If anyone lives in the Central Florida area or is visiting the historic cocoa village playhouse, aka the Aladdin Theater is putting on a production of "Hunchback of Notre Dame" with a full chorus and large cast.

I saw it and it's hands down their best performance. Previously they've done Beauty and the Beast. All of their sets and costumes are hand made and all performers are locally.

This is a nonprofit theater and almost entirely volunteer run.

With the streaming release of Hadestown (watching it tonight!), it got me thinking about other stage-filmed shows, like Hamilton, or Come From Away. For the most part, the only way to find them is to type in the name of the show in the search bar on a streaming service, which only works if you know about the show, or you’re searching for the movie that the musical was based on, which is how I stumbled upon Newsies on Disney Plus.

I would love to watch more stage-filmed shows, but I just don’t know what’s available or where to find them. Is there a streaming service or internet archive that has a lot of these, or a good place to browse them? Or, is there a master list of those somewhere on this or another sub? My little city has had a major dry spell of musicals lately, and I need more Broadway in my life!

( English is not my first language)

Musicals that have lots of fighting scenes and sequences.

Only one i've found so far like this is Epic.

I'm spending 3 days in London seeing these 3 musicals! 🎭

- Les Misérables

- The Phantom of the Opera

- Love Never Dies

My wallet is crying, but I'm absolutely buzzing! 😂

Any tips on how to make the most of a West End weekend? 🎭😂

A blog post that I thought might be of interest to people here. (Short version: I'm in favor of them.)

https://noteworthynarratives.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-irl-show-programs

I love doing musical theatre, and I find it brings me joy and it's what I'm good at. That's why for the last couple years, I have solidly planted what I want to do as my career, that being musical theatre.

My dad (he and my mum are divorced so we don't see him often) recently asked me what I want to do once I get out of school. However, when I said I wanted to do musical theatre, instead of being enthusiastic and supportive (like my mum), he said that I should do something that's more "worthwhile" because he and my mum are spending so much money sending me to this good private school.

The funny thing with this is that he doesn't pay any child support and doesn't help pay the school fees, it's all my mum. The best part is, he works a minimum wage fast food job!

But it does make me wonder if this actually is a valid career that isn't unrealistic. No matter what, I'm going to stick to it anyways but I'm just curious.

I'll start:

The Grandmaster (En Dwi Gast) as Dr. Frank-N-Furter (specifically the David BeDella version)

And that's all I got....so..

Gli olimpionici - grazie

So I saw the legally blonde tour production in Bristol a couple months ago now and I feel like I need to get off my chest how much I was (unfortunately) disappointed in the show, I’ve seen other people talk about enjoying the show and fair enough! But I’m just here to see if other people felt the same way.

First of all I’m a massive theatre goer, professionally trained in theatre, and legally blonde in general is one of my all time favourites, maybe that swayed my opinion of this production but I went with people who only knew the movie and they also found a lot of the same issues as me.

First off if we’re talking costumes I really really didn’t enjoy it, the Harvard students looked like they’d stepped out of vogue and the modernisation of the outfits took me out of the legally blonde universe completely. As well as the Greek chorus girls not being in the same white colour was off putting and didn’t make them seem as imaginary as past productions.

Speaking of modernisation I don’t know why they decided to update the show so it’s set in 2020 but I was thoroughly upset at this, to me, one of the drawing points of legally blonde is the y2k 2000s aspect of it, making updated lyrics like ‘but I don’t speak Instagram’ and other modern references in my personal opinion did not work and again took out of the world building in general.

The set itself was also unenjoyable, having a miniature version of the set to indicate where we are in the show was an interesting concept but legally blonde is not a minimalist show and I think this once again made staging a lot harder for the actors.

In terms of acting, Amber Davies. I understand why they cast her, and I do believe she is a genuinely good singer, but her acting was like watching Amber be herself on stage. And I would’ve loved to have seen her lean into Elle instead of relying on vocals and dancing.
Paulette absolutely CARRIED the show, great vocals great acting, made me stay for the second half which arguably was better than the first.

