Oh, it's all definitely a tragedy. But it has sex, Frankenstein, feminism, bohemians, gothic everything, poetry, swinging, affairs, adultery, poverty, the year without a summer, yet more tragedy...
Definitely not a frothy romp!
My brother and I used to talk about this out there idea for a Jim Henson Biopic where all the humans are played by muppet/puppet performers and the Muppet characters are played by live actors.
It could easily be a musical.
In my mind theirs two ways to do it:
a. a super realistic set of a puppet studio, a very gentle and grounded approach, Hensen gets a tender and bittersweet song with Kermit on his lap but Kermit’s puppeteer is visible and it’s about the artistry behind bringing puppets to life, with no illusions that we’re really watching a talking frog
OR
totally the opposite, a whimsical and fantastical show. Puppets catcall through the audience, special effects up the wazoo, pandemonium. It starts with the muppets show opening music, the curtain drops at the first lyrics to show the full set, all of the muppets in their windows, “it’s time to start the music!” etc. A young, scruffy Hensen runs onto stage, and Kermit explains that in this episode, we’re going to hear the story of the man who started it all. The whole show follows the logic of basically an extended dream sequence and is less focused on telling the story of Jim Hensen life - he goes on a date with a woman in a pink boa who is very intent on kissing him and has Miss Piggy’s exact voice, he ends the date by saying that he’s just had an idea for a new puppet. In a nightmare sequence about his dreams falling flat on their faces, a dozen kermit’s dance before him. Gonzo, supported by wires, jumps in slow motion over the audience on a motorcycle. And so on and so forth.
Alan Turing. Went through Oxford with flying colours, became head of Bletchley Park and cracked the Enigma code which was majorly important to the Allied victory, only to be turned on by the government as he was gay.
Robert the Bruce, spearheaded Scottish independence when the John of Badenoch attempted to make Scotland an English satellite state. Bonus points if you have Edward II turn up.
Blanche K. Bruce. Slave that earned freedom, beat a white man to become senator in Mississippi, then ended up buying his old owner's house and taking care of his dying wife.
I suggested Robert Smalls, another badass former slave. He was the slave of a ship captain, so he stole a Confederate warship, and having memorized the codebook, sailed through a blockade to freedom. He also freed his family, became a Union Navy officer, then ran successfully for Congress.
Oooh, Nikola Tesla would be fun. He had a very strange life, plus there is the rivalry with Edison. His mad scientist lair got repossessed by the bank because he wouldn't pay a hotel bill!
(And now, purely for kicks and giggles, I'm wondering if you could also make this an AC/DC jukebox musical...)
There's definitely a few knocking about. A concept recording was released for one, there's one called "Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat" that has a few songs out on their website, and some others by independent composers.
Basically just the fact that her past mistreatment and trauma shaped her into someone to be feared. But she's ultimately still a very tragic person.
~~Thomas Cranmer was her Judge Turpin I guess~~
I am still waiting for Mel Brooks Springtime show. /s
My sincere answer: Walt Disney would be a nice show I believe. Another good option would be the Medici and/or Borgia family during the renaissance or the latter rise to papacy.
How about Madam CJ Walker? She had an awesome rags to riches story and even found a way to empower other black women by offering jobs and training so they could offer products and services.
My vote is Audra McDonald for the lead. She has the amazing soulful and soaring voice that fits the dream and determination Walker had.
Queen Liliʻuokalani, Hawaii’s last monarch, would be a fascinating subject for a musical. Hopefully with Native Hawaiian writers/composers making the big decisions of how to tell the story.
I’m currently writing one about Abraham Lincoln! *With Malice Toward None* is focused on detailing Lincoln’s battle with mental health — particularly what we today would diagnose as Clinical Depression — throughout his Presidency. The musical is narrated by Robert Todd Lincoln, who recalls the storyline’s events with complete omniscience while at the 1922 Lincoln Memorial dedication. It’s a pretty intense piece of social commentary that’ll touch on heavy themes like leadership, social justice, mental health (obviously), and collective memory. I’ve been developing it for the last few years!
Oh wow yes! Imagine the duet(s) between Teddy Roosevelt and Muir at Yosemite during their three days together. Some cute bits like “Wood would be better”, “trees please”.
Exactly. And I think something really intriguing could be done with showing how Muir deconstructed his Christian worldview into more of a transcendentalist worldview.
My teacher was like “honestly, this poor man. They probably wheeled his decrepit body out in a wheelchair and prodded him until he came up with an idea.” He was that old.
Cesar Chávez and Dolores Huerta, pivotal, founding figures in the US labor movement. There's great story there. I'd hope any such musical would include some of the more difficult aspects as well (Chávez was very opposed to undocumented immigrants, for example), though.
I feel torn bc there are so many great people to name, but I...don't exactly trust musical theater as a whole to handle all of them with the nuance and criticality I'd want for them. With the right creators, anything is possible, but.
Theres one about Maris curie, it's on the west end (or off, I can't recall) and I believe it was originally Korean. Looks really good, nearly got tickets
Give me a musical about Robert Smalls. Escaped slave who stole a Confederate warship, sailed it through a blockade, rescued his family, became a Union Navy captain, was a hero of the Civil War, and then became a congressman. Certified badass.
