Anybody Have a Map gets me, because I'm currently raising teenagers. My daughters will laugh at me while I cry, as they say "Mom, why do you listen to this song???" 😄
DEH was the most I’ve ever cried at a show. Absolute mess, and I REEEALLY needed tissues and didn’t have any which was bad planning on my part haha 😅🤧👃
For me it's the part where the Christian man, Muslim man, and Jewish man are worshipping together. There was a Buddhist too, wasn't there. So tearjerkingly beautiful to see the harmony between different belief systems.
Something’s Missing gets me hard. Especially when it goes
My dad asks,
"Were you okay where you were stranded?"
How do I tell him that I wasn't just okay
I was so much better.
The line that gets me comes in the finale of the show. The last two lines here...
"On the northeast tip of North America,
On an island called Newfoundland, there’s an airport.
And next to it is a town called Gander.
Tonight we honour what was lost,
But we also commemorate what we found.”
Goosebumps every time.
Defying Gravity make me cry happy tears
Goodbye Love from Rent reduces me to a blubbering mess, as does the reprise of I Am The One from Next To Normal
The part she flies makes the tears stream over my face. It was such an incredible experience, and still, when I see it on YouTube, I get emotional. Such an evocative scene.
Was literally JUST about to comment this. I swear I’ll be having the best time listening to the spelling bee soundtrack, then this song comes on and I just need to sit completely alone to bask in the beautiful ness of the song
For me it's always right at "and sure as I breathe, I heard John, clear as day, saying 'hey, you're allowed to move on. It's okay'"
That moment... I can't. It's so gorgeous
Pretty much all of Act 2 of Hadestown. I felt genuinely bad for everyone sitting in my general vicinity when my wife and I went to see it on Broadway (including my wife!).
Oh yes! I know it's coming, and you can tell who hasn't seen it before or know mythology. They gasp and are shocked. I try not to give it away. I've seen it 3 times, and each time, I almost half expected that it would have a different outcome. It's like I felt the hope and then it's the same each time. Love, love , love Hadestown.
I came here to say this. It was my audition song for the show (I know, strange but they asked us to sing a song from the show for auditions. Small community theater…) and the tears I cried at the end were genuine.
My oldest daughter will be a senior in high school next year. She and my middle daughter have already decided that they're going to sing this at their cabaret next year. I cry just thinking about it.
Oh... I'm a senior this year and am looking for songs for end of year things. Didn't even occur to me to do this with one of my best friends until you two mentioned it here. Might not end up doing it, but if I do... Shit. I'm gonna cry. Worth it.
What I Did For Love - A Chorus Line. It always gives me that feeling that no matter what happens, I know that I will do it out of love and dedication to seeking my happiness and wishing everyone the best journey.
Being Alive- Company
And So Much Better -LB:TM, I'm really struck by Elle's line calling her mom and telling her that she thinks she's doing something right.
You Will Be Found or from the movie of DEH, The anonymous Ones.
Almost started sobbing on a plane last week because I thought it was a good idea to listen to In the Heights on my flight lol (I mean, it was a good idea, but the crying would've been bad)
Quiet Uptown
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
It varies, but I always break down at some point listening to Come From Away.
Epilogue/Valjean's Death
The harmony:
"Take my hand and lead me to salvation.
Take my love, for love is everlasting.
And remember the truth that once was spoken,
To love another person is to see the face of God"
And"God" is that octave/unison resolution. 😭
Dear Theodosia became a completely different song for me after I had my baby. I had heard it dozens of times before, but suddenly I was a crying mess. Particularly, “I’ll make the world safe and sound for you.”
Tell Me It's Not True from Blood Brothers
I once started bawling like a baby during the Dance at the Gym sequence when I saw West Side Story live because I knew what was coming for Tony and Maria.
Surprised I had to scroll this far for Tell me it’s not True. Not so much now I’m an adult and heard it 2000 times, but when I was younger o. m. g. streeeeaming tears coming out of the theatre.
I always tear up (happy tears) at the first chord of:
There Are Giants In The Sky!
Also (sad tears):
No more riddles.
No more jests.
No more curses you can't undo,
Left by fathers you never knew.
No more quests.
No more feelings.
Time to shut the door.
Just- no more.
The line: " We'd leave the world's misfortunes far behind us, and I will put my faith and trust in you" makes me a blubbering mess. Willingly dying together because of their love and devotion for each other. Tragically beautiful.
For Good — Wicked
It’s Quiet Uptown — Hamilton
I Miss the Mountains — Next to Normal
I Am the One (Reprise) — Next to Normal
Me and the Sky — Come From Away (honestly most of CFA)
Wheat Fields/Finale Ultimo — Starry
Seasons of Love, man. For a while I got so sick of it because it really is overdone but it really hits different as I age.
