Broadway Musicals

Here is a comprehensive list of Broadway Musicals dating back to 1924 and one of my personal favorites, “The Student Prince in Old Heidelburg” which was the longest running musical of the 1920’s.

I’m not totally sure of the whys and wherefores that created the Broadway Musical, although a wild guess would be that before the establishment of the street called Broadway, there was another type of musical. I would guess that at some point, people became bored with dreary old dramas and demanded a bit of entertainment with their dialogue and voila, the musical was born. I know that many of the Shakespeare plays included musical interludes and again, I feel it was for entertainment purposes rather than purely dramatic or comedic ones.

Of course from my point of view, I LOVE musicals. Always have, always will.

So.......here’s the list:

• 1776 (1997) (Sherman Edwards)
• 42nd Street (1980) (Harry Warren and Al Dubin) Notable songs: 42nd Street, Shuffle Off to Buffalo, Young and Healthy
• Aida (2000) (Elton John and Tim Rice)
• Annie (1977) (Strouse and Charnin) Notable songs: Tomorrow, A Hard-Knock Life
• Annie Get Your Gun (1946) (Irving Berlin) Notable song: There's No Business Like Show Business
• Anyone Can Whistle (1964) (Stephen Sondheim)
• Anything Goes (1934) (Cole Porter) Featured Ethel Merman. Notable songs: Anything Goes, Blow, Gabriel Blow
• Applause (1970) (Strouse and Adams)
• Aspects of Love (1990) (Andrew Lloyd Webber)
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951) (Music: Arthur Schwartz; lyrics: Dorothy Fields)
• Babes in Arms (1937) (Rodgers and Hart)
• Babes in Toyland
• Bajour (1964) (Walter Marks)
• Barnum (1980) (Coleman and Stewart)
• The Band Wagon (Dietz and Schwartz) Featured Fred and Adele Astaire. Notable songs: I Love Louisa, Hoops
• The Beautiful Game (Andrew Lloyd Webber/Ben Elton)
• Beauty and the Beast (1994) (Music: Alan Menken; Lyrics: Howard Ashman, Tim Rice)
• Bells are Ringing (1956) (Music: Jules Styne; Lyrics: Comden and Green)
• Blackbirds of 1928 (1928), featured Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, notable song "Doin' the New Low Down
• The Boyfriend (Sandy Wilson)
• Brigadoon (1947) (Lerner and Loewe) Notable song: Almost Like Being in Love
• The Boys from Syracuse (1938) (Rodgers and Hart) Notable songs: Falling in Love with Love, This Can't be Love,
• Bye, Bye Birdie (1960) (Strouse and Adams) Notable song: A Lot of Livin' To Do
• Cabaret (Kander and Ebb) Notable song: Cabaret
• Call Me Madam (Irving Berlin)
• Call Me Mister (Irving Berlin)
• Camelot (1960) (Lerner and Loewe)
• Candide (1956) (Music: Leonard Bernstein; Lyrics: Richard Wilbur)
• Carmen Jones
• Carnival (1961 (Bob Merrill)
• Carousel (1945) (Rodgers and Hammerstein) Notable songs: Bill's Soliloquy; When you Walk Through a Storm; What's the Use of Wonderin
• Cats (Andrew Lloyd-Webber)
• Chess (Tim Rice/Benny Andersson/Bjorn Ulvaeus)
• Chicago (Kander and Ebb) Notable song: All That Jazz
• A Chorus Line
• Company
• The Cradle will Rock (1937) (Marc Blitzstein) Federal Theatre project
• Damn Yankees (1955) (Adler and Ross)
• The Desert Song
• DuBarry was a Lady (1939) (Cole Porter)
• Evita (Andrew Lloyd-Webber)
• The Fantasticks (Off-Broadway) (1960) (Music: Harvey Schmidt; Lyrics: Tom Jones) To World's longest-running musical to date (run ended 2002). Notable song: Try to Remember
• Fiddler on the Roof (1964) (Music: Jerry Bock, lyrics: Sheldon Harnick) Featured: Zero Mostel. Notable songs: Tradition, Sunrise, Sunset, If I Were a Rich Man
• Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be (West End) (Frank Norman and Lionel Bart)
• Finian's Rainbow (1947) (Music: Burton Lane; lyrics: E. Y. Harburg) Notable song: How are Things in Glocca Morra?
• Fiorello! (1959) (Music: Jerry Bock, lyrics: Sheldon Harnick)
• Flower Drum Song
• Follies (Stephen Sondheim)
• Funny Girl (1964) (Music: Jules Styne, lyrics: Bob Merrill) Featured Barbra Streisand; notable song: People
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) (Stephen Sondheim)
• The Gay Divorce
• Gigi
• Girl Crazy (1930) (George and Ira Gershwin) Featured Ethel Merman; notable song: I've Got Rhythm
• Goldilocks
