Broadway musicals based on books

Many of Broadway's biggest shows started on the page. Victor Hugo's novel became Les Miserables, Gregory Maguire's novel became Wicked, and Gaston Leroux's novel became The Phantom of the Opera. Children's books inspired Matilda and Seussical, Alice Walker's novel became The Color Purple, and even a comic strip gave us Annie.

Each show below links to a guide with the plot, songs, and characters, so you can see how the story changed on its way to the stage. Readers who loved a book can use this page to find its musical version, and students can use it to pair a novel with a show.

36 musicals on this list.