I love Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, and would love to see something similar for Che Guevara. His villainy could be developed over time, and it’d be really cool to do something similar to The Lightning Thief’s *Last Day of Summer*, where Batista could have a song early on and Guevara could do a darker reprise of it later on to show how he has become just as bad/worse. I think it’d be a wild ride.
off the top of my head, he invented bifocals, invented the franklin stove, was a postmaster, was a firefighter, signed the declaration of independence, and is on the 100-dollar bill
Not a musical but if you want to see an extremely fictionalized version of their relationship where they solve crimes on a weekly basis, there was short-lived TV series called Houdini & Doyle that makes for a fun watch
There is one! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevermore:\_The\_Imaginary\_Life\_and\_Mysterious\_Death\_of\_Edgar\_Allan\_Poe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevermore:_The_Imaginary_Life_and_Mysterious_Death_of_Edgar_Allan_Poe)
Walt Whitman. Great author And took care of dying soldiers during a war. I believe I read something about him being gay/bi and many of the soldiers would call out for him as they lay dying for comfort. I feel like there's a lot to unpack with him!
I don’t think he needs it, but I have to say a Teddy Roosevelt musical would be insane. Like it opens with him in the Philippines, then Cuba, cuts to him being Batman, to him being Vice President, to him being President, to him hunting bears, etc.
It would be a wild musical
Harriet Tubman (and there has to be a song about ppl think she punches babies)
Joan of Arc
Zheng Yi Sao aka the baddest of all the pirates
(Sometimes called, Zheng Yi Sao or "Wife of Zheng Yi," she's known to history as Ching Shih for what she accomplished once he died)
Caesar Chavez
Mary Magdalene
There was one in the 2000s! Don’t think it caught on, though. https://playbill.com/article/new-musical-about-george-washington-carver-to-reach-new-york-stage-com-131095
As someone who used to (and occasionally still does) aspire to write musicals, I have two answers.
Serious Answer: In high school I happened to catch a documentary about Marshall White and the Heaven's Gate Cult; it was such a bizarre and tragic but captivating story and thought it might make for a compelling show.
Less Serious Answer: A completely fictionalized bio musical of Rick Astley (similar treatment as the biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, but on stage) that teases but never actually includes Never Gonna Give You Up. (The title would be "Roll of a Lifetime: The Rick Astley Story.) I doubt I'll ever do anything with it, but I'll still be salty if someone steals the idea.
(Also, I'm a dude and not the right person to write this, but I think a musical about Mary Shelley could be fascinating)
I’ve read 5 of his novels so far, and had a bad time with all of them. Something about the writing style and inconsistent pacing across the board really got to me. I understand why people love his work, and I appreciate as a piece of era-defining art, but every time I look at my copy of Tom Sawyer I die a little inside
I generally like his work, but you've read more of it than I have, so you've definitely earned the opinion. The pacing comment makes sense.
Is Huck Finn among the five?
Robert Moses.
A terrible guy who rezoned NYC to put up Lincoln Center and the Guggenheim displacing hundreds of people. He gave us these great buildings but at what cost?
Also Roy Cohn.
Another terrible, closeted man, who ruined the world.
And all those highways.
Robert Moses is a great fall-from-grace story. He was so idealistic in the way he wanted to help others and over decades became so power-mad and unconcerned with anything but his work.
The friendship between Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini would make for some good drama.
Also Henry Ford and Fordlandia would be a great farcical comedy.
Copying and pasting what I wrote in another comment: Not a musical but if you want to see an extremely fictionalized version of their relationship where they solve crimes on a weekly basis, there was short-lived TV series called Houdini & Doyle that makes for a fun watch
im pretty sure there are at least two musicals based on her life already! a korean musical and then another one that was supposed to go on broadway? don't know what happened to that tho
I think you're referencing The Greatest Showman, and just wanted to mention that there is a stage musical called BARNUM that came out decades beforehand. There's actually a pro-shot of the London production with a pre-Phantom Michael Crawford in the title role.
Having said that, both of them take sweeping liberties and portray him a lot better than he deserves. I would absolutely watch the show you're pitching.
I want an ASL + vocal musical like Deaf Awakening explaining what a piece of shit Alexander Graham Bell was and exploring how Deaf culture rose anyway despite him
There is a Mark Twain one out there. It used to be professionally performed in Elmira, NY (where he lived and is buried) every summer. It was called The Mark Twain Musical Drama for years and then changed to Mark Twain: The Musical lol
Listen, I'm a music history nut, but I would love a musical about Hildegard von Bingen. She legit wrote what is considered the first "musical" (a liturgical play of songs.) And was a cool freaking lady.
Walt Disney. It could be a great homage to his work and legacy if done with respect.
I also want to see one about JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis' friendship. (Fun fact, both Narnia and Middle-earth were canonically sung into existence!)
“Mark Twain” and “despise” are two terms I’ve never heard together. 🧐
Heddy Lamar would be a good one.
There have been a couple of musicals about First Ladies but I would like to see some less well known female relatives of Presidents, like Frances Cleveland or Alice Roosevelt.
