Top 10 Greatest Broadway Swan Songs

A lot goes down in the last few minutes of “Sweeney Todd.” The title barber learns that his wife, whom he thought dead, was alive the whole time, and he’s killed her. After dispatching his treacherous partner in crime in her own pie oven, Sweeney can only cradle his lost love’s body. As he reprises the first act number, “The Barber and His Wife,” he becomes victim to his own razor. This is the song that first spells out Sweeney’s motivations. He sings it once more when he realizes that his vengeance has destroyed the very person he was trying to avenge.

As far as deathbed songs go, this one is quite a ride. The delusional knight, Don Quixote, is flanked on either side by his faithful manservant, Sancho, and Aldonza, the woman he insisted on calling his lady. Trying to rouse him from his deathbed hallucinations, they play into his delusions, reminding him of his calling as a knight. With the help of his friends, the old man is able to remember his undying quest for chivalry and honor. Despite this last show of strength, he dies as he sings with his companions. It’s a sudden and heartbreaking end. In a way, it’s meaningful that he gets to go out as the hero and champion he believed he was.

This adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s “tragicomic” memoirs find the artist and writer reconciling with her father’s death. Her father Bruce’s last song in the show is a solo of growing desperation and panic. Soon after, we learn he deliberately walked into traffic, leaving only memories and unresolved questions behind. Much of the show’s power is derived from the Alison of today trying to intervene or change the events of the past, and finding she can’t. What makes this song so devastating is not just what happens after, but how she watches her father spinning out, unable to make sense out of his life, and can’t intervene. She can’t change the past. It’s only something she can look back on.

The dying Audrey realizes that her dreams of being “Somewhere That’s Green” can happen. Her last wish is for Seymour to feed her to the carnivorous plant that mortally wounded her. This ending is a lot more poetic and beautiful than it sounds out of context. “Somewhere That’s Green” is one of musical theater’s most beloved “I want” songs, but when it comes back around at the end of the show, it’s like a knife to the heart. It was so rough for test audiences of the 1986 film adaptation that the ending had to be changed before it was released. It’s also not the only swan song the movie dropped. Even the dentist’s swan song got the gas.

The estranged Alexander Hamilton and his wife Eliza join their son, Philip, after he is wounded in a duel. As they spend what will be their last few moments together as a family, the parents plead for their son to stay alive. With his last breaths, Philip can only apologize to his parents. Their voices are hushed, desperate, and weak with emotion and pain. What’s especially heartbreaking is what goes unspoken. Alexander’s guilt over his role in the situation goes unexpressed. Eliza, though still hurt over his infidelity, is too distraught to remember how angry she is. It all coalesces into one of the show’s most heartbreaking moments.

Years after their brief, but earth-shaking affair, Robert remembers Francesca fondly. His last song before his off-stage death is a confession that, despite having seen virtually every corner of the earth, the only experience of his life that means anything is his time with her. With its folk infusions, the song explodes into a powerful climax of music and feeling. Words become meaningless, giving way to soaring vocalizations that are downright spiritual. In a musical all about missed chances, fleeting opportunities, and impossible choices, it serves as the character’s acceptance that just those few days of happiness were worth a lifetime of everything else.

After his love is unjustly killed by the Secret Service, Coalhouse Walker Jr. and his comrades take a New York library hostage. Before walking out to what essentially acts as a police firing squad, Coalhouse tells his comrades that violence will get them nothing. If they want to fight, they must use their words. His change of heart, underscored by mournful horns, highlights one of the show’s most prevalent themes. Holding up stories of injustice makes them harder to ignore. It ensures that, in telling the story of America, the oppressed will not be forgotten.

Soon after we meet Angel, a drag performer, she falls in love with Collins, a professor. The two bond over their HIV-positive status. Angel’s death in the middle of act two is one of the show’s defining moments. Angel’s last appearance as a living member of the ensemble is a diva solo in the middle of the steamy number, “Contact.” Breaking through the cacophony of sex and breakups occuring on stage, she makes a searing plea that takes on a double meaning considering the context. The presentation of her actual death varies from production to production, but it always brings the action to a heart-thumping stop.

The Witch gets points for the most stylish exit, but this one’s a real shocker. The Baker’s Wife, having dabbled in a little unexpected extramarital activity with a prince, ruminates hilariously on her life and the choices to be made in it. Her realization, that having had the option for something else suddenly makes her real life all the more dear to her, is the kind of complexity and humor Stephen Sondheim was known for. The Baker’s Wife is just making peace with her life as it is. The fact that she’s stomped on by the giant immediately afterward is a devastating and ironic counterpoint.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

“Judas’ Death,” “Jesus Christ Superstar”
Overcome with Guilt Over His Betrayal, Judas Curses God & Ends His Torment

“How Glory Goes,” “Floyd Collins”
Trapped in a Cave, an Adventurer Accepts His Impending Death

“Tell Her I Love Her,” “Urinetown”
A Ghost Sings Words of Comfort

“Eva’s Final Broadcast,” “Evita”
Eva Perón Says Goodbye to Argentina

“Roses at the Station,” “Grand Hotel”
Fatally Wounded, the Baron Dreams of the Woman He’ll Never See Again

There might be more swan songs in “Les Misérables” than any other musical. Everyone gets their moment to suffer to a melody. Fantine’s song to her daughter broke our hearts in the first act. The finale, where the ghosts of the entire cast sing Jean Valjean to the afterlife, is a tearjerker for sure. But the one that feels most painful and urgent is the swan song of Éponine. Having been shot in the firefight at the barricade, Éponine grows weak in Marius’ arms. Their short, sweet duet, “A Little Fall of Rain,” is in some ways, her happiest moment. It’s the only time she’ll ever get to be in the arms of the man she loves, and somehow, that’s okay.

Did any of these songs have you reaching for tissues? Let us know in the comments.