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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2022
- You're officially a musical master when you get these Broadway songs down. For this list, we’ll be looking at the most difficult songs to perform from the pre-1980 era. Our countdown includes "Tonight Quintet," "Don't Rain on My Parade," "Rose's Turn," and more! What do YOU think is the hardest classic Broadway song to sing? Let us know in the comments!
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A thing a lot of people actually don’t know is that the G5 (the scream) in Gethsemane isn’t actually written like that in the music. In the original cast a rock singer did it and after that everyone just followed, it’s still very difficult emotionally tho, but that note is not necessary
Originally it wasn’t, but it has since become the linchpin of the entire piece and a primary draw for the view-ability of the rock opera in person.
Sure, it wasn’t originally written that way, but it is quite necessary nowadays.
Porgy and Bess as an opera is truly stunning.
My theater class did the pirates of penzance in 8th grade and a girl played the major general and absolutely nailed the song modern major general but it took forever for her to memorize it. Honestly that entire play was incredibly difficult
“Not Getting Married” is definitely one of my all time favorites. One of Sondheim’s best works. Hilarious and relatable. Nice list!!!
So good!
His patter songs are a nightmare to sing
My grandfather loved The Music Man. It was his favorite musical ever. When he was dying in hospice, my aunt played the soundtrack for him. Even if he couldn't speak, he could still hear. Hearing is last to go when you die. He showed the movie to my mother and it got her to like musicals too. Her favorite is the 1954 classic 7 Brides for 7 Brothers and after watching it with her, I love it too. They may not have been given a big budget to do the movie but it still is wonderful to watch and my mother is always up to watch it with me and the same the other way around. My favorite is the barn dance scene, truly comedic, dancing, and acrobatic gold. I recommend watching it and you'll see immediately what i mean. Make sure to also put your volume on high cause the music is fun to listen to.
Oh, The Music Man is my favorite too!
My exasperating daughter's theme song!
Trouble in River City, that rhymes with C and that stands for Clara!!
The Music Man is my favorite classic musical!
Good heavens, Barbra Streisand has a lot of talent.
We sang "People who need people" in my singing class one time and we certainly didn't sing it anything like *that*.
Wow. ^___^
Not only is there the high note at the end of Do-Re-Mi, there's also the part where Maria goes *down* an octave... so close to a three octave range in that arrangement
I’ve done lots of Sondheim & his repertoire is some of Broadway’s toughest numbers. He plays with so many melodies in the most memorable of his works
Have you heard "Into the Words" from "Forbidden Broadway"? It's all about the difficulty of singing Sondheim. ☺️
@@alyzu4755 I’ll have to check that one out
His patter songs bruh 💀
I know it's not the high brow stuff on this list, but "Somewhere that's green" from little shop of horrors is a stickler. Long notes and the emotion to maintain, a difficult one. My HS choir sang a lot of these for concerts,and we were darn good. But Music Man, Harold Hill HAD some tuff stuff. Love them all tho, thanks !
I’ve always liked “Old Man River” from Showboat. You need to have some serious bass pipes to really give the song it’s feeling (I don’t do it justice). William Warfield did a great job in the ’51 film version.
How's about "Poor Wandering One" from Pirates of Penzance? My brother's high school choir did Pirates back in the 80's and luckily had classically trained soprano for the part of Mabel, so she was easily able to carry it off, but it took a lot of extra training with her vocal coaches to do so.
Absolutely, I'd argue it's much harder than Major General... Major General isn't even the hardest G&S patter song, compared with the Nightmare song or the Matter Patter.
I'm going to agree with you that "Do-Re-Mi" is indeed difficult if you do it the way Julie Andrews did it, the way the movie did it, and the way Broadway does it, but also it can be pretty easily redone and rewritten for beginners and amateurs and also anyone who sings but just doesn't sing like Julie Andrews. 😅 As with many of the most classic musical songs, it can actually be done in multiple different ways and only *one* of them is the particularly difficult way. This is one of the songs that you can learn when you are four or five but you *cannot* learn to sing it *like Julie Andrews* when you are four or five. (Unless of course you are incredibly talented at that age. 😁)
At #2 I was like, how are they going to top that one? And then I remembered “Glitter and Be Gay” and was pleasantly surprised to be right. Excellent choices!
