27 Monster Musicals: From Addams Family and Spirited to Wicked and beyond

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Written By Chris Well

Many monster stories mix together elements from multiple genres…

There are monster stories that are dramas, monster stories that are comedies, monster stories that are epic, monster stories that are heartbreaking—and even monster stories that are musicals. While there are super famous examples like Phantom of the Opera and Rocky Horror Picture Show and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, we’ve got a bunch of additions to add to the list—including stage productions, movies, TV episodes, and cartoons.

Scroll down for more info about these monster musicals! Our big list ranges from big shows like Wicked and movies like Nightmare Before Christmas to more obscure examples like Bat Boy: The Musical and TV episodes like that one from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Got any favorites you think we should add? Let us know in the comments below…

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01 The Addams Family

The Addams Family is an unconventional household that is fond of the morbid and grotesque, but don’t realize that people find them scary. Created by cartoonist Charles Addams in 1938, they have since been adapted to other media, including more than one television series, numerous films, video games, and this stage musical…

The Addams Family, a comical feast that embraces the wackiness in every family, features an original story and it’s every father’s nightmare: Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family—a man her parents have never met.

And if that wasn’t upsetting enough, Wednesday confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before—keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents.

The book was written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with the music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. Find out more about the show here.

Buy the original soundtrack album—with Nathan Lane and BeBe Neuwirth—from Amazon

RELATED:

02 Spirited

Ever notice how often someone has adapted the Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol? The hilarious Christmas movie musical Spirited actually explains why we’ve seen so many versions of that story. Brand-new on Apple TV+ (and also currently in movie theaters), the movie does a clever job of flipping the script to show us how the Ghosts of Christmas are organized behind the scenes to change hearts.

The movie is as funny as I hoped—but also turned out to be a really engaging musical! Below is the trailer for Spirited and a playlist with songs from the movie.

Spirited is a musical comedy Christmas film starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer. The film is directed by Sean Anders and written and produced by Anders and John Morris.

Part of the film’s fun are the songs and the musical score. The songs for the film are written by the songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who have written for musicals like Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, and The Greatest Showman. The songs were performed by the ensemble cast members and the movie's stars. The film’s score was written by composer Dominic Lewis.

Related: 10 Sci-Fi Versions of ‘A Christmas Carol’

By the way, I just realized that Will Ferrell stars in THREE of my favorite Christmas movies—and he sings in all three of them! Check out two more “Christmas movie” songs from him below…

Elf—Buddy the Elf meets Walter the Dad

Daddy’s Home 2—“Do They Know It’s Christmas”

03 Bat Boy: The Musical

A stage adaptation based on a 1992 Weekly World News story about a half-boy, half-bat—dubbed “Bat Boy”—who grew up living in a cave, Bat Boy: The Musical is a rock musical with a book by Brian Flemming and Keythe Farley and music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe. The first production premiered Halloween 1997.

In the musical, Bat Boy learns to speak from his adoptive family, yearns for acceptance and tries to join society, only to face hatred and violence from a town that fears him and jealous rage from his foster father. The book deals with serious themes (including scapegoating, racism, and acceptance) but punctures the more serious moments with slapstick, camp and irony. The show also contains religious themes. With a score was written to be played by a five-piece band, the music covers many styles, from rock to rap to horror-movie film score and opera.

Bat Boy: The Musical won the awards for best Off-Broadway musical including the Lucille Lortel Award, two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Outer Critics Circle Award in 2001.

Buy an album with the Bat Boy original cast from Amazon

The video above from Broadway By Ghostlight shares the history and plot of the Off-Broadway modern cult classic. “Bat Boy burst onto the scene in 2001 leaving a trail of blood (and laughs.)”

04 Wicked

Wicked is a 2003 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, in turn based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the 1939 movie adaptation.

Told from the perspective of the witches in the Land of Oz, the story starts before Dorothy Gale arrives in Oz from Kansas. Wicked tells the story of two unlikely friends—Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West) and Galinda (Glinda the Good Witch)—whose relationship struggles through their opposing points of view, same love-interest, reactions to the Wizard’s corrupt government, and Elphaba’s fall from grace.

The original production of Wicked premiered on Broadway at the Gershwin Theatre in 2003, with stars Idina Menzel (Elphaba), Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda), and Joel Grey (the Wizard). The original Broadway production won three Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards, while its original cast album received a Grammy Award.

The Broadway success has led to many productions worldwide. In 2017, Wicked passed Phantom of the Opera as Broadway’s second-highest grossing musical, trailing only The Lion King.

A two-part film adaptation is on the way, directed by Jon M. Chu and starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Ariana Grande as Glinda and Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero. (According to Variety, Jeff Goldblum was in final talks to play the Wizard.)

The two movies are planned for theatrical release Christmas 2024 and 2025. Director Chu said the choice to release the film(s) as two parts of the story was to avoid cutting down on musical numbers and important characters. Chu said the creative team decided to give themselves “a bigger canvas” by splitting the adaptation into two separate movies. “With more space, we can tell the story of WICKED as it was meant to be told,” he said on Twitter.

Buy the book Wicked: The Grimmerie, a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hit Broadway Musical from Amazon

Buy the Wicked Original Cast Recording from Amazon

05 Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)

A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy town of Little Haven—at Christmas—forcing Anna and her friends to fight, slash and sing their way to survival, facing the undead in a desperate race to reach their loved ones. “The zombie musical comedy Anna and the Apocalypse is our new favorite holiday cult classic—and it has an amazing cast of rising stars.”—AMC Theatres.

