In the network’s biggest ever celebration of musical theatre, Radio 2 listeners have voted ‘One Day More’ from Les Misérables as the nation’s all-time favourite song from a musical.
The Top 20 were broadcast today (31 January 2021) within the station’s flagship musical theatre programme Elaine Paige on Sunday (1-3pm) during a very special weekend of programming – Radio 2 Celebrates Musicals.
The Top 20 is:
| 1 | ‘One Day More’ (Les Misérables) |
| 2 | ‘Bring Him Home’ (Les Misérables) |
| 3 | ‘Defying Gravity’ (Wicked) |
| 4 | ‘This Is Me’ (The Greatest Showman) |
| 5 | ‘Over The Rainbow’ (The Wizard Of Oz) |
| 6 | ‘Singin’ In The Rain’ (Singin’ In The Rain) |
| 7 | ‘Circle Of Life’ (The Lion King) |
| 8 | ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’ (Evita) |
| 9 | ‘Somewhere’ (West Side Story) |
| 10 | ‘America’ (West Side Story) |
| 11 | ‘Memory’ (Cats) |
| 12 | ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’ (Hairspray) |
| 13 | ’Summertime’ (Porgy and Bess) |
| 14 | ‘Alexander Hamilton’ (Hamilton) |
| 15 | ‘All That Jazz’ (Chicago) |
| 16 | ‘Gethsemane’ (Jesus Christ Superstar) |
| 17 | ‘You Will Be Found’ (Dear Evan Hansen) |
| 18 | ‘The Room Where It Happens’ (Hamilton) |
| 19 | ‘Send In The Clowns’ (A Little Night Music) |
| 20 | ‘Seasons Of Love’ (Rent) |
Picture: Matt Murphy
On hearing it had been voted the number song, talking to Elaine Paige, Alfie Boe – who has played the role of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables – said:
“My goodness, that’s amazing. Thank you to everyone who voted for Les Mis in this wonderful Radio 2 chart. It’s so special to me to be a part of the show and to everyone who’s ever worked on it. The music will never die, the story is so strong, the characters are unique.
“Valjean is so close to my heart and it’s an honour to play him in this wonderful piece of music. ‘One Day More’ is probably one of the biggest highlights of the show and it resonates to everybody who sings it on stage as a unified piece of music; and in this present day that we’re living during this pandemic we are unified as a nation, we are unified as a world, we are adapting as a world, we are adapting as human beings, and this song resonates so much with the present situation that we’re in. Hopefully we’ll see theatres back open really soon and we’ll all be able to enjoy live music, live performances once again.”
Elaine Paige added: “I hope my Elaine Paige on Sunday listeners enjoyed today’s countdown. What an honour to present such an iconic list of classic songs. I’m sure, like me, you can’t wait to return to the theatre to see the magic of musicals live once again!”
Helen Thomas, Head of Radio 2, commented: “I’m hugely proud of the commitment that Radio 2 has given to shining a light on musical theatre at this difficult time. Radio 2 Celebrates Musicals has been a joy from start to finish, from Zoe Ball’s singalong on Friday morning, through to today’s chart, and tonight’s Musicals: The Greatest Show from the London Palladium. The Top 20 includes songs from the past 80 years of glorious productions, proving that the appeal of musical theatre remains as strong as ever.”
Listeners took their pick from a long list of 50 classics spanning nine decades, and cast their vote via the Radio 2 website. The shortlist was created by an esteemed panel of musicals experts, including American musical theatre actor Marisha Wallace, Baz Bamigboye (Daily Mail), Sita McIntosh (WhatsOnStage) and Elaine Paige.
Musicals: The Greatest Show
With venues currently closed around the UK, Musicals: The Greatest Show is a celebration of the nation’s favourite songs and performers from the world of musical theatre. Hosted on radio and television by multi-award winning performer Sheridan Smith, it puts the songs, the shows, and the stars back onstage at the London Palladium.
It will be broadcast from 7-9pm tonight (31 January 2021) on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds, on BBC1 on 7 February at 7.40-9pm, and available on BBC iPlayer for a year after the broadcast.
Highlights of Musicals: The Greatest Show – some exclusively for the Radio 2 broadcast – include:
- Elaine Paige in conversation with Idina Menzel from Los Angeles
- Amanda Holden and Sheridan Smith perform ‘I Know Him So Well’ from Chess. The song, originally performed by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson, reached Number 1 in the UK Pop Charts in 1985 remains the best-selling song by a female duo.
- Nicole Scherzinger with ‘Never Enough’ from The Greatest Showman – with her performance recorded in Los Angeles.
- Exclusively for Radio 2, Josh Groban sings ‘The Impossible Dream’ from Man Of La Mancha – with his vocal performance recorded in Los Angeles.
- Exclusively for Radio 2, Elaine Paige with Sunset Boulevard’s ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye’; Paige made her Broadway debut in Sunset Boulevard in 1996.
- Gavin Spokes, from the West End production of Hamilton, performs ‘You’ll Be Back’.
- Michael Ball performs ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’ from Hairspray.
- Sheridan Smith performs ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ from Funny Girl.
- An exclusive first performance by Ivano Turco of ‘Only You, Lonely You’ from Cinderella (which is due to open in London in 2021).
- The cast of Six The Musical performing ‘Six’.
- Ramin Karimloo sings ‘The Music of the Night’ from The Phantom of the Opera.
- The three West End lead actors of Mamma Mia! perform ‘Dancing Queen’.
- Aisha Jawando of the West End production of Tina, The Tina Turner Musical performs ‘The Best’.
- Lea Salonga performs ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ from Les Misérables – with her performance recorded in Manila.
- Layton Williams of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie performs ‘The Wall In My Head’.
- Sam Tutty sings ‘You Will Be Found’ from Dear Evan Hansen, alongside members of the West End cast.
- Nicole Raquel Dennis of Dreamgirls with ‘And I Am Telling You’.
- Kerry Ellis sings ‘Defying Gravity’ from Wicked.
- Exclusively for Radio 2, Christine Allado and Alexia Khadime perform the Oscar-winning song ‘When You Believe’ from The Prince Of Egypt.
- Jac Yarrow, with the public, performing ‘Any Dream Will Do’ from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
BBC Four is also celebrating musical theatre with a number of programmes, including:
Sunday 31 January
22.00 – West Side Stories – The Making of a Classic
23.00 – Imagine… Cameron Mackintosh: The Musical Man
Sunday 7 February
21.00 – Imagine – Andrew Lloyd Webber: Memories
22.30 – Les Mis at 25: Matt Lucas Dreams the Dream
23.30 – Sings Musicals…
BBC iPlayer has Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, the documentary following the story of teenager Jamie Campbell who wants to be a drag queen and which led to the creation of the West End musical, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie; plus Golden Globe, Primetime Emmy and Writers Guild of America Award-winning Fosse/Verdon, an eight-part series starring Sam Rockwell as musical director and choreographer Bob Fosse and Michelle Williams as Broadway and screen dancer Gwen Verdon.
There are also the following musical films available to watch on BBC iPlayer, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Top Hat, The Sky’s the Limit and A Damsel in Distress, The Gay Divorcee and Carefree.
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