75+ Obscure Musicals – A Huge List of Shows
These obscure musicals are lesser-known or infrequently produced works that may be talked about less than more familiar shows. The list includes hidden gems, short-lived productions, and under-the-radar musicals that are worth discovering.
On This Page:
Obscure Jazz Age Musicals
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1929)
Creators: Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, Elisabeth Hauptmann, and Michael Feingold
Genre: Comedy / Satire
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1935)
Creators: Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Ben Hecht, and Charles MacArthur
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1926)
Creators: Con Conrad, Gus Kahn, Philip Bartholomae, and Otto Harbach
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1934)
Creators: Harold Arlen, Ira Gershwin, and Yip Harburg
Genre: Revue
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1926)
Creators: Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and Herbert Fields
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Musical Type: Jazz Age (1932)
Creators: Vincent Youmans, Edward Heyman, and Brian Hooker
Genre: Romance
Obscure Golden Age Musicals
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Creators: Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne, André Previn, Saul Chaplin, Roger Eden, and Morton Gould
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1944)
Creators: Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg, Sig Herzig, and Fred Saidy
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Musical Type: Golden Age (1954)
Creators: Arthur Schwartz, Dorothy Fields, and Herbert Fields
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
Creators: Robb Stewart, Neville Phillips, and Robin Chancellor
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Creators: George Weiss, Robert Goldman, Glenn Paxton, and Abe Burrows
Genre: Romance
Musical Type: Golden Age (1952)
Creators: Frank Loesser, John Fearnley, Beverly Cross, and Tommy Steele
Genre: Fantasy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1956)
Creators: Harold Karr, Matt Dubey, Howard Lindsay, and Russel Crouse
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Creators: Laurie Johnson, Lionel Bart, and Bernard Miles
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1948)
Creators: Hugh Martin, Jerome Lawrence, and Robert E. Lee
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1948)
Creators: Heitor Villa-Lobos, Robert Wright, George Forrest, Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, and Homer Curran
Genre: Adventure
Musical Type: Golden Age (1952)
Creators: Various Artists
Genre: Revue
Musical Type: Golden Age (1957)
Creators: Bob Merrill and George Abbott
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Creators: Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, Al Morgan, and José Ferrer
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1955)
Creators: Victor Young, Stella Unger, and Victor Wolfson
Genre: Drama / Romance
Musical Type: Golden Age (1957)
Creators: David Martin and Langston Hughes
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Creators: Bob Merrill, Joseph Stein, and Robert Russell
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Musical Type: Golden Age (1949)
Creators: Robert Emmett Dolan, Johnny Mercer, John Whedon, and Sam Moore
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Creators: Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, Joseph Stein, and Will Glickman
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Creators: Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman, Jay Landesman, and Theodore J. Flicker
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Creators: Sandy Wilson
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Golden Age (1958)
Creators: Moose Charlap, Norman Gimbel, Cy Feuer, Ernest Martin, and Dan Cushman
Genre: Comedy / Western
Obscure 1960s Musicals
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1964)
Creators: Walter Marks and Ernest Kinoy
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1965)
Creators: Marian Grudeff, Raymond Jessel, Jerome Coopersmith, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick
Genre: Adventure / Mystery
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1968)
Creators: Walter Marks and Ernest Kinoy
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1964)
Creators: Jack Lawrence, Stan Freeman, and Jerome Chodorov
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1967)
Creators: Manos Hadjidakis, Joe Darion, and Jules Dassin
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1969)
Creators: Bill Jacob, Patti Jacob, and Melville Shavelson
Genre: Biography
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1961)
Creators: Robert Wright, George Forrest, and Peter Stone
Genre: Drama / Romance
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1961)
Creators: Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, and Abram S. Ginnes
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1967)
Creators: Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer
Genre: Drama
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1969)
Creators: Albert Hague and Allan Sherman
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age/Contemporary (1965/2005)
Creators: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice
Genre: Drama
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1964)
Creators: Leon Carr, Earl Shuman, and Joe Manchester
Genre: Fantasy
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1965)
Creators: Harold Rome, Howard Da Silva, and Felix Leon
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1963)
Creators: Lee Pockriss, Anne Croswell, and David Shaw
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1965)
Creators: Lionel Bart, Harvey Orkin, and Julian Woolford
Genre: Comedy / Spoof
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1964)
Creators: Ervin Drake, Budd Schulberg, and Stuart Schulberg
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Obscure 1970s Musicals
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1978)