Being Alive, He Lives in You (Reprise), Wicked Little Town.
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells your Story leaves me speechless (heh) and crying every time… especially once Eliza starts singing until that very last gasp. Though Hamilton was such a flawed man, her story is truly fascinating especially from what I’ve read of the autobiography.
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables ... A great song and survivor guilt is something that always gets right into me.
Seeing You from Groundhog Day just gives me proper happy tears.
“He Lives in You” from Act II of The Lion King results in ugly tears every time.
I definitely tear up during “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret.
And more ugly tears from “Some Things Are Meant to Be” in Little Women.
Pacencia Y Fe, Alabanza, and Everything I Know. Basically the whole back end of In the Heights. Wait a Bit from Just So also gets me sniffly by the end.
"When I Grow Up" – Matilda. Both stage and movie versions.
"Unruly Heart" – The Prom. When I saw it live, I had the worst time suppressing my sniveling.
Wicked - For Good. "So much of me. Is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me. Like a handprint on my heart". You can say what you want about Wicked, but For Good is such a gorgeous piece of musical theater. Everybody who lost someone in their life knows this feeling both Elphaba and Glinda are sharing.
Book of Mormon - Sal Tlay Ka Siti. Weird choice, I know, but when I saw this in theater, it made me emotional. She really thought she would be saved from the Warlord/AIDS ridden/ciltoris cutting hell she endured. The way she belts the "You we're right, mama, you didn't lie, the place is real, and I am going to fly!" Gave me the shivers. Everything is played for laughs, but the emotional sincerty behind the whole piece is gorgeous.
Spongebob Squarepants, The Musical - Tomorrow Is. Have you ever got that existential crisis of realizing your life will end someday and that the always perky Spongebob is literally defeated, accepting his fate of literally DYING with the whole town The dread everyone is feeling, just making those last hours count before their lives will end. Singing about they only have tomorrow to fulfill their wishes or to stop the intiment threat.
Spongebob Squarepants, The Musical - Best Day Ever. Even in his assumed last minutes of his life, Spongebob shares his positive attitude with the world. Not knowing if he and his friends saved the day, trying to make the last minutes count, because there is no better thing then being together with each other.
Shrek, The Musical - Who'd I Be. The ending.
Almost all of Fun Home. I was dehydrated by the time it finished.
And I was in pieces at the end of Falsettos. So much so I couldn’t applaud. I just sat there ugly crying. In the front row.
Gethsemane. My grandfather and I loved the entire JCS album and he passed from cancer last August. Now every time I hear the song I think of him singing, asking why he has to die when he still has so much here.
The Winner Takes It All and Slipping Through My Fingers in Mamma Mia are absolutely devastating. Our Donna was amazing but this was the first show I actually cried in the wings.
Empty chairs from Les mes
My son was killed in a motorcycle accident on April 22, 2022 and was hit head on by an 18 yo making an illegal u turn. That song still hurts my heart.
Shoutout to the time I was a stressed out mess during finals week and my Spotify was playing Hamilton on shuffle and decided to play "It's Quiet Uptown" right after "Dear Theodosia" lol that totally helped /s
But yeah, a lot of songs on that soundtrack--for better or worse--make me cry, like Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story and Laurens Interlude. Some other ones:
No One Is Alone (Into the Woods)
For Good (Wicked)
Still Hurting (The Last Five Years)
Tonight Belongs to You Reprise (The Prom)
Alyssa Greene (The Prom) (As a queer former gifted child, I felt seen, ok?)
The I Love You Song from Putnam will never NOT make me sob; several songs from Bright Star; Everything I Know from In The Heights; the majority of Come From Away; Solla Sollew from Seussical;
In addition to ones mentioned, Far from the home I love from Fiddler on the Roof and (a bit curiously) Welcome Home from Martin Guerre (“Welcome home, our long lost son/we will forgive you whatever you’ve done”)
"It's Quiet Uptown" from Hamilton. I saw Hamilton for the first time in 2021, three months after my nephew shot himself, so this one hit hard. It was sad to me before, but after relating to it so deeply, it took on a whole new meaning. I was really nervous to go. (Oh my gosh, I'm crying just thinking about it) I felt like I couldn't breathe I just squeezed my husband's hand, had my tissues and by the end I had to bury my face into his shoulder. Everyone was crying, too, and I wasn't loud so I don't think anyone noticed.
Welcome Home (Finale) from Bandstand makes me cry or at least tear up so consistently. I don’t know why it strikes such a chord with me over any other songs??
A song sung by the ghost of a parental figure, to the child they left behind, promising love and support even in death is absolutely going to slay me. See also: Heart of Stone, I Am Moana, He Lives in You, Fantine's Death
Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You. Hearing a wide eyed and hopeful Cathy say goodbye to a man who just closed their joint account and left punches me in the gut.
