From the Small Screen to 42nd St: Is Broadway Ready for More Musical TV?

by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

So Smash is finally on Broadway. Honestly? I like the idea. A musical about making a musical written by musical theatre people for other musical theatre people—it was destined to end up onstage eventually. But this moment, and Schmigadoon! coming soon, it has me wondering: could this open the door for more musical TV shows to make the leap from screen to stage?

Because I’d like to throw Glee and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend into the mix.

Now, hear me out. I know those two shows sit at very different points on the musical theatre spectrum. One was a cultural phenomenon that occasionally (often?) spiraled into chaos, and the other was a criminally underrated gem that used song and dance to dig into deep emotional truths. But they both understood something essential about the power of music in storytelling. And they both had something to say.

Let’s talk Glee first. Yes, it had its mess. But beneath all the ridiculous plot twists and spontaneous hallway choreography, Glee was about outsiders finding community through performance. It was about young people discovering their voices—literally and figuratively—and there is nothing more Broadway than that.

A Glee musical could work if it plays to the heart of what the show was trying to be, not necessarily what it always was. Set it primarily in the choir room, cut the bloated subplots, and build it like a theatrical memory play—a sort of Spring Awakening meets Fame, with a little meta humor thrown in. Use the original songs that actually meant something (Loser Like Me deserves justice) alongside a few of the most iconic covers.

Let it be funny, awkward, earnest, and a little self-deprecating. And yes, I fully support ending Act One with a full-throttle “Don’t Stop Believin’”(if they can get the rights) that has the audience cheering before they even hit intermission. It’s not subtle, but neither was the show.

Then there’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which… if I had to put money on one TV-to-stage transfer becoming a cult hit with real staying power, this is it.

Rachel Bloom’s fever dream of a series already functioned like a musical theatre workshop disguised as a network comedy. Every episode had at least one original song (usually two), and those songs weren’t just catchy—they were character-driven, genre-bending, and often wildly subversive. It was a masterclass in musical storytelling, filtered through the lens of mental health, self-worth, and the damage done by fairy tale expectations.

A stage adaptation wouldn’t need to change much. Honestly, the biggest challenge would be choosing which songs to cut. You’d need a strong Rebecca, obviously—a true actor-singer-comedian-unicorn—but build the right ensemble and use flexible staging to jump between fantasy and reality, and it’s basically ready to go. This could be Next to Normal’s messier, snarkier little cousin, complete with a tap-dancing dream ghost and a romantic subplot about pretzels.

What excites me about both of these properties is that they embrace the full toolkit of musical theatre. They’re not jukebox shows, and they’re not cash grabs. They were built from the ground up with songs that served the story, with characters that evolved through music. Isn’t that exactly what we want on Broadway?

So yes, Smash is a start. But let’s not stop there. Let’s give Glee a second act that actually sticks the landing. Let’s let Crazy Ex-Girlfriend belt her truth to the mezzanine.