10 Famous Musicals That Never Made It to Broadway

It’s the dream of every actor, playwright, librettist, director, and dramaturg to one day work on a Broadway show. As far as theater goes, there’s pretty much no better way to prove your work is the best of the best than to premiere on the Great White Way.

But sometimes, it’s about more than just the talent involved. Finances, politics, reviews, and current events can influence whether a show transfers to Broadway or remains in small-time production. As a result, some great shows never actually made it to Broadway (or NYC at all)—some that might surprise you.

Here are 10 famous musicals that never made it to Broadway.

Related: 10 Times Live Theatre Went Spectacularly Wrong

10 Tick… Tick… BOOM!

Jonathan Larson changed the future of Broadway forever when he debuted his hit rock musical RENT in 1996. His show would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Musical and become one of the longest-running shows in history. Larson must have been over the moon, right?

Sadly, 35-year-old Larson died the night before RENT’s first preview, so he never got to see how much his show was loved. Tick… Tick… BOOM! is a 2001 three-person musical that follows Larson through the first workshopping of his first musical. It’s based on a solo show written by Larson himself that was never finished due to his premature death. While it’s played on many NYC stages throughout the years, it’s never quite made it to Broadway.

Though the concept of a musical about Jonathon Larson is pretty niche, a 2021 Netflix adaptation starring Andrew Garfield proved that the public wasn’t deterred: The film received universal acclaim and has since become a staple—even for musical haters.^[10]

9 Reefer Madness

The 1936 movie Reefer Madness was created to scare teenagers away from marijuana. Its absolute ridiculousness in the demonization of drugs resulted in a 1998 stage musical version that follows a straight-laced group of teens as marijuana use leads to sex, crimes, and more drugs.

The comedic parody of anti-drug propaganda was turned into a movie in 2005, with Kristen Bell and Alan Cumming in the lead. It seems obvious why this weird little show has never made it to Broadway. Still, it’s done well for what it is: A 2024 production in Los Angeles received much acclaim and even recorded a cast album.^[2]

8 A New Brain

William Finn, composer of Broadway hits 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Falsettos, debuted his autobiographical musical A New Brain off-Broadway in 1998. Finn’s music is noted for its frenetic energy and clever lyrics, which are not always appreciated by theatergoers looking for a fun night out.

The niche and depressing nature of the show about a man and his mortality didn’t have a place among the showstoppers coming to Broadway in the early 2000s. Would tourist families want to see A New Brain, where a gay man grapples with a debilitating illness, or The Lion King, The Producers, or RENT?

It was presented as part of the Encores! Off-Center-staged concert series in 2015, and thanks to big names like Jonathon Groff and Ana Gasteyer, the show has risen in popularity since the ’90s.^[3]

7 Dogfight

Almost anything can be a musical. After all, if Alexander Hamilton could inspire one of the most famous shows in recent history, nothing else should be off-limits.

However, movies that were poorly received the first time around are always a risk. Sometimes, they pay off, like with Disney’s Newsies, and sometimes, they flop as hard as they did the first time, like Dogfight. Even with River Phoenix at the helm, the 1991 movie was a flop. Many attributed this to the uncomfortable subject matter, as the show centers around Phoenix’s character, essentially bullying the overweight girl who becomes his lover.

The musical, much like the movie, was met with critical acclaim but simply didn’t generate enough revenue. Despite this, the fame of the original film and a leading performance by Tony winner Lindsay Mendez has turned Dogfight into a cult classic.^[4]

6 Honk!

Much like Suessical, Honk! is a show that never did well commercially but found its footing in regional productions. Honk! is a musical version of Hans Christian Anderson’s tale “The Ugly Duckling.” It’s short, the music is catchy, and it has fun costumes.

