Musicals Set in the 1920s – A Full List
Whether you’re auditioning for musicals, setting up your rep book, or simply looking for some 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! The most notable musicals set in the 1920s are included below.
The following list is broken down into two categories – “Musicals Fully Set in the 1920s” and “Musicals Partially Set in the 1920s”. Each category is sorted alphabetically.
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Musicals Fully Set in the 1920s
Music/Lyrics/Book: Joshua Schmidt Lyrics/Book: Jason Loewith
Musical Type: Contemporary (2007)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Paul Williams Book: Alan Parker
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1976)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Various Book: Woody Allen
Musical Type: Contemporary/Jukebox (2014)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics: Alan Ayckbourn
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1975)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Music/Lyrics: Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman Book: David Greig
Musical Type: Contemporary (2013)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: John Kander Lyrics/Book: Fred Ebb Book: Bob Fosse
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1975)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Maury Yeston Book: Peter Stone, Thomas Meehan
Musical Type: Contemporary (2011)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Cole Porter Book: Herbert Fields
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1929)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Adam Guettel Book: Tina Landau
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1994)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: George Gershwin Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Book: Paul Gerard Smith, Fred Thompson
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1927)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics: Leo Robin Book: Joseph Fields, Anita Loos
Musical Type: Golden Age (1949)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Ray Henderson Lyrics/Book: B.G. DeSylva Lyrics: Lew Brown Book: Laurence Schwab
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1927)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Robert Wright, George Forrest, Maury Yeston Book: Luther Davis
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1989)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Marc Blitzstein Book: Joseph Stein
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Con Conrad Lyrics: Gus Kahn Book: Philip Bartholomae, Otto Harbach
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1926)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: George Gershwin Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Book: Guy Bolton, Fred Thompson
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1924)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Peter Allen Book: Harvey Fierstein, Charles Suppon
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1988)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics/Book: Robert J. Sherman
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Jimmy McHugh Lyrics: Dorothy Fields, Harold Adamson
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1997)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: George Gershwin Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Book: Peter Stone, Timothy S. Mayer
Musical Type: Jazz Age/Pre-Contemporary (1983)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: George Gershwin Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Book: Joe DiPietro
Musical Type: Contemporary (2012)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Vincent Youmans Lyrics/Book: Irving Caesar, Otto Harbach, Frank Mandel
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1925)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: George Gershwin Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Book: Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1926)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Various Conceived by: Vernel Bagneris
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary/Revue (1979)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Jerome Kern, Victor Herbert Lyrics: Grey, De Sylva, Wodehouse, Caldwell Book: Bolton
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1920)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Book: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein
Musical Type: Golden Age (1955) / Pre-Contemporary (1997)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Nacio Herb Brown Lyrics: Arthur Freed Book: Adolph Green, Betty Comden
Musical Type: 1952 Film/Pre-Contemporary Musical (1983)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: George Gershwin Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Book: Morrie Ryskind
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1930)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics: Bob Merrill Book: Peter Stone
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1972)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics/Book: Sandy Wilson
Musical Type: Golden Age (1953)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Jerome Kern Lyrics/Book: George Grossmith, P.G. Wodehouse
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1922)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Irving Berlin Book: George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1925)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Sigmund Romberg Lyrics: Otto Harbach Book: Hammerstein, Harbach, Mandel
Musical Type: Jazz Age/Operetta (1926)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Lisa Lambert, Greg Morrison Book: Bob Martin, Don McKellar