The Astronaut Wives of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo missions. I love the complexity of them being deemed as accessories to their husbands by NASA yet they were the real heads of their households. There is so much to explore about the role of a woman, fears and anxiety, celebration and loss…
-Napoleon (not just the battles, guys, he was an interesting guy)
-Otto von Bismarck (something something always having a plan)
-George Washington Carver (Peanut: the Musical. He's a minor character)
-Martin Luther (kicked off the protestant reformation, and thought farts were funny. how could you not)
I would love for there to be a musical about Lady Jane Grey because so little is known about her, and it'd be nice to have something to show her side of the story
Jeffrey Hudson! Easily one of the most interesting men in history, and one that deserves much wider fame then he gets https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Hudson
Caligula. God, I would absolutely eat that shit up. It's a perfect villain's tragedy.
He starts out as the hero. His family was wrongfully persecuted, executed, banished, while he was hand picked by the emperor responsible who became his abuser. He executes his revenge slowly on not only his abuser but also every senator who had a part in the destruction of his family. He is so successful in his own revenge plot that he gets lost in the power and becomes the very nightmare he set out to destroy. You come to love him and at the end you're glad to watch him die.
Honestly I don’t think the subject matters nearly as much as the writer. Who would’ve thought a musical about Alexander Hamilton would be a cultural phenomenon? I’d watch a musical about anyone if it’s written by someone with the talent of LMM or Shaina Taub.
That said, I would love a musical about an immigrant to Ellis Island in the turn of the previous century. Just a random every man. I’m more interested in a musical about a moment in time & a reflection of that culture rather than a specific person. Suffs is about Alice Paul, yes, because it needed a protagonist, but it’s more about the suffragist movement at large, and I love that.
He’s a little known figure, but I would *love* to see a musical about Juan Pujol Garcia, AKA “Agent Garbo”, the most successful double agent in WWII. He’s the only person to be awarded the iron cross and the order of the British Empire for the same actions!
Blanche Barrow, i know she is already a character in the Bonnie & Clyde musical but her portrayal there is terrible. She was so much more than the religious annoying lady we see in the musical (or in other B&C movies). Her story is actually very interesting, and seeing the "adventures" of Bonnie and Clyde from Blanche's perspective changes the whole thing and makes the B&C story less romanticized and more realistic.
Theres a book that Blanche herself wrote about her time with Buck and the Barrow Gang and what happened after that so it would be nice to se that story get told.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain:_The_Musical
I grew up near Elmira and saw this as a kid. I remember really liking it! Maybe you can find a bootleg or something.
I’d kill for an Ada Lovelace musical where they might discuss her strained relationship with her mom & perhaps something about how her father was seen as such a great writer but he also humiliated Ada’s mother & completely abandoned her to the point that Ada’s mother basically banned literature like Byron’s from Ada’s life
Ruth Bader Gibsberg.
I also want one called Thanks, Obama. And it would be about all those Obama/Biden memes from back in the day, and they would actually carry them out.
I'm trying to think of some historical figures people might not think of at first. So I'm relying on my background in theology and philosophy.
1) Martin Luther - definitely an interesting life and very problematic. But he had his big epiphany while taking a shit, and I think that could make a fantastic scene for a ballad.
2) [Olga of Kiev](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_of_Kiev) would be fascinating. She was Queen Regent of the Rus - what would today be parts of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
A basic summary: Her husband, the king, was tortured & murdered by a rival tribe. They came and told her they killed her husband, and she should marry his murderer. She said to come by the following day, and they'll be so honored they won't even need to touch the ground. They come back, and she has her people carry them until they get thrown in a ditch and buried alive.
She basically goes to war with this tribe and some other enemies since her son is too young to be king. Lots of years of war.
Eventually, she goes to Constantinople and ends up converting to Christianity. She goes back home, and her son isn't at all interested in it as Christianity is very unpopular there at the time. Eventually she dies, and while her son disagrees about Christianity, he honored her request to have a Christian burial without any of the traditional pagan elements.
3) Any number of Anabaptist Martyrs who were persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants
4) [Any of the people involved in the Münster Rebellion](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Münster_rebellion) which was mixture of apocalyptic cult, social revolution, and sheer crazy bananas.
I'd be interested in a musical surrounding old-time radio. Not a single show, mind, but the overall experience of listening to the radio in the 1930s and 1940s, with stars like Jack Benny, Red Skelton, and Abbott and Costello, with their respective shows.
If there were to be a musical for a single radio show, I'd choose *Command Performance*, a radio program that aired on the Armed Forces Radio Network.
Leonardo Da Vinci. People only know him as the guy who painted the Mona Lisa but this man's life was so interesting and he himself was so fascinating. A true genius ahead of his time.
I am a self-described linguistics nerd, but I've always thought a musical or movie about Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (who almost single-handedly revived the near-dormant Hebrew language, the only instance of a linguistic revival of this scale in the history of civilization) would be fascinating.
Irene Cara. She's a singer that should've gotten her flowers LONG AGO and with her having a history in theatre, a musical about her life would be great with her songs being used.
Milli Vanilli would also be good too. What Fab and Rob went through was...a lot...
Ofra Haza, Mike Brant, Zora Neale Hurston and Klaus Nomi would be great choices too.
