31+ Dark Musicals That Will Give You The Chills

Happy October!! You will be seeing lots of fun Halloween-inspired blog posts over the next few weeks. And to kick everything off, here is a full list of interesting and powerful dark musicals. If you’re looking for a bit of a musical theatre shock, here’s where you’ll find it.

To enhance your experience, pop on Theatre Trip’s Spotify playlist – “Musical Theatre’s Dark Side”➝.


Please note: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to make a purchase through one of the following links, we may earn a small commission on the sale at no additional cost to you. See our disclosure for more info.


Dark Musicals

Adding Machine

Music/Lyrics/Book: Joshua Schmidt  Lyrics/Book: Jason Loewith

Musical Type: Contemporary (2007)


American Psycho

Music/Lyrics: Duncan Sheik  Book: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Musical Type: Contemporary (2013)


Assassins

Music/Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim  Book: John Weidman

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1990)


Blood Brothers

Music/Lyrics/Book: Willy Russell

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1983)


Bumblescratch

Music/Lyrics/Book: Robert J. Sherman

Musical Type: Contemporary (2016)


Cabaret

Music: John Kander  Lyrics: Fred Ebb  Book: Joe Masteroff

Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1966)


Carrie

Music: Michael Gore  Lyrics: Dean Pitchford  Book: Lawrence D. Cohen

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1988)


Chicago

Music: John Kander  Lyrics/Book: Fred Ebb  Book: Bob Fosse

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1975)


Dracula

Music: Frank Wildhorn  Lyrics/Book: Don Black, Christopher Hampton

Musical Type: Contemporary (2001)


Evil Dead

Music/Lyrics/Book: George Reinblatt  Music: Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla, Melissa Morris

Musical Type: Contemporary (2003)


Ghost

Music/Lyrics: Dave Stewart, Glen Ballard  Lyrics/Book: Bruce Joel Rubin

Musical Type: Contemporary (2011)


Heathers

Music/Lyrics/Book: Laurence O’Keefe, Kevin Murphy

Musical Type: Contemporary (2010)


Jane Eyre

Music/Lyrics: Paul Gordon  Lyrics/Book: John Caird

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1995)


Jekyll & Hyde

Music: Frank Wildhorn  Lyrics/Book: Leslie Bricusse

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1990)


Kid Victory

Music: John Kander  Lyrics/Book: Greg Pierce

Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)


Kiss of the Spider Woman

Music: John Kander  Lyrics: Fred Ebb  Book: Terrence McNally

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1992)


Little Shop of Horrors

Music: Alan Menken  Lyrics/Book: Howard Ashman

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1982)


Lizzie

Music/Lyrics: Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Alan Stevens Hewitt  Music/Lyrics/Book: Tim Maner

Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)


Marie Christine

Music/Lyrics/Book: Michael John LaChiusa

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1999)


No Way to Treat a Lady

Music/Lyrics/Book: Douglas J. Cohen

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1987)


Parade

Music/Lyrics: Jason Robert Brown  Book: Alfred Uhry

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1998)


Ride the Cyclone

Music/Lyrics/Book: Brooke Maxwell, Jacob Richmond

Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)


Ruthless!

Music: Marvin Laird  Lyrics/Book: Joel Paley

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1992)


Sarafina

Music/Lyrics/Book: Mbongeni Ngema  Music/Lyrics: Hugh Masekela

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1987)


See What I Wanna See

Music/Lyrics/Book: Michael John LaChiusa

Musical Type: Contemporary (2004)


Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Music/Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim  Book: Hugh Wheeler

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1979)


The Capeman

Music/Lyrics/Book: Paul Simon  Lyrics/Book: Derek Walcott

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1998)


The Fields of Ambrosia

Music: Martin Silvestri  Lyrics/Book: Joel Higgins

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1993)


The Hatpin

Music: Peter Rutherford  Lyrics/Book: James Millar

Musical Type: Contemporary (2008)


The Phantom of the Opera

Music/Book: Andrew Lloyd Webber  Lyrics: Charles Hart  Lyrics/Book: Richard Stilgoe

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1986)


The Scottsboro Boys

Music/Lyrics: John Kander, Fred Ebb  Book: David Thompson

Musical Type: Contemporary (2010)


The View UpStairs

Music/Lyrics/Book: Max Vernon

Musical Type: Contemporary (2017)


The Visit

Music: John Kander  Lyrics: Fred Ebb  Book: Terrence McNally

Musical Type: Contemporary (2001)


The Wild Party

Music/Lyrics/Book: Andrew Lippa

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1997)


The Woman in White

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber  Lyrics: David Zippel  Book: Charlotte Jones

Musical Type: Contemporary (2004)


We Are the Tigers

Music/Lyrics/Book: Preston Max Allen

Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)


Whistle Down the Wind

Music/Book: Andrew Lloyd Webber  Lyrics: Jim Steinman  Book: Patricia Knop, Gale Edwards

Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1996)


Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Music/Lyrics: David Yazbek  Book: Jeffrey Lane

Musical Type: Contemporary (2010)


Other blog posts you might like:

Comedy Musicals

Gifts for Actors

Musicals for High School

Musicals Set in New York City

Mystery Musicals


Want a weekly list of stagey surprises?!

Sign up for Theatre Thursday.


Which of these dark musicals is your favorite?

Know any other great Halloween musicals? Let us know in the comments below! And if you like these types of lists, check out the musical database. That’s where you’ll find musicals sorted by composer, theme, setting, and more!


Stacy Karyn, author of Horror Musicals.
Author: Stacy Karyn

Stacy Karyn is the founder of Theatre Trip, author of The Thespian’s Bucket List, and creator of The Cast Album List. She has a TESOL drama certificate, a BA in theatre, and has worked and interned with Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters.


 

Leave a Reply

Skip to content