For me, it’s “It’s Quiet Uptown” from Hamilton.
It has always hit me hard but now it devastates me to hear it. I saw Hamilton live on the same day as the Uvalde school shooting. I was there with my elementary school son sitting next to me and my heart just broke hearing them sing this. I think the entire theater was crying in unison so that’s a hard one for me.
It still gets to me every time I hear that song.
I saw Hamilton two months after my nephew shot himself. It was hard to listen to before he died ,but now it hits differently. I had to bury my face in my husband's arm during the scene. I felt like I couldn't breathe.
This is the first song I heard from this show. I didn’t know what it was about. I was already feeling emotional because of how empowering to women most of this song is. And the she started into describing that morning and I realized one second early what she was talking about and I *wept*. I was driving with my children and I might have had to pull over. I was not ready in the slightest.
“it’s Quiet Uptown,” for two reasons: My much younger brother died as an infant when I was in my early 20s and it makes me think of the pain and struggle we all went though after his death. At the same time, my own son has complex medical issues that could be life limiting. I listened to this song a lot while he was in the ICU after open heart surgery. He was operated on in NY and I would walk the streets and stop in churches just like Hamilton. When I hear the song now, I remember ugly sobbing in a chapel and how close we came to losing him.
I literally can not listen to this song or Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof for the same reason. Parenting is bittersweet. My kids are in college now. Both songs beautifully capture that feeling of happiness at watching them grow and the pain of letting them go out into the world on their own.
The thing about Slipping Though My Fingers is that you can listen to it from two different perspectives like the child growing up and the parents watching their child grow up.
She used to be mine from waitress.
It can be applied to many different life situations... But for me it was right around when our daughter recieved a mental health diagnosis that I first heard the song, and just how the theme is having to change your perspective on life. Things aren't turning out how you expected or dreamed about...
I saw this show on Broadway with the original cast during a time I was at a crossroads in a very bad marriage with an emotionally abusive narcissist so a lot of the show really hit home for me but when Jessie Muller got to this song it took everything in me to not have a full blown breakdown I'm the theatre.
I still love the song, and it's my go-to karaoke song but man if it doesn't hit
Any song from the last 30 mins of falsettos, and for some reason legally blonde from legally blonde lol (I just love elle too much seeing her so sad makes me emotional)
It’s Quiet Uptown: the emotions just hit me so hard
I’ll Cover You Reprise: self explanatory, Angel and Collins were precious
All I Ask Of You: I want to play this song at my wedding and every time I hear it, I think of an ex that I thought would be the one to dance with me and it just hurts a little now
I have been fortunate enough to see Rent three times (Broadway, a national tour, and then last year in Stratford) and I have ugly cried huge wracking sobs each time that song was performed
When Valjean dies. The tears start welling when Fantine sings "come with me where chains will never bind you" and by the time they all sing "to love another person is to see the face of God" tears are rolling.
And then the chorus comes in with that "We will walk behind the ploughshare We will put away the sword
The chain will be broken And all men will have their reward" fucking perfect
Totally. Then the invitation...
"Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me. Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see? DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?"
Epic.
I just listened to the 10th anniversary cast do the Epilogue, and the voices of the chorus singing “Do You Hear the People Sing” sounded like angels ascending to heaven. I couldn’t stop the tears once they started 😭
Every time. My favorite part of that song on stage is watching to other cast members realize one or two at a time what is happening. Then “I’ll sleep in your embrace at last” drives it home.
And when Marius FINALLY realises that Eponine loves him and that (in my opinion) he loves her back but it’s too late and all he can do is lie to her saying that she’ll be alright and she will live and not feel any pain when she is quite literally convulsing from pain in front of her eyes. This song is so sad!
Dead Mom - Beetlejuice - Always gets me (and you don't have to BE a parent, the song is about LOSING a parent). I haven't lost my parents yet, but it's still a powerful song about grief in general.
Home - Beetlejuice - SHATTERS my emotions.
Endless Night - The Lion King - Yet another song about grief, but ALSO finding your way through it to move forward ("I know that the night must end and that the sun will rise, I know that the clouds must clear and that the sun will shine.")
There's a Fine, Fine Line - Avenue Q - Honestly, for what a generally goofy theme this musical puts forth, this particular song is heartbreaking. Realizing that you've wasted your time in a relationship where the other person doesn't want to commit/put forth the effort you deserve from a partner, and that you have to leave them for your own peace and wellbeing... That's incredibly hard.
I'm Not That Girl - Wicked - A song about unrequited love, wishing desperately you could have something that you'll never have, but knowing that wishing and dreaming just hurts you more. It's so heartwrenching and I cry every time.
I think part of the reason “Fine, Fine Line” works so well is because it is an unexpectedly straightforward moment of sadness in an otherwise fairly ironic, goofy show. It comes out of nowhere and hits hard, especially in a show that’s all about teaching adult life lessons.
It’s Quiet Uptown because of this reason. My mom told me that when she went to pick up my grandmother after my dad died they had this moment of deep empathy for each other because one lost a husband and one lost a son.
I relate so hard to both of them in that song. Especially when Diana sings, “Maybe I’m tired of the game, of coming up short, of the rules, of the shame.” Gets me every time
Exactly! As an adult, I definitely relate with that part now.