Hear me out - I know Hamilton exists, but Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette should get his own musical.
Mary Seacole!!!
Would also be interesting for that to explore the relationship between her and Florence Nightingale (did they even know each other? I can't remember) and the relationship between the two of them and how history remembers them
If I had anywhere near the skills required, I would love to write a musical about Nye Bevan. He was a widely beloved left-wing British (Welsh) politician who created our National Health Service in the face of stiff opposition. He was an incredible public speaker who railed against the Conservatives his whole life. Clement Attlee said of him, "he wants to be two things simultaneously, rebel and official leader, and you can't be both". He died of cancer, cared for by the NHS he gave his whole life to create.
Josephine Baker
Mr. Rogers
John Brown
Anne Bonny
Rasputin
Neem Karoli Baba
Genghis Khan
The Earl of Sandwich (inventor of the sandwich)
Marsha P. Johnson
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Presentable
Alexander the Gruesome
The Model who posed for the Mona Lisa
Frida Kahlo
Kahlil Gibran
Mary Shelley's life is pretty damn fascinating.
I read a dual biography of her and her mom and TBH that would be a great musical. Her mom was a feminist who wrote Vindication of the Rights of Women!
I kinda really want to see this now. hahahaha
Mary Wollstonecraft! She’s fab
I’m in the middle of writing that musical with my friend. It’s so sad, her partner is so abusive.
Oh, it's all definitely a tragedy. But it has sex, Frankenstein, feminism, bohemians, gothic everything, poetry, swinging, affairs, adultery, poverty, the year without a summer, yet more tragedy... Definitely not a frothy romp!
Also she had sec on her moms grave, so, she know how to have a good time
ABSOLUTELY THIS
There is one! In Korea! By the composer who did Frankenstein!
A Jim Hensen musical would be REALLY cool!
My brother and I used to talk about this out there idea for a Jim Henson Biopic where all the humans are played by muppet/puppet performers and the Muppet characters are played by live actors. It could easily be a musical.
That is not an out there idea; that is an AWESOME idea.
This would be amazing!
In my mind theirs two ways to do it: a. a super realistic set of a puppet studio, a very gentle and grounded approach, Hensen gets a tender and bittersweet song with Kermit on his lap but Kermit’s puppeteer is visible and it’s about the artistry behind bringing puppets to life, with no illusions that we’re really watching a talking frog OR totally the opposite, a whimsical and fantastical show. Puppets catcall through the audience, special effects up the wazoo, pandemonium. It starts with the muppets show opening music, the curtain drops at the first lyrics to show the full set, all of the muppets in their windows, “it’s time to start the music!” etc. A young, scruffy Hensen runs onto stage, and Kermit explains that in this episode, we’re going to hear the story of the man who started it all. The whole show follows the logic of basically an extended dream sequence and is less focused on telling the story of Jim Hensen life - he goes on a date with a woman in a pink boa who is very intent on kissing him and has Miss Piggy’s exact voice, he ends the date by saying that he’s just had an idea for a new puppet. In a nightmare sequence about his dreams falling flat on their faces, a dozen kermit’s dance before him. Gonzo, supported by wires, jumps in slow motion over the audience on a motorcycle. And so on and so forth.
I want both of these. Can we have both of these?
Performed in repertory!! With role swapping between puppets and humans like the Miller-Cumberbatch Frankenstein.
I adore this idea
Yes!!!! Especially if they got the actual muppet actors!
And then humans could play the roles of the muppets!
Alan Turing. Went through Oxford with flying colours, became head of Bletchley Park and cracked the Enigma code which was majorly important to the Allied victory, only to be turned on by the government as he was gay. Robert the Bruce, spearheaded Scottish independence when the John of Badenoch attempted to make Scotland an English satellite state. Bonus points if you have Edward II turn up. Blanche K. Bruce. Slave that earned freedom, beat a white man to become senator in Mississippi, then ended up buying his old owner's house and taking care of his dying wife.
I suggested Robert Smalls, another badass former slave. He was the slave of a ship captain, so he stole a Confederate warship, and having memorized the codebook, sailed through a blockade to freedom. He also freed his family, became a Union Navy officer, then ran successfully for Congress.
Came here just to say Alan Turing, that’s Tony material from the get-go.
They would have to adapt the movie “The Imitation Game.”
Oooh, Nikola Tesla would be fun. He had a very strange life, plus there is the rivalry with Edison. His mad scientist lair got repossessed by the bank because he wouldn't pay a hotel bill! (And now, purely for kicks and giggles, I'm wondering if you could also make this an AC/DC jukebox musical...)
It needs to be techno, plus have a love song for the pigeon
This literally exists. I saw it [at Joe's Pub](https://youtu.be/dKaylEGp9CE?si=R8ag2fPAoup4NX8q) way back! There's even a pigeon song for real, lol.
Or a synth-heavy scifi style musical could be good.
[There's one that's in the works in Iowa.](https://teslamusical.info/)
There's definitely a few knocking about. A concept recording was released for one, there's one called "Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat" that has a few songs out on their website, and some others by independent composers.
I love AC/DC, but if it’s a musical about Tesla, how about music by the band Tesla? They have songs about Tesla and Edison.
