These underappreciated classic Broadway songs deserve an encore. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at showtunes that don’t get as much love, whether they’re from less popular shows or are overshadowed by others songs in the same show.
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00:00 "Maybe if you whistle."
00:04 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:07 for the top 10 most underappreciated classic Broadway songs.
00:10 "I'm gonna get out of here and I'm gonna go right to the top."
00:14 For this list, we'll be looking at show tunes that don't get as much love,
00:18 whether they're from less popular shows or are overshadowed
00:21 by other songs in the same show.
00:23 We're defining classic as having premiered on Broadway before 1980,
00:27 so some of our overlooked favorites from later shows are ineligible for this list.
00:33 Number 10.
00:34 "Shoeless Joe" from Hannibal Moe.
00:36 Damn Yankees.
00:37 "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Moe."
00:41 Whatever Lola Wants is probably the most famous number from this Faustian musical comedy
00:46 about pro baseball, but Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Moe
00:49 is a roaring first act number that deserves more play.
00:52 "Go like a bat out of you nowhere.
00:53 Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Moe.
00:54 Strike at the toe, let 'em know you're there.
00:55 Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Moe."
00:59 Shoeless Joe is a middle-aged, nobody-turned-heavy hitter
01:02 for the Washington Senators baseball team.
01:05 His appearance seems to be the answer to the down-and-out Senators' prayers.
01:08 Bolstered by ballet-dancing baseball pros and legendary Bob Fosse choreography,
01:13 this knee-slapping tune is a celebration of the team's prospects
01:17 now that they have found the answer to finally winning some games.
01:20 They might even have a chance against their longtime rivals,
01:23 the New York Yankees.
01:35 Number 9.
01:36 I Got Love, "Pearly"
01:49 This 1970 musical about Pearly Victorious Judson,
01:52 a traveling preacher looking to emancipate cotton pickers
01:55 in the Jim Crow South, is unfairly forgotten.
01:59 Its best song is probably "I Got Love," a number performed by Ludabelle Gussie-Mae Jenkins,
02:03 a young country girl in love with Pearly.
02:06 The originator of that role, Melba Moore, may be one of Broadway's
02:09 most underrated belters of all time.
02:19 Her performance of "I Got Love" is always hair-raisingly good.
02:23 Even when she recreated her Tony-winning performance for television over 10 years later,
02:27 the song was just as powerful and joyous as it was the first time audiences experienced
02:32 it.
02:46 Number 8.
02:47 50% "Ballroom"
02:58 This show about a widow falling for a married man she meets
03:01 at an old-fashioned dance hall is largely forgotten.
03:04 Even its most enduring song is a little-known secret among musical theater fans.
03:16 50% is a sweeping tear-jerker of a torch song,
03:26 about how love isn't always defined by the traditional things,
03:30 like a ring or a marriage certificate.
03:45 While the song is literally about a woman in love with a married man,
03:49 there's no denying the double meaning it holds for people whose love
03:52 might not have been recognized by the law or society as a whole.
04:05 Number 7.
04:06 How Could I Leave You?
04:07 Follies
04:08 "And the wounds never heal, and the games are worth winning.
04:09 And wait, I'm just beginning.
04:10 What leave you, leave you?
04:11 How could I leave you?"
04:17 To say any of renowned composer Stephen Sondheim's works are underappreciated
04:21 seems almost ludicrous.
04:23 But this barn burner from the misunderstood 1971 musical Follies
04:27 has the burden of being in the same show as I'm Still Here,
04:30 Broadway Baby, and Losing My Mind, three of the artist's most popular songs.
04:35 "But I bury my rage with a boy half your age in the grass.
04:40 You bet your ass."
04:42 In it, the character of Phyllis realizes, in the most dry and wicked way,
04:46 that she'll never leave her husband, even though they both seem deeply unhappy.
04:51 It's an enigmatic number full of droll humor and sarcasm,
04:54 and it leaves a lot of room for interpretation.
04:57 The intensity and tone of the song changes from performer to performer.
05:01 "Will I leave you?
05:08 Guess!"
05:10 Number 6.
05:11 I Guess I'll Miss the Man, Pippin.
05:13 "I guess I'll miss the man.
05:17 Explain it if you can."
05:21 Stephen Schwartz's existentialist spectacle about a traveling theater troupe
05:24 and an idealistic French prince has plenty of catchy tunes.
05:28 In this one, Catherine breaks the fourth wall to tell us that,
05:31 despite his many, many faults, Pippin was the best thing to happen to her
05:35 in a very long time.
05:37 It's a quirky love song with a tongue-in-cheek sweetness.
05:39 "Some men are simple good men.
05:44 This man wasn't one."
05:52 The number goes against the troupe's script, but Catherine keeps singing amid protests
05:56 from the antagonistic leading player.
05:59 "Hold it!
06:02 Hold it!
06:05 Jesus!"
06:06 "Actresses!"
06:07 The tune became a minor hit when the post-Diana Ross lineup of The Supremes
06:12 covered it for their album.
06:14 "In a long, long while."
06:26 There's gotta be something better than this, Sweet Charity.
06:30 "There's gotta be something better than this.
06:33 There's gotta be something better to do.
06:36 And when I find me something better to do, I'm gonna get up."
06:41 You've probably heard Big Spender, the signature moment from Sweet Charity.
06:45 There's gotta be something better than this is the other side of that sultry and seductive
06:49 tune.
06:50 "I'm getting out too."
06:51 "But baby, what can you do?"
06:52 "I don't know.
06:53 But just get me out of here and I'll figure it out later.
06:58 There's gotta be some life cleaner than this."
07:01 In this energetic song and dance extravaganza, originally choreographed by Bob Fosse,
07:06 three taxi dancers at the Fandango Ballroom dream of a life with a little less excitement
07:10 and a little more fulfillment.
07:13 Although their fantasies are humdrum and ordinary, the joy they share in this fantasy life is
07:18 infectious.
07:19 This is the kind of song that makes you want to get up and dance right along with it.
07:22 "I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna get up, get up, get up!"
07:32 Number 4.
07:33 Do You Love Me?
07:34 Fiddler on the Roof
07:35 "Do you love me?"
07:38 "Do I what?"
07:43 Although it's not the catchiest or most culturally relevant song in the score,
07:46 this underappreciated romantic duet is probably the song that most succinctly captures
07:51 what Fiddler on the Roof is all about.
07:53 Caught up in all this talk of tradition and matchmaking,
07:56 Tevye the Dairyman asks his wife Golda if there's actual love in their traditionally
08:00 arranged marriage.
08:01 "For 25 years I've washed your clothes, cooked your meals, cleaned your house,
08:07 given you children, milked your cow.
08:10 After 25 years, why talk about love right now?"
08:14 Though she's not sure why he's asking the question,
08:17 the two realize that though their marriage may have been arranged,
08:20 after years of struggling, raising children, and surviving,
08:24 they have learned to love each other.
08:26 "Alles mit dir, mein Nachtbeitrag, ist das nicht Liebe sagen?"
08:33 "Liebst mich, danke!"
08:35 "Dachs ich mir so!"
08:41 Number 3.
08:42 The Miller's Son - A Little Night Music
08:44 "I shall marry the Miller's son."
08:52 Yet another song that seems to be overshadowed by a powerhouse tune.
08:56 Send in the Clowns may be one of the most covered show tunes of all time,
09:00 but the Miller's Son is also peak Sondheim.
09:02 "It's a very short road to the ten thousandth lunch,
09:06 and the belch and the grouch and the sigh, in the meanwhile."
09:13 It showcases all of his gifts for storytelling and wordplay.
09:16 Its alliterative lyrics and tempo changes force you to pay attention
09:19 in case you miss some delicious detail.
09:21 "It's a rip in the bustle and a rustle in the hay,
09:24 and I'll reach the quick fantastic, with slings of confetti
09:27 and my petticoats a way up high."
09:30 In the show, it's sung by a maid named Petra,
09:33 who imagines the many different kinds of lives she could live,
09:36 but ultimately decides that living in the present is most important.
09:39 "And a person should celebrate everything,
09:46 passing by."
09:52 Number 2.
09:53 What Would You Do?
09:54 Cabaret
09:55 "With the clock running down, what would you do?"
10:02 When it comes to this Kander and Ebb classic musical,
10:04 a lot of changes were made from the stage to the screen.
10:07 Most of the musical numbers not sung by either Sally Bowles
10:10 or the MC character were cut out of the story completely.
10:13 This meant that characters like Frohline Schneider,
10:15 who were main characters in the musical,
10:18 were relegated to the background.
10:20 But fans of the original show know all about this tune.
10:23 "Suppose simply keeping still means you'll manage until the end."
10:33 The Frohline solo is a stirring and heartbreaking ballad
10:36 about uncertainty and impossible circumstances.
10:39 It punctuates the tragedy of the show,
10:41 which sees a group of people in Weimar Germany
10:43 coming to grips with the fascism infecting the country.
10:46 "What would you do if you were me?"
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11:21 1.
11:22 We Both Reached For The Gun - Chicago
11:32 While All That Jazz and Cell Block Tango tend to hog the spotlight,
11:35 this song delivers some of the most fast-paced
11:38 and technically difficult moments in the show.
11:40 Billy Flynn, attorney to the stars,
11:42 demonstrates how he can wrap the press around his finger.
11:45 "Why'd you shoot him?"
11:47 "I was leaving."
11:48 "Was he angry?"
11:50 "Like a madman."
11:51 "Still, I said, 'Fred, move along!'"
11:54 "She knew that she was doing wrong."
11:56 While Flynn operates accused killer Roxy Hart like a marionette doll,
12:00 he uses the sleazy local reporters to practically write his client's defense for him.
12:05 We Both Reached For The Gun might be John Kander, Fred Ebb,
12:08 and director-choreographer Bob Fosse's most imaginative work
12:11 in a show full of crowd-pleasing tunes.
12:22 It deserves to be remembered alongside Chicago's more well-known musical numbers.
12:27 Do you agree with our picks?
12:46 Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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12:53 [music]