If you had to convince a nonbeliever, in just a few minutes, why they should make musical theater their religion, what evidence would you offer?

That’s the question we asked some major practitioners of the faith and some of our writers and editors. Their 13 answers are all over the genre map, including rock bangers, tender ballads and aching jazz arias. They’re also all over the timeline, from the 1920s to just this minute. Some are classics that once ruled the pop charts; others are secret treasures waiting for new ears.

That range is part of the evidence you’d want to offer your friend. Musical theater songs are as different as the era, the artistry and the story each arises from. At their best, they encompass that difference and transcend it, reaching out to anyone, anytime, willing to listen. Read about their selections below, check out the playlists included with this article and be sure to leave your own favorites in the comments.

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‘Some Enchanted Evening,’ from ‘South Pacific’

Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer

I mean it is so brilliant. The lyric is so brilliantly, deceptively simple. That kind of lyric, to work and stand up, is genius if you get it right. I don’t know how many goes at it Oscar Hammerstein II did, but there must have been a few I think. And for me it’s just one of the most remarkable melodies ever written — I was just thinking about Richard Rodgers, and reading about him. I hadn’t really realized the depth of his depressions, and the alcohol of course, and you think, “If he’d only got himself together.” He had a whole lot more music, I’m sure, inside him, but it dried up after Hammerstein died.

▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube

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‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,’ from ‘Dreamgirls’

Elisabeth Vincentelli, Times theater writer

Fasten your seatbelt and secure your belongings: This mid-tempo excerpt from Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger’s 1981 musical “Dreamgirls” is a roller coaster of emotions that goes from pits of despair to feverish anger, from emotional meltdown to defiant stand. The character, Effie, has just been kicked out of the girl group she was in, so she confronts her manager and, basically, the world. Trading a traditional structure for what can feel like a rambling stream of consciousness (but is actually precisely devised), the song usually becomes a bravura showcase for its performer. Jennifer Holliday’s original version, which topped the Billboard R&B chart and earned her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal performance, both in 1982, is considered as definitive as a number can get.

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