25+ Tragic Musicals – The Full List of Shows
Whether you’re looking for a musical tragedy to produce or simply looking for some new shows to get into, there are lots of options at your disposal. Here’s a full list of tragic musicals, sorted alphabetically. The following musicals feature devastating events, especially for the main character. And often time these musical tragedies don’t have happy endings.
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Tragic Musicals
Music/Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Musical Type: Contemporary (2014)
Genre: Dramedy
Music/Lyrics: Laurence O’Keefe Book: Keythe Farley, Brian Flemming
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1997)
Genre: Dark Comedy/Horror
Music/Lyrics/Book: Willy Russell
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1983)
Genre: Drama
Music: Frank Wildhorn Lyrics: Don Black Book: Ivan Menchell
Musical Type: Contemporary (2009)
Genre: Drama
Music: John Kander Lyrics: Fred Ebb Book: Joe Masteroff
Musical Type: Post-Golden Age (1966)
Genre: Drama
Music: Georges Bizet Lyrics/Book: Oscar Hammerstein II
Musical Type: Golden Age (1943)
Genre: Drama
Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics/Book: Oscar Hammerstein II
Musical Type: Golden Age (1945)
Genre: Romantic Drama
Music: Michael J. Lewis Lyrics/Book: Anthony Burgess
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1973)
Genre: Romantic Drama
Music/Lyrics/Book: William Finn Book: James Lapine
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1992)
Genre: Drama
Music/Lyrics: Adam Guettel Book: Tina Landau
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1994)
Genre: Drama
Music: Mark Baron Lyrics/Book: Jeffrey Jackson
Musical Type: Contemporary (2007)
Genre: Horror
Music/Lyrics/Book: Anaïs Mitchell
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Genre: Mythic Fantasy/Romance
Music/Lyrics/Book: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Musical Type: Contemporary (2015)
Genre: Biography
Music/Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Book: James Lapine
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1986)
Genre: Fairy Tale
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics: Tim Rice
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1970)
Genre: Religious Drama
Music/Lyrics: Marc Blitzstein Book: Joseph Stein
Musical Type: Golden Age (1959)
Genre: Drama
Music/Lyrics: Claude-Michel Schönberg Lyrics: Alan Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer, Jean-Marc Natel
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1980)
Genre: Drama
Music/Book: Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics/Book: Glenn Slater Book: Ben Elton, Frederick Forsyth
Musical Type: Contemporary (2010)
Genre: Drama
Music/Lyrics: Howard Goodall Lyrics/Book: Stephen Clark
Musical Type: Contemporary (2010)
Genre: Romantic Drama
Music/Lyrics: Jerry Herman Book: Michael Stewart
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1974)
Genre: Drama
Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg Lyrics: Alain Boublil, Richard Maltby, Jr.
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1989)
Genre: Romantic Drama
Music/Lyrics: Jason Robert Brown Book: Alfred Uhry
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1998)
Genre: Drama
Music/Lyrics/Book: Jonathan Larson
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1996)
Genre: Drama
Music: Duncan Sheik Lyrics/Book: Steven Sater
Musical Type: Contemporary (2006)
Genre: Drama
Music/Lyrics: David Kirshenbaum Book: Hunter Foster
Musical Type: Contemporary (2000)
Genre: Romantic Drama
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics/Book: Don Black, Christopher Hampton
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1991)
Genre: Drama
Music/Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Book: Hugh Wheeler
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1979)
Genre: Horror
Music: Peter Rutherford Lyrics/Book: James Millar
Musical Type: Contemporary (2008)
Genre: Drama
Music/Lyrics: Maury Yeston Book: Peter Stone
Musical Type: Pre-Contemporary (1997)
Genre: Drama
Music: Leonard Bernstein Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Book: Arthur Laurents
Musical Type: Golden Age (1957)
Genre: Romantic Drama
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Which of these tragic musicals is your favorite?
Or have you ever played a role in any of the above tragic musicals? Feel free to share in the comments below! And if you like these types of lists, check out the musical database. That’s where you’ll find musicals sorted by composer, theme, setting, and more!
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.