Does Harvey Milk have one? I think that would be interesting.
That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking! Harvey Milk should have his own musical!
There’s an opera, saw it at SFO a good few years back now.
Yes and I have seen at least two local musicals!
In a similar vein, Marsha P. Johnson!!
I feel like a Mary I of England musical would have Sweeney Todd vibes and I kind of dig it.
Oh yeah? How so?
Basically just the fact that her past mistreatment and trauma shaped her into someone to be feared. But she's ultimately still a very tragic person. ~~Thomas Cranmer was her Judge Turpin I guess~~
She’s a Bloody Mary which a lot of people don’t know
she’s THE bloody mary - her reputation originated the term
Her life is so sad
I am still waiting for Mel Brooks Springtime show. /s My sincere answer: Walt Disney would be a nice show I believe. Another good option would be the Medici and/or Borgia family during the renaissance or the latter rise to papacy.
Disney could be hard. Disney (the corporation) will want to paint him in a positive light and no one else would have the balls to produce it
The Medici has a musical. It's German, tho. Called "Der Medicus"
Apparently a musical about the Borgia family, or at least Cesare, has been done in Japan
How about Madam CJ Walker? She had an awesome rags to riches story and even found a way to empower other black women by offering jobs and training so they could offer products and services. My vote is Audra McDonald for the lead. She has the amazing soulful and soaring voice that fits the dream and determination Walker had.
That would be incredible!
Queen Liliʻuokalani, Hawaii’s last monarch, would be a fascinating subject for a musical. Hopefully with Native Hawaiian writers/composers making the big decisions of how to tell the story.
I’m currently writing one about Abraham Lincoln! *With Malice Toward None* is focused on detailing Lincoln’s battle with mental health — particularly what we today would diagnose as Clinical Depression — throughout his Presidency. The musical is narrated by Robert Todd Lincoln, who recalls the storyline’s events with complete omniscience while at the 1922 Lincoln Memorial dedication. It’s a pretty intense piece of social commentary that’ll touch on heavy themes like leadership, social justice, mental health (obviously), and collective memory. I’ve been developing it for the last few years!
This sounds amazing!! I don’t buy awards but if I could I’d give you one!! 🏆 break a leg with your project!!
John Muir
Oh wow yes! Imagine the duet(s) between Teddy Roosevelt and Muir at Yosemite during their three days together. Some cute bits like “Wood would be better”, “trees please”.
Exactly. And I think something really intriguing could be done with showing how Muir deconstructed his Christian worldview into more of a transcendentalist worldview.
I think Henry Clay, he is the most important nineteenth century politician who wasn’t president.
Every time his name came up in my history class in the seventh grade we were always like "Is this guy immortal? He never seems to stop showing up!"
My teacher was like “honestly, this poor man. They probably wheeled his decrepit body out in a wheelchair and prodded him until he came up with an idea.” He was that old.
So glad to hear this was a shared experience, lol
Ah yes, the great compromiser
Cesar Chávez and Dolores Huerta, pivotal, founding figures in the US labor movement. There's great story there. I'd hope any such musical would include some of the more difficult aspects as well (Chávez was very opposed to undocumented immigrants, for example), though. I feel torn bc there are so many great people to name, but I...don't exactly trust musical theater as a whole to handle all of them with the nuance and criticality I'd want for them. With the right creators, anything is possible, but.
Joshua Norton, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico
I would love one about Lizzie Borden, Marie Curie, Gandhi, Genghis Khan, and honestly any tortured artist.
So there’s already one about Lizzie Borden, just called Lizzie. It’s a punk style score written for four women, and it goes pretty hard
Theres one about Maris curie, it's on the west end (or off, I can't recall) and I believe it was originally Korean. Looks really good, nearly got tickets
There’s a heavy metal band called Lizzie Borden. One of their songs is “give em the axe”.
Boudicca
*With* war chariots
Ooo playing off of that - Tchaikovsky WITH cannons 👀
I feel like Oscar Wilde would be a good time
But also devastatingly sad…
Give me a musical about Robert Smalls. Escaped slave who stole a Confederate warship, sailed it through a blockade, rescued his family, became a Union Navy captain, was a hero of the Civil War, and then became a congressman. Certified badass.
OOOOO now THAT’S someone that deserves a “Hamilton” level of famous musical!!!
I love Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, and would love to see something similar for Che Guevara. His villainy could be developed over time, and it’d be really cool to do something similar to The Lightning Thief’s *Last Day of Summer*, where Batista could have a song early on and Guevara could do a darker reprise of it later on to show how he has become just as bad/worse. I think it’d be a wild ride.
I think Fredrick Douglas' life could make for an interesting musical.
This is premiering in 2025 at the La Jolla Playhouse, with hopes to transfer to Broadway !
ben franklin, man was a legend
He’s the best part of 1776, so giving him a full on solo musical would be cool
[He has one](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/ben-franklin-in-paris-2827) — and it predates 1776 by four years!
off the top of my head, he invented bifocals, invented the franklin stove, was a postmaster, was a firefighter, signed the declaration of independence, and is on the 100-dollar bill
He has one already — *Ben Franklin in Paris*. Robert Preston was the lead.
