65+ Musicals Based on True Stories – The Full List
Last Updated: May 6, 2025
Looking for musicals that bring real-life events and figures to the stage? From historical dramas to personal journeys, these shows offer a unique glimpse into the past and present. Here’s the full list of musicals based on true stories.
Post Contents:
Jazz Age Musicals Based on True Stories
Jazz Age Musicals
Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics: Lorenz Hart Book: Herbert Fields
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1925)
What It’s Based On: The American Revolutionary War / Mary Lindley Murray
Music: Sigmund Romberg Lyrics/Book: Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1926)
What It’s Based On: The 1925 Uprising of the Riffs in Morocco
Golden Age Musicals
Music/Lyrics: Irving Berlin Book: Dorothy Fields, Herbert Fields
Musical Type: Golden Age (1946)
Who It’s Loosely Based On: Annie Oakley and Frank E. Butler
Music/Lyrics: Irving Berlin Book: Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse
Musical Type: Golden Age (1950)
Who It’s Loosely Based On: Perle Mesta
Music: Jerry Bock Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Book: Jerome Weidman, George Abbott
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Who It’s Based On: Fiorello La Guardia
Music/Lyrics: Todd Matshikiza Lyrics: Pat Williams Book: Harry Bloom
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Who It’s Based On: Ezekiel Dlamini, aka “King Kong”
1960s Musicals
Music/Lyrics: Sherman Edwards Book: Peter Stone
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1969)
What It’s Based On: The Signing of the Declaration of Independence
Music/Lyrics/Book: Lionel Bart Book: Joan Maitland
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1962)
What It’s Based On: Lionel Bart’s Memories of WWII
Music: André Previn Lyrics/Book: Alan Jay Lerner
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1969)
Who It’s Based On: Coco Chanel
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics: Bob Merrill Book: Isobel Lennart
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1964)
Who It’s Based On: Fanny Brice
Music/Lyrics: George M. Cohan Lyrics: Mary Cohan Book: Michael Stewart, John Pascal, Francine Pascal
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1968)
Who It’s Based On: George M. Cohan
Music/Lyrics: Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz Book: Arnold Schulman
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1963)
Who It’s Based On: Jennie Malone and James O’Connor
Music/Lyrics: Bill Jacob, Patti Jacob Book: Melville Shavelson
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1969)
Who It’s Based On: NYC Mayor Jimmy Walker
Music/Lyrics: Robert Wright, George Forrest Book: Peter Stone
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1961)
Who It’s Based On: Edmund Kean
Music/Lyrics/Book: Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, George Weiss Book: Morton DaCosta
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1968)
What It’s Based On: The New York Draft Riots of 1863
1970s Musicals
Music: Leonard Bernstein Lyrics/Book: Alan Jay Lerner
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1976)
What It’s Loosely Based On: The Political History of the USA
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics: Tim Rice
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1976)
Who It’s Based On: Eva Perón
Music: Larry Grossman Lyrics: Hal Hackady Book: Sidney Michaels
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1975)
Who It’s Based On: Joan of Arc / The Dauphin of France
Music: Charles Strouse Lyrics: Lee Adams Book: Jay Presson Allen
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1972)
Who It’s Based On: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Music/Lyrics: Jerry Herman Book: Michael Stewart
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1974)
Who It’s Based On: Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand
Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Book: Sherman Yellen
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1976)
Who It’s Based On: King Henry VIII
Music/Lyrics/Book: Elizabeth Swados
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1978)
What It’s Based On: Interviews with Homeless Children
Music: Marvin Hamlisch Lyrics: Carole Bayer Sager Book: Neil Simon
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1978)
Who It’s Based On: Carole Bayer Sager and Marvin Hamlisch
Music: John Williams Lyrics: James Harbert Book: Edward Anhalt
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1975)
Who It’s Based On: Thomas Becket and Henry II
1980s Musicals
Music: Cy Coleman Lyrics: Michael Stewart Book: Mark Bramble
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1980)
Who It’s Based On: P. T. Barnum
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1984)
Music: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus Lyrics: Tim Rice Book: Richard Nelson
What It’s Loosely Based On: The 1972 Fischer-Spassky Chess Match
Music: Henry Krieger Lyrics/Book: Tom Eyen