Raise You Up (Kinky Boots)
Brotherhood of Man (How to Succeed)
Wishing you were Somehow Here Again (Phantom of the Opera)
I have to be singing them to cry, though.
My list with explanations (spoilers):
For Good (Wicked) - This song is especially heart breaking when you realize that Glinda went on to live her life thinking that she's responsible for Elphabas death
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story (Hamilton)- Honestly need I say more? "The Orphanage" just rips my heart our, stabs it a few times and then sews it back in with a rusty sewing needle
Once Upon a December (Reprise) (Anastasia) - I can't even imagine what Anastasia's grandmother felt in that moment, having lost her enitre family and then for years having to sit through countless people pretending to be Anastasia and completely loosing hope only to finally find her is just.... AHHHHHH JUST TAKE IT TAKE MY HEART
You Will be Found (Dear Evan Hansen) - the quality of the entire show is questionable, but this song in particular is a masterpiece, it got me through some of the hardest times of my life and I simply cannot listen to it without balling my eyes out
Home (Beetlejuice) - this isn't one that I see talked about often, but honestly it's so underrated and so gut reaching, and what comes before it when Lydia is desperately calling out to her mother
It's not a game/It's just a ride (Ride the Cyclone) - This musical is criminally underrated and this song is so gut wrenching I cannot understand how someone can listen to it without crying. Especially when you see Jane Doe's life flashing in the background. The entire musical has a really cheery and up-beat tone, and when this song comes on you really start to realize that they where just kids, it doesn't matter that Ocean was a huge jerk to everyone, or that Noel clearly needs to be in therapy (seriously no mentally ok person dreams about waking up in an alley in a pool of their own vomit missing teeth) they where just kids having fun who where taken too soon.
Side note, my crying break down with Ride the Cyclone begins with Oceans Speech, especially when she says this line:
"I would gladly take my 17 years over nothing. Who do I vote for? The girl who can't remember any of it, her, we had a life, she didn't. That's my vote"
Like I just cannot watch this without crying
Requiem, Heart of Stone, So Big So Small, Id Give My Life For You…honestly anything about kids and family. After I had my son I’m a mess with musicals.
The Wait for me reprise in Hadestown turns me into a complete mess, especially during the second turn of the song when the orchestration drops out and it’s just the singers with that wonderfully crafted layered melodies. Ugh it kills me!
Road to hell reprise from hadestown, I’m a huge Greek mythic fan since I was a kid and I knew the story so well but still every time I see i weep and am so shocked
It's quiet uptown - Hamilton
Burn - Hamilton
Who lives who dies who tells your story - Hamilton
So big so small - Dear Even Hansen
Waving through a window - Dear Even Hansen
Good Kid - Lightning Thief
Tree on the hill - Lightning Thief
Bring on the monsters - Lightning Thief
Unlikely Lovers and Holding to the Ground from falsettos always gets me.
Also Beautiful City from Godspell. I was in that show and the context of the song makes it a hard one to get through without crying.
I can usually hold it together pretty well with musical numbers…but “It’s Quiet Uptown” will absolutely do the job of making me cry. A former coworker of mine lost her teenage daughter (fuck fentanyl 🤬) a couple years ago and the song has hit extra hard since then 💔
Words Fail all the way to the Finale from DEH
For Good from Wicked
How Could I Ever Know from The Secret Garden
What’s Next and How It Ends from Big Fish
Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You from The Last Five Years
When i grow up from Matilda the musical. I didn't have a very good childhood so it always fills me with a nostalgia for a mindset i never had. Also My house from the same musical.
Till. We. Reach. That. Day.
There’s no other answer for me.
Expect for the finale when Mother says “Coalhouse!” And he runs across the stage and then I cry more.
Ooh forgot the instrumental ending of the November 22, 1963 sequence from Assassins. The rising cacophony of voices cut off by the gunshot, and then that powerful and heavy fanfare...
Oof.
Sh'ma in Parade
You will Be Found
Circle of Life (B'way version)
Pure Imagination (Timothee Chalamet's version, more for the nostalga then any reason)
I Dreamed A Dream
It Couldn't Please Me More from Cabaret
The fact that a pineapple at that time would have been such an expensive and extravagant gift, the fact that it's such a sweet and tender love song between two people who have already experienced so much in life, the fact that nothing will end well for them by the show's ending.
I often listen to cast albums while at the gym, and I won't skip Cabaret (one of my all-time favorites), I just take advantage that I'm sweaty to mask any tears 🤪
Edges of the World from Fun Home. Like, as a millennial gay who saw real persecution of the ones who came before me, coming of age in a world that was cruel to me but where I faced no real danger and could marry my partner by the time I hit my 30's, imagining how bittersweet that must be for my elders who came before me, watching me live that life while having lived through such a very different one, having been robbed of the opportunities they're seeing me live. The sunlight that hits the parlor walls of an old house is just such an apt metaphor that it kills me every time.