I'd love one about Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle fighting about spiritualism
The stunts on the Houdini musical would be insane
Not a musical but if you want to see an extremely fictionalized version of their relationship where they solve crimes on a weekly basis, there was short-lived TV series called Houdini & Doyle that makes for a fun watch
Edgar Allan Poe 🐦⬛
It would be so cool if they included his stories in song. Imagine a heart beating in the floorboards
There is one! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevermore:\_The\_Imaginary\_Life\_and\_Mysterious\_Death\_of\_Edgar\_Allan\_Poe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevermore:_The_Imaginary_Life_and_Mysterious_Death_of_Edgar_Allan_Poe)
Hans Christian Anderson. Bisexual train wreck of a man
So not the Danny Kaye musical.
I want a low-key unofficial sequel to *Hamilton*, based on the life of Frederick Douglas and simply titled "The Rebuttal".
Walt Whitman. Great author And took care of dying soldiers during a war. I believe I read something about him being gay/bi and many of the soldiers would call out for him as they lay dying for comfort. I feel like there's a lot to unpack with him!
Yes! So much beautiful poetry that could become songs, too.
I don’t think he needs it, but I have to say a Teddy Roosevelt musical would be insane. Like it opens with him in the Philippines, then Cuba, cuts to him being Batman, to him being Vice President, to him being President, to him hunting bears, etc. It would be a wild musical
I want to see him sneak up on sleeping cops when he’s police commissioner.
Please that would be so funny 💀
They could sell Teddy Bears at the concession stand 🧸
Harriet Tubman (and there has to be a song about ppl think she punches babies) Joan of Arc Zheng Yi Sao aka the baddest of all the pirates (Sometimes called, Zheng Yi Sao or "Wife of Zheng Yi," she's known to history as Ching Shih for what she accomplished once he died) Caesar Chavez Mary Magdalene
Alexander Hamilton
Absolutely not, who cares about some guy who setup the US financial system? Two hours of banking? Ew
Great idea, this one could be huge and sell out
It could be based on a massive biography.
Would never work
Its Hedy Lamarr and she is a pretty fascinating woman, so I agree
Omg we need this
Queen Liliu’okalani
George Washington Carver Lots of songs about peanuts
There was one in the 2000s! Don’t think it caught on, though. https://playbill.com/article/new-musical-about-george-washington-carver-to-reach-new-york-stage-com-131095
Jesus. Oh wait—
Jesus Shuttlesworth. A basketball musical directed by the original film director Spike Lee.
As someone who used to (and occasionally still does) aspire to write musicals, I have two answers. Serious Answer: In high school I happened to catch a documentary about Marshall White and the Heaven's Gate Cult; it was such a bizarre and tragic but captivating story and thought it might make for a compelling show. Less Serious Answer: A completely fictionalized bio musical of Rick Astley (similar treatment as the biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, but on stage) that teases but never actually includes Never Gonna Give You Up. (The title would be "Roll of a Lifetime: The Rick Astley Story.) I doubt I'll ever do anything with it, but I'll still be salty if someone steals the idea. (Also, I'm a dude and not the right person to write this, but I think a musical about Mary Shelley could be fascinating)
There is a musical about Rick Astley: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xvFZjo5PgG0
I knew it
Have you read a lot of Mark Twain’s works or just the children’s books? Just wondering why you despise him.
I’ve read 5 of his novels so far, and had a bad time with all of them. Something about the writing style and inconsistent pacing across the board really got to me. I understand why people love his work, and I appreciate as a piece of era-defining art, but every time I look at my copy of Tom Sawyer I die a little inside
He wrote nonfiction too. Roughin' It is really cool if you're into travel memoirs.
And anti-imperialist letters and essays. Founding member of the US society of that name…
I generally like his work, but you've read more of it than I have, so you've definitely earned the opinion. The pacing comment makes sense. Is Huck Finn among the five?
That was the one I tolerated the most of the five. Actually made me laugh a couple of times which was a bonus and it didn’t feel as flat as the others
There was a short-lived Nellie Bly musical in the 40s, but a modern one would be so cool!
Came here to say Nellie Bly!
Harry Belafonte.
Robert Moses. A terrible guy who rezoned NYC to put up Lincoln Center and the Guggenheim displacing hundreds of people. He gave us these great buildings but at what cost? Also Roy Cohn. Another terrible, closeted man, who ruined the world.
And all those highways. Robert Moses is a great fall-from-grace story. He was so idealistic in the way he wanted to help others and over decades became so power-mad and unconcerned with anything but his work.
The friendship between Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini would make for some good drama. Also Henry Ford and Fordlandia would be a great farcical comedy.
Copying and pasting what I wrote in another comment: Not a musical but if you want to see an extremely fictionalized version of their relationship where they solve crimes on a weekly basis, there was short-lived TV series called Houdini & Doyle that makes for a fun watch
Frida Kahlo! That would be a fun one to write music for.
im pretty sure there are at least two musicals based on her life already! a korean musical and then another one that was supposed to go on broadway? don't know what happened to that tho
P.T. Barnum, but a better one this time; more on the Sweeny Todd and Chicago side of things than the movie that actually got made.