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1981)
What It’s Based On: R&B Success Stories of the 1960s/70s
Music/Lyrics: Charles Strouse Book: Warren Leight
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1985)
Who It’s Based On: NYC Mayor Ed Koch
Music/Lyrics/Book: Mbongeni Ngema Additional Songs: Hugh Masekela
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1987)l
What It’s Loosely Based On: The Soweto Uprising in South Africa
Music/Lyrics: David Heneker Lyrics/Book: Warner Brown
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1980)
What It’s Based On: The Silent Film Era
Music: Jerry Bock Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Book: Sherman Yellen
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1970)
Who It’s Based On: The Rothschild Family
1990s Musicals
Music/Lyrics/Book: William Finn Book: James Lapine
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1998)
What It’s Based On: William Finn’s Experiences
Music/Lyrics/Book: Michael John LaChiusa
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1993)
What It’s Loosely Based On: First Ladies Throughout History
Music/Lyrics: Adam Guettel Book: Tina Landau
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1994)
Who It’s Based On: Floyd Collins
Music: Barry Manilow Lyrics/Book: Bruce Sussman
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1997)
Who It’s Based On: The Comedian Harmonists
Music: Jelly Roll Morton, Luther Henderson Lyrics: Susan Birkenhead Book: George C. Wolfe
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1992)
Who It’s Based On: Jelly Roll Morton
Music: Taliep Petersen Lyrics/Book: David Kramer
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1996)
What It’s Based On: The Memories of Salie Daniels
Music/Book: Claude-Michel Schönberg Lyrics/Book: Alain Boublil Lyrics: Edward Hardy, Stephen Clark
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1996)
Who It’s Based On: Martin Guerre
Music/Lyrics: Jason Robert Brown Book: Alfred Uhry
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1998)
What It’s Based On: Leo Frank’s 1913 Trial
Music: Henry Krieger Lyrics/Book: Bill Russell
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1997)
Who It’s Based On: Daisy and Violet Hilton
Music/Lyrics/Book: Steve Brown Lyrics/Book: Justin Greene
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1998)
Who It’s Loosely Based On: Viv Nicholson
Music/Lyrics: Maury Yeston Book: Peter Stone
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1997)
What It’s Based On: The RMS Titanic
Music/Book: Frank Wildhorn Lyrics: Jack Murphy Book: Gregory Boyd
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1998)
What It’s Based On: The American Civil War
Music: Cy Coleman Lyrics: Betty Comden, Adolph Green Book: Peter Stone
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1991)
Who It’s Based On: Will Rogers
2000s Musicals
Music/Lyrics: Edward Kleban Book: Linda Kline, Lonny Price
Musical Type: Contemporary (2000)
Who It’s Based On: Edward Kleban
Music: Frank Wildhorn Lyrics: Don Black Book: Ivan Menchell
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
Who It’s Based On: Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
Music/Lyrics: Marc Shaiman Lyrics: Scott Wittman Book: Terrence McNally
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
Who It’s Based On: Frank Abagnale
Music/Lyrics/Book: Christopher Curtis Book: Thomas Meehan
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Who It’s Based On: Charlie Chaplin
Music: Scott Frankel Lyrics: Michael Korie Book: Doug Wright
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Who It’s Based On: Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and Edith Bouvier Beale
Music/Lyrics: Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Alan Stevens Hewitt Music/Lyrics/Book: Tim Maner
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
Who It’s Based On: Lizzie Borden
Music: Kurt Weill Lyrics: Various Book: Alfred Uhry
Musical Type: Contemporary (2007)
Who It’s Based On: Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya
Music/Lyrics: David Bryan Lyrics/Book: Joe DiPietro
Musical Type: Contemporary (2002)
Who It’s Based On: Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips
Music/Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Book: John Weidman
Musical Type: Contemporary (2003)
Who It’s Based On: Addison and Wilson Mizner
Music: David Pomeranz, David Friedman Lyrics/Book: Kathie Lee Gifford
Musical Type: Contemporary (2005)
Who It’s Based On: Aimee Semple McPherson
Music/Lyrics/Book: Eddie Perfect
Musical Type: Contemporary (2008)
Who It’s Based On: Shane Warne
Music: Peter Rutherford Lyrics/Book: James Millar
Musical Type: Contemporary (2008)
Who It’s Based On: Amber Murray
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics: Tim Rice
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age/Contemporary (1965/2005)
Who It’s Based On: Thomas John Barnardo
Music/Book: Claude-Michel Schönberg Lyrics: John Dempsey Lyrics/Book: Alain Boublil, Richard Maltby, Jr.