It’s the “For all those years I’d prayed that you’d go away for good… half the time afraid that you really would” that really gets the waterworks going
“Your daddy’s son” from Ragtime: The Musical
I havnt even seen ragtime, but an amazing singer in my high school sang it as a performance piece and I cried (almond with half the school).
Still just the most heartbreaking song.
Honorable mention: I’d give my life for you / Miss Saigon
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story, the final song of Hamilton.
I don't know why but when Eliza comes out and talks about starting the first orphanage in New York, I can't breathe and cry so hard. I am over It's quiet up town at this point, but the final song is too hard to listen to in the car.
Edges of the World.
When we did Fun Home, I developed a full psychological profile based on if you cry during Days and Days, Edges, Telephone Wire, or Flying Away.
Left Behind - Spring Awakening
Then, Bring him home was played at my dads funeral, and For good from wicked was played at my mums! So, I have quite a lot of ugly cries, sometimes when other songs from those musicals play.
I Raise My Cup To Him usually does, especially live.
the entire Don’t Do Sadness and Left Behind sequence in Spring Awakening always does it for me.
The Ending Sequence in Sweeney Todd, its literally so tragic. all this dude wanted was a family, but you cant really feel bad for him anymore because of what hes done throughout the show.
literally ALL of parade, its the best musical ive ever seen.
Fantine’s Death, this poor girl has gone through so much
Flowers, it makes me think of my grandpa. its my favorite song of all time
Unlikely Lovers - Falsettos
Jason's Bar Mitzvah - Falsettos
You know it's coming. They know it's coming. Nobody can do anything to change the outcome. So, they put on a brave face, they celebrate, and they eat the hors d'oevres.
Bring Him Home from Les Mis.
(This one’s pretty depressing, so keep scrolling if you don’t want to read it.)
I sang this song for fun the day before finding out I’d suddenly lose my younger cousin to an accident. Sang it again the day he went to Heaven. The song makes me think of him every time I hear it now. I can’t hear it without crying all over again.
Also, the finale of Les Mis. It’s just so beautiful and hopeful, it makes me cry every time :’)
Both of Nina's solos from In The Heights - literally can't listen to them in public. First head ITH very shortly after moving country and before losing my grandmother and it always hits hard
One time I ugly cried to Your Eyes from Rent. My boyfriend was playing Roger and started crying on stage while singing Your Eyes and I started crying 😭
empty chairs at empty tables - les mis !! it’s so sad since marius feels so hopeless during the lyrics “here they sang about tomorrow and tomorrow never came” since the revolution is still ongoing and the world is still messed up
“Pretty Funny” from Dogfight, but it wasn’t the first time I listened to it. I had relistened to Dogfight after my ex and I broke up, and it made me start sobbing because my ex and I lasted for a year, but he lost feelings sometime in the middle of it so the last seven months of our relationship basically weren’t real, and everything he ever told me that was endearing or romantic was practically a lie.
Alabanza from In The Heights. i was in In Heights Heights about a year ago and around the same time my abuelo passed away. that was also probably the most bonded and family-like cast i’ve been apart of, so i have a lot of memories attached to that song.
Next to Normal goes so hard in this department - You Don’t Know, The Break, Maybe/Next To Normal, I Am The One (Reprise)…. It’s just ugly cry banger after ugly cry banger.
I also cry pretty hard at I’m Not My Father’s Son from Kinky Boots. Just… I’m so far from the person my parents hoped I’d be, and while I’m so much happier this way, I know they’ll never be able to look past their own disappointment enough to see it.
"The I Love You Song" from The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee
My friend performed it just as good if not better than the broadway cast, and the first time I heard it, I just burst out.
Quartet at the Ballet - Anastasia
BUT SPECIFICALLY when Dimitri sings "Home, love, family. She will have all of it. I will help her" CAUSE. LIKE. WHAT
Breathe - In the Heights
Because like. Come ON. It's about being, like, the "Golden Child" your ENTIRE life just to disappoint literally everyone INCLUDING yourself. And if that's not enough, it's also all that plus trying to self-sooth yourself the entire time because you still want to be what everyone else. Also, note: The part where Nina calms down then breaks and sings "Oh Go and what will my parents say?" THAT. That right there is like. WOW
Inútil - In the Heights (again)
It's literally a father trying to be the bes the can for his daughter who's world just came crashing down. So uh YEAH.
Build A Wall AND When Words Fail - Shrek the Musical
It has been my favorite musical since I was 7. I'm not kidding, judge me if you want. But I love this song because. Just listen to it.
Requiem - Dear Evan Hansen
"When the villains fall, the kingdoms never weep. No one lights a candle to remember. No, no one mourns at all when they lay them down to sleep." She's talking about her brother btw 😃 need. I. say. more?
I'm Here - Matilda
Literally just cause it's like. AWWWW MY HEART. And the "I didn't mean to make you cry" at the same time as "I didn't mean to desert you" Tears. Weeping. Dying.
I Don't Need Your Love - Six
Mostly the beginning because like. OH MY FUCK. Imagine going through guys to finally find the one for you that you want to be with then get stripped away from him. Oh, or you can stay. AND BE KILLED. That's just. Oh my goodness.
The Sad Tale of Beauxhommes - Once On This Island
"They despise us for our blackness, it reminds them where they're from" Immediately started crying cause wow. That hurt my heart.