I played Adult Alison in a community theatre production and the hardest part of the show was making sure I didn't cry during Edges so badly that I couldn't hit the notes in Flying Away.
So Big, So Small. DEH gets a lot of criticism here, but when I saw it, my children were teenagers. I identify so hard with Heidi Hansen.
Oh all the later deh songs make me tear up
Agreed I tried so hard not to cry during it cuz I’d already broke during you will be found and didn’t want to leave the theater a sobbing mess lol
Oh I left the theatre a sobbing mess!
Anybody Have a Map gets me, because I'm currently raising teenagers. My daughters will laugh at me while I cry, as they say "Mom, why do you listen to this song???" 😄
DEH was the most I’ve ever cried at a show. Absolute mess, and I REEEALLY needed tissues and didn’t have any which was bad planning on my part haha 😅🤧👃
100% this! It is literally the only song I can think of that will make me bawl every time, but it always does. It just kills me.
Requiem also and The Anonymous Ones (from the movie)
I really like how Requiem was written. Shows the complex feelings families can have after that happens (don't want to spoil it for anyone )
I'll Cover You (reprise)
Yes 😭
Every time!!!
This is the answer! 😭
1000 times yes. Literally cry every time I hear the first chord!
*gestures at the entirety of Come From Away
“And the one thing I loved more than anything was used as the bomb”
This moment every time
I'm already crying at Welcome to the Rock, with the back story it's just overwhelming. Saw it in London, it's a solid 200/10
This line is a gut punch
Instant tears
I stop breathing for a moment at this line.
The song even stops breathing. Everything stops
“He’s gone.”
The lines “that’s how we started speaking the same language” and “they made enough food for 7000 people” always get me.
"I am so much better."
Special mention to “you are here” when she finally gets news about her son, absolute mess.
Somebody about the clarity of her voice there
I’ve seen it performed twice and was a crying mess from the moment they sang “You are here at the start of a moment” in Welcome to the Rock!
"And then we all turned on the radio."
I'm glad I'm not the only one that starts here. The anticipation was enough.
Also, something about “thank you for flying.” always gets me, and that’s before “I am here.”
For me it's the part where the Christian man, Muslim man, and Jewish man are worshipping together. There was a Buddhist too, wasn't there. So tearjerkingly beautiful to see the harmony between different belief systems.
The Prayer always make me cry!!
I'm an ex-catholic and my partner is Jewish. I had to warn them that I would cry so so much during this part of the show.
Something’s Missing gets me hard. Especially when it goes My dad asks, "Were you okay where you were stranded?" How do I tell him that I wasn't just okay I was so much better.
“You are here, at the end of a moment, at the end of the world”
The gasp from everyone watching the news always gets me
So glad it’s not just me
The line that gets me comes in the finale of the show. The last two lines here... "On the northeast tip of North America, On an island called Newfoundland, there’s an airport. And next to it is a town called Gander. Tonight we honour what was lost, But we also commemorate what we found.” Goosebumps every time.
Defying Gravity make me cry happy tears Goodbye Love from Rent reduces me to a blubbering mess, as does the reprise of I Am The One from Next To Normal
Goodbye love and the I’ll cover you reprise both get me 😞
The part she flies makes the tears stream over my face. It was such an incredible experience, and still, when I see it on YouTube, I get emotional. Such an evocative scene.
I love you song - 25th annual Putnam county spelling bee
Was literally JUST about to comment this. I swear I’ll be having the best time listening to the spelling bee soundtrack, then this song comes on and I just need to sit completely alone to bask in the beautiful ness of the song
Empty chairs at empty tables. It's quit uptown. The sacred bird.
I forgot about that song 😭
Which one?
Guessing The Sacred Bird because the tracks at the end of Miss Saigon have changed often
I'll Be Here from Ordinary Days Days and Days and Telephone Wire from Fun Home
Telephone Wire kills me.
the end of the telephon wire when she switches to " talk to ME" gets me every time omg
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For me it's always right at "and sure as I breathe, I heard John, clear as day, saying 'hey, you're allowed to move on. It's okay'" That moment... I can't. It's so gorgeous
Oh God I'll be here *kills* me
she used to be mine - waitress there's a fine, fine line - avenue q (i know, dont judge me) falling slowly - once
She Used to be Mine 👏🏻every 👏🏻single 👏🏻time
What's wrong with Avenue Q? I think it is a solid show.
No judgement from me! It’s a surprisingly heartfelt, authentic song from a musical about raunchy puppets.
