65+ Musicals About Family – A Full List of Shows
Whether you’re doing some research, putting on a show, or simply looking for new musicals to get into, it’s good to get familiar with what’s out there. And that’s why we’ve put together this list for you! A full list of musicals about family are listed below!
* There are of course hundreds of other musicals that mention family or involve a bit of family dynamics, but the following list is for musicals that are primarily about family as a concept.
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Jazz Age Musicals About Family
Music: Noel Gay Lyrics/Book: Douglas Furber, L. Arthur Rose
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1937)
Songs About Family: “The Family Solicitor”
Golden Age Musicals About Family
Music/Lyrics: Marc Blitzstein Book: Joseph Stein
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Songs About Family: “The Song of Ma”
1960s Musicals About Family
Music/Lyrics: John Kander Lyrics/Book: James Goldman Book: William Goldman
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1962)
Songs About Family: “My Son, the Lawyer”
Music/Lyrics/Book: Lionel Bart Book: Joan Maitland
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1962)
Songs About Family: “Mums and Dads”
Music: Sammy Fain Lyrics: Paul Francis Webster Book: Pearl S. Buck, Charles K. Peck Jr.
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1960)
Songs About Family: “Welcome Song”
Music: Jerry Bock Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Book: Joseph Stein
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1964)
Songs About Family: Almost All of Them
Music/Lyrics: Walter Marks Book: Ernest Kinoy
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1968)
Songs About Family: “We Got Us”
Music/Lyrics/Book: Meredith Willson
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1963)
Songs About Family: “Arm in Arm”
Music/Lyrics: Jerry Herman Book: Jerome Lawrence, Robert Edwin Lee
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1966)
Songs About Family: “If He Walked Into My Life”
Music: Ron Grainer Lyrics/Book: Ronald Millar
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age/Operetta (1964)
Songs About Family: “The Family Moulton-Barrett”
Stop the World – I Want to Get Off
Music/Lyrics/Book: Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1961)
Songs About Family: “Family Fugue”
Music: Harvey Schmidt Lyrics/Book: Tom Jones
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1960)
Songs About Family: “Plant a Radish”
Music: John Kander Lyrics: Fred Ebb Book: N. Richard Nash
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1967)
Songs About Family: “He’s Back”
1970s Musicals About Family
Music: Charles Strouse Lyrics: Martin Charnin Book: Thomas Meehan
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1976)
Songs About Family: “Maybe”
Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics: Martin Charnin, Raymond Jessel Book: Thomas Meehan
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1979)
Songs About Family: “Mama Always Makes It Better”
Music: Larry Grossman Lyrics: Hal Hackady Book: Arthur Marx, Robert Fisher
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1970)
Songs About Family: “Five Growing Boys”
Music: Judd Woldin Lyrics: Robert Brittan Book: Robert B. Nemiroff, Charlotte Zaltzberg
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1973)
Songs About Family: “Man Say”
Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Book: Sherman Yellen
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1976)
Songs About Family: “Where Is My Son?”