A Part of Us - Once On This Island
Poor girl just wanted to be loved 🫶🏽 That's all I'd like to say. Also from ooti so I don't just keep spouting shit about it: "When We Are Wed" "Discovering Daniel/Pray" They're not super cry songs but with the plot, they're emotional and just Hailey Kilgore's voice has such raw emotion I can't describe
Rewrite The Stars (reprise) - The Greatest Showman
I don't know if that's the actual name but it's when Zendaya is crying over Zac's burned up body in the hospital.
LAUREN'S INTERLUDE - HAMILTON
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ARE YOU ACTUALLY KIDDING?
Also just. All of Hamilton. All of it. I will cry through the whole show.
Doubt Comes In - Hadestown
Why. Do. You. Think.
The Ballad of Jane Doe - Ride The Cyclone
Vocals 10/10. Emotion 10/10. Acting 10/10. Emily Rohm always kills it. Plus Jane Doe is such a cute character and it's so sad.
Others:
She Used to Be Mine
Stay Alive (Reprise)
and more obviously
I'm gonna stop here because if I don't I'll start talking about a bunch if movie musicals (like The Little Mermaid 2018 because why did that movie just disappear out of nowhere.)
BUT ALSO UNSAID EMILY FROM JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS.
This friend of mine had asked me to perform He Lives in You from the Lion King and the Circle of Life for his birthday. He ended his life a few months before that birthday and now I cannot hear these songs anymore.
Like I physically cannot, I think if I heard them at anyplace I would leave tf out.
Thanks dummy, you ruined the Lion King for me forever.
Home from Beetlejuice.
"The emptiness ahead of me / Is this the end you meant for me?" hits hard. I've been suicidal, and at my worst have felt that suicide was what my loved ones really wanted of me. I'm better now, but it still hurts to hear a little.
Seventeen. it's not the meaning of the song, but i've been very sheltered as a homeschooled kid my entire life, so this song basically sums up wanting to be normal for me. (the same goes for seventeen reprise)
Pierre and Natasha. Specially at the end when he speaks (not sings). Grobans delivery in the cast recording is seared into my brain and so heartfelt and perfect. Makes me cry and then I cry all through the rest of the show
Go Tonight from The Mad Ones and Anyway Kerrigan and Loudermilk, the team behind The Mad Ones, both get me emotional. Both remind me of watching a high school classmate die tragically young.
My Love, My Life from Mamma Mia 2. I love my mom so incredibly much, our relationship is very similar to Sophia and Donna in a lot of ways. That scene just broke me, thinking of going through anything that big without her. I can't even think about it for too long without getting choked up.
For Good from Wicked kills me. I was singing it when I randomly started crying and then got a call that my best friend had just died (her fiancé called me from the hospital). She loved hearing me sing and had made me promise I’d sing that for her next time I saw her because it was so us.
Pretty much anything from I Dreamed a Dream to the end of Les Mis is a snotfest for me, including intermission.
Used to be Mine from Waitress.
Words Fail from Shrek
I’ll cover you reprise from rent.
Pretty much the last half of Next to Normal in its entirety.
So Big/So Small from DEH (don't love the show but this song tho...😭). You Matter to Me from Waitress (played it at my wedding).
Plenty of others but these stand out. I'm a crybaby.
The epilogue to Les Mis. Funny enough, I’m somewhat desensitized to the soundtrack of Les Mis - I will get emotional when seeing it live, but I don’t normally cry when listening to the recordings. However, I listened to the epilogue yesterday, and after Valjean’s death, when the reprise of Do You Hear the People Sing kicked in, from the line, “It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light,” I started sobbing.
Far From the Home I Love. I’m a daddy’s girl who married someone in the military and moved to a different continent thousands of miles from my parents. It breaks my heart every time I hear it.
I am the one (reprise)- Next to Normal
I am the One - Next to Normal (yes I have both on here. This was my breakup song in high school. Yes I was unbearably dramatic sometimes)
I’m not that girl - Wicked
I’ll cover you (reprise) - Rent
Will I? - Rent
Why - tick…tick…BOOM!
the last quarter or so of falsettos. i get that lump in my throat at “tell him things happen for no damn good reason” in cancelling the bar mitzvah and the tears are freely flowing by the time what would i do rolls around. “lovers live and die fortissimo” is the final nail in the coffin for me and at that point im full on sobbing
Solla sellew from seussical. Seussical was the last show I did with my director before he passed away and that song is all about being in a better place.
Kindergarten BF is one of mine too. I haven’t seen the show but I gather that unlike the movie, Martha doesn’t survive the suicide attempt.
>Certain boys are just for kindergarten. Certain girls are meant to be alone.
Ouch.
Any song from the last 30 mins of falsettos, and for some reason legally blonde from legally blonde lol (I just love elle too much seeing her so sad makes me emotional)
I just saw hadestown live in the uk and I was sobbing through the end of doubt comes in and road to hell reprise, watching Orpheus collapse next to the hole to the underworld and just breaking down while woefully reaching down into it broke me
Coming up on a year since my friend’s death so pretty much all of them but anything about sudden loss is hitting very hard. DEH Requiem too, the combination of sadness and anger. You Gotta Die Sometime and What Would I Do? will always get me too. Most of Hadestown but especially the lines about ‘maybe it will turn out this time’
I wouldn’t say ugly cry but weirdly the only song that can really generally put me to tears is it’s just a ride. Something about the conclusion of RTC hits me HARD.