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s melodies seem so singable … until you actually have to learn them. Turns out they love to sprinkle in unexpected intervals that make their music much more challenging than it sounds.
I've always loved "Tonight Quintet", and the various melodies and harmonies involved. Anita's verse is my favourite, particularly when she sings it in church in the 2021 version!
That whole song makes me cry, one because it's just a brilliant piece of music, and two because I know what will happen in the end, and that the next major number is "Somewhere," which is equally as difficult but absolutely heart-wrenching.
One of my favorite ensemble numbers! I love how the 5 parts all blend into a massive crescendo by the conclusion; you’ve got to have stamina & breath support particularly for the final note
I described that quintet in my discussion of the wholeness of great Musical Theatre creation. A challenge for the creators was to KEEP the gangsters predictions of destruction from blending into a Glee Club outbreak. It wasn't until the last 20 seconds of composition that the two different gangs broke out into the simplest and gratifying two-note harmony.
The Quintet is 320 seconds long and centers around two guy-groups yelling/singing at each other with threats. This complex quintet is simplified by using the same melody for the gangs and girl friends, while Tony and Maria repeat their glorious Tonight. The gangs and girls are the complement melody to Tonight.
The music and lyrics are forcefully tossed around with each handoff sent-with-sizzle to the next group with the salute of "TONIGHT!". The fated gang war waits in ambush of the love story, and even steals the name and time with, "TONIGHT!".
This Quintet illustrates SUSPENSE by holding the audience in unfulfillment. Then CLIMAXES as the last 20 seconds accelerate into narrative/music union. The Gang's 2-note harmonies fulfill with the other 3 songs/actors in a spread of 8(?) notes to form the home-theme chord with: full orchestra, full percussion, triple forte' emphasis and actors at full volume with arms in the air.
And Voila'! Witness the summit of all Musical Theatre. Atop Mount Everest all other mounts are beneath.
How much fun for the entire creative team of: Book + Sondheim + Bernstein + choreographer + director and actors to construct this project? What must have Bernstein thought as the treasure of Romeo & Juliet's centuries of popular success-- now laid out before him to immortalize with a brilliant stroke? His attack must be timed after the Intermission as Act II fulfills the tragedy. The Quintet stuns with dominating premeditated execution. Perhaps the Quintet was their primary strike and from that all other scenes descended? Or was Tonight's melody a prerequisite? The master Bernstein equates with the gemologist who has only one strike at the raw diamond stone, to make or break the gem. Bernstein struck a star.
I was overwhelmed when I first rediscovered it. Bravo Bernstein and Sondheim.
It is a dream of mine to not only memorize Getting Married Today, but to find a future husband crazy enough that we could sing it together as a joke at our engagement party or rehearsal dinner or something.
Holy cow.. I'd never heard it until watching this video. Good luck.
I would love to see that.
If I ever got married again that would be hilarious to do. If my next bride is able to sing it.
The new production has this being a gay marriage and a man singing this song. It works great.
I used to be able to sing all of Amy’s parts lol. Spent a lot of time on it
It's so cool to see a lot difficult songs by men, while in pop music most male singers just DO NOT match their female counterparts, it's nice see that on theater the bar is almost the same
You missed "Soliloquy". The combination of storytelling, varying tempos, understanding the ups and downs vocallly, having to carry the song by yourself, and having the breath support and stamina to keep building for 7 1/2 minutes makes it EXTREMELY difficult.
Agreed
There are *so* damn many songs titled 'Soliloquy,' what show is this from?
@@etcetera1995 Carousel. Its THE Soliloquy
@@etcetera1995 carousel
ANNNND having to still nail the high notes on "I'll go out and make it, or steal it, or take it, or die". Seriously there are Operatic Baritones who struggle with the song.
