List of rock musicals

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "List of rock musicals" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

The following is a list of rock musicals organized chronologically by the start date of the original run. The author of the book, lyrics, and music of each piece is also noted.

* 1966 On the Flip Side on ABC Stage 67 by Burt Bacharach and Hal David
* 1966 The Golden Screw by Tom Sankey
* 1967 Hair written by James Rado, Gerome Ragni and Galt MacDermot.[1][2][3]
* 1968 Your Own Thing by Hal Hester and Danny Apolinar
* 1969 Salvation by Peter Link and C.C. Courtney
* 1970 Jesus Christ Superstar by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber[1][3]
* 1970 The Survival of St. Joan by James Lineberger and Hank & Gary Ruffin
* 1971 Godspell by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak.[1]
* 1971 Soon by Joseph M. Kookolis and Scott Fagan
* 1971 Two Gentlemen of Verona by John Guare, Mel Shapiro and Galt MacDermot[1][3]
* 1972 Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey[1][3]
* 1972 Dude by Galt MacDermot
* 1972 Pippin by Stephen Schwartz, Roger O. Hirson and Bob Fosse[2]
* 1973 The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O'Brien[3]
* 1973 La Révolution Française by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Raymond Jeannot, book by Alain Boublil and Jean-Max Rivière[4]
* 1973 An Imaginary Report on an American Rock Festival, book by Tibor Déry and music by Locomotiv GT
* 1974 Phantom of the Paradise by Brian De Palma and Paul Williams
* 1975 The Lieutenant by Gene Curty, Nitra Scharfman and Chuck Strand
* 1975 The Wiz by Charlie Smalls[1]
* 1976 Evita by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber[2]
* 1976 Rockabye Hamlet by Cliff Jones
* 1978 Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds by Jeff Wayne
* 1978 Working, book by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, music and lyrics by Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, James Taylor and others
* 1979 Pink Floyd – The Wall written by Roger Waters, based on Pink Floyd's album, The Wall (1979), which was also mostly written by Waters
* 1979 Starmania by Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon
* 1979 In Trousers by William Finn
* 1981 Dreamgirls by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen
* 1982 Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken[2]
* 1983 The Human Comedy by Galt MacDermot
* 1983 István, a király (Stephen, the King) by János Bródy and Levente Szörényi
* 1984 Chess by Tim Rice, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson[2]
* 1984 Starlight Express by Andrew Lloyd Webber
* 1986 Time by Dave Clark, David Soames and Jeff Daniels and additional songs by David Pomeranz
* 1988 Lāčplēsis by Zigmārs Liepiņš and Māra Zālīte
* 1989 Miss Saigon by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with Richard Maltby Jr., based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly
* 1989 Return to the Forbidden Planet by Bubble Theatre Company
* 1989 The Iron Man by Pete Townshend, based on Ted Hughes' book The Iron Man.[3]
* 1990 Paris by Jon English and David Mackay
* 1993 Randy Newman's Faust by Randy Newman
* 1993 The Who's Tommy by Pete Townshend, adaptation of The Who's rock opera
* 1994 The Scarlet Letter by Mark Governor based on the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel
* 1995 Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story songs by Buddy Holly and others
* 1995 An American Tragedy by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams
* 1996 Rent by Jonathan Larson[3]
* 1997 Bat Boy by Laurence O'Keefe[2]
* 1997 Tanz der Vampire by Jim Steinman (2002 as Dance of the Vampires)
* 1998 Hedwig and the Angry Inch, book by John Cameron Mitchell, music and lyrics by Stephen Trask[3]
* 1998 Kat and the Kings by Taliep Petersen and David Kramer
* 1998 Quadrophenia by Pete Townshend, adaptation of The Who's rock opera
* 1998 The Capeman by Paul Simon
* 1999 Rasputin – Miracles Lie in the Eye of the Beholder by Michael Rapp
* 2000 Bare: A Pop Opera, book by Jon Hartmere Jr. and Damon Intrabartolo, lyrics by Hartmere and music by Intrabartolo
* 2000 Aida by Elton John and Tim Rice, based on Giuseppe Verdi's classical opera Aida[2]
* 2000 Machina/The Machines of God and Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music by The Smashing Pumpkins
* 2001 tick, tick... BOOM! by Jonathan Larson and David Auburn
* 2001 Peggy Sue Got Married by Bob Gaudio and Jerry Leichtling
* 2002 Movin' Out based on the music of Billy Joel
* 2002 Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 by The Flaming Lips
* 2002 Hairspray by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
* 2002 We Will Rock You featuring the music of Queen, book by Ben Elton
* 2003 Jerry Springer: The Opera by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas, based on the television show The Jerry Springer Show
* 2003 Taboo by Boy George based on the New Romantic club scene in London in the 1980s.
* 2005 Bleach by Studio Pierrot based on Bleach by Tite Kubo
* 2005 Jersey Boys by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe
* 2005 Lestat by Elton John and Bernie Taupin
* 2005 Rock of Ages featuring 1980s rock music, book by Chris D'Arienzo
* 2006 Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny by Jack Black and Kyle Gass
* 2006 Spring Awakening by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, based on the play by Frank Wedekind.
* 2006 Passing Strange by Stew
* 2006 Tarzan by Phil Collins and David Henry Hwang
* 2006 High Fidelity by Tom Kitt and Amanda Green
* 2007 Moon Landing by Stephen Edwards
* 2007 Sunshine on Leith, book by Stephen Greenhorn
* 2008 Lovelace: A Rock Musical by Anna Waronker and Charlotte Caffey
* 2008 Once Upon a Midnight by Tim Lucas and Alex Vickery-Howe
* 2008 Repo! The Genetic Opera by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich
* 2008 Rockford's Rock Opera by Steve Punt and Matthew Sweetapple
* 2008 Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey
* 2008 Razia's Shadow by Thomas and Paul Dutton
* 2009 Second Chance by Stéphane Prémont
* 2009 Memphis by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan
* 2009 The Toxic Avenger by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan
* 2010 Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, book by Alex Timbers and music by Michael Friedman.[5]
* 2010 American Idiot by Green Day
* 2011 Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark[6] by Bono and The Edge
* 2012 The Devil's Carnival by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich
* 2012 Raiding the Rock Vault by John Payne and David Kershenbaum[7][8]
* 2013 Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem by Brendon Small
* 2013 American Psycho by Duncan Sheik
* 2014 Heathers by Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy
* 2014 The Island of Doctor Moron by Chris Dockrill and Lyn Dockrill
* 2014 Rockville 2069: A Rock Musical by Johnny Ray and Bruno Paiola
* 2014 The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, book Joe Tracz and music and lyrics by Rob Rokicki[9]
* 2015 School of Rock by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Glenn Slater and Julian Fellowes
* 2015 That Bloody Woman by Luke Di Somma and Gregory Cooper[10]
* 2017 Bat Out of Hell by Jay Scheib and Jim Steinman[11]
* 2017 The Band by Tim Firth and Take That
* 2017 Head over Heels by The Go-Go's[12]
* 2018 Moulin Rouge by various, book by John Lohan
* 2018 Beetlejuice book by Scott Brown and Anthony King, music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect[13]
* 2018 All Out of Love by Air Supply
* 2019 Jagged Little Pill, book by Diablo Cody, lyrics by Alanis Morissette and music by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard.[14]

