(To read original post, click here: https://themighty.com/2018/01/show-tunes-musicals-that-help-battle-depression/)
As a nation, we are currently divided by many different issues. One thing that I think many can agree on is that music is great for the soul. Whether it be an epic playlist that prepares you for a big day or a mellow, folk album on a rainy day, there is a song, album, and/or playlist for every type of mood, day, and person. I am very eccentric in my taste in music, but one genre of music that never fails to move me is Broadway show tunes.
Musical theatre has helped me in so many ways. I have been performing for over a decade and it has been one of my greatest forms of therapy. With all that being said, here are ten more showtunes that help me battle depression.
As a nation, we are currently divided by many different issues. One thing that I think many can agree on is that music is great for the soul. Whether it be an epic playlist that prepares you for a big day or a mellow, folk album on a rainy day, there is a song, album, and/or playlist for every type of mood, day, and person. I am very eccentric in my taste in music, but one genre of music that never fails to move me is Broadway show tunes.
Musical theatre has helped me in so many ways. I have been performing for over a decade and it has been one of my greatest forms of therapy. With all that being said, here are ten more showtunes that help me battle depression.
1. "No One is Alone" from Into the Woods
I am not the hugest Stephen Sondheim fan (Into the Woods, Sweeny Todd, Follies, Company, etc.) but this song is so important. This is the final song of the show, after the giant had attacked the village and killed many, including The Baker’s Wife and the families of Little Red and Jack. Cinderella finds that her Prince is unfaithful and decides to return to her life in rags. The Baker is left alone to raise his newborn son and finds himself consoling Jack, while Cinderella is consoling Little Red.
“Just remember
Someone is on your side (Our side)
Our side
Someone else is not
While we're seeing our side (Our side)
Our side
Maybe we forgot, they are not alone
No one is alone
Someone is on your side
No one is alone
“Just remember
Someone is on your side (Our side)
Our side
Someone else is not
While we're seeing our side (Our side)
Our side
Maybe we forgot, they are not alone
No one is alone
Someone is on your side
No one is alone
2. "Wait for It" from Hamilton: An American Musical
Hamilton is a musical that took everyone by storm. I am such a huge fan of this musical and could (and have) dedicate an entire blog post on Hamilton. In this song, antagonist Aaron Burr questions his purpose on earth, despite almost everyone he loves having either left his side or died.
“Love doesn't discriminate
between the sinners
and the saints,
it takes and it takes and it takes
and we keep loving anyway.
We laugh and we cry
and we break
and we make our mistakes.
And if there's a reason I'm by her side
when so many have tried
then I'm willing to wait for it.
I'm willing to wait for it.”
“Love doesn't discriminate
between the sinners
and the saints,
it takes and it takes and it takes
and we keep loving anyway.
We laugh and we cry
and we break
and we make our mistakes.
And if there's a reason I'm by her side
when so many have tried
then I'm willing to wait for it.
I'm willing to wait for it.”
3. "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" from The Phantom of the Opera
Phantom has been one of my all-time favorite musicals. It is what motivated me to learn some opera pieces with my voice teachers overtime, because someday I would love to play the iconic role of Christine Daae. This song relates more to grief, in my opinion, but grief is even worse when one has depression. Christine is at the grave of her father and she is using the time there to try and move on from his death.
“Wishing you were
Somehow here again
Knowing we must
Say goodbye
Try to forgive
Teach me to live
Give me the strength
To try
No more memories
No more silent tears
No more gazing across
The wasted years
Help me say
Goodbye”
“Wishing you were
Somehow here again
Knowing we must
Say goodbye
Try to forgive
Teach me to live
Give me the strength
To try
No more memories
No more silent tears
No more gazing across
The wasted years
Help me say
Goodbye”
4. "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from Les Miserables
Les Miz is all about the French Revolution. This song serves as the rally cry for those who are wishing to fight for their rights as the French government becomes stricter and harder for those who live in poverty.
“Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the songs of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
“Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the songs of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
5. "Some Kinda Time" from Dogfight
Dogfight is a lesser known musical that was never on Broadway, but it was created by a familiar duo called Pasek & Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, The Greatest Showman). The song is sung among Marine buddies who are gearing up for one last night of fun before they ship out. It has an exciting beat to it.
“A band of brothers you've been given,
Pride you never thought you'd feel
The sh*tty life that you were living
Barely seems like it was real
Cause when it gets rough,
Your buddies will pull you
Right through
You get that and more when you join the corps
You're in store for some kinda time”
“A band of brothers you've been given,
Pride you never thought you'd feel
The sh*tty life that you were living
Barely seems like it was real
Cause when it gets rough,
Your buddies will pull you
Right through
You get that and more when you join the corps
You're in store for some kinda time”
6. "Seasons of Love" from Rent
Rent has been around for twenty years and there is no sign of it stopping or it becoming less of a classic that it is. The story follows eight adult friends living poorly as artists in New York with most of them dealing with HIV/AIDS. The song is one of the most well-known showtunes of all time.
“How do you measure,
Measure a year?
In daylights?
In sunsets?
In midnights?
In cups of coffee?
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife?
In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.
How do you measure a year in a life?
How about love?”
“How do you measure,
Measure a year?
In daylights?
In sunsets?
In midnights?
In cups of coffee?
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife?
In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.
How do you measure a year in a life?
How about love?”
7. "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray
This song is such a great confidence booster. It is such an exciting song that brings everyone in the show, friends and enemies alike, together.
“Oh oh oh
You can't stop today
As it comes speeding down the track,
Child, yesterday is history
And it's never coming back
'Cause tomorrow is a brand new day
And it don't know white from black
'Cause the world keeps spinning
'Round and 'round
And my heart's keeping time
To the speed of sound
I was lost ‘til I heard the drums
Then I found my way…
“Oh oh oh
You can't stop today
As it comes speeding down the track,
Child, yesterday is history
And it's never coming back
'Cause tomorrow is a brand new day
And it don't know white from black
'Cause the world keeps spinning
'Round and 'round
And my heart's keeping time
To the speed of sound
I was lost ‘til I heard the drums
Then I found my way…
8. "Come Alive" from The Greatest Showman
I think many of us can agree that The Greatest Showman was one of the greatest movies of 2017. It celebrates the outcasts, the misfits, and it makes them feel wanted. I connected so deeply to this movie. The song, “Come Alive” is the beginning of everything coming together and celebrating the people who are making it happen.
“Come alive, come alive
Go and ride your light
Let it burn so bright
Reaching up
To the sky
And it's open wide
You're electrified”
“Come alive, come alive
Go and ride your light
Let it burn so bright
Reaching up
To the sky
And it's open wide
You're electrified”
9. "This Is Me" from The Greatest Showman
Like I said before about The Greatest Showman, it was one of the best movies of 2017. The anthem of the movie goes to this song. It was even nominated for an Oscar this year. The song resonates with me as someone with my own personal scars and battles I’ve fought.
“When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me”
“When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me”
10. "Disappear" from Dear Evan Hansen
Another tune from the great Pasek & Paul, the musical Dear Evan Hansen is about a teen with social anxiety who attaches himself to the memory of a classmate named Connor who committed suicide and dedicates himself to keeping Connor’s memory alive. Although the two were not friends, he tries his best to convince the community (as well as the teen’s sister and parents) that they were. Despite that, the show deals with mental illness entirely and has some awesome moments. The song is sung by dead Connor to Evan, encouraging Evan to keep his memory alive.
“No one deserves to be forgotten
No one deserves to fade away
No one should come and go
And have no one know he was ever even here
No one deserves to disappear
To disappear
Disappear
“No one deserves to be forgotten
No one deserves to fade away
No one should come and go
And have no one know he was ever even here
No one deserves to disappear
To disappear
Disappear
I hope that these songs help someone who may be having a bad day. Music is one of my go-to forms of therapy that really helps. I love theatre and I love these songs.