If only I could go back and hear these songs in person. Those singers are artists wind pipes to prove it.
My parents took me to see 'Beauty & the Beast' when Suzan Egan & Terrance Mann were both still performing with that shows original Broadway cast. You're right about how awesome that kind of talent is to behold.
"Gethsemane"isn't one of my favorites. I don't believe in combining the Holy Scriptures with Rock and Roll!
"Fugue for Tinhorns," from "Guys and Dolls." Three parts going at once, syncopated rhythms (lots of triplets), and the final chord, with Nicely-Nicely Johnson's soaring high note.
I love that the top 2 are what they are, where they are; and personally, I'd have Model of a Modern Major General higher up. Tongue twister songs done right always floor me.
Thank you for including clips of Rebecca Luker as Maria and Seth MacFarlane doing Trouble.
Wow… I am wondering how much time you put in just to make this 17 minute video. This is awesome and you deserve much more recognition. 💕
Love this one!
Thank you for including Gethsemane. A terrifically hard song to sing that a lot of people don't appreciate. You might consider "People Will Say That We Are In Love" from Oklahoma!
I’d wager that “Many a New Day” is a toughie too.
@@burnerbaby26 Many a New Day is actually pretty simple to sing -- if you have the range it's easy. "Out of my Dreams" is probably harder.
@@burnerbaby26Shirley Jones did this song justice.
Man, I'll tell you what, I played Curly in our community theatre production and that song was a killer for me. I only rehearsed it at full voice once before the show because I had to be so careful to not blow out my voice to keep pace with my virtuoso co-star. She was absolutely incredible
Back when WSS was rereleased in theaters in 1968-69 my best friend and I became OBSESSED.(Senior and Junior in high school).
We knew every part of every song backwards and forwards. One of our favorite things was doing The Quintet, just the two of us.
At parties someone always said,”Do that WEST SIDE STORY thing.”
The concert version of Candide with Kristin Chenoweth is totally brilliant and amazing. So are the other cast members of the concert version. Surely Candide qualifies as Number One! Second would be West Side Story. Next Company, a fantastic musical. Can't really beat Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein, either singularly or in combination.
When it comes to #1, watched the Kristin Cennoweth version in French class senior year of high school after reading the book. Love it still.
I just love the way Kristin says France.
For me, it's Diana Damrau's concert version. I love the way she transitions back and forth between happy and sad.
G&S frequently had a tongue-twister and/or rapid-fire number delivered by a veteran member of the d'Oyly Carte company in their operettas. "The Nightmare Song" from G&S's 'Iolanthe' is another tour-de-force number that careens along unrelentlessly until the end.
I enjoyed seeing the '62 version of 'The Music Man' on here, after watching it in the hospital a couple weeks ago while recovering from surgery. It was comforting to watch; prior to covid, I used to see musicals every couple of months at a local playhouse with my aunts.
If we are going down the Pirates of Penzance line then "I've got a little list" from Mikado is up there considering each singer has created a new list and added to it to make it relevant.
They should also have included "My Name is John Wellington Wells" from The Sorcerer as well. Its shorter than the other two, but the patter is a bit more difficult in my opinion.
And one can add "The Nightmare Song" from the Act II of Iolanthe ("When you're lying awake with a dismal headache, and repose is tabooed by anxiety. I conceive you may use any language you choose to indulge in without impropriety . . . ") :)
D’Oyly Carte were very wise when picking their principal comedians: George Grossmith, Henry Lytton, Martyn Green, John Reed; and in Australia the great Dennis Olsen. Richard Suart also does the comic roles splendidly.
Also, to add to the list: any early G&S Tenor and Soprano solo or duet-“Let us fly”, “Sorry her lot”, “The hours creep on”, “O, is there not one maiden breast”, “Tis Mabel”(a cadence), and “Did ever maiden wake”.