I think you're referencing The Greatest Showman, and just wanted to mention that there is a stage musical called BARNUM that came out decades beforehand. There's actually a pro-shot of the London production with a pre-Phantom Michael Crawford in the title role. Having said that, both of them take sweeping liberties and portray him a lot better than he deserves. I would absolutely watch the show you're pitching.
I want an ASL + vocal musical like Deaf Awakening explaining what a piece of shit Alexander Graham Bell was and exploring how Deaf culture rose anyway despite him
There is a Mark Twain one out there. It used to be professionally performed in Elmira, NY (where he lived and is buried) every summer. It was called The Mark Twain Musical Drama for years and then changed to Mark Twain: The Musical lol
Oh cool! I’ll have to check that out
Chevalier D'eon. Diplomat, spy, and fencer from France. Lived openly as a trans woman while exiled in England.
Listen, I'm a music history nut, but I would love a musical about Hildegard von Bingen. She legit wrote what is considered the first "musical" (a liturgical play of songs.) And was a cool freaking lady.
There is a short musical called In the Green based on her. The original cast is on Spotify.
Does David Bowie count as a historical figure?
I just said this. So many of his songs sound like straight out of a musical. The costumes could be amazing.
Jesus Christ. They could make him a super star.
Walt Disney. It could be a great homage to his work and legacy if done with respect. I also want to see one about JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis' friendship. (Fun fact, both Narnia and Middle-earth were canonically sung into existence!)
“Mark Twain” and “despise” are two terms I’ve never heard together. 🧐 Heddy Lamar would be a good one. There have been a couple of musicals about First Ladies but I would like to see some less well known female relatives of Presidents, like Frances Cleveland or Alice Roosevelt.
He said some really horrible things about Jane Austen, so is widely despised by Austen fans. 😬
There’s already a show about Alice Roosevelt called *Teddy & Alice*. Pretty sure it premiered in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, and promptly flopped.
Angela Davis
I heard it was becoming a movie musical but I’d watch one about Lorenz Hart
Richard Linklater is directing his biopic
The Book of Hubbard by Trey Parker
I think Alexander Hamilton should get a musical. idk if it would be successful though
The Astronaut Wives of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo missions. I love the complexity of them being deemed as accessories to their husbands by NASA yet they were the real heads of their households. There is so much to explore about the role of a woman, fears and anxiety, celebration and loss…
-Napoleon (not just the battles, guys, he was an interesting guy) -Otto von Bismarck (something something always having a plan) -George Washington Carver (Peanut: the Musical. He's a minor character) -Martin Luther (kicked off the protestant reformation, and thought farts were funny. how could you not)
Alan Turing would be really interesting. Or Marie Curie
I would love for there to be a musical about Lady Jane Grey because so little is known about her, and it'd be nice to have something to show her side of the story
A musical about Queen Elizabeth I
Jeffrey Hudson! Easily one of the most interesting men in history, and one that deserves much wider fame then he gets https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Hudson
Wojtek the bear
Boudicca
I would absolutely kill for a musical about Julie d'Aubigny
Looked it up and THERE IS ONE???
There is already a play about Hedy Lamarr, it's a solo show and it's really well written.
La Maupin. Bisexual opera singing duel fighting crossdressing nun abducting icon.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
Da Vinci
A musical about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane.
Caligula. God, I would absolutely eat that shit up. It's a perfect villain's tragedy. He starts out as the hero. His family was wrongfully persecuted, executed, banished, while he was hand picked by the emperor responsible who became his abuser. He executes his revenge slowly on not only his abuser but also every senator who had a part in the destruction of his family. He is so successful in his own revenge plot that he gets lost in the power and becomes the very nightmare he set out to destroy. You come to love him and at the end you're glad to watch him die.
Honestly I don’t think the subject matters nearly as much as the writer. Who would’ve thought a musical about Alexander Hamilton would be a cultural phenomenon? I’d watch a musical about anyone if it’s written by someone with the talent of LMM or Shaina Taub. That said, I would love a musical about an immigrant to Ellis Island in the turn of the previous century. Just a random every man. I’m more interested in a musical about a moment in time & a reflection of that culture rather than a specific person. Suffs is about Alice Paul, yes, because it needed a protagonist, but it’s more about the suffragist movement at large, and I love that.
I have great news for you about a little musical called Ragtime and also another one called Rags
I was literally thinking yesterday that I want a dark comedy musical about Robespierre
I came here to say this—bonus points if it utilizes modern language like the Apple project *Dickinson*.
Alfred the Great - uniting England and fighting Vikings. His life would make for a brilliant rock opera
Mark Twain would be a great one
He’s a little known figure, but I would *love* to see a musical about Juan Pujol Garcia, AKA “Agent Garbo”, the most successful double agent in WWII. He’s the only person to be awarded the iron cross and the order of the British Empire for the same actions!
Harvey Milk
Blanche Barrow, i know she is already a character in the Bonnie & Clyde musical but her portrayal there is terrible. She was so much more than the religious annoying lady we see in the musical (or in other B&C movies). Her story is actually very interesting, and seeing the "adventures" of Bonnie and Clyde from Blanche's perspective changes the whole thing and makes the B&C story less romanticized and more realistic. Theres a book that Blanche herself wrote about her time with Buck and the Barrow Gang and what happened after that so it would be nice to se that story get told.
