Top 10 Best Monster Musicals

#10: “King Kong” (2013)

Historically, presenting the Eight Wonder of the World on a New York stage hasn’t ended well. The results weren’t much better when American playwrights Craig Lucas and Michael Mitnick debuted a “King Kong” musical in Melbourne. Opera director Daniel Kramer conducted spectacular production values and special effects that swept the Helpmann Awards, but the music polarized critics. Reviews were even worse when Jack Thorne and Eddie Perfect reworked the play for Broadway in 2018. Still, everyone agreed that Sonny Tilders’s groundbreaking animatronics eclipsed the flawed writing, with some comparing the visceral experience to the giant ape’s cinematic debut in 1933. There’s otherwise nothing to compare to the roaring adventure of seeing “King Kong” on the stage.

#9: “Young Frankenstein” (2007)

After his triumphant return to musical theatre with “The Producers,” Mel Brooks brought another one of his classic films to the stage. He once considered scrapping the iconic “Puttin’ on the Ritz” sequence in 1974’s “Young Frankenstein” because it was too silly. He clearly changed his mind when he adapted the misadventures of Victor von Frankenstein with more than 20 original songs. Unfortunately, reviews were mixed when the show opened on Broadway with an all-star cast, highlighted by Shuler Hensley as the Monster. But the hysterically excessive production thrilled audiences, earning many award nominations for its riotous acting and songwriting. The 2017 West End revival was met with unanimous praise. Whether “Young Frankenstein” is an acquired taste, it's ultimately a real scream.

#8: “Jekyll & Hyde” (1990)

Steve Cuden and composer Frank Wildhorn found an ambitious theatrical debut in Robert Louis Stevenson’s strange case of a doctor who changes himself into a behemoth. After winning rave reviews on the Houston stage in 1990, “Jekyll & Hyde” was workshopped and toured until it finally reached Broadway in ‘97. There, the show received a mixed reception and financially underperformed. But conviction and cult following led to long-running international, multilingual and frequently experimental productions. The lead dual role has been played by stage legend Anthony Warlow, TV icon David Hasselhoff, and rock stars Chuck Wagner, Sebastian Bach and Constantine Maroulis. “Jekyll & Hyde” has gone through many changes over the years, that same exhilarating soul has endured.

#7: “The Addams Family” (2010)

Creepy, kooky and altogether groovy, Andrew Lippa’s take on the “Addams Family” comic strip was highly anticipated after a 2009 preview in Chicago. The final production hit Broadway with Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth, Krysta Rodriguez, Kevin Chamberlin and Terrence Mann, but not much plot. The at best mixed reviews didn’t stop the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre from regularly selling out. And after a strong reception at the Drama Desk Awards, reviews warmed over the course of an extensive tour that culminated in an acclaimed return to Chicago. Before long, “The Addams Family” became a global phenomenon. Perhaps the critics are just dead-wrong, because the audience says that this musical is fun for the whole family to snap along to.

#6: “The Toxic Avenger” (2008)

Lloyd Kaufman’s sadistic superhero splatter series is supposed to be hilariously cheap. So why does Melvin Ferd the Third’s mutation into a homicidal vigilante work so well as a musical spectacular? New Jerseyites certainly had their biases when “The Toxic Avenger” debuted its empowering state satire in New Brunswick. But the acclaim persisted as the chaotic comedy hit the road. From Toronto to the West End, Toxie has enchanted and disgusted audiences with his crackdown on status quo, politics and pollution. Such gritty commentary could be undermined by showcases in the most expensive and gaudy theatres in New York. Despite somehow subverting Broadway, “The Toxic Avenger’s” success shows that it has much more going for it than another pretty face.

#5: “Bat Boy: The Musical” (1997)

The satirical tabloid Weekly World News is best-known for a series of stories about a human-bat hybrid repeatedly escaping a government lab. Five years into his run in print, the Actors’ Gang theatre in Los Angeles brought Bat Boy to life on Halloween 1997. It took another four years to mount an off-Broadway production of Laurence O’Keefe’s tragicomedic rock opera. It wound up winning a number of accolades on the circuit, including the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical. A cult following larger than anything Weekly World News ever saw has since followed “Bat Boy: The Musical” around the world. After all, the beautifully bizarre show is something you have to see to believe.

#4: “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1999)

Following the poor reception for “Beauty and the Beast” on Broadway, Disney staged another animated hit in Berlin. James Lapine surprisingly wrote “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” closer to the dark tone of Victor Hugo’s classic novel. This sinister, tragic interpretation of the deformed and lovelorned Quasimodo still didn't take away from the Disneyfied spectacle, humor and musical numbers. The successful three-year run of “Der Glöckner von Notre Dame” was rivaled by a separate musical directly based on Hugo’s book in France. (xref) Both shows would become international sensations, with a revision of Disney’s original English version premiering in 2014. It still holds a special place in Germany, where a 2017 revival furthered its distinction as one of the country’s longest-running musicals.

#3: “The Rocky Horror Show” (1973)

Struggling West End actor and playwright Laurence O’Brien bet everything on a glam rock musical about a mad scientist developing the perfect man. Despite this subversive premise and the campy B-horror homages, “The Rocky Horror Show” claimed the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical. It then scored a Drama Desk nomination for Tim Curry when he brought the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter to Broadway. And yet, moviegoers weren’t immediately captivated by “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” the following year. Even with the film achieving cult status, many still prefer the play for its more nuanced themes and parody. At least everyone agrees that the music rocks! If the picture is considered a must-have experience, the original is definitely worth coming out for.

#2: “The Phantom of the Opera” (1986)

It's not exactly a monster story in the way established by Universal Pictures in 1925. Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” was closer to Gaston Leroux’s novel, rivaling its suspense with romance. The sung-thru saga of a scarred composer scheming to lethally advance his innocent muse combines ‘80s pop-rock with legitimate opera. The epic dazzled the West End and won big at the Laurence Olivier Awards. After sweeping the Tony and Drama Desk awards the following year, it went on to become the longest-running show in Broadway history. Along the way, Webber’s “Phantom” has been adapted into a blockbuster film, and shrouded all other adaptations of Leroux as a pop culture beast.

#1: “The Little Shop of Horrors” (1982)

How did a Roger Corman horror comedy become a monster in the musical world? Before scoring the Disney Renaissance, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken loosely adapted “The Little Shop of Horrors” as a tribute to the doo-wop and rock ‘n’ roll of the early 1960s. From modest off-off-Broadway roots, the story of Seymour Krelborn’s maneating plant sprouted into an acclaimed hit that won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical. It took 20 years for the show to hit Broadway proper. By then, it had been adapted by a number of theatres around the world and into an equally beloved movie. The ferocious Audrey II has come in all sizes, but it’s the thrilling wit, charm and tunes that audiences are always hungry for.

What other monster musicals made you sing and scream along? Creep into the comments below.