Could there be a more romantic Valentine's Day show than "West Side Story"? It's based on "Romeo and Juliet," it's all about true (albeit doomed) love and its dazzling score includes two of the greatest love songs in all musical theater, "Maria" and "Tonight."

Ross Lekites, who plays Tony in the production that opens Tuesday at the Fox, gets to sing both of them.

"There is a reason why people know and love this music: It is perfectly written," he said. "So all you have to do is execute it the way it was meant to be done. … During 'Tonight,' Evy (Ortiz, who plays Maria) and I are about 10 feet in the air, looking out over a dark theater. But we are able to go into our own little world and live in it for a few moments together."

Of course. How far apart could they be, singing "I saw you and the world went away"? If you're still looking for something to write in a Valentine's card, you could do a lot worse than crib Stephen Sondheim's lyric.

Musicals, an unending source of great love songs, are in fact full of lines that beg to be quoted in a much more personal context.

Add show tickets or simply a CD to the package; you're not only set for a superromantic holiday, but you and your sweetheart will have "your song" to hum for all the Valentine's Days to come.

A few possibilities to borrow or adapt:

"You make me smile with my heart."

— "My Funny Valentine" from "Babes in Arms," Lorenz Hart

"Embrace me,

My sweet embraceable you

Embrace me,

You irreplaceable you."

— "Embraceable You" from "Crazy for You," Ira Gershwin

"Angel and lover, heaven and earth

Are you to me."

— "Younger than Springtime" from "South Pacific," Oscar Hammerstein II

"Some folks can't stand it,

Say time is a bandit,

But I take the opposite view.

'Cause when I need a lift

Time brings a gift,

Another day with you."

— "Timeless To Me" from "Hairspray," Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman

"Night and day, you are the one

Only you beneath the moon or under the sun."

— "Night and Day" from "Gay Divorce" (later, "The Gay Divorcee"), Cole Porter

"Let the time go by

I don't care if I

Can be here on the street where you live."

— "The Street Where You Live" from "My Fair Lady," Alan Jay Lerner

"Don't buy sugar

You just have to touch my cup

You're my sugar

And it's oh so sweet when you stir it up."

— "Honeysuckle Rose" from "Ain't Misbehavin'," Andy Razaf

"In the rain the pavement shines like silver

All the lights are misty in the river

In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight

And all I see is him and me forever and forever.

— "On My Own" from "Les Miserables," Alain Boublil

"Borrow the moonlight

Until it is through

And know I'll be here

Holding you"

— "As Long As You're Mine" from "Wicked," Stephen Schwartz

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"West Side Story"

When Tuesday-Feb. 26 • Where Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard • How much $15-$85 • More info MetroTix.com