Features

Eden Espinosa: My top 10 Rodgers & Hammerstein songs

Broadway star Eden Espinosa kicks off the WhatsOnStage Awards Launch Party this Friday 6 December with a performance of Rodgers & Hammerstein “There’s Music in You”. The song, which features in the current Broadway production of R&H’s ”Cinderella”, has been specially chosen as a tribute to the West End musical nominees gathered in the room. Espinosa is in London this month to headline the ”Christmas in New York” concert at the Palace Theatre on 9 December. Here, she runs us through her other favourite R&H showtunes

Guest Contributor

| London | London's West End | Off-West End |

3 December 2013

1. "Edelweiss" – The Sound of Music
I grew up watching The Sound of Music movie. The moment when Captain Von Trapp sings "Edelweiss" with his guitar was a moment I always loved, even as a child. I even remember singing this song in the shower when I was very young! It’s so beautiful.

2. "Hello Young Lovers" – The King and I
I first learned this song in High School for some singing “Valentine Grams”. People would pay for a song and we would go to different classes and sing this song acapella.

3. "Love Look Away" – Flower Drum Song
I wasn’t ever really familiar with Flower Drum Song until some of my friends were cast in the revival on Broadway with Lea Salonga. I remember being invited to the last run-through before they moved into the theatre, and hearing Lea sing this gorgeous song, alone in the middle of a room, with no mic and just piano. I had tears streaming down my face.

4. "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" – Oklahoma!
I love this song as the opening to Oklahoma!. I played Laurie my senior year in high school. But even now the sentiment of this song is so beautifully positive and optimistic.

5. "Some Enchanted Evening" – South Pacific
I have been enchanted by this song for so long and will continue to be for the rest of my life. The lyrics, the music, but most of all the imagery that it creates is just perfection.

R&H Theatricals Europe, which opened its London headquarters last year, is a sponsor of the 2014 WhatsOnStage Awards

6. "The Sound of Music" – The Sound of Music
“The hills are alive with the sound of music”… I mean COME ON!!! It doesn’t get much better than that. They don’t write 'em like they used to. The iconic opening scene to this movie, the gorgeous voice of Julie Andrews, and this SONG! I love it.

7. "Something Good" – The Sound of Music
I think at some point in our lives we have felt as if something is too good to be true. Or I must’ve done something right in order to be blessed with what is being given to me. This song is just so beautifully written. I can relate to it on many levels.

8. "A Lovely Night" – Cinderella
I listed this as one of my faves because every time I hear it, I will be singing it non-stop for quite some time after. I love the melody and I loved the TV special that was done in the Sixties with Leslie Ann Warren.

9. "Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?" – Cinderella
People say that love is blind. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I love that this song touches on the question: are you really as wonderful or beautiful as I think you are? Or is it because I love you that I see you differently than other people would? It’s very human and real.

10. "You'll Never Walk Alone" – Carousel
This song has really touched my heart many times in my life. I love the message.