These broadway songs weren't meant to be performed solo. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Broadway duets, trios, and ensemble numbers that you’d pull a muscle trying to perform on your own.
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00:00 Ladies and gentlemen, for tonight's entertainment, I am proud to present West Side Story.
00:05 I will be playing all the parts. Thank you.
00:08 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Broadway duets,
00:13 trios, and ensemble numbers that you'll pull a muscle trying to perform on your own.
00:17 [Music]
00:29 Number 10. The Schuyler Sisters, "Hamilton".
00:33 [Music]
00:46 Look, just because you can't solo a show tune doesn't mean we haven't tried.
00:50 Case in point, this catchy trio number from "Hamilton".
00:53 The Lin-Manuel Miranda musical was obviously a huge smash,
00:57 and the Schuyler Sisters were a huge part of that.
01:00 [Music]
01:14 With their killer voices and playful interactions, as soon as Angelica,
01:19 Eliza, and Peggy first hit the stage in their introductory number,
01:22 they became icons. Like most of the songs in this sung and rapped through show,
01:27 along with its fast-paced lyrics, it has a lot of conversational moments.
01:30 [Music]
01:40 That's not even mentioning those killer harmonies.
01:42 [Music]
01:50 Number 9. "Hello, The Book of Mormon".
01:53 "Hello, my name is Elder Price, and I would like to share with you the most amazing book.
01:59 Hello, my name is Elder Grant. It's a book about America a long, long time ago."
02:09 "Hello" is the hilarious opener to "The Book of Mormon".
02:12 It's a whimsical, fast-paced, joke-a-minute show tune that may have broken a record for
02:17 the largest amount of face acting on a Broadway stage at one time. But don't hold us to that.
02:22 "Hello, my name is Jesus Christ. You have a lovely home. Hello, it's an amazing book.
02:29 Bonjour, hola, ni hao, me amo, elder what? Are these your kids? This book gives you the secret to eternal life."
02:36 Most of the lyrics in this song work as a call and response. They build into a cacophony of polite,
02:42 if vaguely threatening, and friendly neighborhood Mormons just trying to convert a bunch of strangers.
02:47 "No thank you, sure. Oh well, that's fine. Get back. Have fun in hell. Hey now.
02:51 You simply won't believe how much this book will change your life. This book will change your life."
03:00 "Hello, would you like to change religions? I have a free book written by Jesus."
03:05 The layering of the voices and the way the separate characters complete each other's lyrics
03:10 would be a lot less fun if it were just one grinning guy in a tie.
03:14 "The book of Mormon. Mormon. Hello."
03:28 Number 8. "You don't know, I am the one." Next to normal.
03:32 "If he gets me, he'll kill me. But I don't know what I've done."
03:37 "Can you tell me what it is you're afraid of?"
03:44 In this song, things come to a head between Diana, a woman suffering from bipolar disorder
03:48 and hallucinations of her dead son, and Dan, her supportive but frustrated husband. Then,
03:54 it introduces a third character into the mix, their dead son Gabe, who fights for his mother's attention.
03:59 "Are you bleeding? Are you bleeding? Are you wishing? Are you wanting all that she can't give?
04:03 Are you bruised? Are you broken? Are you hurt? Are you healing? Are you hoping for a life to live?
04:08 Does it help you to know?"
04:10 Much of what makes this moment powerful is the buildup of noise in Diana's head.
04:14 It's kind of hard, if not impossible, to convey that with just one voice.
04:18 "And I won't say no." "You say that you know."
04:27 "You don't know. I know you don't know."
04:33 It's a song that's completely dependent on all three of them singing over each other,
04:37 fighting for control over the song and the situation.
04:40 "You don't know who I am. You don't know who I am. You just don't know who I am."
04:56 Number 7. 38 Planes Reprise, Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere, Come From Away.
05:02 "22, 24, 29, 32, 38, 38, 38, 38, 38, 38, 38, 38, 38, 38, 38, 38!"
05:14 Telling the true story of the planes that were grounded in a small Newfoundland town
05:17 on September 11th, 2001, Come From Away is a show with a big cast of characters.
05:23 In its emotional climax, the passengers and pilot of one plane return to the US,
05:27 and the ending of their respective stories plays out.
05:30 "Everyone's drinking and comparing stories."
