Product Code Database
A jukebox musical is a musical theatre or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known, pre-existing popular music songs, rather than original music composed for the musical.
Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while others confine themselves to songs performed by one singer or band, or written by one songwriter. In such cases, the plot is often a biography of the artist or artists. In other jukebox musicals, the plot is purely fictional. For musicals about a musician or musical act, some of the songs can be diegetic music, meaning that they are performed within the world of the play or film. Works in which all of the music is diegetic, however, such as a biographical film about a singer who is at times shown performing their songs, are generally not considered jukebox musicals.
that lack a plot are also usually not described as jukebox musicals, although plotless shows that include a dance element sometimes are.
Films considered early examples of jukebox musicals include An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in the Rain (1952), Rock, Rock, Rock (1956) and Rock Around the Clock (1956).
The songwriting team of Robert Wright and George Forrest pioneered the concept of musicals whose songs are derived from one composer's instrumental works, with newly-written lyrics. Some of these musicals also told the life story of that composer. Musicals and operettas that they produced in this fashion include Song of Norway (1944, using the music of Edvard Grieg), (1948, music of Heitor Villa-Lobos), a 1949 reworking of the 1934 musical The Great Waltz (music of Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II), Kismet (1953, music of Alexander Borodin), and Anya (1965, music of Sergei Rachmaninoff).
The origin of the phrase "jukebox musical" in its current meaning is unclear. The word "jukebox" dates to around 1939. The first documented use of "jukebox musical" in print may have been in a 1962 description of the musical Do Re Mi, Guide to the Performing Arts: 3460, Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1962, p. 204, "—Garson Kanin; his jukebox musical with Phil Silvers, Nancy Walker". but that was a musical (with original music) about a man who sells jukeboxes. In a 1964 review of the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night, critic Andrew Sarris described that film as "the Citizen Kane of jukebox musicals", but he too may have had a meaning in mind other than the contemporary one, since most of that film's songs were original.
Although jukebox musicals had achieved success for years (for example, the 1989 musical ), a surge in popularity was led by the success of Mamma Mia! (1999), built around the music of ABBA. The biographical musical, a subset of the jukebox musical in which an artist or band's own songs form the basis of a musical based on their life story, received a surge in popularity in the early 2000s when All Shook Up (musical) (about Elvis Presley and Jersey Boys(featuring commissioned by and The Four Seasons) launched. and also there is The Boy from Oz (about Peter Allen)
For jukebox musicals with a fictional plot, one common approach is to center the plot around one or more (fictional) singers or musicians, thus letting some of the songs be performed as songs within the show. Examples of such musicals include Boogie Nights (1998), Mamma Mia! (1999), We Will Rock You (2002), Hoy no me puedo levantar (2005), Bésame mucho, el musical (2005), Rock of Ages (2005), Daddy Cool (2006), Never Forget (2007), Viva Forever! (2012), All Out of Love (2018), and Jukebox Hero (2018).
Some jukebox musicals are adaptations of a film, in which songs from the film's soundtrack are now sung by the characters; examples include Saturday Night Fever (1998), Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (2006), (2015) and My Best Friend's Wedding (2024).
Some shows and films combine original and previously-released songs; it may be a matter of opinion whether these qualify as jukebox musicals. For example, the stage musicals 42nd Street (1980), Five Guys Named Moe (1990), Crazy for You (1992), and Xanadu (2007) are all adaptations of earlier source material that added to the original score other well-known songs written by the original songwriters. The stage musicals The Last Ship (2014) and Standing at the Sky's Edge (2019) and film musicals Yellow Submarine (1968) and Idlewild (2006) are all musicals that combine original and previously-recorded songs by a single artist or group. Other films that combine old and original songs include Singin' in the Rain (1952), Trolls (2016), and Cinderella (2021).
| Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, et al. |
| The Beatles |
| Elvis Presley |
| Fats Waller |
| Eubie Blake |
| Al Dubin, Johnny Mercer, and Harry Warren |
| ABBA |
| Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector |
| Popular songs from the 1920s and 30s |
| Hank Williams |
| Buddy Holly, including many early rock "standards" |
| Popular songs from the 1950s |
| 1960s rock and roll |
| Louis Jordan |
| Jelly Roll Morton |
| The Who |
| Cliff Richard & The Shadows |
| The 1970s |
| Bee Gees and others |
| 1970s disco |
| ABBA |
| Female vocal harmony groups of the 1950s and 1960s |
| Janis Joplin |
| Johnny O'Keefe |
| Queen |
| Madness |
| Billy Joel |
| Peter Allen |
| Rod Stewart |
| Claude François |
| The Walt Disney Company |
| Various 80s pop artists |
| John Lennon |
| The Beach Boys |
| Elvis Presley |
| Frankie Valli and Four Seasons |
| Spanish group Mecano |
| Mexican and Cuban bolero songs |
| Dusty Springfield |
| Earth, Wind & Fire |
| Various artists, based on the movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert |
| Frank Farian |
| Johnny Cash |
| Glam metal of the 1980s |
| Bob Dylan |
| The Dresden Dolls |
| Blondie |
| Take That |
| Udo Jürgens |
| Electric Light Orchestra and Olivia Newton-John |
| The Proclaimers |
| The Beautiful South |
| David Essex |
| Charles Aznavour |
| Compilation album of songs from the 1950s and early 1960s |
| Mexican songs from the 1980s |
| Fela Kuti |
| Doo-wop music circa 1960 |
| Green Day, based on American Idiot |
| Various artists (ranging from The Jackson 5, to Pat Benatar) | ||
| Various artists (ranging from Judy Garland and The Supremes, to Fred Rogers) | ||
| The Beatles | ||
| Frank Sinatra | ||
| Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash | ||
| Norbert Glanzberg | ||
| Popular songs from the 1960s produced by Florence Greenberg | ||
| Mexican songs from the 1930s to 1950s | ||
| Udo Lindenberg | ||
| Whitney Houston | ||
| Susan Boyle | ||
| Various classic rock songs | ||
| Spice Girls | ||
| Tina Turner | ||
| The Beatles | ||
| Popular songs from the 1970s | ||
| The Flaming Lips | ||
| Janis Joplin | ||
| Carole King | ||
| Shlomo Carlebach and Nina Simone | ||
| Motown Records | ||
| Popular songs from the 1910s and 20s, based on the film Bullets Over Broadway | ||
| Tupac Shakur | ||
| Various artists including Carly Rae Jepsen and Smash Mouth | ||
| The Kinks | ||
| Billie Holiday | ||
| Bert Berns | ||
| Emilio Estefan and Gloria Estefan | ||
| Bob Marley | ||
| France Gall | ||
| Popular songs from the 1990s, based on the movie Cruel Intentions | ||
| The Seekers and other popular songs of the 1960s | ||
| David Bowie | ||
| Bobby Darin | ||
| Take That | ||
| Britney Spears, based on the play A Midsummer Night's Dream | ||
| Dan Fogelberg | ||
| Bob Dylan | ||
| Donna Summer | ||
| 2017 | Rainhard Fendrich | |
| Jim Steinman | ||
| Various artists | ||
| Dusty Springfield | ||
| Foreigner | ||
| Jimmy Buffett | ||
| 2018 | Eraserheads | |
| Tina Turner | ||
| Alanis Morissette | ||
| Huey Lewis and the News | ||
| The Go-Go's | ||
| Cher | ||
| Popular songs from the 1990s, based on the movie Clueless | ||
| All Out of Love | [[Air Supply]] | |
| The Temptations | ||
| Various artists | ||
| Various artists from the 1980s | ||
| Richard Hawley | ||
| Various artists | ||
| Max Martin |
| Popular songs from and |
| The Drifters |
| Britney Spears |
| Bob Marley |
| Tom Jones |
| Michel Sardou |
| Louis Armstrong |
| Michael Jackson |
| Neil Diamond |
| The Osmonds |
| Pavement |
| Roy Orbison |
| Madonna |
| Alicia Keys |
| Buena Vista Social Club |
| Live Aid |
| Roxette |
| Steps |
| The Avett Brothers |
| Burt Bacharach and Hal David, based on the film My Best Friend's Wedding |
| Popular songs from rock and pop artists, based on the film A Knight's Tale |
| Bobby Darin |
| Pop songs from various artists |
Various artists
|
|
