Long before Broadway’s saturation with jukebox musicals and song catalog shows, Ben Bagley, a producer of modestly-financed Off-Broadway revues, added to what was then musical theatre’s long title trend HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESSWITHOUT REALLY TRYING, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM… and created a charming revue titled THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ENTIRE WORLD AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF COLE PORTER.
Theatre has been known to transport audiences to new places, but theatre also has the ability to inspire fright. From suspenseful classics like Macbeth to comedic carnage like Beetlejuice, Playbill readers share their favorite spooky Broadway shows full of magic or mayhem in time for Halloween.
Flip through the gallery below to see the fan favorite shows below:
Patsy & Loretta, about the friendship between country music legends Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, premieres on Lifetime October 19 at 8 PM; check local listings.
The original movie, directed by Nashville’s Callie Khouri and executive-produced by Neil Meron, stars Tony nominee Megan Hilty and Tony winner Jessie Mueller.
Patsy & Loretta explores the friendship between the two up through Cline’s untimely death in 1963.
Joining Broadway favorites Hilty (Noises Off, Wicked) and Mueller (Beautiful, Waitress) on screen as their husbands are Joe Tippet (Waitress) and Kyle Schmid (History Channel’s Six, Netflix’s The I-Land). Schmid plays Charlie Dick, Cline’s second husband, while Tippet appears as Doolittle “Mooney” Lynn opposite Mueller.
Hilty’s additional stage credits include 9 to 5, in which she played Doralee, portrayed on screen by another country legend: Dolly Parton. On screen, she is known for her performance as Ivy Lynn in Smash, produced by Meron with the late Craig Zadan.
Mueller won the Tony in 2014 for taking on the role of music superstar Carole King in Beautiful. She has since appeared on Broadway in Waitress and Carousel, earning subsequent Tony nods for both. She made her feature film debut in The Post.
A First Look at Megan Hilty and Jessie Mueller in Patsy and Loretta
Jessie Mueller plays Loretta Lynnin the upcomingLifetime original movie, Patsy Loretta. Muellerstars alongside Megan Hilty, who plays Patsy Cline. The film is based on the untold true story of the friendship between the music icons. When they first met, Patsy Hilty was already one of the biggest stars in country music while Loretta Mueller was just a coal miner’s daughter, starting off with little to her name but a 17 guitar. Instead of seeing Loretta as competition, Patsy took Loretta under her wings to help her make it in Nashville.
Songwriter Rob Rokicki grew up loving monsters—unsurprising given that he was born on Halloween. That passion doesn’t just come through on Broadway, though, where his score to The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical brings mythological heroes and baddies to life eight times a week at the Longacre Theatre.
At a Feinstein’s/54 Below concert October 29, Rokicki will share Monstersongs, a collection of songs told through the eyes of a little boy fascinated by famous creatures like Medusa, a dragon, a yeti, and a witch. Each song explores the societal constructs that created them.
Growing up watching films like Clash of the Titans and discovering Greek mythology picture books with creatures like the Kraken drove Rokicki’s interest in mythology and monsters from a young age. “I’m interested in the things that scare me,” he says. “So Monstersongs is a little bit about toxic masculinity and this young boy who is worried about how we ‘other’ people.”
With the help of illustrator David O’Neill and virtual reality artist Denise Ko, Rokicki created a rock musical-comic book hybrid that merged song, illustration, and projection into a concert. Among the performances was last year’s presentation at National Alliance for Musical Theatre. “It was really exciting to show all these regional theaters, saying here’s this environmental, immersive theatre piece you could do in a lot of different ways,” says Rokicki.
The concert at Feinstein’s/54 Below will use visual screens so audiences get to see the animated live show featuring Murney, Tiffany Mann (Waitress), Rokicki himself, and other Broadway stars.
Each monster is different in style to go along with the song’s message. Medusa’s story is about taking back her narrative, and the snake-haired charmer is represented through the use crumbling terracotta pottery to give the impression of Grecian urns. Other creatures are completely different. For example, the dragon’s story is told through bubbly cartoons.
Exploring group-think and the world we live in now with a patriarchal society is something Rokicki wants to dive into with his work. “We have this mythological deep-seated fear, and that never goes away. You see it now with superheroes that they’re like our own new Greek myths. There is a through-line with the projects I’m drawn to. They have a spooky or mysterious quality to them.”
So, as Halloween approaches, experience Rokicki’s Monstersongs—a visual and aural feast for anyone, whether they’re a human or a misunderstood creature.
The Public Theater presents Soft Power, with play and lyrics by Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang, music and additional lyrics by Tony Award winner Jeanine Tesori, choreography by Tony nominee Sam Pinkleton, and is directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman.
The first question asked during an interview about playing Patsy Cline turns out to be the first question Megan Hilty herself had about the project.
“I asked what their intentions were with the hair,” Hilty says over the phone about her new Lifetime TV movie Patsy & Loretta, co-starring fellow Broadway star Jessie Mueller. “And they said, ‘It’s very big.’ It has to be! This could live or die with bad wigs. The hair has to be right because they had very specific styles and if it isn’t right, then people won’t be able to focus on anything else.”
People are happily able to focus on the extraordinary performances from the two leads: Hilty as Cline and Mueller as her mentee and friend, fellow country superstar Loretta Lynn. Over the course of the film, they share career advice, troubles, cocktails, and drama. But don’t expect a repeat of the rivalry from Hilty’s Smash days.
Megan Hilty and Jessie Mueller in Patsy & LorettaJake Giles Netter
“People think that audiences aren’t interested in watching two women support each other,” Hilty says. “They think we always have to be in competition, and this film proves the opposite.”
Even more remarkable are the two leads’ uncanny performances of classic songs like “Crazy” and “Honky Tonk Girl.” For Hilty, recreating such an immediately recognizable performer is just par for the course with her career.
“I think a case could be made that everything I have ever done, other people have made iconic or it was a person or somebody did it better than I could have but I’m gonna do it anyway!” she says with a laugh, referencing a career spent playing roles made immortal by Kristin Chenoweth, Dolly Parton, Marilyn Monroe, and Carol Channing. “Every single time I got to be like, ‘Well, this is what I bring to the table based on the research that I have done!’”
That research led her to a realization about Cline. “She really didn’t want anyone to know, but she had a real tender side,” Hilty says. “And I think—wild speculation, obviously—but most of her hits, she didn’t want to sing, and I think I know why. I think because the lyrics hit too close to home for her. I know I do that with songs and I can only imagine she did not want to feel that vulnerable either. But when she got in the booth and sang those lyrics, they tapped into something very tender and very real, and that’s part of why her performances are so brilliant and why so many people have a physical response to hearing her voice.”
The same could be said of Hilty, as Cline or just as herself.
Patsy & Loretta premieres on Lifetime October 19.
A First Look at Megan Hilty and Jessie Mueller in Patsy and Loretta