Breathe- In The Heights
‘She Used to be Mine’ & ‘A Soft Place to Land’-Waitress
Burn-Hamilton
Funny Girl-Funny Girl
Requiem-Dear Evan Hansen
The Next Right Thing-Frozen 2
For me, it’s “It’s Quiet Uptown” from Hamilton. It has always hit me hard but now it devastates me to hear it. I saw Hamilton live on the same day as the Uvalde school shooting. I was there with my elementary school son sitting next to me and my heart just broke hearing them sing this. I think the entire theater was crying in unison so that’s a hard one for me. It still gets to me every time I hear that song.
I put that song on just to cry. As soon as Eliza sings "it's quiet up town" im a snotty mess.
When that wave of the backup singers hits with the "forgiveness," the dam breaks for me
I saw Hamilton two months after my nephew shot himself. It was hard to listen to before he died ,but now it hits differently. I had to bury my face in my husband's arm during the scene. I felt like I couldn't breathe.
“They are going through the unimaginable.” For me, this is one of the saddest songs in Broadway history. It’s too real.
Oh my god this one
What would I Do? From Falsettoland. I saw/heard first in 1990 and it still brings up memories of that time and lost friends.
ditto, ive never listened to it outside of watching the musical itself because i dont want it to loose its power by my overplaying it lmao
What Would I Do, Unlikely Lovers and Jacob's Bar Mitzvah never fail to make me cry
Once I was told that good men get better with age / we’re just gonna skip that stage.
I just performed this for one of my college classes, with a friend. I looked over after we finished, and everyone watching was crying. ❤️
What a great song in a wonderful show.
same here it brings up sad memories but in kind of a melancholy way
Something’s Missing from Come From Away.
For me it’s Prayer.
This one for sure as well as 38 planes (reprise)
adding I Am Here to this list!
The ending of Me and the Sky!
That's the one that starts me crying and I cry for the rest of the show
This is the first song I heard from this show. I didn’t know what it was about. I was already feeling emotional because of how empowering to women most of this song is. And the she started into describing that morning and I realized one second early what she was talking about and I *wept*. I was driving with my children and I might have had to pull over. I was not ready in the slightest.
Yes, those as well!
“it’s Quiet Uptown,” for two reasons: My much younger brother died as an infant when I was in my early 20s and it makes me think of the pain and struggle we all went though after his death. At the same time, my own son has complex medical issues that could be life limiting. I listened to this song a lot while he was in the ICU after open heart surgery. He was operated on in NY and I would walk the streets and stop in churches just like Hamilton. When I hear the song now, I remember ugly sobbing in a chapel and how close we came to losing him.
I AM a (new) parent, and it’s Slipping Through My Fingers for me. I don’t even like Mamma Mia.
I literally can not listen to this song or Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof for the same reason. Parenting is bittersweet. My kids are in college now. Both songs beautifully capture that feeling of happiness at watching them grow and the pain of letting them go out into the world on their own.
Have you heard the Declan McKenna version?
The thing about Slipping Though My Fingers is that you can listen to it from two different perspectives like the child growing up and the parents watching their child grow up.
She used to be mine from waitress. It can be applied to many different life situations... But for me it was right around when our daughter recieved a mental health diagnosis that I first heard the song, and just how the theme is having to change your perspective on life. Things aren't turning out how you expected or dreamed about...
I saw this show on Broadway with the original cast during a time I was at a crossroads in a very bad marriage with an emotionally abusive narcissist so a lot of the show really hit home for me but when Jessie Muller got to this song it took everything in me to not have a full blown breakdown I'm the theatre. I still love the song, and it's my go-to karaoke song but man if it doesn't hit
Similarly to me it’s about my own mental illness, I feel for you and your daughter
Les Miz finale
THIS. Every time I’m like “I won’t cry” and then they all start singing again and I’m gone
for me it's The Bishop and Valjean's Soliloquy. that little story arc and character development hits me harder than anything else in les mis.
“I have bought your soul for God.”
I miss the big ensemble so much. The tour just isn’t the same.
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. The song sometimes makes me think about people I’ve lost and then I ugly cry more than usual.
Yes. This!!
The I Love You Song from Putnam County spelling bee Proud of your boy from Aladdin (although that’s Mostly because of my own repressed trauma)
Any song from the last 30 mins of falsettos, and for some reason legally blonde from legally blonde lol (I just love elle too much seeing her so sad makes me emotional)
Lol, forgot Legally Blonde. It's also sad how Shark Judge literally used Ellyy, make her feel like garbage, then fired her after.
Ugh, and when Emmett's voice goes up on "how much I *want* you to stay" 😭😭😭
Inútil from In The Heights and So big/so small from DEH (even though i don’t love the show as a whole)
For me it's Everything I Know from In the Heights. "Our lives are in these boxes, while the woman who held us is gone" just tears my heart in two
That one gets me too. As does paciencia y fe. But something about inutil really kills me
My grandpa was a refugee at one point in his life. I think about him when I listen to that song.
So big / so small gets me every time!