Music: Gary Geld Lyrics/Book: Peter Udell Book: Philip Rose, James Lee Barrett
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1974)
Songs About Family: “Papa’s Gonna Make It Alright”
1980s Musicals About Family
Music/Lyrics/Book: Willy Russell
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1983)
Songs About Family: “My Child”
Music/Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Book: James Lapine
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1986)
Songs About Family: “No One is Alone”
Music: Raphael Crystal Lyrics: Richard Engquist Book: Nahma Sandrow
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1984)
Songs About Family: “Celebrate”, “The Boy is Perfect”
Music/Lyrics/Book: William Finn
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1981)
Songs About Family: “A Tight-Knit Family”
Music/Lyrics: Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane Book: Hugh Wheeler
Musical Type: 1944 Film/Pre-Contemporary Musical (1989)
Songs About Family: “Be Anything But A Girl”
Music: Galt MacDermot Lyrics/Book: William Dumaresq
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1983)
Songs About Family: “We’re a Little Family”
Music: John Kander Lyrics: Fred Ebb Book: Terrence McNally
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1984)
Songs About Family: “The Apple Doesn’t Fall”
1990s Musicals About Family
Music/Lyrics: Laurence O’Keefe Book: Keythe Farley, Brian Flemming
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1997)
Songs About Family: “Three Bedroom House”, “Children, Children”
Music/Lyrics/Book: William Finn Book: James Lapine
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1992)
Songs About Family: “Father to Son”, Others
Music/Book: Andrew Lippa Lyrics/Book: Tom Greenwald
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1995)
Songs About Family: “Just Like You” and Others
Music/Lyrics: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus Book: Catherine Johnson
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary/Jukebox (1999)
Songs About Family: “Does Your Mother Know?”, “Slipping Through My Fingers”
Music: Stephen Flaherty Lyrics/Book: Lynn Ahrens
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1990)
Songs About Family: “Mama Will Provide”
Music: Stephen Flaherty Lyrics: Lynn Ahrens Book: Terrence McNally
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1996)
Songs About Family: “Our Children”, “Your Daddy’s Son”
Music: Elton John Lyrics: Tim Rice Book: Rodger Allers, Irene Mecchi
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1997)
Songs About Family: “He Lives in You (Reprise)”
Music: Lucy Simon Book/Lyrics: Marsha Norman
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1991)
Songs About Family: “How Could I Ever Know”
Music/Lyrics/Book: Pete Townshend Book: Des McAnuff
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1992)
Songs About Family: “It’s a Boy”
2000s Musicals About Family
Music/Lyrics: John Bucchino Book: Harvey Fierstein
Musical Type: Contemporary (2007)
Songs About Family: “Our Only Daughter”, “Immediate Family”
Music/Lyrics: Benj Pasek, Justin Paul Book: Joseph Robinette
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
Songs About Family: “What a Mother Does”, “Just Like That”
Music/Lyrics/Book: Michael John LaChiusa
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Songs About Family: Multiple
Music/Lyrics/Book: Cinco Paul Book: Ken Daurio
Musical Type: Contemporary (2008)
Songs About Family: “Bring Back My Boy”
Music: Jeanine Tesori Lyrics/Book: Tony Kushner
Musical Type: Contemporary (2003)
Songs About Family: “I Got Four Kids”
Music/Lyrics: Marc Shaiman Lyrics: Scott Wittman Book: Terrence McNally
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
Songs About Family: “Family Tree”, “Little Boy, Be a Man”
Music/Lyrics: The Sherman Brothers Book: Jeremy Sams
Musical Type: 1968 Film/Contemporary Musical (2002)
Songs About Family: “You Two”
Music/Lyrics: Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Songs About Family: “Where’s My Dad?”