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1998)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics: Lorenz Hart Book: Herbert Fields
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1926)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: John Kander Lyrics: Fred Ebb Book: N. Richard Nash
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1967)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics/Book: Frank Loesser
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Cole Porter Book: Herbert Fields
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1930)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics/Book: Andrew Lippa
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1997)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics/Book: Michael John LaChiusa Book: George C. Wolfe
Musical Type: Contemporary (2000)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Jeanine Tesori Lyrics/Book: Dick Scanlan Book: Richard Morris
Musical Type: Contemporary (2002)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: George Gershwin Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Book: Guy Bolton, Fred Thompson
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1925)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music: Lee Pockriss Lyrics: Anne Croswell Book: David Shaw
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1963)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Music/Lyrics: Cole Porter, Robert Katscher Book: Rowland Leigh
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1938)
When It’s Set: The 1920s
Musicals Partially Set in the 1920s
Music: Richard Rodgers Book/Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II
Musical Type: Golden Age (1947)
When It’s Set: 1900s-1940s
Music: Stephen Flaherty Lyrics: Lynn Ahrens Book: Terrence McNally
Musical Type: Contemporary (2016)
When It’s Set: 1900s-1920s
Music: W.C. Handy, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake, Big Maybelle
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1985)
When It’s Set: 1910s-1940s
Music: Frank Wildhorn Lyrics: Don Black Book: Ivan Menchell
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
When It’s Set: 1920s-1930s
Music/Book: Steve Martin Music/Lyrics: Edie Brickell
Musical Type: Contemporary (2014)
When It’s Set: 1920s-1940s
Music/Lyrics/Book: Christopher Curtis Book: Thomas Meehan
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
When It’s Set: 1900s-1960s
Music: Lucy Simon Lyrics: Michael Korie, Amy Powers
Musical Type: Contemporary (2011)
When It’s Set: 1910s-1930s
Music/Lyrics: Harold Rome Book: S.N. Behrman, Joshua Logan
Musical Type: Golden Age (1954)
When It’s Set: 1920s-1930s
Music: Jerry Bock Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Book: Jerome Weidman, George Abbott
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
When It’s Set: 1910s-1930s
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics: Bob Merrill Book: Isobel Lennart
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1964)
When It’s Set: 1910s-1920s
Music/Lyrics: George M. Cohan Lyrics: Mary Cohan Book: Michael Stewart, John Pascal, Francine Pascal
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1968)
When It’s Set: 1910s-1930s
Music/Lyrics: Michael John LaChiusa Book: Sybille Pearson
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
When It’s Set: 1920s-1950s
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Book: Arthur Laurents
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
When It’s Set: 1920s-1930s
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics: Adolph Green, Betty Comden Book: Arthur Laurents
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1967)
When It’s Set: 1910s-1960s
Music: Bruce Greer Lyrics/Book: Keith Ferguson
Musical Type: Contemporary (2000)
When It’s Set: 1920s/1940s
Music: Jelly Roll Morton, Luther Henderson Lyrics: Susan Birkenhead Book: George C. Wolfe
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1992)
When It’s Set: 1890s-1940s
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics: Adolph Green, Betty Comden, Leo Robin Book: Kenny Solms, Gail Parent
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1974)
When It’s Set: 1920s-1940s
Music: Kurt Weill Lyrics: Various Book: Alfred Uhry
Musical Type: Contemporary (2007)
When It’s Set: 1920s-1950s
Music/Lyrics: Jerry Herman Book: Michael Stewart
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1974)
When It’s Set: 1900s-1930s
Music/Lyrics: Jerry Herman Book: Jerome Lawrence, Robert Edwin Lee
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1966)
When It’s Set: 1920s-1940s
Music: Larry Grossman Lyrics: Hal Hackady Book: Arthur Marx, Robert Fisher
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1970)
When It’s Set: 1900s-1920s
Music/Lyrics/Book: Sam Kenyon
Musical Type: Contemporary (2018)
When It’s Set: 1910s-1960s
Music/Lyrics/Book: Michael John LaChiusa
Musical Type: Contemporary (2011)
When It’s Set: 1900s-1920s
Music/Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Book: John Weidman
Musical Type: Contemporary (2003)
When It’s Set: 1890s-1930s
Music: David Pomeranz, David Friedman Lyrics/Book: Kathie Lee Gifford
Musical Type: Contemporary (2005)
When It’s Set: 1910s-1940s
Music: Jerome Kern Lyrics/Book: Oscar Hammerstein II
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1927)
When It’s Set: 1880s-1920s
Music/Lyrics/Book: David Heneker, Warner Brown
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1980)
When It’s Set: 1910s-1920s
Music/Lyrics: Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, Stephen Bray Book: Marsha Norman
Musical Type: Contemporary (2005)
When It’s Set: 1900s-1930s
Music: Cy Coleman Lyrics: Betty Comden, Adolph Green Book: Peter Stone
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1991)
When It’s Set: 1910s-1930s
More Musicals by Setting
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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.