Creators: Billy Goldenberg, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, and Jerome Kass
Genre: Drama / Romance
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1973)
Creators: Michael J. Lewis and Anthony Burgess
Genre: Drama / Romance
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1979)
Creators: Richard Rodgers, Martin Charnin, Raymond Jessel, and Thomas Meehan
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1974)
Creators: Jule Styne, Leo Robin, Adolph Green, Betty Comden, Anita Loos, Joseph Fields, Kenny Solms, and Gail Parent
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1974)
Creators: Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, and Will Holt
Genre: Comedy / Satire
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1975)
Creators: Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones
Genre: Drama
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1971)
Creators: Jule Styne and Bob Merrill
Genre: Dark Comedy
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1971)
Creators: Claibe Richardson and Kenward Elmslie
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1975)
Creators: John Williams, James Harbert, and Edward Anhalt
Genre: Drama / Historical
Obscure 1980s Musicals
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1985)
Creators: Larry Gallagher and Others
Genre: Revue
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1982)
Creators: Gerald Jay Markoe and Michael Colby
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1983)
Creators: Elizabeth Swados and Garry Trudeau
Genre: Comedy / Satire
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1985)
Creators: Larry Grossman, Ellen Fitzhugh, and Fay Kanin
Genre: Drama
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1987)
Creators: Brian Gari and Allan Knee
Genre: Autobiography / Drama / Romance
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1988)
Creators: Peter Allen, Harvey Fierstein, and Charles Suppon
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1985)
Creators: Charles Strouse and Warren Leight
Genre: Comedy / Satire
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1983)
Creators: George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Peter Stone, and Timothy S. Mayer
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1987)
Creators: Mbongeni Ngema and Hugh Masekela
Genre: Drama / Historical
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1989)
Creators: Leslie Bricusse
Genre: Mystery
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1987)
Creators: Barry Keating and Stuart Ross
Genre: Science Fiction
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1980)
Creators: David Heneker and Warner Brown
Genre: Drama
Obscure 1990s Musicals
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1993)
Creators: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1993)
Creators: Michael John LaChiusa
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Historical
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1990)
Creators: Bob Merrill
Genre: Drama
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1995)
Creators: Francis Essex, Rob Bettinson, and Others
Genre: Biography
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1997)
Creators: Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields, Harold Adamson, and Sherman Yellen
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1993)
Creators: George Stiles, Paul Leigh, and Claire Luckham
Genre: Drama / Romance
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1996)
Creators: Cheryl West, Duke Ellington, and Others
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1998)
Creators: Steve Brown and Justin Greene
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1993)
Creators: Martin Silvestri and Joel Higgins
Genre: Drama
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1997)
Creators: Dana P. Rowe and John Dempsey
Genre: Satire
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1997)
Creators: Jeffrey Stock, Susan Birkenhead, and James Magruder
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Musical Type: Late 20th Century (1992)
Creators: Jeffrey Lunden and Arthur Perlman
Genre: Drama
Obscure 2000s Musicals
Musical Type: Contemporary (2008)
Creators: David Essex and Jon Conway
Genre: Drama / Romance
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Creators: Michael John LaChiusa
Genre: Drama
Musical Type: Contemporary (2008)
Creators: Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Contemporary (2005)
Creators: Stephen Schwartz and Anthony Stein
Genre: Fantasy
Musical Type: Contemporary (2004)
Creators: David Friedman and Peter Kellogg
Genre: Comedy / Western
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
Creators: Dick Scanlan, Sherie Rene Scott, and Others
Genre: Autobiography
Musical Type: Contemporary (2007)
Creators: Paul Williams and Garry Marshall
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Contemporary (2003)
Creators: Ricky Ian Gordon and Richard Nelson
Genre: Drama / Romance
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Creators: Phillip George, David Lowenstein, and Others
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Contemporary (2005)
Creators: David Nehls and Betsy Kelso
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Creators: A.R. Rahman, Christopher Nightingale, Värttinä, Matthew Warchus, and Shaun McKenna
Genre: Fantasy
Musical Type: Contemporary (2003)
Creators: Jimmy Roberts and Joe DiPietro
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Obscure 2010s Musicals
Musical Type: Contemporary (2011)
Creators: Joshua Schmidt, Jan Levy Tranen, and Austin Pendleton
Genre: Drama
Musical Type: Contemporary (2013)
Creators: Janis Joplin, Randy Johnson, and Others
Genre: Biography
Musical Type: Contemporary (2010)
Creators: Brad Carroll and Peter Sham
Genre: Comedy
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
Creators: Robert J. Sherman
Genre: Fantasy
Musical Type: Contemporary (2011)
Creators: Danny Abosch and Joshua Borths
Genre: Drama
Musical Type: Contemporary (2011)
Creators: Michael John LaChiusa
Genre: Biography
Musical Type: Contemporary (2010)
Creators: Matt Sax and Eric Rosen
Genre: Science Fiction