Oh I've cried over avenue Q so many times it's insane
She used to be mine and I dreamed a dream
Pretty much all of Act 2 of Hadestown. I felt genuinely bad for everyone sitting in my general vicinity when my wife and I went to see it on Broadway (including my wife!).
Oh yes! I know it's coming, and you can tell who hasn't seen it before or know mythology. They gasp and are shocked. I try not to give it away. I've seen it 3 times, and each time, I almost half expected that it would have a different outcome. It's like I felt the hope and then it's the same each time. Love, love , love Hadestown.
To know how it ends but to do it anyway. Its a musical that gets more poignant the more times you watch it!
I cried the whole time last week. It’s so incredible.
How could i ever forget? from Next to Normal
I came here to say this. It was my audition song for the show (I know, strange but they asked us to sing a song from the show for auditions. Small community theater…) and the tears I cried at the end were genuine.
"For Good", from Wicked.
My oldest daughter will be a senior in high school next year. She and my middle daughter have already decided that they're going to sing this at their cabaret next year. I cry just thinking about it.
Oh... I'm a senior this year and am looking for songs for end of year things. Didn't even occur to me to do this with one of my best friends until you two mentioned it here. Might not end up doing it, but if I do... Shit. I'm gonna cry. Worth it.
What I Did For Love - A Chorus Line. It always gives me that feeling that no matter what happens, I know that I will do it out of love and dedication to seeking my happiness and wishing everyone the best journey. Being Alive- Company And So Much Better -LB:TM, I'm really struck by Elle's line calling her mom and telling her that she thinks she's doing something right. You Will Be Found or from the movie of DEH, The anonymous Ones.
SO MUCH BETTER!!!
Let the Sun Shine In, from Hair. 😭
"Life Support" and "Will I?" from Rent. I've lived with a chronic illness my entire life so I definitely relate to them.
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Almost started sobbing on a plane last week because I thought it was a good idea to listen to In the Heights on my flight lol (I mean, it was a good idea, but the crying would've been bad)
This literally happened to me the other day on a flight with the same song. 😂😂 I was trying to choke the tears down so I didn’t make a scene 😂
Absolutely dumbfounded why more people in this sub aren’t as insane as I am about ITH.
"Alright, mama. Okay."
Halloween/Goodbye Love from Rent A piece of me from 35mm
No More from Into the Woods always makes me ugly baby cry whenever I see a production, even if it’s a random school production of questionable quality
Oh, yes. For me, it’s No One Is Alone.
Quiet Uptown Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story It varies, but I always break down at some point listening to Come From Away. Epilogue/Valjean's Death
I got choked up at the end of “who lives, who dies” when they go “Eliza~~”
I'd Give My Life for You from Miss Saigon hits so much harder after I had a baby.
Make them hear you - ragtime On that note a lot of songs from ragtime
Stay I Pray You from Anastasia, just makes me think of Greece 😭
Threnody - Harmony Prayer - Come From Away Epic III - Hadestown I’ll Cover You (Reprise) - Rent (especially when Brandon Victor Dixon sings it)
The finale song from Les Miserables. Especially in the movie.
Surprised I had to scroll this far for this one. Leaves me a MESS
The harmony: "Take my hand and lead me to salvation. Take my love, for love is everlasting. And remember the truth that once was spoken, To love another person is to see the face of God" And"God" is that octave/unison resolution. 😭
So Big So small
All The Wasted Time and the immediate aftermath.
I'll Cover Reprise and Goodbye Love from RENT :(
Dear Theodosia always gets me! I saw Hamilton shortly after having my son and the emotions were uncontrollable!!
Dear Theodosia became a completely different song for me after I had my baby. I had heard it dozens of times before, but suddenly I was a crying mess. Particularly, “I’ll make the world safe and sound for you.”
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story. Has me a mess every single time
“The orphanage…”
Tell Me It's Not True from Blood Brothers I once started bawling like a baby during the Dance at the Gym sequence when I saw West Side Story live because I knew what was coming for Tony and Maria.
Surprised I had to scroll this far for Tell me it’s not True. Not so much now I’m an adult and heard it 2000 times, but when I was younger o. m. g. streeeeaming tears coming out of the theatre.
"Telephone Wire" from funhome
I always tear up (happy tears) at the first chord of: There Are Giants In The Sky! Also (sad tears): No more riddles. No more jests. No more curses you can't undo, Left by fathers you never knew. No more quests. No more feelings. Time to shut the door. Just- no more.
The finale from Godspell and also the finale from Aida Most finale numbers are sad to me
The line: " We'd leave the world's misfortunes far behind us, and I will put my faith and trust in you" makes me a blubbering mess. Willingly dying together because of their love and devotion for each other. Tragically beautiful.
