THEATERLE

Musicals by decade

Broadway musicals of the 1970s

The concept musical era: Stephen Sondheim's Company and Sweeney Todd, A Chorus Line, Chicago, and the first Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice rock operas on Broadway.

Below are the shows in our library that first opened on Broadway in the 1970s, in order of premiere. Tap any title for the full show guide.

12 musicals on this list.

  • Company1970 · Stephen Sondheim · ComedyCompany is the landmark concept musical that turns a single New Yorker's thirty fifth birthday into a witty, unsentimental meditation on marriage, commitment…
  • Follies1971 · Stephen Sondheim · DramaFollies follows two aging former showgirls and their husbands as they reunite for one last night in a crumbling Broadway theatre about to be torn down.
  • Jesus Christ Superstar1971 · Andrew Lloyd Webber · Sung-through"Jesus Christ Superstar" retells the final days of Jesus's life through a rock opera lens, focusing on the fraught relationship between Jesus and Judas.
  • Grease1972 · Jacobs & Casey · Rock/PopGrease is a high-energy jukebox-style rock and roll musical set in an American high school in the late 1950s, built around the on-again…
  • Pippin1972 · Stephen Schwartz · Rock/PopPippin is a theatrical, circus-tinged fable about a young prince searching for meaning and purpose in his life.
  • A Little Night Music1973 · Stephen Sondheim · ComedyA Little Night Music is Stephen Sondheim's 1973 musical comedy of romantic entanglements among Swedish gentry, told almost entirely in waltz time.
  • A Chorus Line1975 · Marvin Hamlisch · DramaA Chorus Line is a landmark of American musical theatre, stripping away scenery and spectacle to focus entirely on the dancers auditioning for a spot in the chorus.
  • Chicago1975 · John Kander · ComedyChicago is the razor sharp musical satire that turns a 1920s murder trial into a glittering vaudeville revue, proving that scandal, celebrity…
  • Godspell1976 · Stephen Schwartz · Rock/PopGodspell is Stephen Schwartz's musical retelling of the Gospel of Matthew's parables, which began off Broadway in 1971 and transferred to Broadway in 1976.
  • Annie1977 · Charles Strouse · ComedyAnnie is a warm-hearted classic about a plucky orphan searching for hope, and eventually a family, during one of America's toughest decades.
  • Evita1979 · Andrew Lloyd Webber · Sung-throughEvita is the sung through musical that charts the extraordinary rise of Eva Peron from humble beginnings to the heights of Argentine political power.
  • Sweeney Todd1979 · Stephen Sondheim · Sung-throughSweeney Todd is a dark, sung-through musical thriller about revenge and obsession, adapted from a stage play into one of Stephen Sondheim's most ambitious works.

More lists of musicals

All Broadway musicals A to ZMusicals by composer