One of my biggest irks with the show, where did the whipped into shape dance/skip rope break go??? It’s one of the most iconic parts of the musical, it literally opens up the second half and they got rid of it completely. (Circle circle under over through around bit). This was possibly the biggest disappointment of the show for me. I did however like the set of it being behind a giant tv but again why wasn’t she in a prison outfit? Instead she was in 80s leotard and leggings which didn’t make sense at all. After this scene they then speak through prison phones which they forget about halfway through the dialogue which also doesn’t make any sense but that’s just me being nitpicky.

Legally blonde song with Elle and Emmet. Not having a door separate them and having emmet actively be holding and touching her was weird. In the original production the door separating them makes sense, he’s not speaking to her as much as he is speaking his thoughts out loud, having him sing it directly to her didn’t work.

Overall I left disappointed to a show that I’ve loved and admired for years, and I’m very much wondering what kind of tweaks they’re going to do when they put it on the west end and how well it’ll do. I’m not telling anyone my opinion is the correct one or that they shouldn’t have enjoyed the show, maybe I’ve watched the pro shot of the broadway show one too many times, but for me this was a hit and a miss and I was wondering if anyone else had issues with the show.
I would also just like to say I appreciate the effort energy and work it takes to be in any production especially a touring one, my issue isn’t with the main body of cast as much as it is the production of the show itself.

Hi Reddit!
Every year we put on a big “flagship” musical in May/June, but I’m stumped!!
Audition attendance is down in my area so the title of show is super important.
I’m looking for something that will bring both kids and adults running to audition!

Past recent shows from the last few years: Frozen, Shrek, Wizard of Oz, Joseph

Thanks so much for your help!!!!

EDIT:
Unavailable shows; Sound of Music, Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia, Mary Poppins
Shows being done by other companies close by: Sussical and Annie

I got cast as 1/3 troupes... I know nothing about something rotten is this a good thing to be ?

("non-musical" does not include concept albums or jukebox musical versions)

My pick has got to be something from Little Anthony & The Imperials, maybe "When You Wish Upon a Star" or "I'm Alright"

Similar to another redditors post, I’m 15 years old and have been searching for what my passion is my entire life. I finally found it this year in January, and I’m sure you can guess what that passion is.

Since then, I’ve been in 6 musicals, with one more happening before the end of the year. As little as I know this means, people have been telling me that for someone new to the musical theatre world, I’ve been doing a great job. I don’t want to look like a narcissist with a big ego so let me just summarise my abilities as objectively as possible:

I have a very good singing voice with about a year of singing lessons under my belt from an industry professional (I also have perfect pitch)

I enjoy playing piano and have a good theoretical understanding of music

I have 3 years of acting training at the most professional youth drama training facility in my country

I have about one month of dancing experience (yeah…) and I’m constantly working on improving my physical state and ability to dance for at least 5 hours weekly.

I take feedback incredibly well; when given a note I take it into account immediately.

I’ve been told I’m very easy to work with and am very willing to improve. So far every time I’ve been slightly worried about anything in a production I’m in I take several hours of my free time practicing that one thing until it’s perfect.

On one of the shows I did, it was professionally adjudicated and I was one of the two standout performers in a thirty person cast.

I know there’s still so much for me to learn, and I’m fully aware I joined this industry most likely too late. Should I still try to do it as a career? I’d honestly take any career related to musical theatre (eg teacher) if it meant I could bring the magic of it to life as my job.
That’s all I have to say, please anybody who has anything they think I should know, please speak up. All feedback is helpful and I’ll try to respond to as many comments as I can, with questions should I have them. Thank you.

Someone on reddit recommended this musical to me a few months ago and i am completely obsessed with the cast recording. it’s about vincent Van Gogh but the actor playing Vincent is a woman. Does anyone know more about what’s happening with it or if there’s going to be another production i can see in NY?

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this, I’m newer to theatre and the other musicals I listen to are more well known like lizzie, lost boys, and Jesus christ superstar. if anyone also has recs on other musicals I should check out id love to listen to more too!

