Every year I like to mull this one over. Of course, the category of Best Score invalidates any need for an award for Best Song, but it's still fun to look at the best new songs that have been added to the Broadway canon and try to pick those that might be nominated if the category existed.

Though all of the nominees could probably be from Next to Normal - and maybe one from Billy Elliot, let's first go the diplomatic route and pick one song from each of the nominated scores.

Billy Elliot - Though I'm sure some would say "Electricity" is their favorite, as it comes at the climax and is reasonably tuneful, for me there's no contest: "The Letter" is easily the prettiest and best song in the show. Listen and try not to sniffle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...eOMY&feature=related

Next to Normal - There's two songs in this rich score that stand out above the rest: "I Am the One" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...6hsI&feature=related and "I'm Alive" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...U4PY&feature=related ballad and uptempo respectively. Though both songs are better than any of those from these other shows, if we're going for one per show for this little game, I think ultimately the emotional pull of "I Am the One" wins. But I might be wrong. Tell me what you think!

9 to 5: The Musical - I think there's really no contest, here. "Get Out and Stay Out" is by far the best new tune Dolly wrote for this show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phs3oYhaQ-M

Shrek The Musical - I suppose to go-to here might be Shrek self-assertion ballad "Who I'd Be", but really the best song in the show is Princess Fiona's "I Know It's Today": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...next_from=PL&index=3

Thoughts?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: R2684,

I am actually not crazy about Billy Elliot's score. Next to Normal, on the other hand has one of the most poignant and heart wrench scores in years. I particularly love Superboy and the Invisible Girl as well as I Missed the Mountains.

Don't you dare forget [title of show]. There are only two songs I can think of that really stick with me: "Two Nobodies in New York" and "Die, Vampire, Die!" The first one is introductory, but really has some witty self-referential tricks. It's the latter that uses metaphor to illustrate the naysayers that bring you down. I'm going with Die, Vampire, Die!.

I certainly would have preferred [tos] score to be nodded over Shrek's (what a disappointment after Tesori's effort for Caroline or Change).

Die Vampire, Die is a clever song and definitely does mean something to anyone who's ever endeavored to try something despite the negative voices in their head, particularly in the theater.

I also really like Nine People's Favorite Thing, or rather the sentiment behind it, perhaps; and though it's light fare compared to the others, Secondary Characters really is the most tuneful song in the show and most of the basis for my Heidi Blickenstaff prediction for Featured Actress in a Musical, which didn't happen.

[tos] definitely deserved better than a nod for Best Book of a Musical, but oh well. They'd rather be nine people's favorite thing than a hundred people's ninth favorite thing, anyway.