July 4, 2012

Top 7 Science Fiction and Fantasy Musicals

SF/F Commentary

Reading Time

I love musicals. And I’m sure some of you love them too. If you need a pick-me-up, sometimes a musical is just the right thing.

These are what I consider to be the best SF/F musicals, selected by a jury of 5,000 Americans kept in an underground bunker for six weeks (part of the previous sentence is untrue — also, the following are not in any particular order):
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog
Neil Patrick Harris + Nathan Fillion + Felicia Day + Simon Helberg = one of the best musicals ever made.

Need I say more?

Urinetown
I saw a community college rendition of Urinetown a few years ago with my grandma and fell in love with it. The humor is spot on and I find the socio-political theme interesting (tempted to teach this musical one day, actually). I’ve included the show the cast put on at the Tony Awards, but you should also look up “Act 1 Finale,” which is one of my favorite tunes.

Wicked

Perhaps one of the best fantasy musicals out there, Wicked is, in my opinion, a tour de force. Based on the book of the same name by Gregory MaGuire, it tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. A wonderful story rendered into an absolutely gorgeous musical.

Spamalot

You remember Monty Python and the Holy Grail, right? Well, this is the musical version, more or less. Originally starring Tim Curry, Spamalot gave us all the laughs and silly adventure that made the movie so great. Plus, the songs are fantastic. Sara Ramirez is amazing!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
This is my childhood. Watching Dick Van Dyke flying around in a car while singing entertained me for hours. It’s an adorable movie!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show
It’s a classic. Also: Tim Curry again. Love everything that man is in…

Nothing left to be said except this: let’s do the time warp again! You know the moves…

Little Shop of Horrors

Giant man-eating plant monster? Rick Moranis? Stunning puppets and fun semi-50s musical soundtrack? Check, check, and check! I love this musical for so many reasons, but most of all because it’s so damned twisted and weird. And whoever made that green mother was brilliant. You wouldn’t expect them to pull something off of such quality back then, but they did it.

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What about your favorites? What would you add to this list?

3 Responses

redhead says:

July 4, 2012 at 7:12 pm

so much love for Dr. Horrible and Little Shop of Horrors!

Everyone said the zucchini plant would take over, so I named it Audrey, and no one got the reference. 🙁

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David says:

July 5, 2012 at 4:56 pm

No love for the classic DOCTOR DOOLITTLE? I love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but Doolittle is a much better musical.

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S.M.D. says:

July 5, 2012 at 9:50 pm

redhead: Hooray for geeky references!

David: It's been so long since I last saw Doctor Doolittle. Maybe I need to go on a classic children's musical binge again…

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Shaun Duke

Shaun Duke is an aspiring writer, a reviewer, and an academic. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Digital Rhetoric and Writing at Bemidji State University. He received his PhD in English from the University of Florida and studies science fiction, postcolonialism, digital fan cultures, and digital rhetoric.

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Top 7 Science Fiction and Fantasy Musicals

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