Musicals of the 1950s – The Full List of Shows
The musicals of the 1950s played a huge role in popular culture at the time. A few of the popular musical theatre trends included feel-good shows, book musicals, Rodgers & Hammerstein, comedies, love stories, French culture, and big dance numbers.
The 1950s is also a part of the “golden age” of musical theatre. Here’s the full list of musicals that premiered during the decade. And to enhance your researching experience, you can pop on Theatre Trip’s Spotify playlist while scrolling – “The Best Musical Songs of the Golden Age”➝.
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Contents:
1950 Musicals
Music/Lyrics: Irving Berlin Book: Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse
Musical Type: Golden Age (1950)
Music/Lyrics: Frank Loesser Book: Jo Swerling, Abe Burrows
Musical Type: Golden Age (1950)
Music/Lyrics: Cole Porter Book: Dwight Taylor, Reginald Lawrence
Musical Type: Golden Age (1950)
1951 Musicals
Music: Arthur Schwartz Lyrics: Dorothy Fields Book: George Abbott, Betty Smith
Musical Type: Golden Age (1951)
Music: Sammy Fain Lyrics/Book: Yip Harburg Book: Fred Saidy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1951)
Music: Frederick Loewe Lyrics/Book: Alan Jay Lerner
Musical Type: Golden Age (1951)
Music: Walter Kent Lyrics: Kim Gannon Book: Sally Benson
Musical Type: Golden Age (1951)
Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics/Book: Oscar Hammerstein II
Musical Type: Golden Age (1951)
Music/Lyrics: Johnny Mercer Book: Hy Kraft
Musical Type: Golden Age (1951)
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics/Book: Betty Comden, Adolph Green
Musical Type: Golden Age (1951)
1952 Musicals
Music/Lyrics: Frank Loesser Book: John Fearnley, Beverly Cross, Tommy Steele
Musical Type: Golden Age (1952)
Music/Lyrics: Various
Musical Type: Golden Age (1952)
Music/Lyrics: Ralph Blane Book: Charles O’Neal, Abe Burrows
Musical Type: Golden Age (1952)
Music: Vernon Duke Lyrics: Ogden Nash, Sammy Cahn Sketches: Charles Sherman, Peter DeVries
Musical Type: Golden Age (1952)
Music/Lyrics: Harold Rome Book: Arthur Kober, Joshua Logan
Musical Type: Golden Age (1952)
1953 Musicals
Music/Lyrics: Cole Porter Book: Abe Burrows
Musical Type: Golden Age (1953)
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics: Bob Hilliard Book: Ben Hecht
Musical Type: Golden Age (1953)
Music: Alexander Borodin Lyrics: Robert Wright, George Forrest Book: Charles Lederer, Luther Davis
Musical Type: Golden Age (1953)
Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics/Book: Oscar Hammerstein II
Musical Type: Golden Age (1953)
Music/Lyrics/Book: Sandy Wilson
Musical Type: Golden Age (1953)
Music: Leonard Bernstein Lyrics: Betty Comden, Adolph Green Book: Joseph Fields, Jerome Chodorov
Musical Type: Golden Age (1953)
1954 Musicals
Music: Arthur Schwartz Lyrics/Book: Dorothy Fields Book: Herbert Fields
Musical Type: Golden Age (1954)
Music/Lyrics: Harold Rome Book: S.N. Behrman, Joshua Logan
Musical Type: Golden Age (1954)
Music/Lyrics: Harold Arlen Lyrics/Book: Truman Capote
Musical Type: Golden Age (1954)
Music: Moose Charlap, Jule Styne Lyrics: Carolyn Leigh, Betty Comden, Adolph Green Book: J.M. Barrie
Musical Type: Golden Age (1954)
Music/Lyrics/Book: Julian Slade Lyrics/Book: Dorothy Reynolds
Musical Type: Golden Age (1954)
Music: Sigmund Romberg Lyrics: Leo Robin Book: Jerome Chodorov, Joseph Fields
Musical Type: Golden Age (1954)
Music: Jerome Moross Lyrics/Book: John La Touche
Musical Type: Golden Age (1954)
Music/Lyrics: Richard Adler, Jerry Ross Book: George Abbott, Richard Bissell
Musical Type: Golden Age (1954)
1955 Musicals
Music: Sammy Fain Lyrics: Dan Shapiro Book: Guy Bolton, Eddie Davis
Musical Type: Golden Age (1955)
Music/Lyrics: Richard Adler, Jerry Ross Book: George Abbott, Douglass Wallop
Musical Type: Golden Age (1955)
Music/Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Book: Julius J. Epstein
Musical Type: Golden Age (1955) / Pre-Contemporary (1997)
Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics/Book: Oscar Hammerstein II
Musical Type: Golden Age (1955)
Music: Albert Hague Lyrics: Arnold Horwitt Book: Joseph Stein, Will Glickman
Musical Type: Golden Age (1955)
Music: Victor Young Lyrics/Book: Stella Unger Book: Victor Wolfson
Musical Type: Golden Age (1955)
Music/Lyrics: Cole Porter Book: George S. Kaufman, Leueen MacGrath, Abe Burrows
Musical Type: Golden Age (1955)
1956 Musicals
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics/Book: Betty Comden, Adolph Green
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
Music/Lyrics: Leonard Bernstein Lyrics: Richard Wilbur, John La Touche, Stephen Sondheim*, Dorothy Parker Book: John Caird*, Hugh Wheeler*, Lillian Hellman