The Major-General is also a hard role simply because Sullivan didn’t know if he wanted him to be a Tenor, Baritone, or Bass.
One could make a pretty good argument that the patter song from ANY Gilbert and Sullivan operetta is pretty damn difficult. The Nightmare Song from Iolanthe is difficult, but so is "When I Came to the Bar". Ruddigore has "It Really Doesn't Matter". H.M.S. Pinafore has "When I was a Boy" (at least, I think that's the patter song, it's a bit slower than most of them.) The Gondoliers has "Rising Early in the Morning" (my parent's made up a bath time song for me when I was a toddler using the chorus music from that.) Utopia Limited has that one about what proper English Women do. Yeoman of the Guard has the Jester's Song. And so on.
I also must give props to Anthony Walrlow's version of the Judge's Song from Trial by Jury (you can find it on TH-cam) since he not only has to do the patter song perfectly, but has to do it while pretending to be drunk off his ass!
Patter songs are great.
Playing in the pit is a challenge, too. The conductor and entire band have to be prepared for any slip up on the stage. It’s our job to make the performers look fabulous.
Story for you: 30+ years ago, when "Tommy" was premiering at the La Jolla Playhouse, one of the chorus members fell off the stage during a dance number and landed in the lap of one of the orchestra members. After they stared at each other in shock for a few seconds she said "My cue!", leapt off of his lap, and ran off to get backstage. 😊
And he barely dropped a note. 🥰
I'd pitch in and say "The Confrontation" from Jekyll & Hyde because you literally have to sing as two characters, with two distinct acting styles and voices in just 5 minutes, as well as it being the emotional climax of a 2 and a bit hour show with over 20 musical numbers for the leading man (or men) itself.
Musically though I'd probably say Epiphany from Sweeney Todd because if your music director is strict and makes you learn that note for note before you embellish it with emotion - as they probably should - it's easily as difficult as a 12 tone opera. So much chromaticism, so much vocal range, so many colours asked for by the score, not to mention needing to get out the diction and emotion of those words. Its a role that I would love to do, but this song alone scares the shit out of me. Well played Mr. Sondheim.
I have been panning these mojo broadway lists forever for being poorly researched, and woefully out of balance This one is excellent, mostly because it has decided to separate classic Broadway, from more recent and well known fare since the 1980's which inevitably dominates otherwise. This one literally forces the editors to consider the works of Lerner and Lowe, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and Oscar and Hammerstein. I will only add a comment from Julie Andrews who said Eliza Dolittle has to be one of the most vocally demanding roles in the Broadway canon. You are on stage most of the time, for 6 shows a week. You have to master two accents, and sing/screech/shreik all those hard vowels as an enraged cockney flowergirl in the first half, then sing like a classic english soprano for the second. ( Julie of course never needed to learn the english accent but the rest of Broadway isn't so lucky) . Its very easy to exhaust or damage your voice, especially with the amplification technology of that era. Remember when these original Broadway stars sang this repetoire, there was only one or two boom microphones hanging way above in the rafters, and they had to stand on their marks, with their faces forward and get that sound up to the cheap seats and enunciate each vowel and consonent while they did it.
actually you do 8 shows a week. You forgot the 2 matinees. Also the technology back then was to use floor mounted shotgun mic's. In my experience in the audition process the director would go to the back of the house during your belt song and make sure he could hear and understand you. When i worked on the road anything can and did happen. Power failures were not unusual. Backup generators would give you a couple follow spots but no amplification. We found out that night who had the chops and who didn't. At the end of the performance on a night like that we would get a huge standing ovation.
There's no such thing as "the English accent". Julie Andrews' own accent is nothing like the Cockney accent and she's said that she struggled with it.
@@suemccarthy853 . Of course she needed to learn that for the first act. But that's the only accent Julie needs to master having been raised in Walton on Thames, Surrey England. I suspect Julie can manage to say 'the rain in spain stays mainly in the plain' and make it sound more convincing s a student of Professor Higgins than Ethel Merman or Barbara Streisand can. ! Or God forbid, Carol Channing with her southern drawl playing Eliza. Professor Higgins got his work really cut out for him.
