Do you have the belt for these Broadway songs? Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the best Broadway songs that make you want to scream along.
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00:00 [Music]
00:10 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the best Broadway songs that make you want to scream along.
00:17 Note, we're allowing off-Broadway to be a part of the conversation this time around.
00:21 [Music]
00:31 Number 20. I Can't Do It Alone, Chicago
00:35 [Music]
00:43 And now, Ms. Velma Kelly in an act of desperation.
00:46 There might not be too many words to belt in I Can't Do It Alone, but the words that are there?
00:51 Well, we just want to scream them.
00:53 [Music]
00:58 In Chicago, Velma sings I Can't Do It Alone to Roxy as a gambit to try and convince her to team up for a double act.
01:04 She uses dance moves, jazz hands, and everything in her arsenal to get Roxy on her side,
01:10 including a brassy, belty tone that we love to emulate.
01:13 [Music]
01:22 Now what do you think?
01:23 [Applause]
01:25 Velma might not have succeeded in getting Roxy to agree, but she sure convinced us.
01:30 [Music]
01:37 Number 19. Show Off, The Drowsy Chaperone
01:41 [Music]
01:51 By 2006, Sutton Foster had already made her name as a grade A belter on Broadway.
01:56 Some of her most famous belting numbers came before, such as Gimme Gimme from Thoroughly Modern Millie,
02:01 [Music]
02:16 Some came after, like I Know It's Today in Shrek the Musical.
02:19 [Music]
02:27 But none of them quite reached the heights of show off in The Drowsy Chaperone.
02:31 [Music]
02:39 Foster plays the role of Janet, a Broadway star who's giving it all up for marriage.
02:44 She sings show off about how she's fine with not being an actress anymore,
02:48 but ends up belting her way through a big, raucous Broadway showstopper.
02:52 [Music]
02:54 Number 18. Diva's Lament, Whatever Happened to My Part, Spamalot
02:59 [Music]
03:08 We all love a good diva number, especially when that diva gets to belt a little.
03:12 But the best part about belting along to this song from Spamalot is how much room there is to play.
03:17 [Music]
03:26 Diva's Lament, Whatever Happened to My Part, is sung by the Lady of the Lake,
03:30 a famous figure of Camelot mythology.
03:32 The lady has quite a bit to do in the first act of the show,
03:35 but quietly disappears for a moment in the second, until she comes back with a bang.
03:40 [Music]
03:51 This song is not only hilarious, but has all the hallmarks of a great belty show tune.
03:56 After all, who hasn't felt like they've been pushed to the wayside every now and then?
04:00 [Music]
04:17 Number 17. The Winner Takes It All, Mamma Mia
04:21 [Music]
04:27 We know, we know, but even though The Winner Takes It All is an ABBA song first and foremost,
04:33 its appearance in Mamma Mia makes it count.
04:35 [Music]
04:47 And if you haven't tried belting this one out at karaoke before, what are you waiting for?
04:52 In the musical, Donna sings the song to Sam,
04:54 lamenting the fact that she found out he was engaged after falling in love with him.
04:58 [Music]
05:12 But even divorced from context, the heartbreak in The Winner Takes It All somehow makes us want to jump around for joy.
05:18 It's just so dramatic, like Meryl Streep sings it on a cliff sort of dramatic.
05:22 How could you not want to sing along?
05:24 [Music]
05:34 Number 16. I Know Where I've Been, Hairspray
05:38 [Music]
05:45 Hairspray is one of the most sparkling, poppy musicals of the past few decades,
05:49 but this roof-raiser of a number is a bit different than you might expect.
05:53 I Know Where I've Been is a protest song sung by Motormouth Maybel,
05:56 becoming an anthem for equality for the black characters in the show.
05:59 [Music]
06:16 It's a bit of an odd choice structure-wise.
06:18 Maybel is not the main character,
06:20 and the song is a bit more somber than your usual showstopper that might go in this spot,
06:24 but the depth of emotion in I Know Where I've Been makes us want to stand up and sing every single time.
06:30 [Music]
06:41 Number 15. Changing My Major, Fun Home
06:45 [Music]
06:54 Despite its name, Fun Home is a musical with quite a lot of sadness over its runtime,
06:59 but one of its most fun and decidedly not-sad songs is Changing My Major.
07:03 [Music]
07:17 Our main character, Allison, sings this tune early in her college career after sleeping with a woman for the first time.
07:23 The experience with Joan helped Allison figure out her sexuality,
07:26 and in the wee hours of the morning, she shouts her thanks to the heavens.
07:30 "We'll live on sex alone. Sex with Joan!"
07:36 Feeling in love for the first time, Allison playfully jokes,
07:39 or is it a joke, that she's going to change her major to Joan?
07:43 The song has plenty of high notes to belt to the sky,
07:46 and the happiness only makes it that much more fun.
07:49 [Music]
08:03 Number 14. Goodbye, Catch Me If You Can
08:06 [Music]
08:14 If you had to pick your favorite boy belter,
08:16 we're willing to bet a lot of you would go with Aaron Tveit.