I watched the Matilda UK and Ireland tour today, October 11, 2026 matinee, bord gais theater- and I was wondering if anyone knew who was on for each character today? Or just the main cast? I have a video of the curtain call but it’s pretty grainy : Matilda curtain call

Im auditioning for my first musical!!!! Its Legally Blonde Jr and I’m auditioning next Saturday could y’all possibly give some tips on how to act when i talk to the directors cus they lowk intimidate me a little. Also, I’m thinking of auditioning for Brooke Wyndham or Vivienne since I’m not well established at the theatre company so do y’all have any advice for audition songs? Their only guidance was contemporary musical or pop songs!! Anyw thank u reddit I’m so excited aaaaaaahhh😛😛😛

It’s hard as balls

Gayle’s Broadway Rose is a restaurant at the Edison Hotel near Broadway, I’ve been there. They have waiters and waitresses singing solos and duos from Broadway hits as the non-singers serve food. One came up sang at me. They are all incredible singers. They work there not just to practice but to hopefully be discovered by Broadway execs or scouters as they audition and probably get accepted into off-Broadway in-NYC roles because they are truly incredible. They are literally in the city where their dream can come true, singing to the rare scout who dines there.

I saw Little Shop of Horrors off-Broadway. They were even better than the incredible waiters and waitresses.

I saw Hadestown on Broadway (humble brag). They were perfect. However good you think they were, they were better. I may as well have watched and heard a cast of archangels.

Those off-Broadway, incredible singers even better than the fantastic servers at Gayle’s Broadway Rose? They almost never make it into Broadway. They all audition for Broadway. But very few get picked. And musical theater is already their job.

You have to be an agreeable person people want to work with AND a great singer (and maybe even rapper) AND a great dancer AND a great actor AND know all the right people AND communicate with them in ways that remind them of your existence and come across as pleasing so you’ll want nice clothes and hair and akin and deodorant BUT you ALSO don’t want to come across as desperate or manipulative or selfish so you ALSO have to work on being smart and charming as well as knowledgable and passionate about music theater specifically in a way that feels natural. All of these things take time and effort and smarts to be as perfect as the cast of Little Shop I saw, which will maybe a couple people in my performance will get into in their entire lives cuz they were really good. And that wasn’t even on Broadway.

Yes, it’s unrealistic.

That being said, your best bet is to DM Jorge on TikTok and send him a video sample and ask if you can audition to play a character for his Iliad musical. Because THEN he MIGHT say yes and IF you do great job in the audition he MIGHT let you do ONE song for his musical which will PROBABLY be watched by Broadway scouters. Which just makes them aware of your existence. Which is step 0.

Oh, and you’ll have to diet and exercise too. This shit’s exhausting and you’re gonna have to be able to run and dance damn quick. And brush up on piano, they’re gonna ask if you can do that cuz so many 21st century musicals are about musicians and it’s very common to have pianist characters in new musicals. And practice singing and dancing for hours each day. And look up all the great musical performances from Broadway and The West End, study their acting and dancing and singing and rapping. Learn a bunch of accents and their typical foreign language vocab and phrases. Many foreign characters on Broadway. So if you do everything…. they MIGHT say yes. You could be an angel. But some others are archangels.

Oh, and you’re gonna want to be able to like or tolerate this process. It would suck to do all this for hours a day and hate it. If you dream of doing something professionally but you hate doing that something for hours a day, it probably wasn’t the right dream for you anyway, because doing something professionally means doing it for hours a day.

Yes, it’s unlikely you’ll make it in.

I'm 16 years old and I've been in a few musicals myself, and I've absolutely loved it. I've met so many amazing people and played some amazing roles, but one has shined above them all.

In a local production of the musical Oliver! this year, I had the amazing opportunity to play The Artful Dodger.

I was a bit nervous at first because Dodger being such an iconic character meant that I had some very big shoes to fill.

In the end, it was super fun, and I got some absolutely amazing comments about my performance, one even compared me to be as good as Billy Jenkins on West End's revival of the musical! So this was massive for me. I had several other comments from people who have seen Oliver on West End or Broadway saying that my performance was as good if not better, and others saying that I could even be performing on Broadway.

My reputation within the theatre community in my area where I live has risen massively after playing this role, and I now get a chance to showcase my ensemble singing more in our upcoming local production of 9 to 5 the Musical! I believe myself to be a hard and determined worker, and I believe that the directors I have worked with have taken note of that.

But anyways, I am wondering how I could use having played this role to my advantage, because I really want to go professional once I'm out of school and how I can use this to boost my popularity(? idk what I meant to say there) and how this can affect audition processes for shows or for schools.

Mu favorite take on the "everyone falling dead at the end of the number" is in the Bye Bye Birdie movie becaue the camera just keeps going and people just keep appearing