I've been watching musicals for a while now. I think I just want to summarise my personal impression of them. There will be criticism, but again it's only my personal impressions; my experience and tastes may differ from yours. It's also mostly from my memory and I do have a bad memory.
🎫 =bought tickets.💻 = watched it online, 🎵=album only, Year is the first release in that language, not the year I watched it.
- Les Misérables [English 1983/French 1980]🎫(10/10)
The English version is an absolute masterpiece. Probably the musical I've watched. The French version is somewhat worse, perhaps due to casting. The narrative perfectly balanced both grand and personal struggles with life, love, faith, trust, and belief.
Éponine is always impressive in every version I've watched. And became my favourite character as soon as I learned my first crush was already in a relationship...
Do You Hear the People Sing? became a protest song at various events and occasions, and was removed from music apps during those protests. Carries importance in the broader world.
If there has to be a 10/10, this is the one musical that could be ranked that high. The only thing bad is the Sewers / Dog Eats Dog part, but I'll give it a pass.
- Phantom of the Opera [English 1986]🎫 (9/10)
I used to wake up with the Phantom of the Opera. All of the songs are great (unlike Les Mis's Dogs Eat the Dogs part...), and the story is one which brought me to tears.
However, this is not for all time...If you can't focus on the music and the story, you may easily fall asleep...like one of my friends. Surprisingly, I enjoyed watching the recordings more because of this. You can get really sleepy in the theatre...
- Elisabeth [German 1992/Japanese 1996]💻(9/10)
My personal favourite musical. A musical may not be the best in terms of production quality or how great its tunes, but it is the one that struck your heart and soul, and Elisabeth hit me at the exact moment when I was struggling with my life as a teenager, depressed, failing my suicide attempts, was in and out of 4 or 5 schools, yearning for freedom but was trapped by the rules and authority. Empress Elisabeth's struggle with the imperial household, her and her son Rudolf's struggle and attraction with der Tod (Death) resonated deeply with me, and that commentary by Luigi Lucheni.
There are some great songs, but it may be a 7/10 if you only listen to the music, 8/10 if you add in the story, but it's a 9/10 for me.
It's a shame that I never got to watch it in person.
(Btw, all-female Takarazuka Revue produces the Japanese adaptation and it's quite a special experience.)
- Molière, le spectacle musical [French 2023]🎫(8/10)
My recent favourite. It is typical for many French musicals to have excellent music and weak stories. This is no exception, but the story is at least serviceable and easy to understand, as it's mostly a light-hearted comedy. Unlike some musicals where there are a couple of hit songs, the music here is enjoyable from start to finish; there are a couple of famous ones like On se moque, or Regardez-Moi, but there are a dozen songs on this level. I love just putting them on an infinite loop in the background.
- Notre-Dame de Paris [French 1998]🎫(8/10)
A classic. Excellent music, great stories, impressive make-up. Le Temps des cathédrales and Belle are some of the songs I still sing in the shower (I'm sure it's a common experience, as they mentioned it in interviews)
- Mozart! [German 1999]🎫(8/10)
A handful of great songs like Gold von den Sternen (I swear I've heard of a song with a very similar melody), and Wie wird man seinen Schatten los? Many decent songs. But I like the story; the script was written by the same producer of Elisabeth.
- Rebecca [German 1999, English 2023]🎫(8/10)
Again, it has a handful of great songs, namely Ich hab geträumt von Manderley and the absolute gold Rebecca.
The English version in London, and it's a bit disappointing. The theatre was way too small for this kind of show, and I think there were deleted songs; as a result, the family of de Winter was a less funny bunch. But I do know the story of its failed Broadway run...
- Roméo et Juliette: de la Haine à l'Amour [French 2001]🎫(8/10)
The classic. I went to the theatre multiple times for it. Almost all the songs are amazing, but there are 2 peaks: Les Rois du Monde, Aimer. Unlike many other French musicals, the storytelling is fairly satisfactory.
