Bloody Broadway: A Halloween Cast Recording

Halloween is about dressing up and playing make-believe for a single night. Musical theatre is about doing the same thing year round. So who would know better how to throw a Halloween bash than a cast of Broadway triple threats?

While musicals are often associated with bubbly plots and wacky theatrics, there’s plenty of delicious morbidity to be found in the annals of the genre, some comedic, some dead serious.

This list could go on forever, but to keep it manageable each show is represented by a single number. By all means, feel free to add in all the extras you please. Now, let’s dim the lights, turn off our damn cell phones, and raise the curtain, because the show is about to begin…

The Whole Being Dead Thing (Beetlejuice)

The cult Broadway adaptation of Tim Burton’s beloved film was just building steam when a certain virus we shan’t name shut down the Great White Way (though word is it might be coming back, so fingers crossed). The show features a wide musical palette, on full display here in the raucous opening number performed by the ghost with the most himself. Hopping from one genre to another, he gleefully breaks the fourth wall with such tidbits as his admission that every night he does, “like, a ton of coke here.”

Phantom of the Opera (Phantom of the Opera)

Of course. Obviously. Why would you have expected otherwise? The title song from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s enduring mega musical is so familiar that people who’ve never even listened to the soundtrack can sing the refrain. It’s poppy, melodramatic, and kinda perfect. The original Crawford/Brightman performance is still the best, though the Canadian cast recording with Colm Wilkinson and Rebecca Caine is also worthy. Just, for the love of God, skip the movie version.

Fun Fact: an earlier version of the song featuring alternate lyrics is featured in a music video starring Sarah Brightman and Steve Harley. It’s total cheese; check it out.

Alive (Jekyll & Hyde)

Frank Wildhorn’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale went through many iterations before it finally premiered on Broadway. There’s no definitive version of the score, each new album offering revised lyrics, new orchestrations, and an altered lineup of songs. In (almost) all versions though, “Alive,” remains a highlight. Hyde’s exuberant first number finds him in a wicked frenzy, shocked and elated at his own existence. The Anthony Warlow performance from the “Complete Works” album is probably the best one out there, though the hard rock version from the “Resurrection” album is also pretty badass.

And Eve Was Weak (Carrie)

One of the most expensive Broadway shows for its time, the 1988 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel was shut down after only five performances. The show became both a popular punchline as well as a source of great mystery: what did it look like, what did it sound like, and why did it fail? Then in 2012 an off-Broadway revival showed the theatre-going world just what a beautiful show Carrie really could be. This song, a musical row between the title character and her evangelical mother, is an intense portrayal of both child abuse and religious fanaticism.

That’s Your Funeral (Oliver!)

The renowned musical based on Charles Dickens’s novel doesn’t exactly conjure thoughts of Halloween, but it does have one darkly comical number that fits the bill. Mr. Sowerberry the undertaker and his wife share their morbid love of all things funereal, taking great pride in their burial of people great and small. Criminally, the song was not included on the original Broadway recording or in the film, though it appears on the original London cast album and most other recordings.

The Headless Horseman (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad)

The Disney animated adaptation of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a children’s Halloween classic, both silly and—for those young enough—terrifying. The big musical number, sung by Bing Crosby in the film, tells the legend of the headless horseman who haunts the woods of Sleepy Hollow every October 31st. Numerous recordings exist, but the version from the album Walt Disney’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle is a proper treasure, with its jammin’ banjo and Thurl Ravenscroft’s bassy, sinister vocals.

Hold Me, Bat Boy (Bat Boy)

Inspiration for a musical can come from anywhere, in this case the self-satirizing tabloid newspaper Weekly World News. The show opens with an over-the-top rock ballad as the citizens of Hope Falls, West Virginia, tell of a half human, half bat creature discovered in a cave. The song is exposition, sensationalism, cautionary tale, and love song rolled into one, which pretty well sets the stage for a show whose tongue is positively burrowing into its cheek.

Science Fiction, Double Feature (The Rocky Horror (Picture) Show)

“What? Not ‘The Time Warp’? Blasphemy! I’m gonna find out where you live and take a crap on your porch, buddy!” Calm down and shut up. “The Time Warp” is a classic, but it’s also played out. I submit that Rocky Horror’s opening number is an under-praised gem, with references to sci-fi favorites like Forbidden Planet, Night of the Demon, and The Invisible Man. The film version sung by Richard O’Brien plays at a slow, dreamy pace, while those looking for a faster number should seek out the various stage recordings.

