50 Musicals Everyone Should See in Their Lifetime

By Caroline Rogers
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A list of must-see musicals is destined to be long. Broadway has quite the history, and when considering the classic and destined-to-be-classic, there are far too many shows to name. But it sure is fun to try, so here we have a not-quite-exhaustive list of some of the best musicals ever: musicals you're destined to fall for, musicals with original Broadway cast recordings you'll want to keep on repeat, and musicals everyone should see at least once. We have the classics, seminal productions in Broadway history. We have new shows that are claiming their places in the musical theater canon. We have Off- and Off-Off-Broadway smashes, musicals that ran for decades just a few blocks from the Great White Way. A few are set in the South. We have West End dazzlers, concert favorites, and shows that introduced the musical standards we still hum. With music and lyrics by the likes of Stephen Sondheim, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Anaïs Mitchell, what are you waiting for? Book a ticket, and enjoy the show. Musical theater fans, this one's for you.
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Here Are Some of Our Top Picks

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A Chorus Line

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This 1975 musical, with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban, is set on a Broadway stage where dancers are auditioning to be in the titular chorus line.

Start with: "I Hope I Get It," "What I Did for Love"

Buy it: $10, amazon.com

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A Little Night Music

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An oft-performed musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, A Little Night Music is based on the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night and premiered on Broadway in 1973.

Start with: "A Weekend in the Country," "Send in the Clowns"

Buy it: $9, barnesandnoble.com

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Aida

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This epic rock musical with music and lyrics by Elton John and Tim Rice is based on the Verdi opera of the same name. It opened on Broadway in 2000 and subsequently won four Tony Awards, including Best Original Score.

Start with: "The Past Is Another Land," "Elaborate Lives," "Written in the Stars"

Buy it: $10, barnesandnoble.com

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Anything Goes

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Anything Goes, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, premiered on Broadway in 1934 and is set on an ocean liner journey from New York to London.

Start with: "I Get a Kick Out of You," "Anything Goes"

Buy it: $20, barnesandnoble.com

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Cabaret

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This 1966 musical has music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb and is set in a cabaret in Berlin, Germany, in 1931. The original Broadway production was nominated for eleven Tony Awards and won eight, including Best Musical.

Start with: "Willkommen," "Cabaret"

Buy it: $10, barnesandnoble.com

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Candide

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Candide, an operetta composed by Leonard Bernstein and inspired by the Voltaire novella of the same name, premiered on Broadway in 1956 and has since had revivals and concert stagings in theatres across the globe.

Start with: "Glitter and Be Gay," "Make Our Garden Grow"

Buy it: $8, amazon.com

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Carousel

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Carousel, the second musical produced from the legendary musical theatre partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, is a romance set on the coast of Maine. It opened on Broadway in 1945 and was most recently revived on Broadway in 2018.

Start with: "If I Loved You," "You'll Never Walk Alone"

Buy it: $12, amazon.com

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Cats

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Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation of T.S. Eliot's whimsical poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats premiered in London in 1981 with a run that lasted for 21 years. The first Broadway production opened in 1982 and ran for 18 years.

Start with: "Prologue: Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats," "Memory"

Buy it: $20, amazon.com

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Chicago

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This satirical Kander and Ebb musical opened on Broadway in 1975 and is the second-longest-running show to have opened on Broadway. It's based on a 1926 play by a crime reporter named Maurine Dallas Watkins.

Start with: "All That Jazz," "Cell Block Tango"

Buy it: $10, barnesandnoble.com

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The Color Purple

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The Color Purple, a musical with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray and a book by Marsha Norman, opened on Broadway in 2005 and is based on the Alice Walker novel of the same name. The most recent Broadway revival won two Tony Awards: Best Revival and Best Actress in a Musical for Cynthia Erivo.

Start with: "The Color Purple," "I'm Here"

Buy it: $20, barnesandnoble.com

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Company

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Stephen Sondheim's musical comedy Company opened on Broadway in 1970 and was nominated for fourteen Tony Awards the next year. It's made up of a series of short scenes linked by the birthday of the central character, Robert.

