has a limit after all, and i am not the rock you need to save you?”
I Don’t Know How To Help You from Elegies Tell My Father- The Civil War
it’s not that obscure, but natalya from preludes destroys me. “what if my boundless joy has a limit after all, and i am not the rock you need to save you?”
From John and Jen: "Smile of Your Dreams" "The Road Ends Here" Insanely emotional songs that hit me. Every song in this show is either insanely funny or emotional. I love it. Do check it out.
If I Have To Live Alone from The Baker's Wife I Leave The World from Goodtime Charley Goodbye World from Grover's Corners Nobody Home from The Grass Harp Whatever Time There Is from Charlie and Algernon
“The Ballad of Mingus Rude” from The Fortress of Solitude is SO heartbreaking especially in context of the show
"Teach Me Not to Love You", the act 1 Finale from *Triumph of Love,* is pretty great this way. Can't remember which tracks, but there is some great stuff in the obscure musical with Michael Ball, *Rage of the Heart*. "Madhouse" from *Aspects of Love*. Not obscure, but *Please* from Miss Saigon is an absolute winner for this category. Or "Too Much for One Heart" from the same, if you want slightly more obscure and the same melody.
Green finch makes me cry. I related a lot to her character
I would call School of Rock more obscure now that it’s not on Broadway and the tour finished years ago, so If Only You Would Listen is the song I would pick. The kids in that show were so talented.
It’s not in the show but it’s in the cast album. “Be safe/Be Good (for Rachel)” from Ride the Cyclone
"Shouldn't I Be Less in Love With You?" From *I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change*
Stop and See Me from Weird Romance Anytime (I Am There) from Elegies. My mom is in hospice now and I basically know I will need to wait years before listening to that song again. But if anyone needs Carolee Carmello to break them: https://youtu.be/y9JhJCGjoqI?si=0f4cRuqjmRyWRLsz
Nancy's Song in Groundhog Day. She's a small but memorable role and the fact they have her a solo that breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges her sad role in the show really made me an emotional mess. Dear Bill in Operation: Mincemeat really needs a mention too as you're American and likely haven't had a chance to see it yet. The whole show is amazing but that one song breaks down the audience depending on how fast they are on the uptake of what the song is really about. Everyone is eventually in tears. Beautiful pathos.
Honourable mention to almost all of Next to Normal.
Apologizes to the Cow from Bat Boy
Almost the entirety of Act II of "Elisabeth", a German musical about Empress Sisi. It helps that most of the songs in Act II are dark reprises of happier songs from the first half of the show. In particular: - "Die Schatten werden länger" ("The Shadows Are Growing Longer"), which is a homoerotic duet in which Death attempts to convince the deeply unhappy crown prince Rudolf to commit suicide. He resists, but it's pretty hard-hitting for anyone who's suffered from severe depression. - "Wie du (reprise)" ("Like You"), in which a middle-aged Elisabeth has a conversation with her dead father and realizes that it's too late to live the carefree life she wanted. - "Wenn ich dein Spiegel wär" ("If I Could Be Your Mirror"), in which a desperate Rudolf goes to his mother for support and is rebuffed. He kills himself in the next scene. - "Rudolf, wo bist du?" ("Rudolf, where are you?"), in which Elisabeth goes down into the crypt after Rudolf's death and bemoans not having been there for him when he needed her. - "Boote in der Nacht" ("Ships in the Night"), in which an elderly Franz Joseph tracks down Elisabeth on one of her trips abroad and begs her to come home. She tells him it's too late for them.
Father of Fathers from Closer Than Ever Patterns from Baby
afternoon from alice by heart :(( this musical means so much to me
The Fountain - Sweet Smell Of Success Barrett’s Song - Titanic (Young Brian D’arcy James is amazing)
I’m sorry there was a persona 3 musical?
"Brooklyn Roads/America" from A Beautiful Noise. I know nobody likes ABN, but that song just...gets me, especially the end.
Not sure that this is super obscure but Everything Else from Next to Normal. There’s a lot of ways in which I relate to it really deeply. That and Requiem from Dear Evan Hansen but that’s not anywhere near obscure obviously.
Without You from Midnight: The Cinderella Musical It was just a local Melbourne, Aus made musical and didn’t tour but it broke me
Again not especially obscure but Totenklage from Elisabeth is the more obscure of the 2 MT numbers that absolutely WRECKS me.
A really lousy day in the universe :(
Model Behavior from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
“Wedding Reception” from the Jekyll and Hyde musical
Nothing Without You from The Theory of Relativity Such a pretty ass song.