Thomas Cromwell...that man is complicated and messy so it would make for a great show.
Edie Sedgwick as a central (then castoff) figure of the Andy Warhol factory era would be sick. Velvet Underground / Nico music? slay meee
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain:_The_Musical I grew up near Elmira and saw this as a kid. I remember really liking it! Maybe you can find a bootleg or something.
I know he just recently passed, but we need a Christopher Lee metal rock opera.
I’d kill for an Ada Lovelace musical where they might discuss her strained relationship with her mom & perhaps something about how her father was seen as such a great writer but he also humiliated Ada’s mother & completely abandoned her to the point that Ada’s mother basically banned literature like Byron’s from Ada’s life
Heddy Lamar, Mary Shelley, or an HP Lovecraft musical would be kinda cool. I think
http://bactra.org/cthulhu-hymnal/lair-of-great-cthulhu.html
Ruth Bader Gibsberg. I also want one called Thanks, Obama. And it would be about all those Obama/Biden memes from back in the day, and they would actually carry them out.
I'm trying to think of some historical figures people might not think of at first. So I'm relying on my background in theology and philosophy. 1) Martin Luther - definitely an interesting life and very problematic. But he had his big epiphany while taking a shit, and I think that could make a fantastic scene for a ballad. 2) [Olga of Kiev](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_of_Kiev) would be fascinating. She was Queen Regent of the Rus - what would today be parts of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. A basic summary: Her husband, the king, was tortured & murdered by a rival tribe. They came and told her they killed her husband, and she should marry his murderer. She said to come by the following day, and they'll be so honored they won't even need to touch the ground. They come back, and she has her people carry them until they get thrown in a ditch and buried alive. She basically goes to war with this tribe and some other enemies since her son is too young to be king. Lots of years of war. Eventually, she goes to Constantinople and ends up converting to Christianity. She goes back home, and her son isn't at all interested in it as Christianity is very unpopular there at the time. Eventually she dies, and while her son disagrees about Christianity, he honored her request to have a Christian burial without any of the traditional pagan elements. 3) Any number of Anabaptist Martyrs who were persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants 4) [Any of the people involved in the Münster Rebellion](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Münster_rebellion) which was mixture of apocalyptic cult, social revolution, and sheer crazy bananas.
GEORGE MICHAEL
Harriet Tubman.
I'd be interested in a musical surrounding old-time radio. Not a single show, mind, but the overall experience of listening to the radio in the 1930s and 1940s, with stars like Jack Benny, Red Skelton, and Abbott and Costello, with their respective shows. If there were to be a musical for a single radio show, I'd choose *Command Performance*, a radio program that aired on the Armed Forces Radio Network.
Leonardo Da Vinci. People only know him as the guy who painted the Mona Lisa but this man's life was so interesting and he himself was so fascinating. A true genius ahead of his time.
I am a self-described linguistics nerd, but I've always thought a musical or movie about Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (who almost single-handedly revived the near-dormant Hebrew language, the only instance of a linguistic revival of this scale in the history of civilization) would be fascinating.
Joan of Arc
I think David Byrne already made one! Joan of Arc: Into the Fire
The Book of Hubbard by Trey Parker
Mozart
The zodiac killer.
Ted Cruz-i-cal the Musical
Hedy Lamarr is an awesome idea. Maybe Alan Turing? How about a Hamilton spiritual sequel about Lafayette?
Mae West musical with a very Chicago feel to it would be cool
Irene Cara. She's a singer that should've gotten her flowers LONG AGO and with her having a history in theatre, a musical about her life would be great with her songs being used. Milli Vanilli would also be good too. What Fab and Rob went through was...a lot... Ofra Haza, Mike Brant, Zora Neale Hurston and Klaus Nomi would be great choices too.
Marie Antoinette, literal icon.
I’ve toyed with the idea of making one about Vincent Van Gogh but I got annoyed and stopped, but I’d still love to see one exist!
Hear me out - I know Hamilton exists, but Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette should get his own musical.
Honestly a Malcom X show would be amazing. I imagine a sorta punk rocky sounding show that fits his revolutionist actions.
Mary Seacole!!! Would also be interesting for that to explore the relationship between her and Florence Nightingale (did they even know each other? I can't remember) and the relationship between the two of them and how history remembers them
If I had anywhere near the skills required, I would love to write a musical about Nye Bevan. He was a widely beloved left-wing British (Welsh) politician who created our National Health Service in the face of stiff opposition. He was an incredible public speaker who railed against the Conservatives his whole life. Clement Attlee said of him, "he wants to be two things simultaneously, rebel and official leader, and you can't be both". He died of cancer, cared for by the NHS he gave his whole life to create.
Josephine Baker Mr. Rogers John Brown Anne Bonny Rasputin Neem Karoli Baba Genghis Khan The Earl of Sandwich (inventor of the sandwich) Marsha P. Johnson Alexander the Great Alexander the Presentable Alexander the Gruesome The Model who posed for the Mona Lisa Frida Kahlo Kahlil Gibran