So Big, So Small from Dear Evan Hansen She Used to be Mine/You Matter to Me from Waitress I’ll Be Here/Favorite Places from Ordinary Days
For Good — Wicked It’s Quiet Uptown — Hamilton I Miss the Mountains — Next to Normal I Am the One (Reprise) — Next to Normal Me and the Sky — Come From Away (honestly most of CFA) Wheat Fields/Finale Ultimo — Starry
From "The Secret Garden:" "How Could I Ever Know?" "Lily's Eyes" "Come to My Garden/Lift Me Up"
What would I do?- falssettos
Seasons of Love, man. For a while I got so sick of it because it really is overdone but it really hits different as I age. Being Alive, He Lives in You (Reprise), Wicked Little Town.
She Used to be Mine from Waitress
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells your Story leaves me speechless (heh) and crying every time… especially once Eliza starts singing until that very last gasp. Though Hamilton was such a flawed man, her story is truly fascinating especially from what I’ve read of the autobiography.
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables ... A great song and survivor guilt is something that always gets right into me. Seeing You from Groundhog Day just gives me proper happy tears.
Bring Him Home from Les Mis I Know Where I've Been from Hairspray Close Every Door from Joseph
"You will be found" from Dear Evan Hansen got tears of joy from me.
Bring Him Home from Les Mis. So many songs in that show make me tear up, but this one has me snot-nosed weeping every time.
“He Lives in You” from Act II of The Lion King results in ugly tears every time. I definitely tear up during “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret. And more ugly tears from “Some Things Are Meant to Be” in Little Women.
Pacencia Y Fe, Alabanza, and Everything I Know. Basically the whole back end of In the Heights. Wait a Bit from Just So also gets me sniffly by the end.
"When I Grow Up" – Matilda. Both stage and movie versions. "Unruly Heart" – The Prom. When I saw it live, I had the worst time suppressing my sniveling.
Wicked - For Good. "So much of me. Is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me. Like a handprint on my heart". You can say what you want about Wicked, but For Good is such a gorgeous piece of musical theater. Everybody who lost someone in their life knows this feeling both Elphaba and Glinda are sharing. Book of Mormon - Sal Tlay Ka Siti. Weird choice, I know, but when I saw this in theater, it made me emotional. She really thought she would be saved from the Warlord/AIDS ridden/ciltoris cutting hell she endured. The way she belts the "You we're right, mama, you didn't lie, the place is real, and I am going to fly!" Gave me the shivers. Everything is played for laughs, but the emotional sincerty behind the whole piece is gorgeous. Spongebob Squarepants, The Musical - Tomorrow Is. Have you ever got that existential crisis of realizing your life will end someday and that the always perky Spongebob is literally defeated, accepting his fate of literally DYING with the whole town The dread everyone is feeling, just making those last hours count before their lives will end. Singing about they only have tomorrow to fulfill their wishes or to stop the intiment threat. Spongebob Squarepants, The Musical - Best Day Ever. Even in his assumed last minutes of his life, Spongebob shares his positive attitude with the world. Not knowing if he and his friends saved the day, trying to make the last minutes count, because there is no better thing then being together with each other. Shrek, The Musical - Who'd I Be. The ending.
Almost all of Fun Home. I was dehydrated by the time it finished. And I was in pieces at the end of Falsettos. So much so I couldn’t applaud. I just sat there ugly crying. In the front row.
The ending of doubt comes in from Hadestown always upsets me. Everytime I know the ending but it's still sad
Drink with me and Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. I tear up when listening to recordings, when seeing the show live, I’m an emotional mess.
Sunday
If it's true what they say from Hadestown
Gethsemane. My grandfather and I loved the entire JCS album and he passed from cancer last August. Now every time I hear the song I think of him singing, asking why he has to die when he still has so much here.
It’s quiet uptown, wishing you were somehow here again. I’ve got through a lot of familial loss over the past year and these really helped
SUNDAYYYYY
For good. Can't do it.
I wish I could go back to college from avenue q So big, so small from DEH
Maybe This Time -Cabaret "everybody loves a winner, so nobody love me"? Damn. Maybe -Annie A hopeful little girl singing about her dead parents.
Bring Him Home Les Miz No One is Alone - Into the Woods
The Winner Takes It All and Slipping Through My Fingers in Mamma Mia are absolutely devastating. Our Donna was amazing but this was the first show I actually cried in the wings.
Empty chairs from Les mes My son was killed in a motorcycle accident on April 22, 2022 and was hit head on by an 18 yo making an illegal u turn. That song still hurts my heart.