* Writers who worked on the 1974/1999 revivals of the show
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
Music: Robb Stewart Lyrics/Book: Neville Phillips, Robin Chancellor
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
Music: Harold Karr Lyrics: Matt Dubey Book: Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
Music: Marguerite Monnot Lyrics/Book: Alexandre Breffort, Julian More, David Heneker, Monty Norman
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
Music: Gene de Paul Lyrics: Johnny Mercer Book: Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
Music/Lyrics: Jerry Bock, Larry Holofcener, George Weiss Book: Joseph Stein, Will Glickman
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
Music: Frederick Loewe Lyrics/Book: Alan Jay Lerner
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
Music/Lyrics/Book: Frank Loesser
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
1957 Musicals
Music/Lyrics/Book: Julian Slade Lyrics/Book: Dorothy Reynolds
Musical Type: Golden Age (1957)
Music: Harold Arlen Lyrics/Book: Yip Harburg Book: Fred Saidy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1957)
Music/Lyrics: Bob Merrill Book: George Abbott
Musical Type: Golden Age (1957)
Music: David Martin Lyrics/Book: Langston Hughes
Musical Type: Golden Age (1957)
Music/Lyrics/Book: Meredith Willson
Musical Type: Golden Age (1957)
Music: Leonard Bernstein Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Book: Arthur Laurents
Musical Type: Golden Age (1957)
1958 Musicals
A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Lyrics/Book: Betty Comden, Adolph Green Music: Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne, André Previn, Saul Chaplin, Roger Eden, Morton Gould
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics/Book: Oscar Hammerstein II Book: David Henry Hwang, Joseph Fields
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Music: Leroy Anderson Lyrics: Joan Ford Lyrics/Book: Jean Kerr, Walter Kerr
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Music/Lyrics: Jay Livingston, Ray Evans Book: Al Morgan, José Ferrer
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics: Betty Comden, Adolph Green Book: Abe Burrows, Marian & Richard Bissell
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Music: Jerry Bock Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Book: Joseph Stein, Will Glickman
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Music/Lyrics/Book: Sandy Wilson
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Music: Moose Charlap Lyrics: Norman Gimbel Book: Cy Feuer, Ernest Martin, Dan Cushman
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
1959 Musicals
Music/Lyrics: Harold Rome Book: Leonard Gershe
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music: Jerry Bock Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Book: Jerome Weidman, George Abbott
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music/Lyrics: George Weiss, Robert Goldman, Glenn Paxton Book: Abe Burrows
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Book: Arthur Laurents
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music/Lyrics: Marc Blitzstein Book: Joseph Stein
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music/Lyrics: Todd Matshikiza Lyrics: Pat Williams Book: Harry Bloom
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music/Lyrics/Book: Rick Besoyan
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music: Laurie Johnson Lyrics: Lionel Bart Book: Bernard Miles
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music: Mary Rodgers Lyrics/Book: Marshall Barer Book: Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music/Lyrics: Laurie Johnson Sketches: Peter Cook
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music: Albert Hague Lyrics/Book: Dorothy Fields Book: Herbert Fields, Sidney Sheldon, David Shaw
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music: Harold Arlen Lyrics: Johnny Mercer Book: Morton DaCosta
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music/Lyrics: Bob Merrill Book: Joseph Stein, Robert Russell
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music: Tommy Wolf Lyrics: Fran Landesman Book: Jay Landesman, Theodore J. Flicker
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Book: Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Other Decades
• Musicals of the 1950s → You are here!
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Which of these musicals of the 1950s is your favorite?
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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, a TESOL drama certificate, and has worked and interned with Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters.