As part of their weekend celebrating musicals on BBC Radio 2, Elaine Paige revealed a countdown of the top 20 greatest musical songs this afternoon as voted by their listeners.
Some interesting choices and a couple of surprises but a pretty decent list all things considered. Here it is in its entirety
20. SEASONS OF LOVE - RENT
19. SEND IN THE CLOWNS - A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
18. THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS - HAMILTON
17. YOU WILL BE FOUND - DEAR EVAN HANSEN
16. GETHSEMANE - JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
15. ALL THAT JAZZ - CHICAGO
14. ALEXANDER HAMILTON - HAMILTON
13. SUMMERTIME - PORGY & BESS
12. YOU CAN'T STOP THE BEAT - HAIRSPRAY
11. MEMORY - CATS
10. AMERICA - WEST SIDE STORY
9. SOMEWHERE - WEST SIDE STORY
8. DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA - EVITA
7. CIRCLE OF LIFE - THE LION KING
6. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN - SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
5. OVER THE RAINBOW - THE WIZARD OF OZ
4. THIS IS ME - THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
3. DEFYING GRAVITY - WICKED
2. BRING HIM HOME - LES MISERABLES
1. ONE DAY MORE - LES MISERABLES
Some absolutely incredible songs in there as well as a few surprises - maybe one or two I wouldnt say are one of the greatest musical songs of all time but you can't win them all. I personally would have included some different ones but the beauty of theatre is how subjective it is - if we all agreed on everything, how boring would it be? The one thing I love about this list is how diverse it is - a mix of old and new musicals.
If you're wondering where shows like The Phantom of the Opera and other classic songs are in this countdown, listeners had to vote from a shortlist - and shockingly, no songs from Phantom were on that. Here is the full shortlist people could vote from:
Alexander Hamilton (Hamilton)
All That Jazz (Chicago)
America (West Side Story)
And I Am Telling You (Dreamgirls)
As If We Never Said Goodbye (Sunset Boulevard)
As Long As He Needs Me (Oliver!)
Beauty And The Beast (Beauty And The Beast)
Being Alive (Company)
Bring Him Home (Les Miserables)
Cabaret (Cabaret)
Circle Of Life (The Lion King)
Defying Gravity (Wicked)
Don't Cry For Me Argentina (Evita)
Don't Rain On My Parade (Funny Girl)
Electricity (Billy Elliot The Musical)
Everything's Coming Up Roses (Gypsy)
Food, Glorious Food (Oliver!)
Friend Like Me (Aladdin)
Gethsemane (Jesus Christ Superstar)
I Am What I Am (La Cage Aux Folles)
I Could Have Danced All Night (My Fair Lady)
I Don't Know How To Love Him (Jesus Christ Superstar)
I Got Rhythm (Girl Crazy / An American In Paris/ Crazy for You)
I Know Him So Well (Chess)
If I Loved You (Carousel)
I'm Here (The Color Purple)
The Impossible Dream (Man Of La Mancha)
Let It Go (Frozen)
Losing My Mind (Follies)
Luck Be a Lady (Guys & Dolls)
Maria (West Side Story)
Maybe This Time (Cabaret)
Memory (Cats)
Not While I'm Around (Sweeney Todd)
One Day More (Les Miserables)
Over The Rainbow (The Wizard Of Oz)
The Room Where It Happens (Hamilton)
Seasons Of Love (Rent)
Send In The Clowns (A Little Night Music)
Shallow (A Star is Born)
She Used To Be Mine (Waitress)
Singin' In The Rain (Singin' In The Rain)
Sit Down You're Rockin' The Boat (Guys & Dolls)
Somewhere (West Side Story)
Summertime (Porgy and Bess)
This is Me (The Greatest Showman)
Waving Through a Window (Dear Evan Hansen)
What I Did For Love (A Chorus Line)
You Can't Stop The Beat (Hairspray)
You Will Be Found (Dear Evan Hansen)
So what do you think? Do you agree with it? What are your personal favourites?
Let me know in the comments or on twitter.com/ATDazzles
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