05:32 "Where'd you stay? What'd you do?"
05:34 "But mostly Nick and I spend the plane ride home, canoodling in the back."
05:38 "At one point, a flight attendant comes around saying..."
05:41 "Hot towel? Hot towel? Cold towel?"
05:45 Cycling through the focal characters as they fly home,
05:48 their lyrics often dovetail and flow seamlessly into each other.
05:51 "Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of everywhere,
06:00 you found your heart, but left a part of you behind."
06:06 The haunting but ultimately hopeful refrain of 38 planes
06:10 wouldn't sound the same without that chorus of voices behind it.
06:13 "Home, America, home in America, past the gate, the stairs in the dark,
06:20 and he's waiting in line."
06:25 Number 6. Flying Away Finale - Fun Home
06:29 "Hey Daddy, come here, okay?"
06:31 "Question mark."
06:32 "I need you."
06:33 "Daddy, Daddy, come here, okay? I need you."
06:36 "At the light, at the light, at the light, at the light."
06:40 On top of being pretty devastating, this musical based on the Alison Bechdel
06:44 graphic memoir has some really effective theatrical devices.
06:47 The show's emotional punch relies on having several versions
06:50 of the author on stage at once.
06:52 "When I'm with you, and you and I, I can feel it once like you."
07:04 Different actors portray Bechdel as an adult, a college student, and a child,
07:08 interacting and singing with each other at the show's most emotional points.
07:12 The show's finale is a soaring number that features some soaring harmonies.
07:16 "Fly, so high."
07:22 Flying Away reflects the entire premise of the show.
07:25 Alison reckons with her past, and the three versions of herself become whole.
07:29 "I can see all of Pennsylvania."
07:34 "Caption. Every so often there was a rare moment of perfect balance
07:45 when I soared above him."
07:47 Number 5. Your Fault. Into the Woods.
07:50 "But if this is my fault, I was given those beans.
07:53 You persuaded me to trade away my cow for beans.
07:55 And without those beans, there'd have been no stock
07:57 to get up to the giants in the first place."
07:59 "Wait a minute, magic beans."
08:01 One of Stephen Sondheim's most popular and crowd-pleasing musicals
08:04 involves a group of fairy tale characters besieged by tragedy and mayhem.
08:09 In Act 2, they're trapped by a giant and begin blaming each other
08:12 for their misfortune.
08:13 "It is father's fault that the curse got placed
08:15 in the place God cursed in the first place."
08:17 "Oh, then it's his fault."
08:18 "So?"
08:19 "It was his fault."
08:20 "No."
08:20 "Yes it is. It's his."
08:21 "I guess."
08:22 As the finger-pointing goes on, lyrics begin to smash into each other
08:25 at near-impossible speeds as fear, panic, and anger take over.
08:29 Pacing-wise, it's a challenging song.
08:32 Doing this one by your lonesome just doesn't make much sense.
08:35 "Who had the other bean?"
08:36 "The other bean."
08:37 "You parted with the other bean."
08:38 "I didn't."
08:38 "Yes I did."
08:39 "So it's yours!"
08:39 "No it isn't, because I gave it to my wife."
08:41 "So it's yours!"
08:41 "No it isn't!"
08:42 "Wait a minute, she exchanged that bean to obtain your shoe!"
08:45 Unless, of course, it's a special one-person production where the characters are all the
08:49 product of one fairy tale character's broken psyche.
08:52 But that would just be tacky.
08:53 "You hadn't dared him turn."
08:54 "And you had left the harp alone."
08:55 "Well if you hadn't turned away the bean in the first place."
08:57 "Was she?"
08:57 "And the bean in the first place."
08:58 "Yes, she."
08:58 "And the reason why the bean was in the first place."
09:00 "Was your fault."
09:01 "Just watch and we'll show the world the reason."
09:03 "It was your fault."
09:03 Number 4.
09:07 Tonight, Quintet and Chorus, West Side Story.
09:10 "They're gonna get it tonight, the more they turn it on the harder they'll fall."
09:13 "Well they began it, well they began it, and we're the ones to stop and wonder for all."
09:20 All of the show's tensions, racial, sexual, and social, come together to close Act 1.
09:27 The Jets, the Sharks, Riff, Bernardo, Anita,
09:30 Tony, and Maria sing about their competing desires as the sun sets on New York City.
