(That's not a hit against the Oklahoma! revival which I haven't seen yet, but I hear is fantastic but against its original material. I'm sure they've managed to make it compelling!)
When I started making this list, I realized that love triangles abound in musical theatre through the ages: Passion, Wicked, Miss Saigon, The Sound of Music, The Pirate Queen, Follies, Fiddler on the Roof, and even Frozen just to name a handful. Of course, the love triangle trope appears in lots of media but I think that there's something about it that lends itself well to beautiful duets and trios. Narrowing down my favorites was difficult, but here are my top five love triangles in a musical.
Aida, Radames, and Amneris in Aida
Aida is definitely an under-appreciated musical, especially for its gorgeous duets and three and four part songs. Radames, though betrothed to the royal Amneris, finds himself falling in love with the captured Nubian princess Aida who has been given to Amneris as her handmaiden. Meanwhile, Amneris and Aida bond as Aida encourages the seemingly shallow princess to see herself as more than a vessel for fashion. Act II opens with the trio singing the beautiful song "Not Me," which would earn it a spot on this list alone.
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| Photo Credit: Aubrey Reuben |
Laura, Walter, and Marian in The Woman in White
When I first saw the musical, The Woman in White, I was a bit disappointed that a love triangle had been written in between sisters Marian and Laura and their drawing teacher Walter Hartright that doesn't exist in the novel. (This is, in addition to the less interesting love triangle between Walter, Laura, and Laura's intended, Sir Walter Glyde, which appears in both.) However, it's difficult to dislike a love triangle that brings about as gorgeous of songs as "Perspective" and "Trying Not to Notice." It also provides for some lovely melodies that weave through the show and is my favorite kind of love triangle in that the love between sisters Marian and Laura is arguably actually the strong side of the triangle.
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| Photo Credit: Darren Bell |
Raoul, Christine, and the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera
This is likely one of the most famous love triangles from a musical of all time. Phantom, when done correctly, is a beautiful coming of age story for young ingenue Christine and I think that her feeling trapped between her mysterious and dangerous music teacher and her childhood sweetheart is a great way of building that. This is one where there's very obviously a correct choice here (and it's Raoul), but both "Wandering Child" and "Finale" are some of my favorite songs from musicals.
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| Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy |
Obviously, I have a thing for love triangles that include sisters. Even if this wasn't one of the most gut-wrenching triangles on the list (when Angelica says, "At least I keep his eyes in my life"? Ow), it would earn its spot just in how it uses "Satisfied" to go back and play Eliza's "Helpless" from Angelica's point of view. And once again, it's the love between Angelica and Eliza that is the strongest at the end of the day (or at least at a pivotal moment in Act II).
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| Photo Credit: Joan Marcus |
Cosette, Marius, and Eponine in Les Misérables
I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that this is the classic musical theatre love triangle. Not only is it an emblem for teenage girls everywhere who listen to "On My Own" as a coping mechanism for their friend liking another girl instead of them, but it's also used in a really interesting way to show Cosette and Eponine as foils. When we see them as adults for the first time, they have essentially traded places from when we last saw them as children. Cosette is now beautiful and well-dressed and the apple of her parent's eye, while Eponine is dirty, neglected, and forced into work by the Thenardiers. The original London production even does some beautiful blocking that mirrors them to each other. And of course, this trio sings the "A Heart Full of Love" number which in undeniably lovely.
These are just a handful of my faves (I also of course love the Andrey-Natasha-Anatole love triangle of Great Comet and I can't forget that my favorite male duet of all times, "Lily's Eyes," is born from the love triangle in The Secret Garden). What are your favorites? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter. x