08:19 Whether he's holding down the harmony in Superboy and the Invisible Girl,
08:22 or melting our faces off with El Tango de Roxanne,
08:26 he just has the juice.
08:28 [Music]
08:35 But nothing quite takes our breath away like Goodbye.
08:38 The song comes near the end of the musical Catch Me If You Can,
08:41 and what an impression it makes.
08:43 [Music]
08:56 Tveit's character, a con man, finally gives himself up to the FBI,
09:00 but not without going out in style.
09:02 Goodbye has literally never sounded so sweet.
09:05 [Music]
09:13 Number 13. Dogfight
09:15 [Music]
09:26 Belt, but make it dark.
09:28 That's exactly what Anna Lee Ashford did in 2012's off-Broadway production of Dogfight.
09:32 And while we probably, definitely can't do it as well as her,
09:36 by golly we like to try.
09:38 [Music]
09:45 Dogfight is a somber, darkly funny musical about a group of marines
09:49 last night before they ship out to Vietnam.
09:51 They decide to throw a dogfight,
09:53 or a competition where they see who can bring the ugliest date.
09:56 The titular song comes when one of the dates tells the main character Rose the truth
10:00 about what she's been roped into.
10:01 This song is angry and biting, making it a blast to belt.
10:05 [Music]
10:16 Number 12. Agony, Into the Woods
10:18 [Music]
10:28 Stephen Sondheim wrote a ton of songs over his long, illustrious career.
10:32 But one of his most dramatic, funniest contributions might be Agony.
10:36 This tune from Into the Woods is sung by Cinderella and Rapunzel's princes,
10:39 as they ponder the reasons why they can't be with their true loves.
10:43 [Music]
10:49 That might sound quite sweet,
10:51 but the cleverness of the song comes from its pomposity and arrogance.
10:54 The men boast about their charms,
10:56 questioning to whoever might listen how in the world these women could say no to them.
11:01 [Music]
11:07 And who doesn't like to belt when they're bragging about themselves?
11:10 [Music]
11:22 Number 11. Moving Too Fast, The Last Five Years
11:25 [Music]
11:30 There usually aren't too many instruments involved in productions of The Last Five Years,
11:34 but that doesn't stop this belting number from filling up the whole stage.
11:38 [Music]
11:47 Moving Too Fast starts big and ends big,
11:50 taking off for the fences and never stopping.
11:52 At the beginning of the song, Jamie has just received his first book deal
11:56 and spends the rest of the song marveling at how well his life is going so far.
12:00 [Music]
12:10 The song pushes the envelope, getting more and more energized
12:13 as it forces the performer to belt their heart out.
12:16 [Music]
12:24 Also, we pray for the pianist following it.
12:27 Number 10. A Step Too Far, Aida
12:30 [Music]
12:37 When Elton John is writing your music, you can expect some belts in your future.
12:41 Diva writes as Diva does, after all.
12:43 Aida has so many delicious numbers to belt.
12:46 Not least of all, the melancholy "I Know The Truth," sung by Princess Amneris.
12:50 [Music]
13:01 But why just have one belter when you can have three?
13:03 A Step Too Far features Amneris, Prince Radames, and Aida herself
13:07 all lamenting their love together.
13:09 We've never heard a trio quite like this before,
13:12 particularly one with such give and take.
13:14 [Music]
13:24 When one singer stops belting, another one begins, keeping the cycle going.
13:28 [Music]
13:39 Number 9. On My Own, Les Miserables
13:42 [Music]
13:50 We couldn't get out of a list about belting without mentioning Les Miserables.
13:54 There are so many wonderful examples of belts throughout this musical.
13:57 However, only one can win, and there's no number that gets us screaming
14:01 at the top of our lungs quite like On My Own.
14:04 [Music]
14:14 This song has become an instantly recognizable classic over the years,
14:17 thanks to the likes of marvelous belters like Lea Salonga,
14:20 or even Rachel Berry on Glee.
14:22 [Music]
14:30 For us theater kids out there, it's one of the first songs you learn to belt.
14:33 [Music]
14:46 You might even learn it before you really know what belting is.
14:49 It's that ingrained into the culture.
14:51 [Music]
15:01 Number 8. I Believe, The Book of Mormon
15:04 [Music]
15:16 Take us to church, Elder Price.
15:18 Whether you're religious or not, faith-based music can have a kind of
15:21 hypnotic quality about it.
15:23 And in The Book of Mormon, Elder Price sure ensnared us
15:26 with his rousing rendition of I Believe.
15:28 [Music]
15:36 In all seriousness, the song is a silly, satirical tune about the hypocrisies
15:40 of the Mormon religion.
15:41 But even so, there's something strangely earnest about I Believe.
15:44 And when you have the right singer performing the song,
15:47 those notes come out sharp and clear as a bell.
15:50 You might feel compelled to put your hands in the air and sing along,
15:53 no matter who you are.
15:54 [Music]
16:09 Number 7. Back to Before, Ragtime
16:12 [Music]
16:19 There have been plenty of wonderful singers throughout Broadway's history,
16:22 but few have been quite as beloved as Maren Maisey.
