Theatre / Heartwarming

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"They walk with my heart...and I'll never let them go..."

"So come down now,
Remove your mask, you see;
All you gotta do is ask me.
I'll give you all the love life allows
All you gotta do is ask me..."

—Desi, Passing Strange

Sometimes theatre can really make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

And some productions are even too heartwarming to be folderized:

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Beauty and the Beast

The song "No Matter What" from the Beauty and the Beast musical.
Maurice: No matter what the pain we've come this far. I pray that you remain exactly as you are. This really is a case of father knowing best.
Belle': And daughter too.
Maurice: You're never strange.
Belle: Don't ever change.
Both: You're all I've got no matter what...
- And the transformation at the end, where Belle thinks the Beast is dead, and he transforms back into his human form. The special effects also make it a Moment of Awesome.

Rodgers and Hammerstein

The song "Boys and Girls like You and Me", sung by the King and Queen, from Cinderella Rodgers And Hammersetin has been known to elicit "awww"s from both audience and cast members.
"Do I love you because you're beautiful/Or are you beautiful, because I love you?"
"I may never come down to earth again..."

Seussical

The You Are Not Alone moment between Horton and JoJo during the song "Alone in the Universe".
Gertrude listing off the tortures she has endured in a way that clearly implies that she would've gladly gone through more if it would help Horton.
The song "Solla Sollew." All of it, but especially the last part. After describing Solla Sollew in terms akin to heaven or paradise, the singers conclude that in reality they can find it, and "on the day I do, troubles will be through, and I'll be home with you." Being home with your loved ones is all the paradise they need. You really have to listen to this one, here.