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Who It’s Based On: Gráinne O’Malley
2010s Musicals
Music/Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Musical Type: Contemporary (2014)
What It’s Based On: “What I Did For Love” from This American Life
Music/Lyrics/Book: Jay Kuo Book: Marc Acito, Lorenzo Thione
Musical Type: Contemporary (2012)
What It’s Based On: WWII / The Internment of Japanese Americans
Music/Lyrics/Book: Christopher Smith Book: Arthur Giron
Musical Type: Contemporary (2012)
Who It’s Based On: John Newton
Music/Lyrics: Gary Barlow Book: Tim Firth
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
What It’s Based On: The Fundraising of the “Calendar Girls”
Music/Lyrics/Book: Paul Hodge Book: Michael Hodge
Musical Type: Contemporary (2012)
What It’s Based On: The Presidency of Bill Clinton
Music/Lyrics/Book: Irene Sankoff, David Hein
Musical Type: Contemporary (2013)
What It’s Based On: The Town of Gander on September 11, 2001
Music/Lyrics: David Bryan Lyrics/Book: Joe DiPietro
Musical Type: Contemporary (2019)
Who It’s Based On: Diana, Princess of Wales
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Music: Dan Gillespie Sells Lyrics/Book: Tom MacRae
Musical Type: Contemporary (2017)
Who It’s Based On: Jamie Campbell
Music/Lyrics: Michael John La Chiusa
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
What It’s Loosely Based On: First Daughters Throughout History
Music: Matthew Sklar Lyrics: Nell Benjamin Book: Bob Martin, Chad Beguelin
Musical Type: Contemporary (2018)
What It’s Based On: The New Jersey Nets’ First 60+ Dance Team
Music/Lyrics/Book: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
Who It’s Based On: Alexander Hamilton
Music/Book: Matt Gould Lyrics/Book: Carson Kreitzer
Musical Type: Contemporary (2018)
Who It’s Based On: Tamara de Lempicka
Music: David Arnold Lyrics: Richard Thomas Book: Richard Bean
Musical Type: Contemporary (2014)
What It’s Based On: The 1968 Ford Sewing Machinists Strike
Music: George Fenton, Simon Chamberlain Lyrics: Don Black Book: Terry Johnson
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
What It’s Based On: Laura Henderson and London’s Windmill Theatre
Music/Lyrics/Book: Jonathan Christenson
Musical Type: Contemporary (2010)
Who It’s Based On: Edgar Allan Poe
Music: Alan Menken Lyrics: Jack Feldman Book: Harvey Fierstein
Musical Type: 1992 Film/Contemporary Musical (2011)
What It’s Based On: The 1899 Newsboys Strike in NYC
Music/Lyrics/Book: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts
Musical Type: Contemporary (2019)
What It’s Based On: A World War II Deception Operation
Music/Lyrics/Book: Michael John LaChiusa
Musical Type: Contemporary (2011)
Who It’s Based On: Annie Edson Taylor
Music/Lyrics/Book: Toby Marlow, Lucy Moss
Musical Type: Contemporary (2017)
Who It’s Based On: The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics/Book: Don Black, Christopher Hampton
Musical Type: Contemporary (2013)
What It’s Based On: The 1963 Profumo affair
Music/Lyrics: John Kander, Fred Ebb Book: David Thompson
Musical Type: Contemporary (2010)
What It’s Based On: The Scottsboro Boys Trial
Music/Lyrics/Book: Max Vernon
Musical Type: Contemporary (2017)
What It’s Based On: The 1973 UpStairs Lounge Attack
Music: Scott Frankel Lyrics: Michael Korie Book: Doug Wright
Musical Type: Contemporary (2016)
Who It’s Based On: Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein
Music/Lyrics/Book: Matt Gould, Griffin Matthews
Musical Type: Contemporary (2014)
What It’s Based On: Matthews and Gould’s Experiences
2020s Musicals
Music/Lyrics: Neil Diamond Book: Anthony McCarten
Musical Type: Contemporary (2022)
Who It’s Based On: Neil Diamond
Music/Lyrics: Buena Vista Social Club Book: Marco Ramirez
Musical Type: Contemporary (2023)
What It’s Loosely Based On: Cuban Musicians from the 1950s-1990s
Music/Lyrics: Bob Marley Book: Lee Hall
Musical Type: Contemporary (2021)
Who It’s Based On: Bob Marley
Music: Jacob Yandura Lyrics/Book: Rebekah Greer Melocik
Musical Type: Contemporary (2022)
What It’s Based On: The Documentary How to Dance in Ohio
Music/Lyrics/Book: Shaina Taub
Musical Type: Contemporary (2022)
What It’s Based On: The American Women’s Suffrage Movement
Music/Lyrics: Various Book: Ed Curtis
Musical Type: Contemporary (2021)
Who It’s Based On: Faye Treadwell and The Drifters
Music/Lyrics: Nick Butcher Lyrics: Tom Ling Book: Joe White
Musical Type: Contemporary (2023)
Who It’s Based On: Henry Fraser
Music: William Patrick Harrison Lyrics/Book: Maryhee Yoon, Cara Baldwin
Musical Type: Contemporary (2021)
Who It’s Based On: Iva Toguri D’Aquino
Music/Lyrics/Book: Toby Marlow, Lucy Moss
Musical Type: Contemporary (2024)
Who It’s Loosely Based On: Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss
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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 holds a BA in theatre and a TESOL drama certificate, with experience working and interning in Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters.