Could not agree more. I was getting a little sick of Wicked, Newsies, and Book of Mormon as examples of...well, what exactly?
Impressive list on the whole--how wonderful to see the classics recognized instead of falling back on the usual Wicked, Hamilton et al. I'm a little surprised at "Do Re Mi" and "Don't Rain on My Parade." The former really isn't that complex, and the latter is noteworthy (ha pun) mainly for... belting kinda (but not extremely) high? I'm almost wondering why this was included at all except perhaps for the new Broadway production. So many harder belting songs.
Would've swapped both (and changed the order a bit) to include, first: "A New Argentina" from *Evita* 'cause if you wanna talk belting, Eva has to hit the frickin' stratosphere multiple times, sustained, *and* have her words legible.
Then there's "Epiphany" from *Sweeney Todd* -- the singer has a mental breakdown and must go absolutely apeshit crazy, raging and mourning and scaring the hell out of the audience while still hitting some hefty notes along with Sondheim's typically hard-as-nails rhythms and melody.
I also have to agree with the person below who selected "Soliloquy" from *Carousel* instead of "If I Loved You," for having to take Billy the father-to-be from proud/enthusiastic to angry to scared and awed and determined.
Can't fault your #1 pick. "Glitter and Be Gay" is straight-up opera-level virtuosity, with Bernstein at his most genius. Glad to see him twice on the list! Though from *West Side Story* I think I'd pick "A Boy Like That" over "Tonight Quintet." Both Maria and Anita have to emote their socks off with very different agendas, with again Bernstein's hard score forcing each to sing with abandon while still being heard clearly. The quintet is super powerful too, but it's not actually that difficult for each of the singing parts/ensembles, IMHO. But I won't quibble. Great work all around, thank you!
If you wanted to pick something from The Sound of Music, "The Lonely Goatherd" is much harder than "Do Re Mi." So many big jumps -- tons of octaves -- and has that high C at the end, too!
The seaside song from Sweeney Todd deserved at least a spot in the honorable mentions. There's barely any room to breathe during it
I love the variety of choices here, it wasn't just about hard notes to sing or hard lyrics. Very good choices though I think It Doesn't Matter is the more difficult patter song
Good collection - I was waiting for "Getting Married Today." I might have tossed in the quartet "This Is My Beloved" from KISMET, although I also have a fondness for "Gesticulate" and "Rhymes Have I."
The Nightmare song from "Iolanthe" is more of a challenge then the Major Generals song.
I would add “God, That’s Good” from Sweeney Todd. Not only are the words (for the ensemble) complete nonsense and word-salad, the parts are totally discordant AND different most every time when a repeated phrase turns up. It’s fantastic when a cast can nail it, though.
Even though it’s not a solo number, I would include “at the ballet“. Musically, in terms of acting, and for Maggie’s ultimate high note.
My boyfriend loved Don't Rain On My Parade because of the business with the roses throughout the song.
Now, Soon, Later or Weekend in the Country from A Little Night Music both came to my mind!
Had "Glitter" not been #1 I would have questioned your sanity - lol. I do agree that "Soliloquy" rather than "If I Loved You" should have been on the list .... otherwise - good choices!
So happy to see and hear Richard Kiley.
Dreamgirls, And I'm telling you. How could this not be on your list?
I believe she said these are older songs, like pre-‘80s.
I can hit the final note of "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music (1964, 20th Century Fox, Robert Wise, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, II).
I do deeply love many of the songs of stage and screen. I am an aspiring novelist and vocalist. In the latter, however, do I urgently require training.
I have an extraordinarily wide vocal range as a singer. A piano perform- ance major I had known whilst at university had told me that I could "sing from the fifth ledger line below the bass clef" (double bass) "to the D above high C" (soprano).
