Musicals Set in the 1940s – The Full List of Shows
Set against the backdrop of World War II and a rapidly changing world, musicals of the 1940s explore themes of love, loss, patriotism, and resilience. These shows capture the era’s shifting cultural landscape. Here’s the full list of musicals set in the 1940s.
On This Page:
Musicals Fully Set in the 1940s
Musicals Partially Set in the 1940s
Musicals Fully Set in the 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
Creators: Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Joseph Robinette
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2019)
Creators: Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater, and Jessie Nelson
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1997)
Creators: Michel Legrand, Didier van Cauwelaert, and Jeremy Sams
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2014)
Creators: George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, and Craig Lucas
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
Creators: Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1941)
Creators: Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane, and John Cecil Holm
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2011)
Creators: George Stiles, Anthony Drewe, Ron Cowen, and Daniel Lipman
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1962)
Creators: Lionel Bart and Joan Maitland
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1947)
Creators: Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1950)
Creators: Irving Berlin, Howard Lindsay, and Russel Crouse
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1946)
Creators: Harold Rome and Arnold Auerbach
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1943)
Creators: Georges Bizet and Oscar Hammerstein II
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1989)
Creators: Cy Coleman, David Zippel, and Larry Gelbart
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1990)
Creators: Barry Manilow, Bruce Sussman, and Jack Feldman
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1969)
Creators: Jerry Herman, Jerome Lawrence, and Robert E. Lee
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1947)
Creators: Burton Lane, Yip Harburg, and Fred Saidy
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2016)
Creators: Richard Taylor and Rachel Wagstaff
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2013)
Creators: Stuart Brayson, Tim Rice, and Bill Oakes
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2014)
Creators: Irving Berlin, Gordon Greenberg, and Chad Hodge
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1986)
Creators: Rob Bowman and David H. Bell
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1948)
Creators: Cole Porter, Bella Spewack, and Samuel Spewack
When It’s Set: The 1940s (and theatre scenes in the 1500s)
Musical Type: Golden Age (1941)
Creators: Kurt Weill, Ira Gershwin, and Moss Hart
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1949)
Creators: Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1940)
Creators: Irving Berlin and Morrie Ryskind
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2008)
Creators: Michel Legrand, Herbert Kretzmer, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Jonathan Kent
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1944)
Creators: Cole Porter, Herbert Fields, and Dorothy Fields
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2023)
Creators: John Kander, Fred Ebb, Lin-Manuel Miranda, David Thompson, and Sharon Washington
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1944)
Creators: Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1943)
Creators: Kurt Weill, Ogden Nash, and S.J. Perelman
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2019)
Creators: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1974)
Creators: Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, and Will Holt
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1940)
Creators: Cole Porter, Herbert Fields, and Buddy DeSylva
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1996)
Creators: Cheryl West, Duke Ellington, and Others
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1943)
Creators: Cole Porter, Herbert Fields, and Dorothy Fields
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1949)
Creators: Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Joshua Logan
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1996)
Creators: Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Tom Briggs, and Louis Mattioli
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Opera (1947)
Creators: Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes, and Elmer Rice
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2000)
Creators: David Kirshenbaum and Hunter Foster
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1949)
Creators: Robert Emmett Dolan, Johnny Mercer, John Whedon, and Sam Moore
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2022)
Creators: Elyssa Samsel, Kate Anderson, Jodi Picoult, and Timothy Allen McDonald
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1978)
Creators: Jerry Herman, Michael Stewart, and Mark Bramble
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1983)
Creators: Galt MacDermot and William Dumaresq
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2021)
Creators: William Patrick Harrison, Maryhee Yoon, and Cara Baldwin
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1964)
Creators: Ervin Drake, Budd Schulberg, and Stuart Schulberg
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2005)
Creators: Joseph Zellnik and David Zellnik
When It’s Set: The 1940s
Musicals Partially Set in the 1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2012)
Creators: Jay Kuo, Marc Acito, and Lorenzo Thione
When It’s Set: 1940s, 2000s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1947)
Creators: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
When It’s Set: 1900s-1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1989)
Creators: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, and Charles Hart
When It’s Set: 1940s-1960s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2014)
Creators: Steve Martin and Edie Brickell
When It’s Set: 1920s, 1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1976)
Creators: Loften Mitchell and Others
When It’s Set: 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1970s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1976)
Creators: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice
When It’s Set: 1930s-1950s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
Creators: Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson
When It’s Set: 1920s-1950s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Creators: Scott Frankel, Michael Korie, and Doug Wright
When It’s Set: 1940s, 1970s
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1967)
Creators: Jule Styne, Adolph Green, Betty Comden, and Arthur Laurents
When It’s Set: 1910s-1960s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2013)
Creators: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim
When It’s Set: 1930s-1980s
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1966)
Creators: Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones
When It’s Set: 1890s-1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1992)
Creators: Jelly Roll Morton, Luther Henderson, Susan Birkenhead, and George C. Wolfe
When It’s Set: 1890s-1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Creators: Todd Matshikiza, Pat Williams, and Harry Bloom
When It’s Set: 1940s-1950s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2020)
Creators: Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens
When It’s Set: 1850s, 1940s, 1950s
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1962)
Creators: Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh, and Neil Simon
When It’s Set: 1930s-1950s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1974)
Creators: Jule Styne, Leo Robin, Adolph Green, Betty Comden, Anita Loos, Joseph Fields, Kenny Solms, and Gail Parent
When It’s Set: 1920s-1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2007)
Creators: Kurt Weill, Alfred Uhry, and Others
When It’s Set: 1920s-1950s
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1966)
Creators: Jerry Herman, Jerome Lawrence, and Robert E. Lee
When It’s Set: 1920s-1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2021)
Creators: Jason Robert Brown, Amanda Green, Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz, and Babaloo Mandel
When It’s Set: 1940s, 1950s, 1990s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
Creators: George Fenton, Simon Chamberlain, Don Black, and Terry Johnson
When It’s Set: 1930s-1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2005)
Creators: David Pomeranz, David Friedman, and Kathie Lee Gifford
When It’s Set: 1910s-1940s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1991)
Creators: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, and Christopher Hampton
When It’s Set: 1940s-1950s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2005)
Creators: Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, Stephen Bray, and Marsha Norman
When It’s Set: 1900s-1940s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2019)
Creators: Darren Clark and Jethro Compton
When It’s Set: 1910s-1980s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2021)
Creators: Michael John LaChiusa
When It’s Set: 1940s, 1950s, 2020s
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1992)
Creators: Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff
When It’s Set: 1940s-1960s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2016)
Creators: Scott Frankel, Michael Korie, and Doug Wright
When It’s Set: 1930s-1960s
Musicals Set Around the 1940s
Musical Type: Golden Age (1950)
Creators: Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling, and Abe Burrows
When It’s Set: Around the 1930s-1950s
Musical Type: Contemporary (2016)
Creators: Guy Dubuc, Marc Lessard, and Andreas Carlsson
When It’s Set: Around the 1930s-1950s