Music: Jeanine Tesori Lyrics/Book: Lisa Kron
Musical Type: Contemporary (2013)
Songs About Family: Almost All of Them
Music: Scott Frankel Lyrics: Michael Korie Book: Doug Wright
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Songs About Family: “Mother Darling”, “Daddy’s Girl”
Music: Jason Howland Lyrics: Mindi Dickstein Book: Allan Knee
Musical Type: Contemporary (2005)
Songs About Family: “Five Forever”
Music/Lyrics: Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, George Stiles, Anthony Drewe Book: Julian Fellowes
Musical Type: 1964 Film/Contemporary Musical (2004)
Songs About Family: “A Man Has Dreams”
Music: Tom Kitt Lyrics/Book: Brian Yorkey
Musical Type: Contemporary (2008)
Songs About Family: Almost All of Them
Music: Duncan Sheik Lyrics/Book: Steven Sater
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Songs About Family: “Mama Who Bore Me”
Music/Lyrics: Phil Collins Book: David Henry Hwang
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary/Contemporary (2006)
Songs About Family: “Two Worlds”
Music/Lyrics: Andrew Lippa Book: Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
Songs About Family: “When You’re an Addams”, “Happy/Sad”, Others
Music/Book: James Valcq Lyrics/Book: Fred Alley
Musical Type: Contemporary (2001)
Songs About Family: “Way Back Home”
Music/Lyrics/Book: Mel Brooks Book: Thomas Meehan
Musical Type: Contemporary (2007)
Songs About Family: “Join The Family Business”
2010s Musicals About Family
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Music/Lyrics: Steven Lutvak Lyrics/Book: Robert L. Freedman
Musical Type: Contemporary (2012)
Songs About Family: “You’re a D’Ysquith”
Music/Lyrics/Book: Michael R. Jackson
Musical Type: Contemporary (2019)
Songs About Family: “Didn’t Want Nothin'” and Others
Music: Stephen Flaherty Lyrics: Lynn Ahrens Book: Terrence McNally
Musical Type: Contemporary (2016)
Songs About Family: “Journey to the Past”
Music/Lyrics: Eddie Perfect Book: Scott Brown, Anthony King
Musical Type: Contemporary (2018)
Songs About Family: “Dead Mom”, ‘Ready Set, Not Yet”
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Music/Lyrics: Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman Book: David Greig
Musical Type: Contemporary (2013)
Songs About Family: “Charlie, You & I”, “If Your Father Was Here”
Music: Justin Paul Lyrics: Benj Pasek Book: Steven Levenson
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
Songs About Family: “Anybody Have a Map?”, “To Break in a Glove”
Book/Additional Lyrics: David Blaemire Adaptation: Madeline Smith
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
Songs About Family: “Evil Like Me”
Music: Matthew Sklar Lyrics: Chad Beguelin Book: Bob Martin, Thomas Meehan
Musical Type: Contemporary (2010)
Songs About Family: “World’s Best Dad”, “Just Like Him”
Music: Tom Kitt Lyrics: Brian Yorkey Book: Bridget Carpenter
Musical Type: Contemporary (2016)
Songs About Family: Almost All of Them
Music: Barbara Anselmi Lyrics/Book: Brian Hargrove
Musical Type: Contemporary (2011)
Songs About Family: “That’s Family”
Music/Lyrics/Book: Robbie Schaefer
Musical Type: Contemporary (2018)
Songs About Family: Almost All of Them
Music/Lyrics: Erin McKeown Lyrics/Book: Quiara Alegría Hudes
Musical Type: Contemporary (2016)
Songs About Family: “Mothers”
Music/Lyrics: Tom Kitt Book: John Logan
Musical Type: Contemporary (2019)
Songs About Family: “What’s Happening to My Boy?”
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾
Music/Lyrics: Pippa Cleary Lyrics/Book: Jake Brunger
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
Songs About Family: “Perfect Mother”
Music/Lyrics/Book: Jeff Blim Book: Matt Lang, Nick Lang
Musical Type: Contemporary (2014)
Songs About Family: Almost All of Them
Music: Chris Miller Lyrics: Nathan Tysen Book: Claudia Shear, Tim Federle
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
Songs About Family: “Time”, “The Story of the Tucks”
Music/Lyrics: Drew Gasparini
Musical Type: Contemporary/Song Cycle (2019)
Songs About Family: “Mom Could Play Guitar”, “Little Sister”
2020s Musicals About Family
Music/Lyrics/Book: Lauren Yee
Musical Type: Contemporary (2020)
Songs About Family: “Family Business”
Music/Lyrics/Book: Karey Kirkpatrick Music/Lyrics: Wayne Kirkpatrick Book: John O’Farrell
Musical Type: Contemporary (2022)
Songs About Family: “I Want to Be There”, Others
Music/Lyrics/Book: Jonathan Hogue
Musical Type: Contemporary (2021)
Songs About Family: “The Dad I Never Had”
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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.