Such music fits my voice well. It genuinely feels physically pleasurable to sing, and especially the songs of cinema and theatre. Thus can you see how I would enjoy performance in such genres.
The guy who set the bar in Jesus Christ Superstar is Ian Gillan of Deep Purple. To see what else he is capable of, listen to Child in Time, from the album In Rock.
You've got trouble: my band director got the bright idea to sing this, while running along the edge of a fountain in the Disney hotel we were staying at, and slipped and fell in. Scrapping himself up pretty badly. Way to go Z😂😂😂😂😂
I love “I am the very model of a modern Major General”. It is such fun! And Gethsemane makes me cry every time, especially when Steve Balsamo sings it!
You missed the most infernal of the Gilbert & Sullivan patter songs "When You're Lying Awake" from "Iolanthe". "My Name is John Wellington Wells" from "The Socerer" is also fiendishly difficult. Next to these, the "Major General's Song" is child's play.
Whoops! I wish I had read your reply before I said the same thing. I totally agree.
Have either "Iolante" or "The Sorcerer" seen a Broadway production in modern times?
I always love when addition verses are sung in Modern Major General
"Sue Me" (Adelaide's part) in Guy's and Dolls. "Everybody Says Don't" from Anyone Can Whistle.
"Don't Rain On My Parade" doesn't have any incredibly high notes. What it does contain are notes that are "high" when singing with the chest voice.
LOVE these, many thanks!
I don't know how hard these are to sing compared to one another, but they were a joy to hear/see if only as a taste of great musicals.
Great list! I was waiting for "green finch" - the thing about that song is not only the amazing difficulty but that Sondheim required the words to be clear to the audience, which isn't so much true for more operatic sopranos.
Pleaseeee tell me that you will have a Top 10 Hardest Modern Broadway Songs to Sing come up to follow this!
That’d be awesome
I think they already have but it was separated into male and female
Several years ago, I heard a High School chorus group do "Do Re Mi" and it didn't seem that difficult for them.
It's not.
It is probably one of the easiest songs in the show. Just because it is polyphonic doesn't make it difficult. If I HAD to go with a song from "Sound of Music," it would be "Lonely Goatherd." But frankly I could think of a lot of songs from the Broadway repertoire I would rank higher than ANYTHING from SoM.
@@GodaiNoBaka: Which is why it shouldn't be on this list.
Greetings. I loved your compilation of classic Broadway music.
Before I retired, I was a follow spot operator for a number of Midwest theaters:
Guthrie, Jenkins, Fireside.
In my opinion, there is great talent that transcends Hollywood & TV.
Except for one, everything you showed in your video, was either from movies or other media.
I very much wish you could record musicals in local stages. There is great talent there!
And yet, and yet, I am aware of the copyright laws which prevent you from
broadcasting true talent.
If I were not retired, I would invite you to accompany me at the follow spot.
Perhaps you can find another, active, techie.
Hope this helps,
These Broadway queens are iconic and legendary
So many of my favorite numbers on this list! I would add "Another Hundred People" (also from "Company") "This is My Beloved" (from "Kismet", and "Ice Cream" from "She Loves You."
If you think Major General is hard, check out the Nightmare Song from G+S’s Iolanthe 🤣
The most difficult thing about “classic Broadway” songs is that are performed live! There is no opportunity to do another take or to combine the best of several recordings or do some tweaking with the performance. That is where the breath control, diction, intonation, etc. identify those who really have the chops.
You got trouble! Always a favorite! ❤
btw...according to Barbara Cook, the lyric for "Glitter and be Gay" is by Dorothy Parker. I'd long assumed that, since her name was on the record cover, she'd written it, but Ms Cook confirmed it in her last book.
Sorry, didn't realize I'd hear someone trying to explain the difficulty of singing these wonderful songs instead of actually hearing these wonderfully difficult songs with lovely lyrics.
