The Very Best Sung-Through Musicals

Buster McDermott
Updated August 12, 2023 4.7K votes 1.0K voters
Over 1.0K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Very Best Sung-Through Musicals
Voting Rules
Vote up the best sung-through musicals.
Latest additions: Seussical, The Golden Apple, The Most Happy Fella
Most divisive: The Golden Apple

You may consider yourself a fan of musical theater, or musicals in general, but are you truly? While many of the most popular musicals of the day - like Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, and Sunset Boulevard - are musicals, they’re not on this list. Why? Because this is a list of sung through musicals. 

Sung through musicals are exactly what they seem – they are musicals with no spoken dialogue at all. The musicals are all singing. And if a musical is on this sung-through musical list, it is only singing.

Some of the most popular Broadway smash hits have been all song musicals. Les Miserables is a shining example, and arguably one of the greatest musicals of all time. Rent is another outstanding all singing musical, as is Evita and Miss Saigon. These shows all had incredibly long runs on Broadway, and in London’s West End (many are still running today).

But in August 2015, one of the greatest sung-through musicals hit the Great White Way: Hamilton. Since it hit the stage, it’s been an ongoing phenomenon – a musical juggernaut that shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

What do you believe is the best musical with no spoken dialogue? Is it Hamilton? Les Mis? Vote up your favorites below. 

Ranked by
  • Les Misérables
    1

    Les Misérables

    Claude-Michel Schönberg , Jean-Marc Natel, Herbert Kretzmer
    413 votes
    • Characters: Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, Éponine, Monsieur Thénardier
    Les Misérables, colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz is a sung-through musical based on the novel Les Misérables by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with an English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer. Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.
  • Hamilton
    2

    Hamilton

    Lin-Manuel Miranda
    539 votes
    Hamilton: An American Musical is a sung- and rapped-through musical about the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, with music, lyrics and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda, inspired by the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by historian Ron Chernow. Notably incorporating hip-hop, rhythm and blues, pop music, soul music, traditional-style show tunes and color-conscious casting of non-white actors as the Founding Fathers and other historical figures, the musical achieved both critical acclaim and box office success.
  • West Side Story
    3

    West Side Story

    Leonard Bernstein , Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim
    201 votes
    • Characters: Maria, Tony, Anita, A-rab, Bernardo
    West Side Story is an American musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, libretto/lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and conception and choreography by Jerome Robbins. It was inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. The story is set in the Upper West Side neighborhood in New York City in the mid-1950s, an ethnic, blue-collar neighborhood. The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. The members of the Sharks, from Puerto Rico, are taunted by the Jets, a Caucasian gang. The young protagonist, Tony, a former member of the Jets and best friend of the gang leader, Riff, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theater. Bernstein's score for the musical includes "Something's Coming", "Maria", "America", "Somewhere", "Tonight", "Jet Song", "I Feel Pretty", "A Boy Like That", "One Hand, One Heart", "Gee, Officer Krupke", and "Cool".
  • Jesus Christ Superstar
    4

    Jesus Christ Superstar

    Andrew Lloyd Webber , Tim Rice
    188 votes
    • Characters: Jesus, Pontius Pilate, Judas Iscariot, Apostle Peter, Mary Magdalene
    Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1970 rock opera or rock musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started as a rock opera concept album before its first staging on Broadway in 1971. The musical is loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the last week of Jesus's life, beginning with the preparation for the arrival of Jesus and his disciples in Jerusalem and ending with the crucifixion. It highlights political and interpersonal struggles between Judas Iscariot and Jesus that are not in the Bible narratives. The work's depiction offers a free interpretation of the psychology of Jesus and the other characters. A large part of the plot focuses on the character of Judas, who is depicted as a tragic figure dissatisfied with the direction in which Jesus steers his disciples. Contemporary attitudes and sensibilities, as well as slang, pervade the lyrics, and ironic allusions to modern life are scattered throughout the depiction of political events. Stage and film productions accordingly feature many intentional anachronisms.
  • The Phantom of the Opera
    5

    The Phantom of the Opera

    Charles Hart , Richard Stilgoe, Andrew Lloyd Webber
    235 votes
    • Characters: Erik, Christine Daaé, Carlotta, Viscount Raoul de Chagny, Madame Giry
    The Phantom of the Opera is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Charles Hart. Richard Stilgoe and Lloyd Webber wrote the musical's book together. Stilgoe also provided additional lyrics. Based on the French novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux, its central plot revolves around a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, disfigured musical genius living in the subterranean labyrinth beneath the Paris Opéra House.The musical opened in London's West End at Her Majesty's Theatre in 1986, and on Broadway in 1988. It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical, and Michael Crawford (in the title role) won the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical. It is the longest running show in Broadway history by a wide margin, and celebrated its 10,000th Broadway performance on 11 February 2012, the first production ever to do so. It is the second longest-running West End musical, after Les Misérables, and the third longest-running West End show overall, after The Mousetrap.With total estimated worldwide gross receipts of over $5.6 billion and total Broadway gross of $845 million, Phantom was the most financially successful entertainment event until The Lion King surpassed it in 2014. By 2011, it had been seen by over 130 million people in 145 cities across 27 countries, and continues to play in London and New York.
  • Miss Saigon
    6

    Miss Saigon

    Richard Maltby, Jr., Claude-Michel Schönberg
    164 votes
    • Characters: Christopher Scott, Kim, John Thomas, Tam, Gigi Van Tranh
    Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover. The setting of the plot is relocated to the 1970s Saigon during the Vietnam War, and Madame Butterfly's story of marriage between an American lieutenant and geisha is replaced by a romance between an American GI and a Vietnamese bargirl. The musical was premièred at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, on 20 September 1989, closing after over four thousand performances, on 30 October 1999. It opened on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre in 1991 and subsequently played in many other cities and embarked on tours. Prior to the opening of the 2014 London revival, it was claimed that Miss Saigon had set a new world record for opening day ticket sales, with sales in excess of £4m reported. The musical represented Schönberg and Boublil's second major success, following Les Misérables in 1985. As of September 2013, Miss Saigon remains Broadway's twelfth longest-running show.