Start with: "The Little Things You Do Together," "Ladies Who Lunch," "Being Alive"

Buy it: $10, amazon.com

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Dreamgirls

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The 1981 musical Dreamgirls follows the journey of a trio, The Dreams, as they find success in the music industry. The original Broadway production was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards and won six.  

Start with: "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," "One Night Only"

Buy it: $10, barnesandnoble.com

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Evita

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With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, Evita tells the story of the extraordinary Argentinian figure Eva Perón. The show began as a concept album in 1976 and subsequently opened on Broadway and the West End, where it has been revived numerous times.

Start with: "Buenos Aires," "Another Suitcase in Another Hall"

Buy it: $36, barnesandnoble.com

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The Fantasticks

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This 1960 musical about scheming families is based on the play Les Romanesques by Edmond Rostand. The show's original Off-Broadway production ran for 42 years and has music by Harvey Schmidt and a book and lyrics by Tom Jones.

Start with: "Try to Remember," "Soon It's Gonna Rain"

Buy it: $12, barnesandnoble.com

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Fiddler on the Roof

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Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway in 1964 with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and a book by Joseph Stein. That production was the first musical run on Broadway to surpass 3,000 performances; it also won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Start with: "Miracle of Miracles," "Sunrise, Sunset"

Buy it: $10, amazon.com

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Guys and Dolls

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Frank Loesser wrote the music and lyrics for this comedic musical that's set in New York City and based on short stories about gangsters and gamblers in the 20s and 30s. The first production opened on Broadway in 1950 and won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

Start with: "If I Were a Bell," "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat"

Buy it: $10, amazon.com

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Gypsy

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A much-revived musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents, this show is based on a memoir by burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee. It opened on Broadway in 1959 and has had four Broadway revivals so far.

Start with: "Some People," "Everything's Coming Up Roses"

Buy it: $20, barnesandnoble.com

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Hadestown

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Hadestown is a poetic refiguring of ancient Greek myths that tells the stories of Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades, and Persephone. It has music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell and opened on Broadway in 2019 after many iterations, including a concept album and a run at London's National Theatre. It was nominated for fourteen Tony Awards and won eight, including Best Musical.

Start with: "Way Down Hadestown," "Wait for Me"

Buy it: $20, amazon.com

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Hamilton

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This Broadway smash tells the story of the life of U.S. founding father and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. It has music, lyrics, and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda and is based on the 2004 biography of the same name by Ron Chernow.

Start with: "Alexander Hamilton," "The Room Where It Happens"

Buy it: $20, amazon.com

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Hello, Dolly!

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Hello, Dolly! has been a hit on stage and on screen. It has music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and is based on Thornton Wilder's play The Matchmakers. The show won the 1964 Tony for Best Musical and has had four Broadway revivals in the intervening years.

Start with: "Before The Parade Passes By," "Hello, Dolly!"

Buy it: $12, amazon.com

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In the Heights

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This musical—with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes—is set in Washington Heights and opened on Broadway in 2008. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Start with: "In the Heights," "Sunrise," "When the Sun Goes Down"

Buy it: $16, amazon.com

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Into the Woods

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Stephen Sondheim's retelling of classic fairy tales also explores the consequences of those tales and the wishes that prompted them. Into the Woods opened on Broadway in 1987 and has since been revived, performed in concert stagings, and adapted into a feature film.

Start with: "Into the Woods," "Giants in the Sky," "Agony," "Moments in the Woods," "Children Will Listen"

Buy it: $9, barnesandnoble.com

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Kiss Me, Kate

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This musical is an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shew. It has music and lyrics by Cole Porter and first opened on Broadway in 1948, where it won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The most recent Broadway revival was in 2019.

Start with: "Wunderbar," "So in Love," "Too Darn Hot"

Buy it: $17, amazon.com

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La Cage aux Folles

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Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein tell a story based on Jean Poiret's 1973 French play La Cage aux Folles, which also inspired the 1978 comedy of the same name as well as the 1996 film The Birdcage. The show opened on Broadway in 1983 and won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Start with: "La Cage aux Folles," "I Am What I Am"

Buy it: $7, amazon.com

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The Last 5 Years

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This Jason Robert Brown musical is told in opposing chronologies and tells the story of a relationship over the course of five years. It opened in Chicago in 2001 and Off-Broadway the next year, and it has been produced around the world in the years since.

