- “I Want” Songs
A story is propelled forward by a lot of things, with one of the most common being a tension between what the main character “wants” and “needs.” This is also a chance for a character to bear their feelings or psyche to the audience so we can get to know them better.
Sometimes that means down-on-his-luck Jack Kelly in Newsies telling us “I got nothing if I ain’t got Santa Fe” and his dream for a brighter future.
Sometimes that means Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady telling us, “All I want is a room somewhere / Far away from the cold night air” and someone “’o takes good cares ‘o me,” thinking “Wouldn’t it Be Loverly?”
At their best, these are showcase songs that are strong enough to win Tonys and Oscars – think Fantine’s legendary “I Dreamed a Dream” in Les Misérables.
These are especially common in Disney musicals. Think Ariel singing how she wants to be human and “Part of That World” in The Little Mermaid, or Quasimodo wishing he could leave Notre Dame and go “Out There” among people in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Sometimes the “I Want” song is merged with the intro to help the main character to stand out, like Belle breaking with the busy people saying “Bonjour” to tell us how she wants “adventure in the big wide somewhere” in Beauty in the Beast.
- Love Songs
A love song’s about as simple as it gets subject-wise, which is why a good musical will typically put a twist on how they tell us the characters are in love.
Consider how West Side Story reveals its two characters are in love. Tony sings directly to the audience about his love of “Maria” in a traditional ballad. By contrast, Maria sings “I Feel Pretty” – a Latin-infused song that injects variety into the score that reflects her Puerto Rican roots and is infused with dramatic irony since the audience knows why she “feels pretty” but not her family.
Contrast both of those with the high melodrama of youth “All I Ask of You” from The Phantom of the Opera and then contrast that with the bittersweet ballad of an older married couple in “Do You Love Me?” from Fiddler on the Roof.
- Act II Openers
You’ve gone to concessions and the bathroom, milled around the foyer for a while, plopped back down in your seat – and you’re hit with a big song to restart the show’s energy via the Act II Opener.
Hamilton kicks off Act II with a good old-fashioned rap battle in “Cabinet Battle #1 and #2.”
Oftentimes, these aren’t amazingly deep or plot-driven songs on their own but build up to songs that are. “At the Barricade” begins Act II of Les Misérables and is little more than a repeat of the musical themes and plot beats of “Red and Black” as we rejoin the Marius Students of the ABC. However, that flows right into Eponine’s legendary “On My Own” as she laments how Marius will never reciprocate her love, and with “At the Barricade,” we see one reason why (the other being Cosette, of course).
Other times, the Act II opener gives a chance to touch on themes from the Act I Opener. In “Hello” at the start of The Book of Mormon, we’re told Elder Cunningham is “Making Things up Again” – the very title of the opener for Act II.
- Comedic Songs
“Keep it Gay,” says Roger Elizabeth De Bris and Crew from The Producers, explaining, “People want laughter when they see a show / The last thing they’re after’s a litany of woe!” The song obviously has a double meaning, but there’s no shortage of comedic numbers in modern musicals.
Then again, sometimes what’s funny isn’t bright and cheerful but dark and cynical, such as the cannibalistic attack on hypocrisy and greed with “A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd.
This can be a great chance to satirize something. The iconic “Springtime for Hitler” number from The Producers is still one of the most memorable takedowns of the Third Reich’s absurdity and evil – and penned by a Jewish writer in Mel Brooks no less.
Avenue Q targets one subject after another with its comedies, from race relations in “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” to all the horrible-yet-hilarious ways we engage in “Schadenfreude” to LGBT closeting with Roddy telling Nicky all about “My Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada.”
- 11 O’clock Numbers
Broadway used to start around 8:45 pm, meaning they’d start to wrap up with a big emotional song around 11 o’clock. CATS has one of the most memorable of these with the soaringly bittersweet and utterly iconic “Memory.”
However, that musical’s (in)famously more of a revue than a plot-driven story, and 11 o’clock numbers typically feature characters at their lowest, most emotionally heart-wrenching low point before the big triumphant or tragic final songs to follow. Thus, for example, Les Misérables features Marius’ lamenting the loss of his friends at the barricade in their failed revolution in “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” before Valjean’s death in the “Epilogue” and more the life-affirming reprise of “Do You Hear the People Sing?”