Musicals Today

The ancient Greeks were putting on the world's first musicals in the fifth century B.C., so it's fitting that their homeland turned up as the setting for one of the most phenomenal, feel-good shows of the current song 'n' greasepaint era: Mamma Mia!. The original cast gets us into the swing of things here with "Honey Honey", followed by "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables (still going strong since its mid-'80s premier), and "Defying Gravity" from the Tony® Award-winning Wizard of Oz-inspired hit, Wicked.

Hollywood fuels the modern musical, in Next Steps.

In the 21st century, the connections between movies and musicals have grown stronger — producers have figured that a popular movie has a built-in audience, so why not bring those fans into the theatre. So, welcome to the age of Legally Blonde: The Musical, a song and dance version of the trials of Elle Woods transposed from silver screen to stage — check out the witty, sassy "Omigod You Guys" — and Sunset Boulevard, which offers an old-school take on the same formula: here Patti LuPone from the 1993 London cast performs "With One Look".

Prepare to be rocked and spammed — a lot — in Deep Cuts.

What makes a great musical these days? Well, just about any source of inspiration qualifies, whether it's the absurdist comedy of Monty Python — here, Frasier's David Hyde Pierce and Hank Azaria from The Simpsons have a good old knees-up to "Knights of the Round Table" from Spamalot — or the music of Queen: join the chorus of We Will Rock You for a blast of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Or how about a rocked-up version of a controversial (and banned) 19th-century German play that deals with teenage sexuality without pulling any punches: cue up Spring Awakening.

If we're talking about sheer variety — and, let's be honest, variety is what showbiz is all about — the modern age of the musical is positively golden, with its stunning array of styles and subjects . . . and most of them can be found among our Musicals Today Essentials. The tradition of spectacle is represented by the likes of The Phantom of the Opera (the original London cast performs the title song), while smaller-scale successes like Avenue Q (featuring "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist") prove there's room for the full gamut. Whether you favour the pop musical revolution spearheaded by Mamma Mia! and Jersey Boys, the throwback pleasures of a bold new Oliver!, or the Disney-fied delights of Beauty and the Beast, you're sure to find a slew of tunes to tickle your fancy.