Is it entertaining to watch? Um… well, it has many roles for children, making it the perfect show for schools to put on—especially ones that don’t have students interested in more difficult shows. Honk! was first produced in England in 1993 and eventually made it to the UK equivalent of Broadway, the West End, in 1999. Though it didn’t impact popular culture much, it has been produced over 8,000 times in 25 years, most frequently in schools and children’s theaters.^[5]

5 Carrie

The musical version of Stephen King’s Carrie has been through more workshops and needed more changes than almost any musical in history. In fact, there’s an entire book about the show’s tumultuous background. Too many last-minute rewrites, odd tonal shifts, and high production costs meant it was not meant to be Broadway-bound.

But despite the musical’s issues, the show was catapulted into mainstream pop culture in 2018 when drama show Riverdale featured its teen cast performing it as their high school musical. Each character randomly breaks into a song from the musical that vaguely relates to their plotline for that episode. It’s campy and makes no sense, just like most of Riverdale.

The popularity of the CW’s adaptation of Archie Comics meant that Carrie gained a new, younger audience. Maybe these ones won’t pour pig’s blood on her.^[6]

4 Love Never Dies

Even though he’s composed dozens of iconic Broadway shows, from Cats to Sunset Boulevard, Andrew Lloyd Webber will always be most famous for The Phantom of the Opera.

The atmospheric fog, the chandelier drop, the gondola sweeping across the stage, and, of course, the powerful music combined to make this 1986 musical one of the most popular in the world. Its sequel… not so much.

As a rule, musicals generally don’t get sequels, and Love Never Dies is a great example of why. Even though it was also written by Webber and had the appeal of being related to the original show, the music wasn’t up to par, and fans weren’t having it. Unlike the mysterious and sexy setting of a theater, Love Never Dies mostly takes place on Coney Island. Not very romantic.

A Broadway production was planned for 2011, but after poor reviews in London, it was postponed indefinitely. Though it has toured the world for years, it has never been performed in New York City.^[7]

3 Heathers

One of the most successful examples of a movie-turned-musical, Heathers, is based on the 1988 film of the same name. Though the musical doesn’t star Christian Slater and Winona Ryder, audiences adored the show when it premiered in Los Angeles in 2013. After a sold-out run, Heathers moved to NYC, where it played off-Broadway to critical acclaim.

So, why did it never make it big? According to actor Ryan McCartan, who played J.D. in the original cast, it was always meant to be a musical film adaption and was not meant to be on the stage forever. With producers so focused on a movie that would never materialize, they failed to generate enough buzz to make it to Broadway. In recent years, songs from Heathers have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram, and the high school version of the show has been licensed frequently.^[8]

2 The Last Five Years

The Last Five Years is a 2001 two-person musical based on the composer’s tumultuous relationship with his ex-wife. The story is told through alternating points of view, with wife Cathy starting at the end, when husband Jamie cheats on her, and Jamie starting with the first time they meet.

It was a pretty unknown show until the 2014 movie adaptation starring heartthrob Jeremy Jordan and America’s sweetheart Anna Kendrick shot the musical into the spotlight. Interest was further renewed when the soundbites of a song went viral on TikTok in 2020.

Though this tiny show hasn’t been on Broadway yet, you won’t be able to say that in a few months. On March 18, 2025, The Last Five Years will debut on Broadway at the Hudson Theater, with Nick Jonas starring as Jamie.^[9]

1 Hunchback of Notre Dame

Disney loves to turn its movies into musicals, and there’s nowhere to make more money off a musical than Broadway.

So why did Disney’s musical adaptation of Hunchback of Notre Dame never make it to the Great White Way? If you’re thinking it has to do with the lack of popularity for the 1996 movie, you’d actually be wrong. Consider that Newsies made Disney $100,000,000 over the course of its Broadway run and was based on one of Disney’s biggest flops.

There’s still confusion about why the often-praised La Jolla Playhouse Hunchback production did not transfer to Broadway. The most common theory is that the show’s creators believed mainstream audiences weren’t ready for a show so dark and wanted to focus on regional theaters. There are also rumors that the large size of the cast and background choir worried Disney due to union pay rules.^[10]