In this gleeful mashup set at Christmas time, Anna and her friends must fight—and sing—their way through a zombie invasion to reach the supposed safety of their school, not knowing if their parents and friends will still be alive when they get there.

The Christmas zombie musical film was directed by John McPhail. The songs were written by Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly. The screenplay was written by Alan McDonald and Ryan McHenry, based on McHenry's 2010 BAFTA nominated short Zombie Musical.

Rent or buy Anna and the Apocalypse from Amazon.

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06 Beetlejuice

Based on Tim Burton’s 1988 film, this musical tells the story of Lydia Deetz, a strange and unusual teenager whose whole life changes when she meets a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes. With an irreverent book, an astonishing set, and a score that’s out of this Netherworld, Beetlejuice is “a feast for the eyes and soul!” (Entertainment Weekly). And under its uproarious surface (six feet under, to be exact), it’s a remarkably touching show about family, love, and making the most of every Day-O!

The Beetlejuice musical features music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect, and a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King. Find out more about the show at the official site.

Buy the Beetlejuice musical soundtrack from Amazon.

Related: He’s Back! Beetlejuice The Musical + Alternate Versions of “The Whole Being Dead Thing”

07 Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode “Once More, With Feeling” (2001)

A standout episode in the sixth season of monster-fighting comedy-drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), “Once More, with Feeling” was the only episode of the series performed as a musical. The episode examined changes in the relationships of the main characters, boosted by the fact that a demon is propelling the folks in Sunnydale to break into songs to reveal secrets.

Featuring the regular cast and loads of guests singing, “Once More, with Feeling” was the most technically complex episode in the series, as extra voice and dance training for the cast was interspersed with the production of four other Buffy episodes. The episode was well received when it aired, specifically for containing the humor and wit to which fans were accustomed.

Watch the episode on Amazon.

Buy the script book from Amazon.

Buy the album from Amazon.

More on Monster Complex

08 Jekyll & Hyde

Jekyll & Hyde is a 1990 musical loosely based on the 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Originally conceived for the stage by Frank Wildhorn and Steve Cuden, it features music by Frank Wildhorn, a book by Leslie Bricusse and lyrics by all of them.

Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde are, in fact, two sides of the same character—literally the good side and the bad side. Introduced in Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Jekyll is a respected doctor who creates a serum to fight off his dark side. Unfortunately, the serum transforms Jekyll into the monster Edward Hyde, representing his evil personality. Even worse, these transformations keep happening, with Jekyll unable to stop them. The media has adapted this two-sided life many times over the years, including movies, TV episodes, Looney Tunes cartoons, comic books, and more. (In fact, Marvel Comics’ Incredible Hulk often suffers this same problem.)

The Broadway production was filmed live at the Plymouth Theatre in 2000 with the final cast consisting of David Hasselhoff as Jekyll/Hyde, Coleen Sexton as Lucy and Andrea Rivette as Emma.

Find Jekyll and Hyde the musical stuff at Amazon

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09 Futurama, “The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings”

The original finale for animated sci-fi show Futurama, before the show was revived—twice—was “The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings.” The episode fits on our list for two reasons: First, it involves one of the main characters striking a deal with a robot version of the Devil; second, it leads to an elaborate musical sequence that is as zany as it is sing-a-long-able.

This 2003 episode was the Futurama finale of the original run. The episode was written by Ken Keeler and directed by Bret Haaland, and guest starred Dan Castellaneta, who reprises his role as the Robot Devil. Keeler was nominated for an Emmy Award for this episode, while the song “I Want My Hands Back” was nominated for an Annie Award. Futurama came back a couple of times after that.

Buy this episode of Futurama from Amazon

10 Lestat: The Musical

A Broadway musical inspired by Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles, Lestat features music by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, with the book by Linda Woolverton. The musical had a brief run on Broadway in 2006.

The Vampire Chronicles is a series of bestselling gothic horror novels written by Anne Rice (1941-2021). The series revolves around the character Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman turned into a vampire in the 18th century. The first book, Interview with the Vampire, was published in 1976. Mental Floss lauded the novel as “almost single-handedly responsible for the image of vampires that dominates pop culture today.”

There have been two movie adaptations of the books, Interview with the Vampire and Queen of the Damned, which have nabbed mixed reactions. AMC just debuted its long-awaited TV adaptation of the books.

While the musical adaptation has largely been ignored, the songwriting team of John and Taupin is a big deal in music, winning lots of awards and writing lots of songs that you could sing off the top of your head. Prior to Lestat, John had already worked on several musicals, including The Lion King, both as a film and as a stage show. He also wrote the music for a Disney-produced musical version of the opera Aida, with Tim Rice on lyrics duties, which won him a Tony Award for Best Original Score. He also worked on Billy Elliott, and an upcoming adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada.

Above is a video trailer of the Lestat and a playlist offering the songs from the musical. (If the album is available for sale, I can’t find it on Amazon.)

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Chris Well

Chris Well been a writer pretty much his entire life. (Well, since his childhood.) Over the years, he has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio, and books. He now is the chief of the website Monster Complex, celebrating monster stories in lit and pop culture. He also writes horror comedy fiction that embraces Universal Monsters, 1960s sitcoms, 1980s action movies, and the X-Files.

https://chriswell.substack.com/
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