A Playlist for Beginners of Musical Theatre

Amanda Mueller

I love musicals.

I mean, I really love musicals.

I love discovering a new musical and listening to the cast recording and memorizing every single lyric and imaging how the production would look (and sometimes put up my own living room-style production).  The feeling I get when I hear a really great song from a new musical for the very first time is indescribable. It is my life and it is AMAZING.

Unfortunately, not many people in my day-to-day life have that same passion.  Frankly, they don’t really know much about musicals at all. It’s tragic. And sadly, I know I am not the only one with this dilemma.

So I have comprised a list of songs that, I think, is a great introduction to the beautiful, inspiring, and diverse world of musical theatre!

So for your kids or friends that have never heard of Phantom of the Opera or Cabaret, this playlist is a great place to start:

In no particular order:

1. “A Musical” Something Rotten

2. “The Music of the Night” Phantom of the Opera

3. “96,000” In the Heights

4. “Comedy Tonight” A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum

5. “A Little Priest” Sweeney Todd

6. “Michael in the Bathroom” Be More Chill

7. “One Day More” Les Miserables

8. “If I Didn’t Believe In You” The Last Five Years

9. “One Hand, One Heart” West Side Story

10. “Willkommen” Cabaret

11. “The Room Where It Happens” Hamilton

12. “Touch Me” Spring Awakening

13. “To Life” Fiddler on the Roof

14. “Being Alive” Company

15. “Sugar Daddy” Hedwig and the Angry Inch