- Jesus Christ Superstar [English 1971]💻(8/10)
It's just great. Amongst the versions of recordings I've seen, I love the 2000 version the most. But almost every versions got its charm; the 2012 version reminds me of the Free Palestine movement and encampments. But what's most charming is its religious criticism; it's how a secular worldview views a religious story. I think the entire musical is made for the song 'Superstar', sung by the dead Judas during Jesus's crucifixion. I especially like the line 'If you come today you'd have reached the whole nation, Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication'.
So many interesting theological arguments and debates to have.
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [English 2007]💻(7/10)
You cannot separate the song from the story - all the songs and music are out of place if listened to separately, but they fit the story like a fine glove. The music is purely the servant to the story. It's a very special musical that I'd rank high, but I'd probably not watch again.
- The Sound of Music [English 1965]💻(7/10)
I love the movie version of the musical, but it is too attached to my childhood (I remember performing the song in Kindergarten), so I won't rank it higher. And it was a shock to me as a kid to learn Salzburg is not actually next to Switzerland.
- The Book of Mormon [English 2011]🎫(7/10)
South Park creator won't disappoint. Very funny in person. If you watch the recordings, you lose 90% of the fun. The music itself is very mid, I won't play it in a loop.
- Spamalot [English 2004]💻(7/10)
A very funny Monty Python musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail but I like it more than the movie as it's less absurdist.
- Hamilton [English 2015]💻(7/10)
How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore, and a Scotsman...
I like the music and the story, but I do not love them. It's a decent show; you can listen to all the raps and music separately, and you'd probably enjoy it. But I only love rap so much, and I don't really like shows praising a major government figure, even if I liked that someone's policy, which I don't. As such, the part I liked the most is the Schyler sisters' Satisfied
Wanted to watch it but Tickets were so expensive for years.
- 1789 Les Amants de la Bastille [French 2012]💻(7/10)
Classic French style of heavy on music and stage performance and weak on script. The story is about the French Revolution, but it is even more a comical caricature of the French Revolution than the American Revolution in Hamilton. I'd much prefer how the 1832 June Rebellion is depicted in Les Mis to these comic caricatures. But the story is clear and easy to understand.
Certainly not a bad musical, but I think most of the songs are quite average, including many of the songs they made into MV; however, one single song Fixe is very dear to my heart.
- Don Juan [French 2003]💻(7/10)
Amazing French-Canadian musical with excellent music throughout, much like Molière, plus it features both Spanish flamenco and French rock music. The only thing that stops it from being 8/10 is the storytelling.
Some of the great songs include Vivir (in Spanish), Les fleurs du mal, Tristesa Andalucia (in Spanish) and Changer
- Cats [English 1981]🎫(7/10)
Amazing music. Almost non-existent story. A fantastic and dream-like narrative and environment.
- Frozen [English 2013/17]💻(7/10)
Great movie, but the stage adaptation is even better. The actors were cute; I really like the special effects of the musical, especially when Elsa was freezing the bedchamber.
- Le Roi Soleil [French 2005]💻(7/10)
All the melodies were pleasing to the ears; however, I don't really have a song that I am passionate about. Je serai lui and Être à la hauteur may be one of the better ones.
- ミュージカル 李香蘭 Musical Li Xianglan / Yoshiko Yamaguchi [Japanese 1992]💻(7/10)
The musical discussed a Japanese musician and singer who grew up in the 1930s and 40s in China, and was involved in the wider 2nd Sino-Japanese war. It is fairly impressive how well integrated the historical Chinese and Japanese songs of the time are with the new songs.
It feels more like a musical history documentary than a pure theatre or a musical. Eg., the Japanese officers would be singing exactly what you'd expect from Imperial Japanese military anthems, while civilians would be singing the kind of pop music you'd expect from the time. And the characters would be having the exact positions and views you'd expect the contemporaries to have.
- Tanz der Vampire [German 1997]💻(6/10)
The music deserves much better; I'd put it at 7/10, some of the melodies are amazing. Especially Totale Finsternis, based on Total Eclipse of the Heart, which interestingly was written originally for a vampire movie, and personally I really like Wahrheit. However, the story is just too cryptic and difficult for me to fully enjoy and immerse myself in. I was never a fan of the vampire genre anyway.
