Fan of the West End or Broadway? Browse our sheet music and scores, and explore Musicals – Vocal Scores, Learn to Belt, Musicals – Choruses & Ensembles, Musicals – Piano Arrangements, Musicals – Scores for Flute, Musicals – Wind Orchestra Scores, Children’s Musicals and much more today.
In the 1920s, a new genre of modern music theatre emerged on New York’s Broadway, combining various popular forms, consisting of songs, dialog, drama, dance and music: the musical.
The true origins of the musical however, go back much, much further. Traces can be seen in opéra comique, Komödie, operetta, revue and vaudeville. The first “classic” musicals followed a very traditional, classical style and form, like “Lady, Be Good” (1924) by George Gershwin, and “Show Boat” (1927) by Jerome Kern, and Cole Porter (“Anything Goes” 1934,“ Kiss Me, Kate” 1948, “Can-Can 1953) and Irving Berlin (“Annie Get Your Gun” 1946) were among the first generation of musical composers. The next wave of musical composers included Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein (“Oklahoma! ” 1943,“ Carousel” 1945, “The Sound of Music” 1959), as well as Frederick Loewe (“My Fair Lady” 1956) and Jerry Herman (“Hello Dolly!” 1964, “La Cage aux Folles” 1983).
With “West Side Story” (1957) by Leonard Bernstein, and the subsequent film in 1961, musicals became more and more popular, and the musical “Grease” (1971) by Warren Casey & Jim Jacobs was also adapted into a huge blockbuster film in 1978.
Among the many different styles of musicals, Galt McDermot’s “Hair” (1967) and Richard O’Brien’s “Rocky Horror Show” (1973) were highly successful rock musicals.
Moving into the modern era of musicals, Andrew Lloyd Webber (“Jesus Christ Superstar” 1971,“ Evita” 1978, “Cats” 1980,“ The Phantom of the Opera” 1986 ) is considered one of the most influential composers to this day. Modern musicals are now often through composed, like operas, the spoken dialogue largely disappears, and characters sing throughout. Moving into the 1980s, musicals by Claude-Michel Schönberg (“Les Misérables” 1980,“ Miss Saigon”1989) and by Stephen Sondheim (“Sweeney Todd” 1979,“ Sunday in the Park with George” 1983, “Into the Woods” 1986) were extremely popular.
At the end of the 1990s, ’tribute musicals’ became increasingly popular, which showcase songs by a particular artist or band, and weave the story and drama around the music. A few good examples include “Saturday Night Fever” 1998 (Bee Gees), “Mamma Mia!” 1999 (ABBA), and “We Will Rock You” 2002 (Queen).
The 2010s were shaped by huge hits like “The Book of Mormon” (2011) by Robert Lopez, Disney’s “Frozen” (2013), and the straight to film musical “La la Land” (2016) by Justin Hurwitz.
for: Voice, piano [guitar]
Songbook PVG (Piano/Vocal/Guitar), playback CD
Item no.: 667425
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1363580
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1361971
for Piano solo
Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 672386
for: Guitar TAB
Item no.: 1526829
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1361995
12 Pieces for Elementary Pianists
The Easy Piano Series
for: Piano; voice ad lib.
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 675501
for: Choir
Sheet music
Item no.: 1380753
for: Women's choir (SSA), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1161786
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1364944
for: Guitar TAB
Item no.: 1362204
for: Lead Sheet
Item no.: 1526644
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1362804
for: Guitar
Music score (with TABs)
Item no.: 665266
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1363906
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1363633
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1365321
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1638402
for: Easy Piano
Item no.: 1358524
for: Easy Piano
Item no.: 1361828