Other

The caretaker's speech in The Mystery Plays.
Misha by Adam Pettle.
Belinsky's monologue on the meaning of art and literature in the first of Tom Stoppard's Coast of Utopia plays, Voyage. Billy Crudup (who played Belinsky in the New York production) got a very deserved Tony for the role.
There's something very wonderfully bone-chilling about the full-voiced finale to Hair, "Let the Sun Shine In."
The entire conclusion to Coram Boy. In the play, Aaron is finally united with Alex and Melissa, his parents — although Alex had just learned of his existence recently and Melissa had believed him to be long dead. Also, never mind Meshak, who has had a crap existence (beaten mercilessly by his father in his childhood and forced to help him bury dead babies his father has told desperate mothers he is taking to the Coram Hospital in London in order to extort money from them), finally dies saving Aaron, his "angel child". Sure, it's not how the book ends, but if you honestly care after sitting in that theatre for two and a half hours and aren't in tears... I feel sorry for you.
Basically the entire ending of Equivocation, but especially Judith's monologue about her father's death, and especially especially her Meaningful Echo of her father's comment about "stories that little girls tell to themselves when they think no one is listening."
Judith: And I believed them, too.
The ending of R.U.R.. "Life will not perish!"
The end of Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll, when Jan, about to leave England for what is probably the last time, finally gets up the courage to ask out Esme.
Jan: I came to ask you, will you come with me?
Esme: Yes.
Jan: To Prague.
Esme: Of course. Yes. Of course.
A rather sad example of heartwarming: the end of Francis Poulenc's opera Dialogues of the Carmelites. The nuns are being led to the guillotine, and are being executed one by one. Sister Constance, the youngest of the nuns and last in line, is soon left alone, and it is her turn. Just then, Sister Blanche appears out of the crowd and walks to the scaffold, meaning that Constance and Blanche will die together, just as Constance had fervently hoped.
I don't remember much about the book, but the stage version of Lord of the Flies had one for me, in the third act. Piggy has spent the entire play being, for all intents and purposes, an annoying know it all, or just plain useless at times. However, after his glasses get stolen, he tries his best to face up to the more savage tribe, and remind them who they were before they came to the island.
The ending of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. After the very touching song "Happiness," after everyone else leaves the stage, out of everyone in the cast, it's Lucy - the one who always believes the world is ending when Chuck does something right - who faces Charlie Brown and speaks those very words that make up the title of the show.
Starlight Express has the song "There's Me", sung by C.B to Dinah. The fact that C.B (who later would be revealed as a psychotic serial killer who crashes trains for simple enjoyment) cares so much about Dinah and can't bear to see her so heartbroken is probably one of the sweeter things in the musical.
The last ten minutes of the 1992 musical adaptation of The Secret Garden. First there's the Tear Jerker "How Could I Ever Know?" where Archibald Craven comes to understand that he can still love his deceased wife without obsessing over her. His reaction to seeing his sickly son Colin running and playing in the garden with Mary is moving enough, but his response when she more or less asks if she's going to be sent away for doing everything she was told not to do is even moreso: "Mary Lennox, for as long as you shall have us, we are yours, Colin and I. And this is your home. And this, my lovely child, is your garden."
Green Day's American Idiot. When Tunny and Will see each other again for the first time in at least a year, Will, having been left alone for that year, first violently lashes out at him, desperately trying to punch and kick him, then breaks down completely and grabs Tunny into a crushing hug, burying his face in his neck. And Tunny just stood there, hugging him back.
Peter Pan: "Don't let Tinkerbell die! CLAP! CLAP IF YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES!"]] Cue thunderous applause from everyone in the audience.
Sunday in the Park with George: "We will always belong together."
The climax of Beethoven's Fidelio: a happy ending well and truly earned.
We're Gonna Be Ok from Vanities: A New Musical, which unfortunately became a Cut Song after the show's Pasadena Playhouse run.
There are quite a few in the musical Top Hat (that is the 2011 stage version of the romantic-comedy film) but one early on is after Jerry tap dances loudly in a hotel room and apologises to the woman from the room below who complains (Dale, who is the love interest), he decides to help her fall asleep with a gentle sand dance. In the film it's not played as sweet and only as fun but in the stage version they certainly do take it seriously and it was so adorable.
Billy's Soliloquy in Carousal. Billy has just'' found out his wife is pregnant and he is just about doing cartwheels, imagining all the great things he'll do with his son, then he realizes this baby could be a girl, and it gets serious and beautiful at the same, he realizes that a boy can grow up rough but a girl needs to be looked after and have a good life. Yet, at the same time, he is still happy about this, and sings tenderly about his little girl.
- The ending of Carousel is a happy kind of Tear Jerker. He goes to the grad and encourages Louise to believe the guest speaker. The speaker concludes his speech by quoting the opening lines of ''You'll Never Walk Alone'', the graduates stand up and all attendees sing, and Billy tells Louise to believe the guest speaker. Louise joins in the singing, and hesitantly puts her arm around the girl next to her, who was bullying her a few scenes earlier, the girl puts her arm around Louise and they are friends, he's smiling, happy he helped his daughter, then he goes up to Julie, who is sitting there in though, and can feel his presence. Billy tells her he loved her and wants her know that, and she joins in the singing. Then the official who is with him from heaven signals it's time for him to leave, he watches and is finally allowed into heaven.
Even though the musical Parade is a heartbreaking story of an innocent man who is convicted of murdering a girl, there is a very heartwarming moment between the two main characters (Leo and Lucille Frank) during the duet All the Wasted Time. Leo finally recognizes just how much Lucille means to him and tells her.
Leo Frank: I will never understand what I did to deserve you / Or how to be the man that I'm supposed to be / I will never understand if I live a thousand lifetimes / Why you did the things you did for me / Just look at you / How can I not be in love with you / What kind of fool could've taken you for granted for so long?
During a performance of Aladdin closely following the death of Robin Williams, the actor playing Genie stopped during "Friend Like Me" and called out "this is for Robin!". At the end of the song, the audience gave a LONG standing ovation.
Lend Me A Tenor: Max and Tito's relationship is actually pretty sweet - while Saunders is freaking out about how Tito's death will make him lose a ton of money, Max is just sad that he's dead and eventually takes Saunders to task for trivializing it.
- Then, when they realize he's not actually dead, Max is momentarily overjoyed before Saunders reminds him that they still have to find him and explain what happened.
The Producers has "'Til Him," which, while not as sincere as Gene Wilder's ad-libbed speech in the movie version, is still a very sweet way for Max and Leo to show how much they appreciate each other.
The Drowsy Chaperone has a few:
- "Love is Always Lovely In the End," while dismissed by Man in Chair, is still probably the cutest scene in the show as Tottendale and Underling confess their love for each other.
- And then there's the ending...happy tears all around.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch ends with "Midnight Radio," with both lead characters having earned their happy endings: Hedwig goes out in a suitably rock-star blaze of glory, and Yitzhak emerges from the back of the auditorium as a gorgeous drag queen, both of them achieving their ultimate goals.
The Adorkable "Love, I Hear" from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
- Hero's friendship with Pseudolous is also very cute. Hero really likes him and wants to see him freed.
"Blah, Blah, Blah" from Nice Work If You Can Get It. Sure, it's a pre-existing song, but the way it's worked into the narrative (Duke, a fairly dim bootlegger, trying to profess his love to flapper girlfriend Jeannie after she finds out he's not actually the duke of England) is actually pretty sweet, in addition to being funny.
Fun Home, despite being a rather depressing musical, has a bunch of heartwarming moments.
- The song Changing my Major is sung by Medium Allison after her first sexual encounter with her lesbian roommate Joan. The sheer delight and excitement that Allison shows when she finally let's out all her bottled up sexual feelings and learns to accept herself can be relatable to a lot of LGBT+ youth, and it tells LGBT+ people that no matter what happens, it's going to be okay.
- Even if she wasn't the best mother, Helen Bechdel absolutely forbids Allison for becoming like her and throwing her life away for someone or something that ultimately will ruin her. The last thing Helen can do to ensure her daughter's happiness as a mother is to make sure Allison is able to do what she can't ever do because of Bruce: Be happy.
- Small Allison gets to connect with a butch delivery woman in the song Ring of Keys. Allison's pure happiness when she finds out that wanting to dress masculinely, wanting to break free of the forced feminine rules her dad Bruce places of her is not wrong at all.
James Cordon's opening at the 2016 Tony Awards. While the majority is a Funny Moment, the transition to Sincerity Mode and the groups of kids standing onstage really kicks it:
James: To every future leading man who's making his debut
in his 5th-grade class's "Peter Pan" as Pirate #2,
To every future dancing queen whose feet are set to fly
at the Tiny Toddlers' Tap Routine next Sunday at the Y,
(as he sings, spotlights reveal groups of kids standing around him)
To the theatre kids from anyplace with stardust in their eyes,
Of every color, class, and race, and face, and shape, and size,
To the boys and girls, transgenders too! To every Broadway would-be!
Don't wonder if this could be you, it absolutely could be! Ladies and gentlemen, Your 2016 musical acting nominees!
(lights go back up, revealing the nominees in place of the children)
Ensemble, with James: This could be you up here on the stage with us, you could be in this show,
Smiling inside, thinking of how, when you were young you dreamed about now!
Sharing these worlds, living this moment, being a part of this song!
This could be you, this could be you! This could be where you belong!

Heartwarming / Theatre

Alternative Title(s): Theater

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