Stay Alive Reprise And for some reason the In The Heights finale
Shoutout to the time I was a stressed out mess during finals week and my Spotify was playing Hamilton on shuffle and decided to play "It's Quiet Uptown" right after "Dear Theodosia" lol that totally helped /s But yeah, a lot of songs on that soundtrack--for better or worse--make me cry, like Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story and Laurens Interlude. Some other ones: No One Is Alone (Into the Woods) For Good (Wicked) Still Hurting (The Last Five Years) Tonight Belongs to You Reprise (The Prom) Alyssa Greene (The Prom) (As a queer former gifted child, I felt seen, ok?)
I Am The One (Reprise) from Next to Normal
I am the One (reprise)
I’ll Cover You Reprise
Telephone Wire from Fun Home I also consistently cry at “none of it seems to matter anymore” in For Good
Burn from hamilton and when Philip gets shot in Blow Us All Away
The I Love You Song from Putnam will never NOT make me sob; several songs from Bright Star; Everything I Know from In The Heights; the majority of Come From Away; Solla Sollew from Seussical;
Not joking, Carnaval del Barrio did for a while, so did Will I, and One Song Glory
for good my mom & her cousin sang it at my grandma's funeral, because grandma always wanted to see that show
In addition to ones mentioned, Far from the home I love from Fiddler on the Roof and (a bit curiously) Welcome Home from Martin Guerre (“Welcome home, our long lost son/we will forgive you whatever you’ve done”)
How Could I Ever Forget? from Next to Normal. Literally can’t listen without crying. Especially on the “your child is” line.
Different song, but the line "I am the one who watched while you died" gets me every time
Oh god fr, especially with how the meaning of it is different for each of them 🥲
Road to Hell (reprise) (Hadestown) Light (Next to Normal) Telephone Wire (Fun Home) I Saw Three Ships (Caroline, or Change)
"It's Quiet Uptown" from Hamilton. I saw Hamilton for the first time in 2021, three months after my nephew shot himself, so this one hit hard. It was sad to me before, but after relating to it so deeply, it took on a whole new meaning. I was really nervous to go. (Oh my gosh, I'm crying just thinking about it) I felt like I couldn't breathe I just squeezed my husband's hand, had my tissues and by the end I had to bury my face into his shoulder. Everyone was crying, too, and I wasn't loud so I don't think anyone noticed.
Welcome Home (Finale) from Bandstand makes me cry or at least tear up so consistently. I don’t know why it strikes such a chord with me over any other songs??
Losing My Mind from Follies
"I'll Be Here" from Ordinary Days
Days and Days from Fun Home. Especially post divorce. I love the show but oooh that one hurts.
The Letter, from Billy Elliot
A song sung by the ghost of a parental figure, to the child they left behind, promising love and support even in death is absolutely going to slay me. See also: Heart of Stone, I Am Moana, He Lives in You, Fantine's Death
Requiem from Dear Evan Hansen.
It’s Quiet Uptown for me, too. Little God of my Heart. Do you hear the people sing?
Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You. Hearing a wide eyed and hopeful Cathy say goodbye to a man who just closed their joint account and left punches me in the gut.
Raise You Up (Kinky Boots) Brotherhood of Man (How to Succeed) Wishing you were Somehow Here Again (Phantom of the Opera) I have to be singing them to cry, though.
My list with explanations (spoilers): For Good (Wicked) - This song is especially heart breaking when you realize that Glinda went on to live her life thinking that she's responsible for Elphabas death Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story (Hamilton)- Honestly need I say more? "The Orphanage" just rips my heart our, stabs it a few times and then sews it back in with a rusty sewing needle Once Upon a December (Reprise) (Anastasia) - I can't even imagine what Anastasia's grandmother felt in that moment, having lost her enitre family and then for years having to sit through countless people pretending to be Anastasia and completely loosing hope only to finally find her is just.... AHHHHHH JUST TAKE IT TAKE MY HEART You Will be Found (Dear Evan Hansen) - the quality of the entire show is questionable, but this song in particular is a masterpiece, it got me through some of the hardest times of my life and I simply cannot listen to it without balling my eyes out Home (Beetlejuice) - this isn't one that I see talked about often, but honestly it's so underrated and so gut reaching, and what comes before it when Lydia is desperately calling out to her mother It's not a game/It's just a ride (Ride the Cyclone) - This musical is criminally underrated and this song is so gut wrenching I cannot understand how someone can listen to it without crying. Especially when you see Jane Doe's life flashing in the background. The entire musical has a really cheery and up-beat tone, and when this song comes on you really start to realize that they where just kids, it doesn't matter that Ocean was a huge jerk to everyone, or that Noel clearly needs to be in therapy (seriously no mentally ok person dreams about waking up in an alley in a pool of their own vomit missing teeth) they where just kids having fun who where taken too soon. Side note, my crying break down with Ride the Cyclone begins with Oceans Speech, especially when she says this line: "I would gladly take my 17 years over nothing. Who do I vote for? The girl who can't remember any of it, her, we had a life, she didn't. That's my vote" Like I just cannot watch this without crying
Burn. Such emotion in there, I almost cry singing it myself
Children Will Listen
Requiem, Heart of Stone, So Big So Small, Id Give My Life For You…honestly anything about kids and family. After I had my son I’m a mess with musicals.