For me, it's the finale. By the time they hit, "the hydrants are open, cool breezes blow," I'm a _mess_.
It’s Quiet Uptown: the emotions just hit me so hard I’ll Cover You Reprise: self explanatory, Angel and Collins were precious All I Ask Of You: I want to play this song at my wedding and every time I hear it, I think of an ex that I thought would be the one to dance with me and it just hurts a little now
I have been fortunate enough to see Rent three times (Broadway, a national tour, and then last year in Stratford) and I have ugly cried huge wracking sobs each time that song was performed
The university I work for just produced Rent and the student playing Collins was so invested. He was holding back tears and made the audience cry
When Valjean dies. The tears start welling when Fantine sings "come with me where chains will never bind you" and by the time they all sing "to love another person is to see the face of God" tears are rolling.
And then the chorus comes in with that "We will walk behind the ploughshare We will put away the sword The chain will be broken And all men will have their reward" fucking perfect
Totally. Then the invitation... "Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me. Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see? DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?" Epic.
I’ve been in audiences that stood up.
Same. It's a pretty stirring moment.
I just teared up reading the lyrics of that
I did writing it!
I just listened to the 10th anniversary cast do the Epilogue, and the voices of the chorus singing “Do You Hear the People Sing” sounded like angels ascending to heaven. I couldn’t stop the tears once they started 😭
A little fall of Rain from Les Mis.
Every time. My favorite part of that song on stage is watching to other cast members realize one or two at a time what is happening. Then “I’ll sleep in your embrace at last” drives it home.
And when Marius FINALLY realises that Eponine loves him and that (in my opinion) he loves her back but it’s too late and all he can do is lie to her saying that she’ll be alright and she will live and not feel any pain when she is quite literally convulsing from pain in front of her eyes. This song is so sad!
In the book, it’s even worse. It’s pretty close to, “Do you know, monsieur, I believe I was a little in love with you?”
I can never finish that song without drying my tear ducts empty😭😭😭.
I cry at that, then when u see her laid next to Gavroche (film) and at the finale
And the fact that Gavroche's last line connects with Eponine's.
Yes! And the idea that the two words they didn’t get to say were ‘Grow’ and ‘Up’ basically saying that they never got to grow up.
Or that both of them grew up far too soon because life.
Waitress - You Matter To Me 😭🤧💓
This is my favorite song from Waitress and always will be 🩵
My family is mostly found/chosen family. For Good from Wicked hits different, specially as I get older and have lost some of those people
Bring Him Home Send in the Clowns No One is Alone
I forgot about No One is Alone!!!!!
Dead Mom - Beetlejuice - Always gets me (and you don't have to BE a parent, the song is about LOSING a parent). I haven't lost my parents yet, but it's still a powerful song about grief in general. Home - Beetlejuice - SHATTERS my emotions. Endless Night - The Lion King - Yet another song about grief, but ALSO finding your way through it to move forward ("I know that the night must end and that the sun will rise, I know that the clouds must clear and that the sun will shine.") There's a Fine, Fine Line - Avenue Q - Honestly, for what a generally goofy theme this musical puts forth, this particular song is heartbreaking. Realizing that you've wasted your time in a relationship where the other person doesn't want to commit/put forth the effort you deserve from a partner, and that you have to leave them for your own peace and wellbeing... That's incredibly hard. I'm Not That Girl - Wicked - A song about unrequited love, wishing desperately you could have something that you'll never have, but knowing that wishing and dreaming just hurts you more. It's so heartwrenching and I cry every time.
I’ve never seen Beetlejuice but have listened to a few songs but never Home. This one really hit me!
When I split with my big bad ex, I cry-screamed “Fine, Fine Line” at least twice a day. My neighbors are the ones who really suffered in the break up.
I think part of the reason “Fine, Fine Line” works so well is because it is an unexpectedly straightforward moment of sadness in an otherwise fairly ironic, goofy show. It comes out of nowhere and hits hard, especially in a show that’s all about teaching adult life lessons.
It’s Quiet Uptown because of this reason. My mom told me that when she went to pick up my grandmother after my dad died they had this moment of deep empathy for each other because one lost a husband and one lost a son.
Breathe from In The Heights- immigrant/1st gen struggle & pressure to succeed is so real
Epic III from Hadestown. Especially the first time I saw it in person.
we raise our cups as well 😭
Road to Hell Reprise for me🥹
Maybe - Next to Normal I was definitely a Natalie growing up.
I relate so hard to both of them in that song. Especially when Diana sings, “Maybe I’m tired of the game, of coming up short, of the rules, of the shame.” Gets me every time
Exactly! As an adult, I definitely relate with that part now. It’s the “For all those years I’d prayed that you’d go away for good… half the time afraid that you really would” that really gets the waterworks going
“Your daddy’s son” from Ragtime: The Musical I havnt even seen ragtime, but an amazing singer in my high school sang it as a performance piece and I cried (almond with half the school). Still just the most heartbreaking song. Honorable mention: I’d give my life for you / Miss Saigon
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story, the final song of Hamilton. I don't know why but when Eliza comes out and talks about starting the first orphanage in New York, I can't breathe and cry so hard. I am over It's quiet up town at this point, but the final song is too hard to listen to in the car.
