Historical Musicals
The following list includes historical stage musicals, focusing on shows that feature events from history and real-world figures. Additional musical lists are in the musical database.
Musicals About History
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1976)
Creators: Leonard Bernstein and Alan Jay Lerner
Featuring: The History of the White House
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1969)
Creators: Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone
Featuring: The Signing of the Declaration of Independence
Musical Type: Contemporary (2012)
Creators: Jay Kuo, Marc Acito, and Lorenzo Thione
Featuring: WWII/Internment of Japanese Americans
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1990)
Creators: Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman
Featuring: Presidential Assassins Throughout History
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1964)
Creators: Mark Sandrich, Jr. and Sidney Michaels
Featuring: Benjamin Franklin’s Trip to France
Musical Type: Contemporary (2008)
Creators: Michael Friedman and Alex Timbers
Featuring: The Life and Presidency of Andrew Jackson
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1995)
Creators: Daryl Waters, Zane Mark, Ann Duquesnay, George C. Wolfe, and Reg E. Gaines
Featuring: Black History
Musical Type: Contemporary (2023)
Creators: Buena Vista Social Club and Marco Ramirez
Featuring: Cuban Musicians from the 1950s-1990s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2012)
Creators: Paul Hodge and Michael Hodge
Featuring: The Presidency of Bill Clinton
Musical Type: Contemporary (2013)
Creators: Irene Sankoff and David Hein
Featuring: The Diverted Flights on September 11, 2001
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1925)
Creators: Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and Herbert Fields
Featuring: The American Revolutionary War/Mary Lindley Murray
Musical Type: Contemporary (2019)
Creators: David Bryan and Joe DiPietro
Featuring: The Life of Diana, Princess of Wales
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1976)
Creators: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice
Featuring: Eva Perón’s Life and Legacy
Musical Type: Contemporary (2021)
Creators: Miranda Cooper, Jennifer Decilveo, and Chris Bush
Featuring: Women Throughout History
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Creators: Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, Jerome Weidman, and George Abbott
Featuring: NYC Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
Creators: Michael John La Chiusa
Featuring: First Daughters Throughout History
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1993)
Creators: Michael John LaChiusa
Featuring: First Ladies Throughout History
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
Creators: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Featuring: The Life of Alexander Hamilton
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1999)
Creators: Charles Bevel, Lita Gaithers, Randal Myler, Ron Taylor, and Dan Wheetman
Featuring: The Evolution of Blues Music
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1996)
Creators: Taliep Petersen and David Kramer
Featuring: South Africa During Apartheid
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1980)
Creators: Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alan Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer, and Jean-Marc Natel
Featuring: The June Rebellion / Paris Uprising of 1832
Musical Type: Contemporary (2014)
Creators: David Arnold, Richard Thomas, and Richard Bean
Featuring: The 1968 Ford Sewing Machinists Strike
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1968)
Creators: Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, George Weiss, and Morton DaCosta
Featuring: The New York Draft Riots of 1863
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1996)
Creators: Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, Edward Hardy, and Stephen Clark
Featuring: Martin Guerre and 16th Century France
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1989)
Creators: Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, and Richard Maltby, Jr.
Featuring: Relationships During the Vietnam War
Musical Type: Contemporary (2011)
Creators: Alan Menken, Jack Feldman, and Harvey Fierstein
Featuring: The 1899 Newsboys Strike in NYC
Musical Type: Contemporary (2019)
Creators: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts
Featuring: The WWII Operation Mincemeat Deception
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1976)
Creators: Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman
Featuring: The Westernization of Japan During the 19th Century
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1998)
Creators: Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry
Featuring: Leo Frank’s 1913 Trial
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1996)
Creators: Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens, and Terrence McNally
Featuring: Early-Twentieth-Century America
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1987)
Creators: Mbongeni Ngema and Hugh Masekela
Featuring: The Soweto Uprising in South Africa
Musical Type: Contemporary (2017)
Creators: Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss
Featuring: The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Musical Type: Contemporary (2013)
Creators: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, and Christopher Hampton
Featuring: The 1963 Profumo Affair
Musical Type: Contemporary (2022)
Creators: Shaina Taub
Featuring: The American Women’s Suffrage Movement
Musical Type: Contemporary (2022)
Creators: Elyssa Samsel, Kate Anderson, Jodi Picoult, and Timothy Allen McDonald
Featuring: WWII
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1998)
Creators: Frank Wildhorn, Jack Murphy, and Gregory Boyd
Featuring: The American Civil War
Musical Type: Contemporary (2010)
Creators: John Kander, Fred Ebb, and David Thompson
Featuring: The Scottsboro Boys Trial
Musical Type: Contemporary (2017)
Creators: Max Vernon
Featuring: The 1973 Attack at the UpStairs Lounge
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1975)
Creators: John Williams, James Harbert, and Edward Anhalt
Featuring: Thomas Becket and Henry II
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1979)
Creators: Mel Marvin, Gary Pearle, Mary Kyte, and Others
Featuring: US History
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1997)
Creators: Maury Yeston and Peter Stone
Featuring: The RMS Titanic