Start with: "Still Hurting," "Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You"

Buy it: $19, barnesandnoble.com

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Les Misérables

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Also known as "Les Mis," this popular musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil is based on Victor Hugo's novel of the same name. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1987 and has been produced in 42 countries and translated into 21 languages.  

Start with: "I Dreamed a Dream," "One Day More"

Buy it: $36, barnesandnoble.com

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The Lion King

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Elton John and Tim Rice brought this Disney classic to Broadway, where it opened in 1997. The long-running production is directed by Julie Taymor and is noted for its striking costumes and high-flying puppetry.   

Start with: "They Live in You," "Shadowland"

Buy it: $20, barnesandnoble.com

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Little Shop of Horrors

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This popular musical has music by Alan Menken and a book and lyrics by Howard Ashman. It's based on the 1960 comedy The Little Shop of Horrors and premiered Off-Off Broadway and Off-Broadway in 1982 and on Broadway in 2003.

Start with: "Skid Row," "Suddenly, Seymour"

Buy it: $20, amazon.com

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Mame

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This musical is based on Patrick Dennis' 1955 novel Auntie Mame and opened on Broadway in 1966, where it starred Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur. The show has music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and is set in New York City during the Great Depression and World War II.

Start with: "Bosom Buddies," "Open a New Window"

Buy it: $8, amazon.com

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Man of La Mancha

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Man of La Mancha opened on Broadway in 1965 and has had four Broadway revivals in the decades since its premiere. The Tony-winning musical is based on Dale Wasserman's teleplay I, Don Quixote and the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.

Start with: "Dulcinea," "The Impossible Dream"

Buy it: $12, barnesandnoble.com

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The Music Man

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Meredith Willson wrote the music, lyrics, and book for this popular musical, which tells the story of a con man named Howard Hill who poses as a band leader in the Midwestern town of River City. It premiered on Broadway in 1957 and won the Tony for Best Musical the next year.

Start with: "(Ya Got) Trouble," "Seventy-Six Trombones," "Till There Was You"

Buy it: $11, amazon.com

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My Fair Lady

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My Fair Lady, a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, is based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion. It opened on Broadway in 1956 and won six Tony Awards the next year.

Start with: "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" "I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live"

Buy it: $10, barnesandnoble.com

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Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

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Dave Malloy's inventive, genre-bending musical is based on 70 pages (Volume 2, Part 5) of Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. Great Comet premiered Off-Broadway at Ars Nova in 2012 and opened on Broadway in 2016, where it was nominated for 12 Tony Awards.

Start with: "Prologue," Dust and Ashes," "The Ball," "The Great Comet of 1812"

Buy it: $21, barnesandnoble.com

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Oklahoma!

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Oklahoma!, Rodgers and Hammerstein's first musical collaboration, is set in the Oklahoma Territory in 1906 and is based on Lynn Riggs' play Green Grow the Lilacs. The original Broadway production, which premiered in 1943, won a special Pulitzer, and a special Tony Award was given in 1993 to mark the show's 50th anniversary.

Start with: "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," "People Will Say We're in Love," "Oklahoma"

Buy it: $14, barnesandnoble.com

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Once on This Island

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This show, which is set in the Caribbean and based on My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl, a novel by Rosa Guy, premiered on Broadway in 1990 and was nominated for eight Tony Awards. The show has music by Stephen Flaherty and a book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens.

Start with: "One Small Girl," "Why We Tell the Story"

Buy it: $20, barnesandnoble.com

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The Phantom of the Opera

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Andrew Lloyd Webber's popular musical is the longest-running musical on Broadway. The story is a theatrical retelling of Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera and won the Tony for Best Musical in 1988.

Start with: "The Phantom of the Opera," "The Music of the Night," "The Point of No Return"

Buy it: $20, barnesandnoble.com

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