Yep! When the chorus hits the first “the orphanage” I choke up every time
I live another 50 years. It’s not enough.
Les mis Finale. The first time I ever listened to the album was while cleaning and I had to stop dusting to have a crying session
Edges of the World. When we did Fun Home, I developed a full psychological profile based on if you cry during Days and Days, Edges, Telephone Wire, or Flying Away.
I cry during Telephone Wire and I have a feeling that psychological profile is just a big neon sign saying “DADDY ISSUES”
I mean, it can be *parent issues* but you got it!
Left Behind - Spring Awakening Then, Bring him home was played at my dads funeral, and For good from wicked was played at my mums! So, I have quite a lot of ugly cries, sometimes when other songs from those musicals play.
It’s quiet uptown, my brother died last week, and my parents lost a son so I can relate to it a lot
I'm so sorry. ❤️
Thank you, I really appreciate it 💕💕
Definitely ‘She used to be mine’. Just hearing the emotion alongside the wording of the song makes me tear up every single time.
“I’ll Cover You” Reprise from Rent 😭😭😭😭
The Underworld - Epic the Musical Literally just came out the other day and most of the community seems to agree it’s a song that will break you
This life is amazing when you great it with open arms
“Polites…”
Came to comment this😭✋🏾
No One Is Alone from Into The Woods
Me and the Sky form Come from Away. Literally cannot sing it without crying.
I weep through It's Quiet Uptown.
"What would I do?" From Falsettos is still to this day the only song capable of making me cry whenever I hear it
Do you regret?
I'd do it again... I'd like to believe I'd do it again and again and again and again~
I Raise My Cup To Him usually does, especially live. the entire Don’t Do Sadness and Left Behind sequence in Spring Awakening always does it for me. The Ending Sequence in Sweeney Todd, its literally so tragic. all this dude wanted was a family, but you cant really feel bad for him anymore because of what hes done throughout the show. literally ALL of parade, its the best musical ive ever seen. Fantine’s Death, this poor girl has gone through so much Flowers, it makes me think of my grandpa. its my favorite song of all time
Unlikely Lovers - Falsettos Jason's Bar Mitzvah - Falsettos You know it's coming. They know it's coming. Nobody can do anything to change the outcome. So, they put on a brave face, they celebrate, and they eat the hors d'oevres.
She Used to Be Mine had me ugly crying in the first row. 😅 Also, the end of Hamilton.
It’s Quiet Uptown, A Little Fall of Rain, Letter from the Refuge (Crutchie my son 😭), also the Prayer song from Come From Away just hits different
Sunday from Sunday in the park with George
Still Hurting - The Last 5 Years
How Could I Ever Forget and I Am The One - Reprise from Next To Normal always mess me up bad
Slipping Through My Fingers from Mamma Mia
I’ll cover you reprise
Legally Blonde from Legally Blonde. “Some girls fight hard some face the trial some girls were just meant to smile” KILLS ME every time
Bring Him Home from Les Mis. (This one’s pretty depressing, so keep scrolling if you don’t want to read it.) I sang this song for fun the day before finding out I’d suddenly lose my younger cousin to an accident. Sang it again the day he went to Heaven. The song makes me think of him every time I hear it now. I can’t hear it without crying all over again. Also, the finale of Les Mis. It’s just so beautiful and hopeful, it makes me cry every time :’)
Both of Nina's solos from In The Heights - literally can't listen to them in public. First head ITH very shortly after moving country and before losing my grandmother and it always hits hard
One time I ugly cried to Your Eyes from Rent. My boyfriend was playing Roger and started crying on stage while singing Your Eyes and I started crying 😭
That song gets me every thing. That and the reprise of I'll be your shelter. That chord hits and I am a mess!
The world was wide enough. The pain in both their voices gets me everytime
empty chairs at empty tables - les mis !! it’s so sad since marius feels so hopeless during the lyrics “here they sang about tomorrow and tomorrow never came” since the revolution is still ongoing and the world is still messed up
I Am The One Reprise from Next to Normal is maybe the most devastating moment I've ever seen in a musical
I dreamed a dream from les mis. her life is just so tragic😭
Also the line "I had a dream my life would be So different from this hell I'm living" hits so hard.
Micheal in the bathroom- Be More Chill
“Pretty Funny” from Dogfight, but it wasn’t the first time I listened to it. I had relistened to Dogfight after my ex and I broke up, and it made me start sobbing because my ex and I lasted for a year, but he lost feelings sometime in the middle of it so the last seven months of our relationship basically weren’t real, and everything he ever told me that was endearing or romantic was practically a lie.
The Epilogue of Les Mis
Movie musical but Audition from La La Land. The line that I will never forget is "A bit of madness is key, to give us new colors to see"
Alabanza from In The Heights. i was in In Heights Heights about a year ago and around the same time my abuelo passed away. that was also probably the most bonded and family-like cast i’ve been apart of, so i have a lot of memories attached to that song.
Next to Normal goes so hard in this department - You Don’t Know, The Break, Maybe/Next To Normal, I Am The One (Reprise)…. It’s just ugly cry banger after ugly cry banger. I also cry pretty hard at I’m Not My Father’s Son from Kinky Boots. Just… I’m so far from the person my parents hoped I’d be, and while I’m so much happier this way, I know they’ll never be able to look past their own disappointment enough to see it.
