Creating a list of favorite Broadway musicals is beyond hard! So many amazing ones have come and gone (and been revived) over the years. However, we did manage to come up with six of our favorites – though if we had time, we’d have so many more to add!
Based on the book by Gregory Maguire, Wicked gives us an alternate perspective to The Wizard of Oz. The story follows Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who isn’t wicked; she’s just misunderstood. We also meet Glinda, the Good Witch, and the pair’s unlikely friendship before things go awry.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s world-renowned musical Hamilton is the story of the beginnings of the United States through a modern lens and perspective. The music stylings are truly what makes this musical special, with blends of hip-hop, jazz, and R&B with a Broadway twist.
Hakuna matata! We can’t make a list of favorite Broadway musicals without including Disney’s The Lion King, which enthralls audiences with its music, culture, costumes, and culture. Six indigenous African languages are sung and spoken throughout, including Swahili, Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, and Congolese.
Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady is a musical masterpiece based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. It is a charming romantic comedy between Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl, and her speech professor, Henry Higgins. It was originally released in 1956 when it collected six Tonys and went on to become an Oscar-winning film starring Aubrey Hepburn.
Based on Gaston Leroux’s 1910 horror novel, The Phantom of the Opera begins at an auction of memorabilia of the now-defaced Paris Opera House. We are then transported to a time when it was full of splendor – and mystery. Catch it before its final performance (after 35 years on Broadway) on Sunday, April 16, 2023.
Famous for including music by Cyndi Lauper, Kinky Boots is based on a British film written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth and a true story by Harvey Fierstein. The musical is about an aspiring young businessman who must set his dreams of living in London aside to try and save his late father’s family business in Northern England.
What are your favorite Broadway musicals? Share them with us in the comments below!