Broadway Musicals You Can Watch From Home

We’re still under quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic and still looking for things to do. It’s a miserable situation all around; the shut-downs mean many people are furloughed or unemployed, and that can make these long days even more unbearable. And who wants to burden themselves with more subscriptions than they already have just to enjoy happy, distracting entertainment?

With that in mind, we put together this list for the musical lovers out there. Want to fill the days with elaborate sets, costumes, and songs? Now you can! All of these are available to stream (no additional renting fees required) and enjoy from the safety of your home.

The Shows Must Go On! 

Love him or hate him, Andrew Lloyd Webber is a huge name in Broadway. The composer is responsible for some of the longest-running and most beloved Broadway shows of all time, like Phantom of the Opera and Cats. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Webber teamed up with Universal for the new YouTube channel The Shows Must Go On! Every Friday for the next several weeks, the channel will stream one of Webber’s musicals at 2 p.m. EDT.

The Shows Must Go On! channel also houses clips of performances and behind-the-scenes insights about the creation of Webber’s plays, including a few recent additions about Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The channel is a truly inspired way to bring these beloved shows to audiences completely for free, and the livestream aspect makes it similarly communal to a theatre-going experience.

The next play to stream on the channel is Love Never Dies.

BroadwayHD

One of the best ways to enjoy Broadway from home is with a BroadwayHD subscription. For just $8.99/month, you can choose from a large library of filmed stage productions, from musicals to straight plays to Shakespeare and beyond. It’s a real treat for any theatre-lover, but if you’re only interested in streaming a few musicals and moving on, you can test it out with a free seven-day trial.

Whether you subscribe or just opt for a test run, here are some of our picks for the best musicals the site has to offer. (You can find BroadwayHD’s full list of streaming musicals here.)

Love Never Dies

If you love Phantom of the Opera but have never seen its stage sequel, Love Never Dies, now you can! Set 10 years after the events of the original, this show—also composed by Webber—follows the characters from Paris to New York, where the Phantom lives at Coney Island. The plot gets pretty bananas from there, and you can watch it all unfold in this 2011 production. (You can also watch a 25th anniversary performance of Phantom on BroadwayHD.)

Stream it here.

Oklahoma!

Before he was Wolverine, Hugh Jackman was Curly McLain in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! on the stage. The musical tells the story of a farm girl and her two suitors, set against the backdrop of Oklahoma’s founding as a state. Part romance, part comedy, and part historical drama, you can watch this revival—performed at the National Theatre, London—in its entirety.

Stream it here.

Les Miserables 

Similar to the Phantom performance, this production of the landmark musical Les Miserables is a 25 anniversary concert celebration that stages the show in a similar fashion to Broadway. Performed at The O2 in London, it features a cast including Lea Salonga, Nick Jonas, Matt Lucas, and Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean.

Stream it here.

Falsettos 

This powerful musical was created during the AIDS crisis and tells the story of a a gay man named Marvin navigating modern life, including relationships with his wife, lover, son, family psychiatrist, and his lesbian neighbors. This revival production stars Christian Borle, Stephanie J. Block, and Andrew Rannells and was nominated for five Tony Awards.

Stream it here.

Cats

Yes, you can watch a live performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats ( sorry, not the butthole cut) with a BroadwayHD subscription. This taped 1998 performance re-stages the musical and includes special effects exclusive to this production. It’s the best way to experience the long-running stage musical in all of its odd glory.

Stream it here.

Actors Fund #StarsInTheHouse

Not quite Broadway, but the next best thing. The Actors Fund is hosting miniature Broadway shows every day at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. EDT featuring some of our favorite musical performers. The episodes are mostly conversations with beloved stars, but musical performances happen every so often which help transport back to memories of the shows we love with the casts that made them so. Guests so far include Kristin Chenoweth, Audra McDonald, Billy Porter, Lea Salonga, Jonathan Groff, and more.

This week includes cast reunions for Spring Awakening and the TV show Glee, and way more. Check out the full schedule here.

Other

Shrek the Musical 

If you need to entertain the kiddos during lockdown—or if you’re just a big ol’ Shrek fan—you can watch a live performance of Shrek the Musical on Netflix. Yes, this is a thing that exists, and even more surprisingly, it was nominated for eight Tony Awards. (And won one for costume design.) Follow Shrek the ogre, Princess Fiona, Donkey, and more on their musical adventures.

Stream it on Netflix here.

The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway

This one isn’t a traditional stage musical so it doesn’t totally count, but it does feature plenty of musical elements and is another one that’s great for the whole family. Originally performed in 1980 by Paul Reubens, this show was the first significant appearance of his fictional character, Pee-wee Herman. This performance comes from the Broadway revival, taped in 2010.

Stream it on HBO Now here.

Featured Image: Really Useful Films