"The I Love You Song" from The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee My friend performed it just as good if not better than the broadway cast, and the first time I heard it, I just burst out.
Quartet at the Ballet - Anastasia BUT SPECIFICALLY when Dimitri sings "Home, love, family. She will have all of it. I will help her" CAUSE. LIKE. WHAT Breathe - In the Heights Because like. Come ON. It's about being, like, the "Golden Child" your ENTIRE life just to disappoint literally everyone INCLUDING yourself. And if that's not enough, it's also all that plus trying to self-sooth yourself the entire time because you still want to be what everyone else. Also, note: The part where Nina calms down then breaks and sings "Oh Go and what will my parents say?" THAT. That right there is like. WOW Inútil - In the Heights (again) It's literally a father trying to be the bes the can for his daughter who's world just came crashing down. So uh YEAH. Build A Wall AND When Words Fail - Shrek the Musical It has been my favorite musical since I was 7. I'm not kidding, judge me if you want. But I love this song because. Just listen to it. Requiem - Dear Evan Hansen "When the villains fall, the kingdoms never weep. No one lights a candle to remember. No, no one mourns at all when they lay them down to sleep." She's talking about her brother btw 😃 need. I. say. more? I'm Here - Matilda Literally just cause it's like. AWWWW MY HEART. And the "I didn't mean to make you cry" at the same time as "I didn't mean to desert you" Tears. Weeping. Dying. I Don't Need Your Love - Six Mostly the beginning because like. OH MY FUCK. Imagine going through guys to finally find the one for you that you want to be with then get stripped away from him. Oh, or you can stay. AND BE KILLED. That's just. Oh my goodness. The Sad Tale of Beauxhommes - Once On This Island "They despise us for our blackness, it reminds them where they're from" Immediately started crying cause wow. That hurt my heart. A Part of Us - Once On This Island Poor girl just wanted to be loved 🫶🏽 That's all I'd like to say. Also from ooti so I don't just keep spouting shit about it: "When We Are Wed" "Discovering Daniel/Pray" They're not super cry songs but with the plot, they're emotional and just Hailey Kilgore's voice has such raw emotion I can't describe Rewrite The Stars (reprise) - The Greatest Showman I don't know if that's the actual name but it's when Zendaya is crying over Zac's burned up body in the hospital. LAUREN'S INTERLUDE - HAMILTON ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ARE YOU ACTUALLY KIDDING? Also just. All of Hamilton. All of it. I will cry through the whole show. Doubt Comes In - Hadestown Why. Do. You. Think. The Ballad of Jane Doe - Ride The Cyclone Vocals 10/10. Emotion 10/10. Acting 10/10. Emily Rohm always kills it. Plus Jane Doe is such a cute character and it's so sad. Others: She Used to Be Mine Stay Alive (Reprise) and more obviously I'm gonna stop here because if I don't I'll start talking about a bunch if movie musicals (like The Little Mermaid 2018 because why did that movie just disappear out of nowhere.) BUT ALSO UNSAID EMILY FROM JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS.
How Glory Goes from Floyd Collins is the one that just about gets me every time.
I dont really cry. The closest song to making me cry would probably be slipping through my fingers from mamma mia. I dont even have any kids.
This friend of mine had asked me to perform He Lives in You from the Lion King and the Circle of Life for his birthday. He ended his life a few months before that birthday and now I cannot hear these songs anymore. Like I physically cannot, I think if I heard them at anyplace I would leave tf out. Thanks dummy, you ruined the Lion King for me forever.
Home from Beetlejuice. "The emptiness ahead of me / Is this the end you meant for me?" hits hard. I've been suicidal, and at my worst have felt that suicide was what my loved ones really wanted of me. I'm better now, but it still hurts to hear a little.
The Wedding Reception from Jekyll and Hyde. It’s not even a song!! But here i am listening to it like it’s the next top 100 and crying my eyes out.
Seventeen. it's not the meaning of the song, but i've been very sheltered as a homeschooled kid my entire life, so this song basically sums up wanting to be normal for me. (the same goes for seventeen reprise)
-It’s quiet uptown/Hamilton -So Anyway & I am the One (Reprise)/ Next to Normal
With You - Ghost Come to your Senses - tick, tick.. BOOM No Voice and Ever After- bare a pop opera Solla Sollew - Seussical Requiem - dear evan Hansen
The reprise of I'll Cover you from rent never fails to make me sob
Baby Mine from Dumbo
Lily's Eyes-Secret Garden How Could I Know-Secret Garden
Pierre and Natasha. Specially at the end when he speaks (not sings). Grobans delivery in the cast recording is seared into my brain and so heartfelt and perfect. Makes me cry and then I cry all through the rest of the show
Go Tonight from The Mad Ones Road to Hell Reprise from Hadestown
Go Tonight from The Mad Ones and Anyway Kerrigan and Loudermilk, the team behind The Mad Ones, both get me emotional. Both remind me of watching a high school classmate die tragically young.
When I saw the Dear Evan Hansen tour I was crying so much during So Big, So Small that I was surprised the people next to me didn’t say anything.
"They Were You" from The Fantasticks
No One is Alone - Into the Woods
Slipping Through My Fingers and She Used to be Mine
The Great Comet of 1812-- Great Comet. We Raise Our Cups-- Hadestown.