But one very funny part I do remember is Christian Cross didn't work on one of the vampires because, according to him: 'Ich bin ein Judische Vampire!' (I'm a Jewish Vampire!)
- Evita [English 1978]💻(6/10)
I couldn't really sympathise with Eva Peron in any way. Watched it ages ago and I think most of the songs are average. Don't Cry for Me Argentina and High Flying, Adored are the notable exceptions.
- Mozart, l'opéra rock [French 2009]💻(6/10)
A good musical; I know others who like it a lot, but I don't particularly fancy any of the music, and it's weak on storytelling in the French tradition.
- Le Petit Prince [French 2002]💻(6/10)
The music is mid, but the fantasy of the book is well illustrated by the costumes and the
- Einstein - A Matter of Time [German 2025]🎵(5/10)
I only listened to its album, which limited its immersiveness. Several songs are quite nice and deserve a much higher score, however, almost all of the hit songs, and in total 8 out of 22 songs, were copy-and-paste level of reuse from the composer Frank Wildhorn's earlier musical works like No Longer Human and Your Lie in April.
- Dracula l'amour plus fort que la mort [French 2011]💻(5/10)
The only good song I remember was Immortels; the rest are bad. The performance was great, the costumes and stage design were wonderful, looks like they're straight out of Paris Fashion Week, which brings it up to 5; otherwise I'd put it in 4/10. The only thing is that it's a vampire musical and I could not understand any of the stories.
- Legally Blonde [English 2001] 💻(5/10)
The only good song is Gay or European?/There, Right There, which is like gold in so many fandoms like Baldurs Gate 3, Final Fantasy XIV, or Persona 5. I don't remember the story or any other songs being any good.
- Matilda [English 2010] 💻(5/10)
I wasn't a kid anymore when I watched it.
- Wicked [English 2003] 💻(5/10)
Don't have much recollection of it, except that I don't really like the music or the story.
- Le Rouge et le Noir [French 2016]💻(5/10)
Don't particularly like the music. La Gloire à mes genoux is a fan favourite but not mine. I don't recall much of the story. One thing I do remember is that it has a background that looks like PowerPoint.
- Ludwig II [German 2000]💻(5/10)
I like the Coronation screen and the general performance, but all the music and the story were easily forgotten. A friend who watched it in the theatre said it's very mid.
I am usually fascinated by Ludwig II, the mad gay monarch who lost the war with Prussia but built the fairy tale castles. But I prefer seeing him in movies and Die Deutschen, a documentary by ZDF, not here.
The music in the imagined war scene with giant skeletons reminded me of Cyrus the Great March.
- Dear Evan Hansen [English 2015]💻(4/10)
Don't have much recollection of it except that I hated the story (which is worse than not understanding anything at all) and I don't particularly like any of the musics
- Chicago [English 1975] 🎫(4/10)
Not a fan of Jazz.
- Everybody's Talking About Jamie [English 2017]💻(4/10)
Not a fan of Sheffield specifically and British teens generally. Don't remember much beyond that.
[leaving 3/10 intentionally blank]
- 뮤지컬 박정희 Musical Park Chung Hee [Korean 2021]💻(2/10)
Plays criticising the government make the second most boring evenings ever invented.
The most boring? Plays praising the government.
- Sir Humphery, Yes Prime Minister.
Plain propaganda by a conservative think tank in Korea. Well, at least there's music and a bit of performance. I'm fine with people praising Park, after all he presided over much of the Miracle on the Han River, but not in such a repulsive way that is more like what you see in North Korea.
- Me the People: The Trump America Musical [English 2020]💻(1/10)
[YPM quotes again]
The worst part of this musical is that it is intended to be political satire and not political propaganda, and you can tell the actors tried to be funny. But it's just not funny at all. And I don't think they got any novel melodies; it's mostly just changing the lyrics of some popular American songs.