Books Gone Broadway
Stories that traded chapters for showtunes! From literary classics to contemporary novels these books found a second life under the Broadway lights! Please let me know any that I've missed!! (Note on curation: I've been cross checking titles with Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) which is Broadway's official archive)
created by acidicchaos
last updated July, 2026
Comments
I love this title
Thank you! I have had it in my head since I finally got to go Broadway for myself!
Shows that differ from the book title
- Abyssinia (musical) Marked by Fire (book)
- Angel (musical) Look Homeward Angel (book)
- Big River (musical) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (book)
- Camelot (musical) The Once and Future King (book)
- Charlie and Algernon (musical) Flowers for Algernon (book)
- Damn Yankees (musical) modern (1950s) retelling of the Faust legend
- Darling of the Day (musical) Buried Alive (book)
- Eileen (opera) Rory O'More (book)
- Fiddler on the Roof (musical) Tevye's Daughters (book)
- First Impressions (musical) Pride and Prejudice (book)
- Half a Sixpence (musical) Kipps (book)
- Here's Where I Belong (musical) East of Eden (book)
- Johnny Johnson (musical) The Good Soldier Švejk (book)
- The King and I (musical) The Romance of the Harem
- Lestat (musical) The Vampire Chronicles (book series)
- Look to the Lilies (musical) Lilies of the Field (book)
- Lost in the Stars (musical) Cry, the Beloved Country (book)
- Love Never Dies (musical) The Phantom of Manhattan (book) (Phantom of the Opera's sequel)
- Mame (musical) Auntie Mame (book)
- Man of La Mancha (musical) Don Quixote (book)
- Mrs. Doubtfire (musical) Madame Doubtfire (book)
- My Fair Lady (musical) Pygmalion (book)
- Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (musical) War and Peace (book)
- Nick & Nora (musical) The Thin Man (book)
- Once on This Island (musical) My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl (book)
- The Pajama Game (musical) 7 1/2 Cents (book)
- Passion (musical) Fosca (book)
- Pipe Dream (musical) Sweet Thursday (book)
- The Pirate Queen (musical) Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas (book)
- Princess Flavia (musical) The Prisoner of Zenda (book)
- Revenge with Music (musical) El Sombrero de Tres Picos (book)
- Roza (musical) The Life Before Us (book)
- Sarava (musical) Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (book)
- Shangri-La (musical) Lost Horizon (book)
- The Tap Dance Kid (musical) Nobody's Family is Going to Change (book)
- A Time For Singing (musical) How Green Was My Valley (book)
- West Side Story (musical) Romeo & Juliet (book)
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow was the inspiration for Hamilton. It is an 818 page history book, though so, not sure if you're trying to keep this a bit more fiction oriented. 😆 I read it in 2021. It's a good book!
I had no idea so many books I've read are now musicals!
HOW IN THE WORLD DID I MISS HAMILTON?!?!?!? Bless you!
Feels like The Phantom of the Opera and Wicked are obvious adds here… also The Secret Garden, The Outsiders, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Goodbye to Berlin (Cabaret), Ragtime, Oliver Twist, The Notebook….
Oh 1000000% agree! I'm just going in alphabetical order so I don't accidentally miss any of the ones I'm not familiar with!
OH lol I didn’t realize I was this early lmao
No worries! I'm also going slow because work keeps getting in the way (but my work should really understand where it's at on my priorities list hahaha)
I didn't want to add any books to PB's database unnecessarily, so here are all the other shows I found and the book they are based on that weren't in the database as of 7/13/26 (or I couldn't find it!)! If I don't have (musical) for that book, it just means that the show and book share the same title!
If you add the book to the database to read it or find that it's been added, let me know and I'll update the list!
- Abyssinia by Jesse A. Shipp, Alexander Rogers
- All American (musical) based on Professor Fodorski by Robert Lewis Taylor
- An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
- Are You With It? (Musical) based on Slightly Perfect by George Malcolm-Smith (book)
- Barefoot Boy with Cheek by Max Shulman
- Beaches by Dart & Thom Thomas
- Bravo Giovanni (Musical) The Crime of Giovanni Venturi by Howard Shaw (book)
- By Jeeves by Alan Ayckbourn
- Chee-Chee (musical) The Son of the Grand Eunuch by Charles Pettit (book)
- Christine (musical) My Indian Family by Hilda Wernher (book)
- Come Summer (musical) Rainbow on the Road by Esther Forbes (book)
- Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? by John R. Powers
- Georgy (musical) Georgy Girl by Margaret Forster
- Harrigan 'n Hart (musical) The Merry Partners by Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr.
- Head Over Heels by Jeff Whitty (Features music from The Go-Go's!)
- Henry, Sweet Henry (musical) The World of Henry Orient by Nora Johnson
- High Button Shoes (musical) The Sisters Liked Them Handsome by Stephen Longstreet
- I Can Get It for You Wholesale by Jerome Weidman
- John Henry by Roark Bradford
- A Joyful Noise (musical) The Iinsolent Breed by Borden Deal
- Marie Antoinette (musical) Queen Marie Antoinette by Endo Shusaku
- May Wine (musical) The Happy Alienist by Eric von Stroheim and Wallace Smith
- Roberta (musical) Gowns by Roberta by Alice Duer Miller
- Show Girl (musical) Liberty by J.P. McEvoy
- Something More! (musical) Portofino P.T.A. by Gerald Green
- St. Louis Woman (musical) God Send Sunday by Arna Bontemps'
- State Fair by Phil Stong
- Tenderloin by Samuel Hopkins Adams
- The Three Wishes of Jamie McRuin by Charles O'Neal
- Whistle Down the Wind by Mary Hayley Bell