## See also

[edit]

* Rock opera

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f Kenrick, John, "The 1970s: Part I – Rock Musicals" article at the Musicals101 website
2. ^ a b c d e f g Wollman, Elizabeth Lara, The Theatre Will Rock: A History of the Rock Musical from Hair to Hedwig (University of Michigan Press, 2006)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Brasor, Philip, "A thumbnail history of the rock musical, March 9, 2006
4. ^ Jones, Chris (2015-09-03). "A 'Les Miz' prequel? Boublil and Schonberg are in town". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2015-11-27.
5. ^ " 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson' production history", lesfreres.org, retrieved August 20, 2010
6. ^ Gans, Andrew. "Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark Will Now Open in February 2011" Archived 2011-01-20 at the Wayback Machine. Playbill.com. December 17, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
7. ^ John Katsilometes (July 16, 2016). "'Raiding the Rock Vault' sets July 31 closing at Tropicana". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
8. ^ Mike Weatherford (April 12, 2013). "'Raiding the Rock Vault' pulls out all the stops". Las Vegas Review-Journal - via NewsBank.
9. ^ "The Lightning Thief". www.lightningthiefmusical.com. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
10. ^ Macandrew, Ruby. "Theatre review: That Bloody Woman", Stuff, September 14 2017
11. ^ "BAT OUT OF HELL flies into London". www.londonboxoffice.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
12. ^ "Head Over Heels by Go-Gos to open on Broadway in 2018".
13. ^ Lee, Ashly (20 July 2023). "How the Beetlejuice musical beat bad reviews and became a Gen Z hit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
14. ^ Paulson, Michael. "Jagged Little Pill to Close on Broadway, Citing Omicron", The New York Times, December 20, 2021

## References

[edit]

* Everett, William A. and Paul R. Laird, The Cambridge Companion to the Musical (2002) Cambridge University Press, pp. 231–33 ISBN 0-521-79639-3.