[1] Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. A musical is a theatrical production that is characteristically sentimental and amusing in nature, with a simple but distinctive plot, and offering music, dancing, and dialogue.

Understanding the Context

Notable musicals include Show Boat (1927), Oklahoma! (1943), West Side Story (1957), Hair (1967), Cats (1981), and Hamilton (2015). From Rodgers and Hammerstein to Sondheim, musical comedies to epic dramas, Tony Award-winners to flops, golden-age classics to long-running hits, Broadway Musical Home is your home for Broadway tickets, merchandise, music, videos, and all the news, reviews, and information you want about Broadway musicals, people, theatres, awards, production rights and more. Your home for all things Broadway.

Key Insights

A Jaffa Cake Musical Adding Machine Musical Aida Allegiance Anastasia Annie Get Your Gun Anything Goes Babies Back to the Future: The Musical Bare: A Pop Opera Bat Boy: The Musical Be More Chill Beautiful: The Carole King Musical Beauty and the Beast Becoming Nancy Beetlejuice Bend It Like Beckham Betty Blue Eyes Billy Elliot Bling Blood ... What Is a Musical? The Lion King cast singing the 'Circle of Life' in the musical awards gala. A musical is storytelling turned up to eleven. Imagine regular drama as black-and-white film; a musical is the moment the celluloid bursts into Technicolor.

Final Thoughts

Characters still speak, argue, whisper, and joke, but when their inner temperature climbs beyond what speech can carry, they lift off into song ...