Sexy (Mean Girls)

Addressing the audience like a beauty pageant hopeful, ditzy high schooler Karen Smith declares that if she could change the world she’d make it Halloween every single day (and also have world peace). She then busts into a “trashy pop” number where she extols the holiday’s excuse to dress in sexy costumes (from sexy pirate to sexy Rosa Parks). This hilarious, upbeat number will have you dancing while laughing (and of course, lookin’ sexy).

Hurricane (Death Note)

In this musical based on the popular Japanese manga and anime, a high school student falls into possession of a mystical notebook that will kill anyone whose name is written down in it. Frank Wildhorn’s pop influences are on full display in this grim but romantic score. While the show has shamefully never been produced in English, a New York concept album does exist. The production boasts many delightfully morose pieces, but the standout selection has to be “Hurricane,” a powerhouse number sung by protagonist Light Yagami who, having discovered the power of the Death Note, declares himself the god of a brave new world and takes it upon himself to slay all those whom the law has failed to punish.

Prologue / Little Shop of Horrors (Little Shop of Horrors)

Possibly the best and most famous horror-themed musical ever staged, Little Shop of Horrors is a staple of high school and community theatres everywhere. It's chock full of classic and catchy numbers, but for a Halloween playlist you gotta go with the rock and roll prologue sung by the show’s street urchin trio. All versions of this number are worth considering, though the film version and Broadway revival add a bridge and additional verse not included in the original cast recording.

The Ballad of Mack the Knife (The Threepenny Opera)

The show opens with a street singer performing a moritat (a minstrel song of sensational crimes), introducing the audience to the show’s anti-hero, highwayman and serial killer Macheath. Despite describing numerous murders in detail, the song has become a pop standard, immortalized by the likes of Bobby Darin and Louis Armstrong. There are multiple variants of the lyrics, some much darker and more graphic than others. Out of all the many cast recordings, the one from the TV film adaptation Mack the Knife is the most extravagant, turning the solo performance into a grand chorus number.

Rest in Peace (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, With Feeling)

With its magical lore and comic book logic, the cult TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer makes the idea of a musical episode seem downright sensible. A swinging demon has cursed the inhabitants of Sunnydale to sing and dance as though they were in a Broadway show, many of them burning alive in the process. The episode plays the ludicrous premise with utter heart and sincerity (much like the series as a whole). This rock ballad is sung by vampire bad boy Spike, who is bitterly infatuated with Buffy, demanding she either misbehave with him or get out of his crypt.

All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Kandarian Demons (Evil Dead)

The wild, raunchy, and extremely gory musical adaptation of the Evil Dead films takes the low-budget antics of Little Shop of Horrors and then cranks the lunacy up to 100, soaking both the stage and the audience with blood. The score is a bit juvenile; the show is better watched than listened to. That said, “All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Kandarian Demons” is a fun doo-wop number sung by the show’s female lead who laments the visceral deaths of every man she’s ever known, from her father to her high school sweetheart to her platonic gay friends.

Carpe Noctem (Dance of the Vampires)

Jim Steinman composed this gothic fairy tale in his signature Wagnerian rock style, first for a German-language version and later for a heavily revised (and ultimately unsuccessful) Broadway production. The show-stopping “Carpe Noctem,” with its numerous musical movements, epic length, and Latin chorus, seems to be Steinman’s answer to Lloyd Webber’s “Music of the Night.” While there is a German cast album, Tanz der Vampire, an English version was never officially released, though a demo recording has found its way online. Meat Loaf also recorded a version of the song under the English title “Seize the Night” for his album Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose.

This is Halloween (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Though initial reactions to this stop-motion musical were lukewarm, it has gone on to become a holiday classic, with merchandise galore, annual concerts featuring composer and lead singer Danny Elfman, and a seasonal overlay of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride. The opening song is the ultimate Halloween musical number, giddily performed by the ghoulish inhabits of Halloween Town on the most important night of the year.

The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)

Ah, the “Ballad of Sweeney Todd.” The song so beloved and so integral to its associated musical that it was completely left out of the film adaptation. <concussion-inducing facepalm>

The tragic but grimly comedic operetta Sweeney Todd is a Stephen Sondheim masterpiece. The opening ballad—reprised multiple times throughout the narrative—is a whirlwind of the composer’s complex choral harmonizing (the true horror is having to sing this beautiful monstrosity). No Halloween-themed musical collection would be complete without it, and while there are many quality recordings, you can’t beat the original.

Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzwE4RzGkFDsNDNHbmRlh_RJHXDKyvQGY