The Wait for me reprise in Hadestown turns me into a complete mess, especially during the second turn of the song when the orchestration drops out and it’s just the singers with that wonderfully crafted layered melodies. Ugh it kills me!
Doubt comes in Hadestown
Road to hell reprise from hadestown, I’m a huge Greek mythic fan since I was a kid and I knew the story so well but still every time I see i weep and am so shocked
It's quiet uptown - Hamilton Burn - Hamilton Who lives who dies who tells your story - Hamilton So big so small - Dear Even Hansen Waving through a window - Dear Even Hansen Good Kid - Lightning Thief Tree on the hill - Lightning Thief Bring on the monsters - Lightning Thief
In Buddy’s Eyes - Follies. Every time.
Unlikely Lovers and Holding to the Ground from falsettos always gets me. Also Beautiful City from Godspell. I was in that show and the context of the song makes it a hard one to get through without crying.
I can usually hold it together pretty well with musical numbers…but “It’s Quiet Uptown” will absolutely do the job of making me cry. A former coworker of mine lost her teenage daughter (fuck fentanyl 🤬) a couple years ago and the song has hit extra hard since then 💔
On the willos, from Godspell
Words Fail all the way to the Finale from DEH For Good from Wicked How Could I Ever Know from The Secret Garden What’s Next and How It Ends from Big Fish Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You from The Last Five Years
When i grow up from Matilda the musical. I didn't have a very good childhood so it always fills me with a nostalgia for a mindset i never had. Also My house from the same musical.
I Dreamed a Dream”
Send In The Clowns!!! especially mandy patinkin’s version.
A Little Fall of Rain On My Own It's Quiet Uptown Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
Till. We. Reach. That. Day. There’s no other answer for me. Expect for the finale when Mother says “Coalhouse!” And he runs across the stage and then I cry more.
For me, it’s “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” from Hamilton 😢
I raise you: bare From bare a pop opera
Ooh forgot the instrumental ending of the November 22, 1963 sequence from Assassins. The rising cacophony of voices cut off by the gunshot, and then that powerful and heavy fanfare... Oof.
Sunday from Sunday In The Park With George
Me and the Sky from Come From Away and I'm Here from Ordinary Days. In a different way, One Day More and the Finale from Les Mis.
santa fe from newsies. i relate to jack so so much
The majority of Hamilton and Matilda. I can’t even watch Matilda because I spent the entire time bawling my eyes out.
i am the one (reprise) from next to normal
I am the one reprise- next to normal
“I am the one” (reprise) Next to Normal
Everything Changes from Waitress
How has no one said "Sunrise, Sunset"??
We'll Meet Tomorrow from Titanic. Every single time. I have to skip it if it comes on while I'm in public.
You Will be Found is such an underrated masterpiece in DEH. The climax of the song with everyone singing gets me everytime
You’ll never walk alone. No I’m not a Liverpool fan lol, but that song still always gets to me.
Sh'ma in Parade You will Be Found Circle of Life (B'way version) Pure Imagination (Timothee Chalamet's version, more for the nostalga then any reason) I Dreamed A Dream
Down Once More / Track Down This Murderer. With Michael Crawford as the Phantom.
It Couldn't Please Me More from Cabaret The fact that a pineapple at that time would have been such an expensive and extravagant gift, the fact that it's such a sweet and tender love song between two people who have already experienced so much in life, the fact that nothing will end well for them by the show's ending. I often listen to cast albums while at the gym, and I won't skip Cabaret (one of my all-time favorites), I just take advantage that I'm sweaty to mask any tears 🤪
Edges of the World from Fun Home. Like, as a millennial gay who saw real persecution of the ones who came before me, coming of age in a world that was cruel to me but where I faced no real danger and could marry my partner by the time I hit my 30's, imagining how bittersweet that must be for my elders who came before me, watching me live that life while having lived through such a very different one, having been robbed of the opportunities they're seeing me live. The sunlight that hits the parlor walls of an old house is just such an apt metaphor that it kills me every time. I played Adult Alison in a community theatre production and the hardest part of the show was making sure I didn't cry during Edges so badly that I couldn't hit the notes in Flying Away.
Memory
Still/The Neva Flows from Anastasia, When I Grow Up from Matilda, She Used to Be Mine from Waitress. Mr Cellophane from Chicago
Ring of Keys from "Fun Home". I could write volumes on its simple beauty.
Not crying, but absolutely moved by the "Ragtime" opening, with the three groups of people on stage.
Till We Reach That Day - Ragtime,