• Guys & Dolls
• Gypsy (1959) (Music: Jules Styne, lyrics: Stephen Sondheim). Featured Rosalind Russell. Notable song: Big Spender
• Hello, Dolly (1964) (Jerry Herman) Featured Carol Channing; notable song, Hello, Dolly."
• Hair (1967) Notable song: Aquarius
• The Hot Mikado (1939) All-black cast featured Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
• Into the Woods (1987) (Stephen Sondheim)
• The King and I (1951) (Rodgers and Hammerstein) Featured: Gertrudge Lawrence, Yul Brynner; notable songs: Shall We Dance, Getting to Know You
• Kiss Me, Kate
• Knickerbocker Holiday (1938) (Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson) Notable song: September Song
• Jesus Christ Superstar (Andrew Lloyd-Webber)
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Andrew Lloyd-Webber)
• Lady in the Dark (1941) (Kurt Weill, Ira Gershwin) Notable songs: My Ship (Gertrude Lawrence), Tschaikovsky (Danny Kaye)
• Les Miserables
• The Lion King (1997) (Music: Elton John; Lyrics: Tim Rice)
• Little Shop of Horrors
• Lost in the Stars (Music: Kurt Weill; lyrics: Maxwell Anderson)
• Martin Guerre
• Miss Saigon
• The Most Happy Fella (1956) (Frank Loesser)
• The Music Man (1957) (Meredith Willson) Notable songs: Seventy-Six Trombones, Till There was You, Ya Got Trouble (Right Here in River City),
• My Fair Lady (1956) (Lerner and Loewe) Featured: Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Stanley Holloway. Notable songs: Loverly, Accustomed to her Face, Get Me To the Church On Time"
• No, No Nanette
• Nymph Errant (Cole Porter)
• Of Thee I Sing (George and Ira Gershwin) Notable song: Love is Sweeping the Country
• Oh, Boy (1917) (Music: Jerome Kern; lyrics: P. G. Wodehouse) Notable songs: Till the Clouds Roll By
• Oh, Kay (George and Ira Gershwin) Notable song: Someone to Watch Over Me
• Oh! What a Lovely War (West End)
• Oliver! (Lionel Bart) Notable songs: Consider Yourself
• Oklahoma! (1943) (Rodgers and Hammerstein) Notable songs: Oh! What a Beautiful Mornin', Oklahoma!, People will Say We're in Love
• On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever (Lerner and Loewe)
• Once Upon a Mattress (Music: Mary Rodgers, Lyrics: Marshall Barer) Featured Carol Burnett.
• One Touch of Venus (1943) (Kurt Weill, Ogden Nash Notable song: Speak Low
• On the Town (1944) (Music: Leonard Bernstein; Lyrics: Comden and Green) Notable song: New York, New York (It's A Wonderful Town)
• On Your Toes (Rodgers and Hart)
• The Pajama Game (1954) (Adler and Ross)
• Pal Joey (1940) (Rodgers and Hart) Notable song: Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
• Panama Hattie (1942) (Cole Porter)
• Peter Pan (1954) Featured: Mary Martin
• The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd-Webber)
• Pins and Needles (1937) (Political musical)
• Pippin
• Porgy and Bess
• The Producers
• The Rocky Horror Show
• Rose-Marie (1924)
• Salad Days
• The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1924) (Sigmund Romberg) Longest-running musical of the 1920s
• Show Boat (1927) (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II) Notable songs: Old Man River, My Bill, Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine
• The Sound of Music (1959) (Rodgers and Hammerstein) Notable songs: Do-Re-Mi, Climb Ev'ry Mountain, The Sound of Music, My Favorite Things
• South Pacific (1949) (Rodgers and Hammerstein) Notable songs: Bali Hai, Some Enchanted Evening
• Starlight Express (Andrew Lloyd-Webber/Richard Stilgoe)
• Street Scene (1947) (Music Kurt Weill, lyrics Elmer Rice)
• Strike Up the Band (George and Ira Gershwin) Notable song: Strike Up the Band
• Sunset Boulevard (Andrew Lloyd-Webber)
• The Swing Mikado (1938) (Chicago) All-black cast.
• The Threepenny Opera (Off-Broadway) Notable songs: Mack the Knife, Pirate Jenny
• Tommy
• West Side Story (1957) (Music: Leonard Bernstein, lyrics: Stephen Sondheim). Notable songs: Tonight, America, Gee, Officer Krupke
• Where's Charley? (1948) Featured Ray Bolger; notable song Once in Love with Amy
• Whoopee (1928) Featured Eddie Cantor, notable song Makin' Whoopee
• The Wild Party
• Wonderful Town (1953) (Music: Leonard Bernstein; lyrics: Comden and Green)
• The World of Suzie Wong