I'm doing a piece on the portrayal of romance in musical theater and would love to hear some opinions on what the best musical theater songs about unrequited love are.
I did a similar project a couple of years ago. I made an 8tracks playlist to accommodate it. It's more of a lovelorn compilation, but lovelorn and unrequited love often can be the same thing.
The first song is "The History of Wrong Guys", but after that, it's all sad and ballad-y songs. I felt I needed to include it but it didn't fit the other songs cohesively so I just put it at the beginning to get it over with.
They/them.
"Get up the nerve to be all you deserve to be."
"But Not for Me" GIRL CRAZY "I Get a Kick Out of You" ANYTHING GOES "Love, Look Away" FLOWER DRUM SONG "And I Am Telling You (I'm not going)" DREAM GIRLS "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" COMPANY "Losing My Mind" FOLLIES "Where Do I Go From Here?" FIORELLO (cut) "I Resolve" SHE LOVES ME "What Do You Get When You Fall in Love?" PROMISES, PROMISES "Knowing When to Leave" PROMISES, PROMISES "I Am Not That Girl" WICKED "You Can Always Count on Me" CITY OF ANGELS "With Every Breath I Take" CITY OF ANGELS "Not a Day Goes By" MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
"Serenity" from TRIUMPH OF LOVE is not about unrequited love; the love, of course, happens to be unrequited, but Hesione doesn't know that. In fact, she believes quite the opposite. The song is about a bittersweet erotic reawakening after years of serene and scholarly seclusion from worldly pleasures.
Yes to On My Own, Unusual Way, and Love Look Away. I'd add "Every Day a Little Death" from A Little Night Music to the list of the best songs.
It's not exactly an unrequited love song but I like "Easy To Be Hard" from Hair. "Pretty Funny" from Dogfight and "You Should Be Loved" from Side Show don't quite fit either but they're good songs.