Love Songs: A Guide

Love stories are of course a key part of any great musical – and in turn a key part of romantic plotlines in musicals are great love songs! Today, following on from my list of the greatest examples, I’m going deeper into why we love love songs so much!

Romantic relationships have been at the centre of many, many stories since… well, forever! And musicals are no exception. In fact, in many shows it these kind of plotlines that get the audience invested in the story – so the songs that show these relationships are vital from a storytelling perspective.

As a result, getting the emotion of these songs right is vital, not only for that moment but for the story as a whole. Musically, most musical theatre love songs are ballads, which generally evoke greater emotion overall, allowing the audience to feel the character’s passion through their orchestral melodies and poetic lyrics.

There are of course exceptions to this rule, but generally love songs that go with a faster tempo are presented as fun and quirky and are a reflection of the relationship that they depict.

Both the narrative importance of love songs and their strong emotional appeal probably contribute to their prominence in so many shows. But one thing is certain – musical theatre wouldn’t be the same without them!