Did quite a few tours of Chorus Line and there are a couple that could be on this list. Ever try singing while you're dancing? Try doing dancing big numbers than standing still letting your muscles tighten than doing another big dance number and standing still again. Over and over until it is time for you solo. The Music and the Mirror was about 7 minutes of singing and some tough dancing. But also dance ten looks three took some ability. Not a big dance but still you had a to dance from one end of the line to the other and back to center, then stop breathing to utter those words "you're all looking at my tits now aren't you?" then the last notes are the hardest. "Changed. my. Life" was brutal to most.
I feel like this list is more about audience expectations than vocal difficulty. Which is ok! But for example Modern Major General isn’t the hardest of G&S’s patter songs, it’s just one of the most well known.
I thought that. John Wellington Wells seemed hard to me as the pattern changes or My Eyes Are Fully Open from Ruddigore as that is a three person patter
That was fantastic.
Happy 4th of July MsMojo and everyone else!❤🇺🇲
the trouble with "Trouble" is that, in addition to the ever increasing tempo and patter with tongue twisting lyrics, Bobby Preston set the bar SO high anyone trying to sing it will be immediately compared to his tour de force performance.
I was amazed by Hugh Jackman on the Tonight show a few years back (2012), explaining how he got into theatre and acting and did the first song in The Music Man, which is a tightly written piece for 8 characters....and he auditioned the entire piece himself. Sort of a prelude to "Trouble" in a lot of ways: quick patter, smart timing and immaculate enunciation.
For 8 characters to play it that fast requires a lot of work. Kinda like the poker game in "The Front Page", but there it's all about hitting your (very small) mark as well as the patter. The movie version is great; the Tonight show one-man-show is phenomenal.
We saw Hugh Jackman in NY last Spring, and he was amazing. But, no one can compare to Robert Preston, it's true. He defines Harold Hill
I never heard anyone call him Bobby.
Three Sondheim’s…sounds about right!
Probably would put Not Getting Married as No. 1, but it comes down to the difficulty of rapid fire vs. vocal range and both are incredibly difficult.
Always been a fan of If I Were a Rich Man from Fiddler as a challenge with the wild dancing, the random animal sounds and the emotion. Tevye is one of those characters that if they don’t knock it out of the park, the whole show is in trouble.
Paul Robson, "Old Man River" from Showboat.
Have you seen Judy Garland’s black and white cover of Old Man River from her 60s TV show? It is a revelation! And is here on youtube.
On the other side, Bing Crosby’s version of the song has to be the worst cover of any song ever. It’s on youtube too, but you will end up hating God for allowing it if you listen to it.
Gethsamane is one of my fav song ever! . Also I think Reviewing the Situation from Oliver is a pretty hard song to sing. The emotions Fagin expresses in that song are well, emotional. Plus its kind of a tongue twister.
When I think of "Don't Rain on my Parade" I think of that one scene from glee lol
Still my favourite Glee scene
Why didn’t you include the versions of FUNNY GIRL songs by Beanie Feldstein? They just built a whole Broadway revival around her! I mean it isn’t her looks, her line readings, her box office so it must her voice, right?
@@johnpickford4222 Or Lillias White
I feel Don’t Rain On My Parade should be number 1.
No Glitter and be Gay is a good choice.
i love do-re-mi from the sound of music ❤❤❤
Ms MOJO is a good channel 👌 👍 👏
I think the "Now/Later/Soon" ensemble trio from "A Little Night Music" is a pretty tough challenge.
Oh, the Music Man. One of the few musicals I like. My dad loved it as well. For some reason, I remember watching it at Christmas time.
I love The Music Man. One of those musicals that I never get tired of.
It's more appropriate for the Fourth of July.
I'd like to mention Hamilton's "Guns and Ships" and "Your Fault" from Into the Woods
They were doing pre 1980
They ALL require excellent breath control!!!
When I saw 9 I wondered what's harder so I waited to see and had to bump it up to maybe a tie with West Side Story mostly based on getting the words right. #2 is up there for that too. Also, nothing was hard for Ethel Merman to sing.
But nobody can sing anything the way Merman did.
I love to perform If I Loved You!