16:25 One of Maisey's signature roles before she sadly passed away
16:28 was Mother in 1998's Ragtime.
16:31 Your mileage may vary on Ragtime as a production,
16:34 but it's hard to quibble with its score.
16:36 [Music]
16:50 And one of the songs Mother sings that rings the truest is Back to Before.
16:54 The song is about coming to terms with the fact that you can't return
16:57 to the way things were, and you have to move forward.
17:00 [Music]
17:08 The strength of emotion is only surpassed by the strength of the belt required.
17:13 [Music]
17:31 Number 6. Burn, Hamilton
17:34 [Music]
17:39 This is a belt with a little bit of buildup.
17:42 Hamilton has a plethora of wonderful songs for women.
17:45 We'd be remiss if we didn't mention Satisfied.
17:47 [Music]
17:55 But we can't get over how much we adore belting the end of Burn.
17:58 [Music]
18:06 Sung by Eliza after finding out that Hamilton has had an affair,
18:09 Burn begins rather quietly.
18:11 As the song goes on, and as Eliza's hurt and anger become more potent,
18:16 the singer has to throw all of that rage into their voice.
18:19 [Music]
18:30 By the time you make it to the end, you're belting out all of your emotion
18:33 before putting it back for that final haunting note.
18:36 [Music]
18:44 Number 5. Suddenly Seymour, Little Shop of Horrors
18:48 [Music]
19:02 Belting alone is fun, but doing it with someone you love is so much better.
19:07 And nobody could write a belty duet quite like Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.
19:11 In Little Shop of Horrors, Audrey and Seymour sing Suddenly Seymour
19:15 when they finally admit that they have feelings for each other.
19:17 [Music]
19:27 The solo verses and choruses are fun by themselves, but nothing beats the end.
19:32 The music crescendos into a gorgeously orchestrated moment
19:35 shared by both Audrey and Seymour,
19:37 belts combining to make a perfect theater melody.
19:40 Do yourself a favor and find someone you love to belt this with you.
19:43 [Music]
19:59 Number 4. Dead Girl Walking, Heather's The Musical
20:02 [Music]
20:09 If we're being honest, we never would have really equated belting with sex noises on our own.
20:14 But you know what? We didn't have to.
20:16 Heather's The Musical did it for us.
20:18 [Music]
20:29 Just like the 1989 film before it,
20:31 Heather's The Musical is a darkly comic, campy masterpiece.
20:35 Dead Girl Walking might be the campiest, most masterful song of all.
20:39 [Music]
20:49 Veronica starts singing alone, but is then joined by JD as the two start to have sex.
20:54 The song rises to its climax during the outro,
20:56 as the two performers must start simulating intercourse
20:59 while making their moans and groans sound as on pitch as possible.
21:03 That final note from Veronica? It's orgasmic.
21:06 [Music]
21:12 Number 3. She Used To Be Mine, Waitress
21:15 [Music]
21:31 When She Used To Be Mine from Waitress starts,
21:33 it doesn't really feel like you're gearing up for a belting number.
21:36 Jenna, who is pregnant, sings it alone on stage
21:39 just after her abusive husband has taken all the money she was saving to run away.
21:43 [Music]
21:54 The first verse and chorus are somber, mostly sung in a mix or head voice.
21:58 But as soon as the second verse starts, you can feel a sense of anger and longing
22:02 begin to take hold of that sadness.
22:04 The emotion powers the singer's voice,
22:06 and it makes the audience want to sing along with them.
22:09 [Music]
22:18 Number 2. Defying Gravity, Wicked
22:21 [Music]
22:30 Wicked is a show that was literally made for belters.
22:33 Hello, Idina Menzel.
22:34 There are so many songs we could have chosen,
22:37 like No Good Deed or The Wizard and I.
22:39 [Music]
22:49 For Wicked, though, we decided to stick with the classic choice.
22:52 Defying Gravity is probably the most famous song from this 2003 musical,
22:57 and without a doubt, one of the most famous first act closers of all time.
23:01 [Music]
23:13 If you've ever seen this musical live,
23:15 you know just how hard it is to keep your mouth shut as Elphaba rises into the sky
23:19 to sing the song's final notes.
23:21 If you start to belt along, really, who could blame you?
23:24 [Music]
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23:59 Number 1. And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going, Dreamgirls
24:03 [Music]
24:14 So many famous belters have taken on this song in the past.
24:17 Jennifer Holliday, Jennifer Hudson, Amber Riley.
24:20 But if you were to count the number of wannabe belters who have sung along with this on the radio,
24:25 or tried their hand with it at karaoke, the list would be endless.
24:29 And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going is the most famous song from the musical Dreamgirls.
24:33 [Music]
24:46 It's almost cliched to say that at this point.
24:48 But when you listen to the song, you immediately know why it's true.
24:52 This is the type of song that might as well have invented belting.
24:55 The type of song that was meant to be sung at the top of your lungs.
24:58 [Singing]
25:09 If we missed any of your favorite belters, let us know in the comments below.
25:13 [Singing]
25:27 Do you agree with our picks?
25:28 Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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25:36 [Music]