09:34 "Tonight, we're gonna rock it tonight."
09:38 "Tonight, we're gonna rock it tonight."
09:39 "We're gonna toss it tonight."
09:41 "Tonight, we're gonna party, we're gonna rock it tonight."
09:47 Tonight sends the characters careening toward each other,
09:50 and toward their individual destinies.
09:52 Singing over and under each other, often in counterpoint,
09:56 the song is a collision of sound, melody, and dramatic stakes.
09:59 Doing it as a solo piece might be interesting to watch,
10:02 especially if you're Cher and have access to cutting-edge TV special effects.
10:06 But would it hit the same as a solo piece?
10:09 The answer is absolutely not.
10:11 "The Sharks are gonna have their way. The Sharks are gonna have their way.
10:17 We're gonna rock it tonight. Tonight."
10:26 Number 3. Cell Block Tango, Chicago
10:29 "Six. Squish."
10:34 "Uh-uh."
10:36 "Cicero."
10:38 "Lipschitz."
10:40 Before there were six wives, there were six merry murderesses.
10:44 From its catchy pop-sick squish chant to its vigorous choreography,
10:48 the Cell Block Tango simply isn't the Cell Block Tango unless the whole band's together.
10:53 "So that night when he came home from work, I fixed him his drink, as usual.
10:57 You know, some guys just can't hold their arsenic."
11:03 "He had it coming."
11:05 Now, again, it doesn't mean we haven't tried to make this a solo number.
11:09 Unlike other songs on this list, the vocal parts are separated enough that you
11:14 could theoretically do the whole thing alone without passing out.
11:17 "They had it coming. They had it coming. They had it coming. They had it coming.
11:22 They took a fall along. I didn't do it. But if I'd done it,
11:27 I could get to me that I was wrong."
11:31 But robbed of the back and forth between the characters,
11:34 and the sisterly support for their allegedly justifiable homicides,
11:38 it just doesn't have the same impact.
11:40 Number 2. You Can't Stop the Beat - Hairspray.
12:00 The best musical Tony winner adapted from the 1988 John Waters cult classic
12:04 is a sugary and joyous ode to forward progress,
12:07 and the pastel-infused aesthetics of the 1960s.
12:10 The final number, You Can't Stop the Beat,
12:12 is an effervescent celebration of song, dance, and racial equality.
12:27 Those who can't keep up with the times are sure to be left behind,
12:31 and if you don't have the breath control required, you're gonna be left behind too.
12:34 This song may be upbeat, but it's also relentless.
12:42 Performers in the show once dubbed it "You Can't Stop to Breathe,"
12:45 and that's if you're just one among many.
12:48 To take on every single part would require lung capacity yet unheard of on a Broadway stage.
12:53 [Music]
13:08 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
13:13 On My Way - Violet.
13:14 Several passengers on a bus to Tulsa describe their reasons for taking the journey.
13:18 [Music]
13:34 It's Hot Up Here - Sunday in the Park with George.
13:37 Sondheim scores are tongue-twisting enough without all those overlapping lyrics.
13:42 [Music]
13:58 Easy Street - Annie.
14:00 Because it's the physical comedy that makes it great.
14:03 [Music]
14:18 Tradition - Fiddler on the Roof.
14:20 An ensemble number that wouldn't have nearly as much impact if it was a solo.
14:24 [Music]
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14:48 Number 1. One Day More - Les Miserables.
14:51 [Music]
15:03 The entire ensemble gathers to sing this stirring number that closes out the first act of this epic musical.
15:08 Les Mis has an ensemble so big, it's a wonder they can all fit on stage at the same time.
15:13 [Music]
15:27 But they do.
15:28 And as the characters face the uncertainty of the 1832 Paris uprising,
15:32 every narrative thread comes together in a melodic roar.
15:35 [Music]
15:49 It's an overwhelming experience just to watch.
15:52 If you try to sing it all yourself, you'd need an oxygen tank and probably six or seven clones.
15:58 Its individual vocal sections weave in and out,
16:01 so much so that you won't catch every strand the first time through.
16:04 [Music]
16:20 Which of these songs have you gone blue in the face trying to do on your own?
16:23 Let us know in the comments.
16:25 [Music]
16:33 Do you agree with our picks?
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16:42 [Music]