Hello, everyone! Below, I’ve compiled list of Broadway musicals from the year 2000-present and then sorted into three very broad musical/vocal styles: ‘Contemporary Legit’, ‘Contemporary Mixed’ and ‘Contemporary Pop/Rock’. This was not an exact science, and some of these shows feature multiple music styles. Still, I hope these broad categorizations are useful for research purposes. Note: This particular blog post does not include Off-Broadway shows.
P.S. Need help finding musical theatre songs to sing? Check out my professional repertoire guides here.
CONTEMPORARY LEGIT
These shows feature a type of singing that is more heavily rooted in traditional, classical voice training and styles. This means you will probably hear things like semi-consistent vibrato, somewhat tall and round vowels, smooth register transitions, vowel modification around the passaggio/break, more ‘head voice’ and ‘head/mix’ register usage in female roles, crisp diction, etc. The scores in these shows are influenced by both classical music and traditional musical theatre music. However, you may hear the influence of pop and rock styles at times as well.
SHOWS: Light in the Piazza, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, The Bridges of Madison County, Grey Gardens, Jane Eyre, Doctor Zhivago, It Shoulda Been You, A Tale of Two Cities, The Woman in White, Mary Poppins, Little Women, Dracula, Amour, The Visit, A Class Act, White Christmas, Nice Work if You Can Get It, Chaplin, An American in Paris, LoveMusik, The People in the Picture, The Scottsboro Boys, The Story of My Life, A Catered Affair, A Year with Frog and Toad, By Jeeves, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, James Joyce’s The Dead, Allegiance, Amazing Grace, The Green Bird, Lestat, Anastasia, Amelie, Holiday Inn, War Paint, Flying Over Sunset
CONTEMPORARY MIXED
The type of vocalism in these shows combines traditional musical theatre singing with contemporary pop/rock influences. This means you will hear bright, speech-based, mostly straight-tone singing. All registers of the voice will be used (primarily ‘chest voice’ and ‘chest/mix’). Pop and rock-esque vocal ornaments and orchestrations will be utilized at times, but the songs will still have a decidedly ‘musical theatre’ sound (aka they won’t sound like songs you would hear on Top 40 radio). The text/lyrics will usually be the driving force.
SHOWS: The Producers, The Book of Mormon, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Avenue Q, Newsies, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Color Purple, Curtains, Shrek, Catch Me If You Can, The Full Monty, Caroline or Change, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Legally Blonde, Wicked, Matilda, Hairspray, Young Frankenstein, Big Fish, The Addams Family, Fun Home, Seussical, Ghost, Something Rotten, Spamalot, Sweet Smell of Success, The Wild Party, Sister Act, A Christmas Story, Billy Elliot, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Pirate Queen, Violet, Xanadu, Bullets Over Broadway, Dear Evan Hansen, 9 to 5, Cry-Baby, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Scandalous, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Rocky, Elf, First Date, Urban Cowboy, [title of show], Urinetown, 13, Finding Neverland, If/Then, School of Rock, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Paradise Square, Mr. Saturday Night, A Strange Loop, Kimberly Akimbo
CONTEMPORARY POP/ROCK
These shows feature heavy pop/rock vocalism and orchestrations. Some are even written by famous pop and rock artists. Expect to hear singing that is strongly influenced by the commercial music industry (i.e. pop, rock, country, hip-hop, etc.). All registers of the voice will be used, and there may be abrupt registration breaks. Men and women will frequently sing in similar ranges, and there will most likely be high belting. You may also hear vocal distortions like growls, vocal fry, breathy tone, screams, glottal stops, and more. There will almost certainly be a heavy reliance on electronic instruments and amplification.
SHOWS (ORIGINAL SCORES): Spring Awakening, Hamilton, Next to Normal, Once, Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson, Brooklyn, Aida, Bring it On, Kinky Boots, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, In the Heights, Wonderland, The Last Ship, Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, Lysistrata Jones, Thou Shalt Not, Leap of Faith, The Wedding Singer, Tarzan, High Fidelity, Bonnie and Clyde, Dogfight, Passing Strange, Hands on a Hardbody, Taboo, Glory Days, Waitress, American Psycho, Bombay Dreams, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, School of Rock, Hadestown, King Kong, Diana: The Musical, Almost Famous, Be More Chill, The Lightning Thief, Six
SHOWS (JUKEBOX/PRE-EXISTING SCORES): Jersey Boys, All Shook Up, American Idiot, Beautiful: The Carol King Musical, Mamma Mia!, Million Dollar Quartet, Motown, Rock of Ages, Holler If Ya Hear Me, Priscilla – Queen of the Desert, Good Vibrations, A Night with Janis Joplin, Baby It’s You!, Ring of Fire, The Boy from Oz, Soul Doctor, Lennon, Rain, Hot Feet, Movin’ Out, On Your Feet!, The Look of Love, The Times They Are a-Changin’, Everyday Rapture, Disaster!, Escape to Margarita Ville, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, Head Over Heels, Ain’t Too Proud, Moulin Rouge, The Cher Show, Jagged Little Pill, MJ: The Musical, &Juliet
Thank you, Kevin. Well done and very helpful!
I see your feelings below (and very good points) about the term “contemporary music theatre.” Interestingly enough, Mary Poppins, for example, in the creative team’s casting notice, asked for contemporary music theatre, not legit.
Very true, I would say Mary Poppins is a show that could go either way. It combines legit and ‘contemporary musical theatre’ musical and vocal styles. Some songs are more towards the legit singing spectrum and others not as much. The same can be said about Little Women (“Astonishing” is definitely not legit, for example). Many contemporary musicals today feature multiple musical and vocal styles. Most of what I’ve compiled here are general guidelines.
Thank you so much for this resource!! Very helpful for me and my students.