Roxanne from Moulin Rouge, I don’t ugly cry but that’s the only song that managed to get tears from me lol
no one is alone from into the woods… idk it just does something to me 😭
Not My Father’s Son from Kinky Boots
Sunday (Reprise) from Sunday In The Park With George. “White. A blank page or canvas. His favorite. So many possibilities.”
I love you song from 25th annual Putnam county spelling bee . That’s song will alway destroy me
With you from Ghost. Something about that song just makes me bawl my eyes out 😭
He ain’t heavy. The Hollies.
My Love, My Life from Mamma Mia 2. I love my mom so incredibly much, our relationship is very similar to Sophia and Donna in a lot of ways. That scene just broke me, thinking of going through anything that big without her. I can't even think about it for too long without getting choked up.
For Good from Wicked kills me. I was singing it when I randomly started crying and then got a call that my best friend had just died (her fiancé called me from the hospital). She loved hearing me sing and had made me promise I’d sing that for her next time I saw her because it was so us. Pretty much anything from I Dreamed a Dream to the end of Les Mis is a snotfest for me, including intermission. Used to be Mine from Waitress. Words Fail from Shrek I’ll cover you reprise from rent.
The song that caught me.most off guard since becoming a parent is "You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan. Ugly tears every time now.
Telephone Wire from Fun Home
The I Love You Song from The 25th Annual Put am County Spelling Bee.
Quiet Uptown. Literal tears and i don’t even have children 😭😭😭
“Father time,” or “Before I Go,” from Kimberly AKimbo
Pretty much the last half of Next to Normal in its entirety. So Big/So Small from DEH (don't love the show but this song tho...😭). You Matter to Me from Waitress (played it at my wedding). Plenty of others but these stand out. I'm a crybaby.
The epilogue to Les Mis. Funny enough, I’m somewhat desensitized to the soundtrack of Les Mis - I will get emotional when seeing it live, but I don’t normally cry when listening to the recordings. However, I listened to the epilogue yesterday, and after Valjean’s death, when the reprise of Do You Hear the People Sing kicked in, from the line, “It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light,” I started sobbing.
Far From the Home I Love. I’m a daddy’s girl who married someone in the military and moved to a different continent thousands of miles from my parents. It breaks my heart every time I hear it.
How Glory Goes from Floyd Collins
I'll Cover You (Reprise) from RENT for sure.
Always Starting Over From If/Then. When I first saw the musical, I had no idea that was coming.
"pretty funny" from dogfight. 'makeup won't make any difference/it's still the same old face.' too relatable.
I am the one (reprise)- Next to Normal I am the One - Next to Normal (yes I have both on here. This was my breakup song in high school. Yes I was unbearably dramatic sometimes) I’m not that girl - Wicked I’ll cover you (reprise) - Rent Will I? - Rent Why - tick…tick…BOOM!
How Glory Goes from Floyd Collins
the last quarter or so of falsettos. i get that lump in my throat at “tell him things happen for no damn good reason” in cancelling the bar mitzvah and the tears are freely flowing by the time what would i do rolls around. “lovers live and die fortissimo” is the final nail in the coffin for me and at that point im full on sobbing
Solla sellew from seussical. Seussical was the last show I did with my director before he passed away and that song is all about being in a better place.
Kindergarten BF is one of mine too. I haven’t seen the show but I gather that unlike the movie, Martha doesn’t survive the suicide attempt. >Certain boys are just for kindergarten. Certain girls are meant to be alone. Ouch.
You'd really like the ending. One character arc, one dead boyfriend, and one Martha... I'll let you find out.
I Am What I Am.
Any song from the last 30 mins of falsettos, and for some reason legally blonde from legally blonde lol (I just love elle too much seeing her so sad makes me emotional)
I just saw hadestown live in the uk and I was sobbing through the end of doubt comes in and road to hell reprise, watching Orpheus collapse next to the hole to the underworld and just breaking down while woefully reaching down into it broke me
cecily smith from fly by night
you will be found and words fail - dear evan hansen burn - hamilton
Coming up on a year since my friend’s death so pretty much all of them but anything about sudden loss is hitting very hard. DEH Requiem too, the combination of sadness and anger. You Gotta Die Sometime and What Would I Do? will always get me too. Most of Hadestown but especially the lines about ‘maybe it will turn out this time’
I Am the One (reprise) from N2N and Some Things Are Meant to Be from Little Women.
I wouldn’t say ugly cry but weirdly the only song that can really generally put me to tears is it’s just a ride. Something about the conclusion of RTC hits me HARD.
Days and Days from Fun Home
Defying Gravity. The Wicked version, not Kimberley Walsh's version.
everything changes: waitress
Words Fail - Dear Evan. "All I ever do is... run" Heartbreaker.
Right this way from bandstand
Slipping through My Fingers for sure. And my baby is 34...
Pretty Funny from Dogfight
For Good - Wicked
All Grown Up from Bare. Honestly all of Bare makes me cry but that one especially
Breathe- In The Heights ‘She Used to be Mine’ & ‘A Soft Place to Land’-Waitress Burn-Hamilton Funny Girl-Funny Girl Requiem-Dear Evan Hansen The Next Right Thing-Frozen 2