Was it just last year the opening of The Tonys award show where James Corden sang or said one long sentence or to me it looked like he did, there's no way I could do that kind of memorizing, I loved it!
One more song comes to mind,"I am the Captain of the Pinafore".
The tempo marking is Allegretto so only within 130-150 range. Not very hard.
@@Nicholas32906 true,but it's still entertaining.
Take it from someone who has sung it before. Captain of the Pinafore isn't difficult to sing. Fair Moon to Thee I Sing is much more difficult.
You totally blew it by leaving off "Sue Me" from Guys and Dolls.
Even if only as an honorable mention.
Your picks are good, but you have left out a number of songs that are technically much more difficult than "some" of the picks on your list. I would add certain song from Phantom of the Opera and either one of Meg's songs from Brigadoon. Also, either Reviewing the Situation or Who Will Buy from Oliver!.
I’d gone with jean valjean’s part in one day more, you’ve gotta be able to hold that ending note
Also did a few tours of Annie Get your Gun. "Anything you can do...", is not that hard if you have a big belt with decent range.
I’ve never heard anyone keep up with Beth Howland…they slowed it down so much gif Madeline Kahn!
:O I recognize I am the very model of a modern Major-General's tune from the final episode of the cartoon Reboot. I didn't know it came from this song!
This really is an impressive list--BUT if you're gonna be truly inclusive, you've got to consider Russell (the photographers') song "Tchaikovsky" from "Lady In The Dark" (which is listed in the "Guiness Book Of World Records" as having the toughest lyric to sing--ever) or for that matter, Eddie's "Whatever Happened To A Saturday Night (Hot Patootie Bless My Soul)" From "Rocky Horror"--another nearly impossible song to get the lyrics right.
WOW! A voice teacher assigned that to me when I was in my 20s. What was she thinking? But it got me a 4.0 in my voice jury. I was working on my Masters in Musicology at the time and had a problem with LYAH-doff being set at LEE-uh-doff. I've been doing Gilbert and Sullivan most of my adult life, the Major-General's Song is not that hard, since Sullivan's music supports you ever note. The Nightmare song is harder ("In your shirt and socks, the black silk with gold clocks" is nearly impossible). The trio from Ruddigore is hell for the singers. Sometimes it is interpolated into Pirates.
@@billsnyder6391 Yep I remember those days, I actually did My Jury's from a State University so We were on the Stage in My City's opera house. I did mine in the mid '80s, so while dressed in Teal satin bridesmaid dress/gown I sang Wagner, Puccini, Jacques Brel & Sondheim, I completed my foreign language portion of My Jurys.
There's a great book about the writing and producing of "The Music Man" that's a delight to read: "But He Doesn't Know The Territory: The Story Behind Meredith Willson's The Music Man" by Meredith Willson.
I’ve just seen that book pop up somewhere. I want to buy it.
One of my happiest moments was when I realized I had finally gotten TROUBLE down pat. Not that I do it in front of people.
But I keep in practice,for over 55 years now.
And when I watch THE MUSIC MAN I move my mouth with Harold Hill.
I don’t want to speak one syllable when Robert Preston is doing it to perfection.
Ya got trouble was my song for my first year showcase at uni
A favourite of mine is Prima Donna from Phantom of the Opera.
Good video
The problem with your commentary on the balance in the Tonight Quintets from the movie adaptations of West Side Story is that we're hearing them through the editor's and director's filters (the same with the OBC recording). Getting the balance right had nothing to with the actors or the difficulty of the piece, but how their voices were mixed together by someone else. The OBC's version is definitely better, but we've their engineer (and Bernstein's ear) to thank for that.
I'm waitting for episode about musicals that nobody talk about ( I saw post on TH-cam ❤️)
Another worthy one would be My Mother’s Wedding Day from Brigadoon
Begin the Beguine. 108 bars of difficult lyrics without any exact repeats of either lyrics or melody. Otherwise, I'd say you've put together a pretty amazing list.