There were so many male duets to choose from to create this list. I decided to stick with the same formula as the female duets story by including numbers that feature a strong relationship, story, and/or also have a good performance length. It was tough to find numbers that met these criteria for two men.

1. “Terminal Illness” from 13

My thoughts: Two young men both try to get tickets to an R rated movie by using a friend’s illness in this hilarious song.

2. “Travel Song” from Shrek

My thoughts: A zany song about a donkey and an ogre on a road trip: a perfect number for a comedic actor and a serious actor.

3. “Both Sides of the Coin” from The Mystery of Edwin Drood

My thoughts: A patter song, two characters sing of their conflicting minds. To be successful, it is important to sing in the intended tempo.

4. “Day Break” from Floyd Collins

My thoughts: In 1925, Floyd Collins got trapped 200 feet underground. Alone except for erratic contact with others, Floyd sings this haunting song with his brother.

5. “The Proposal/The Night Was Alive” from Titanic

My thoughts: In this gorgeous song, Harold Bride, the ship’s radio operator, is overwhelmed by the amount of messages passengers are sending to loved ones, but he finds the time to send Frederick Barrett, the stoker’s,  marriage proposal to his girlfriend.

6. “You and Me (But Mostly Me) from Book of Mormon

My thoughts: Elder Price and Elder Cunningham have just said goodbye to their families to embark on their mission in this hilarious song. Price is sure he is destined for greatness while Cunningham is just happy to have a friend.

7. “Take What You Got” from Kinky Boots

My thoughts: A great guy/guy friendship duet about asking and receiving advice. Bonus — if the two guys can play the guitar, they can accompany the song.

8. “If You Were Gay” from Avenue Q

My thoughts: A funny song featuring two characters modeled off of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. The song requires puppets. The actors should study the basics of puppetry before attempting this song.

9. “Don’t Be Cruel” from All Shook Up

My thoughts: A fun number in which Jim, the mechanic, tells Chad, the heartthrob, that he’s in love with a woman who doesn’t love him in return. Chad, tries to help Jim by giving him some much-needed lessons in how to be cool.

10. “When I Drive” from Bonnie and Clyde

My thoughts: A lively number about two brothers, Clyde and Buck, singing about the latest Ford, which is said to be able to go 60 miles per hour. Be sure to research the history of Bonnie and Clyde in addition to working on this song.

11. “Together Again” from Young Frankenstein

My thoughts: A great comedic number for a character actor and a straight actor. Igor, excited to meet Fredrick, the son of the famous Dr. Frankenstein, tries to convince him to stay on at the castle and follow in his father’s footsteps.

12. “You’re Nothing Without Me” from City of Angels

My thoughts: This song makes for an interesting relationship between a writer and the character the writer creates. Stine, the author of a detective series, is upset with his own creation, Detective Stone, who he begins to argue with because he is disgusted with the way his character is being written.

13. “Two Nobodies in New York” from Title of Show

My thoughts: In this fun song, two friends, Jeff a composer/lyricist and Hunter, a show writer, have an idea to create an original show for the upcoming New York Music Theatre Festival. In this song they realize that the idea of writing a show for this festival could be the actual show.

14. “What You Own” from Rent

My thoughts: Rent celebrates its 20^th anniversary this year (2016) and it has never been more relevant. In this song Mark, an inspiring filmmaker and Roger, a songwriter living with AIDS, have dual epiphanies about who they are and who they want to be while dealing with an America void of connection and authenticity.

15. “Vegas” from Tales from the Bad Years*

My thoughts: In this song that is like the movie The Hangover, two guys sing about a night in Vegas that got out of control. Be aware that this song contains adult language.

16. “You’re Timeless to Me” from Hairspray

My thoughts: Longtime married couple Edna (played by a man) and Wilbur Turnblad feel old and out of touch, but their love has endured over time, and that makes them timeless to one another. A fun song for two comedic actors.

17. “We’re the Man” from Calvin Berger

My thoughts: A relatively unknown musical that is loosely based on Cyrano De Bergerac. Attractive Matt gets tongue-tied around girls. Calvin bemoans having the opposite problem: he’s witty, but not attractive. In this comical song they create a plan to win a female’s affection by merging Matt’s good looks with Calvin’s banter.

18. “Ghost Story” from The Last Ship

My thoughts: A beautiful father/son duet. Gideon (father) leaves town and returns 15 years later – the fiancée he left behind has married another and for a while Gideon believes Tom is the husband’s son, but of course, Tom is actually his son. Here Gideon is singing to the grave of his own father who died while he was away.

19. “Butter Outta Cream” from Catch Me if You Can

My thoughts: A fun father and son number. Frank, Sr. attempts to console his son by retelling a story about a mouse that saved himself by churning butter into cream. The song is uplifting.

20. “It Would Have Been Wonderful” from A Little Night Music

My thoughts: Fredrik and Carl-Magnus reflect on how difficult it is to be annoyed with a “perfect” woman, deciding “It Would Have Been Wonderful” had she not been quite so wonderful. This song requires strong acting and singing skills.

21. “World’s Apart” from Big River

My thoughts: In this touching song, Jim, a former slave, lectures Huck for the first time after Huck played a trick on Jim by pretending to be slave hunter. Through Jim’s words, Huck realizes that Jim, though a slave, is still a human being and deserves an apology.

22. “We Can Do It” from The Producers

My thoughts: In this hilarious duet Max, a producer, tries to convince Leo, an unhappy accountant, to help him with a scheme to raise two million dollars by creating a Broadway show sure to flop. Leo’s lack of confidence and self-worth paired with Max’s passion create a fun story and relationship.

23. “Halfway” by Ryan Scott Oliver (not from a musical)

My thoughts: Two men in a long distance relationship, one who lives in LA and the other in NYC decide to meet “halfway” in order to see each other. The song is about the journey to meet and their feelings on the way there.

24. “Cold Feet” from The Drowsy Chaperone

My thoughts: Robert is engaged to marry Janet but is allowing his nerves to get the best of him. Although Robert mostly carries this song, George his funny best man, comes into the scene. The song features two males who can seriously tap dance.

25. “Light in the Loafers” from When Pigs Fly

My thoughts: A fun number where two men, after being told they are too flamboyant or “light in the loafers” commit themselves to really showing off in protest. A fun and light singing dance number.

While working on this list of duets, I noticed that most duets between two men do not meet the criteria I was looking for. In most songs, the two men are either singing about a character that is not present in the song, or they are in different locations. It got me thinking about why that is, but that’s for another story. Now get to choosing your next piece for competition!

Tiffany Weagly-Wilkie is the Director of Theatricals for PerformerStuff.com. She also serves as the Casting Director for The Imagination House.