Broadway Musicals on DVD
Last month we featured our top 10 Broadway Musicals You Can Buy on Blu-Ray and figured physical media is not dead as some thought. While streaming certainly made watching our favorite Broadway shows more convenient, the niche market of filmed theatre is mostly made up of theatre fans that are still looking to own these shows on physical media, even when streaming options are available. Filmed Broadway (and West End) musicals are a rarity (we explain why here), and those that are eventually released on physical media are even harder to find. That's why we've collected all the ones that are now available to purchase in one list, for your convenience. As part of our list you'll find all kinds of shows: Tony Award winners, Broadway exports filmed in the UK, classic musicals that aired on PBS in the 1980s, and intimate off-Broadway shows. Here's our list of Broadway shows you can own on DVD: An extraordinary capture of the original Broadway production of Pippin, starring legends Ben Vereen and Chita Rivera. The show was actually filmed live on tour at the Hamilton Place Theatre in Ontario - and not during the Broadway run. Showtime, which financed the filming, appointed David Sheehan to direct the touring show and the released cut. Directing the show on Broadway, Bob Fosse reportedly did not enjoy the finished product and decided to re-edit the final cut to his liking, a cut that was never released publicly. Either way, the capture is a rare glimpse into Broadway of the 70s, and should definitely be on your watch list. The original Showtime broadcast of Pippin is available to purchase on DVD! Sophisticated Ladies was one of the first Broadway musicals to be broadcast live to television audiences, thanks to Broadway Worldwide (Jekyll and Hyde, Putting it Together). The show aired live from Broadway in 1982 and was later released on home media. You can own Sophisticated Ladies on DVD now! The classic Sondheim musical based on the painting of "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte" by Georges Seurat is perhaps one of the most loved filmed Broadway musicals of all time with generations of theater kids growing up watching the show on PBS. If you haven't seen Sunday in the Park yet, this is probably the first one to catch from this list! The show stars Mandy Patinkin as George and Bernadette Peters as Dot / Marie. You can get Sunday in the Park with George on DVD now! Currently playing on Broadway in a brand-new revival, the original production of Into the Woods was also part of PBS' American Playhouse series. Just like Sunday in the Park with George, the show helped introduce theater to millions of Americans. The filmed performance stars Bernadette Peters, Chip Zien, and Joanna Gleason. The musical was first released on home media in 1997 and then re-released on DVD & Blu-Ray in 2014 following the Disney adaptation. Into the Woods is now available on DVD. The original (and only) Broadway production of Victor/Victoria was taped in 1995 for Japanese television, starring Julie Andrews reprising her film role on stage. The show is famously remembered for when Andrews was the show's only Tony nomination in the 1995 Broadway season and publicly refused to accept the nomination while her peers working on the show were not recognized. Victor/Victoria starring Julie Andrews is available on DVD! While it is common for hit shows to be filmed, big Broadway flops do tend to find an audience through professional recordings as well. Stephen Sondheim's Passion was a big winner at the 1994 Tony Awards - winning major awards including the lucrative Best Musical. That did not help the musical to run, however. The show played at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre for just 5 months, making it the shortest-running musical ever to win the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was filmed after closing for PBS' American Playhouse program and was released on VHS and DVD shortly after, giving the show new life and exposure to generations to come. You can still grab a DVD copy of Stephen Soundheim's Passion. Andrew Lloyd Webber's pop-cultural phenomenon was captured live on stage at the Adelphi Theatre in the late 90s. With millions now exposed to the 2019 Tom Hooper movie, it's important to have a document of what Cats really wanted to achieve on stage - a spectacular musical ballet. The 1998 production was specifically filmed for the small screen and stars Elaine Paige as Grizabella. The stage production of Cats is available to own on DVD. The 1999 filmed production of Oklahoma! features the London revival of the classic Broadway musical starring Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lipman. The show includes Broadway classics such as Oh What a Beautiful Morning, The Surrey with the Fringe on Top, the title classic, and more. Oklahoma! is available to purchase on DVD. The cult Frank Wildhorn musical Jekyll and Hyde played Broadway for nearly four years and 1500 performances, gaining a dedicated fanbase worldwide. The horror musical was one of the few shows that took part in the experimental "Broadway Television Network" in the early 2000s. The channel was an early experiment of having a Broadway-themed pay-per-view station, with the intention of filming new Broadway productions each season. Unfortunately, that endeavor did not last long but this exciting production of Jekyll and Hyde is one the few musicals that did get filmed for the network. The show stars David Hasselhoff who appeared in the closing cast of the show and gives a questionable performance as Jekyll/Hyde. Jekyll and Hyde starring David Hasselhoff is now available to own on DVD. Putting it Together was a Cameron Mackintosh musical revue with an all-star cast performing the music of Stephen Sondheim. The show marked the exciting return of Carol Burnett to Broadway after more than 35 years. Musicals featured in the show include Sunday in the Park with George, Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sweeney Todd, Dick Tracy, and West Side Story. The production was filmed live on Broadway by "Broadway Worldwide" (Jekyll and Hyde). Putting it Together is available to own on DVD! Raúl Esparza stars in John Doyle’s 2006 classic and elegant revival of Company, filmed live at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre for PBS' Great Performances in 2007. While Company attracted many different captures throughout the years (most notably the 2011 staged concert with Neil Patrik Harris), this revival uniquely followed Doyle's concept from his production of Sweeney Todd, which had actors playing their own musical instruments. The show went on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival and is a must-watch for Raul Esparza's take on Bobby. You can own Raul Esparza's performance of Bobby now. The original production of Rent was captured live on Broadway right before closing in 2008. The show was masterfully filmed by RadicalMedia (Shrek the Musical, Hamilton, Come From Away) and serves to many as the ultimate capture of the musical. Will Chase, Eden Espinosa, Tracie Thomas, and Adam Kantor star in this version. A special encore with (some) of the original Broadway cast is included. Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway is now available on DVD. This original Broadway musical tells the story of DJ Huey Calhoun, a good old "local boy" with a passion for R&B, and Felicia Farrell, an up-and-coming black singer whom he meets and embarks on a dangerous affair with. As their careers progress, the relationship is challenged by personal ambitions and pressures from the outside world that is still unable to accept their love. The Tony Award-winning musical is one of the few to be screened in cinemas while still playing on Broadway. The show was filmed by Broadway Worldwide (Jekyll and Hyde the Musical, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Putting it Together), and was later released on DVD. Memphis the Musical is available to purchase on DVD. The filmed stage performance of The Phantom of the Opera is our most-watched show at Filmed On Stage, and for a good reason. This spectacular staging was filmed live in London's Royal Albert Hall and features the ultimate Phantom cast headlined by Ramin Karmiloo and Sierra Boggess. While the filmed performance is not exactly what audiences see on stage in London or Broadway, this newly directed version stays true to the brilliant original and is a good alternative to the 2004 Joel Schumacher flop. If you love theater - make sure you watch this one at least once a year. The Phantom of the Opera, on stage, is available now on DVD. After working on a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera for nearly a decade, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies had a short and disappointing run in London. Originally set to open on Broadway, the show never made the move and instead was produced intimately at Melbourne's Regent Theatre. Having seen the production in person, Lloyd Webber absolutely loved the new Australian take and decided it was the "ultimate" version of the show. Not only was this version filmed for posterity (thanks to Universal Studios), but all touring productions of the show were set to copy the changes made in Australia. If you're a Phantom "phan", don't miss this spectacular production. Love Never Dies is now available on DVD. Based on the 2001 DreamWorks Animation film Shrek, this big-hearted musical took Broadway by storm in 2009 as the most expensive (at the time) production to open on Broadway. RadicalMedia filmed the musical for Dreamworks in 2010 featuring Broadway superstars Sutton Foster, Brian d'Arcy James, Christopher Sieber, and John Tartaglia. The Broadway musical Shrek is now available to own on physical media. Based on the popular film of the same name, Billy Elliot has music by Elton John and a book by Lee Hall (who wrote the film's screenplay). The plot tells the story of Billy, a motherless boy who trades his boxing gloves for ballet shoes. His personal struggle is balanced against the counter-story of the 1984 UK miners' strike. The Broadway and West End musical was filmed in London and broadcast live to cinemas in 2014 and was later widely released on home video. Billy Elliot the Musical is now available on DVD. The London revival of Miss Saigon, beautifully produced by Cameron Mackintosh was filmed by Steam Motion and Sound (Waitress on Broadway, Aladdin the Musical, The Phantom of the Opera) right before closing in the West End. Miss Saigon stands out from the rest of the musicals on this list thanks to its unique cinematic photography that manages to capture the essence of the stage production while giving viewers a movie-like feel. Get Miss Saigon: the 25th anniversary on DVD. We'll never forget that exciting moment when "Holiday Inn" began streaming on our screens from Studio 54. We're also not going to forget the technical difficulties we've had with the stream. Thankfully, this BroadwayHD-Roundabout collaboration is now available in a fully-edited version on DVD. The Broadway production of Holiday Inn: The Irving Berlin Musical was released on physical media together with the 75th-anniversary edition of the 1942 film. The package includes a special bonus disc featuring the entire filmed musical from BroadwayHD. You can order Holiday Inn on DVD through Universal. This extravagant production of 42nd Street is probably the biggest and most expensive-looking production you can catch on film. The London revival of the show was captured in 2019 by BroadwayHD and Liberator Film Studios. As part of the studio's home media releases, 42nd Street was made available on DVD last year, making it the first time the stage musical was available to own on physical media (apart from the beloved 1933 classic). If you love classic Broadway - do not miss 42nd Street. You can own 42nd Street on DVD (& Blu-Ray) now. The Spongebob Musical was filmed in 2019 with the original Broadway cast of the show in the UK. The musical closed on Broadway in September 2018 and was filmed a year later for Nickelodeon. While not featuring the expensive-looking set the show had on Broadway, this document of the show is a fantastic capture of the family musical. The DVD release contains the full show, unlike the edited version that appeared on television. The SpongeBob Musical is now available to own on DVD. Based on a true story, this Cyndi Lauper-Harvey Fierstein Tony Award-winning musical (set to return to New York later this month) was filmed in 2019 by BroadwayHD and is now available to purchase on DVD. The show was filmed in London with original leads Matt Henry and Killian Donnelly. If you ever feel down, Kinky Boots is the perfect musical to "raise you up"! You can get Kinky Boots the Musical on DVD now through Liberator Studios. Following the huge success of the staged concert of The Phantom of the Opera, Cameron Mackintosh produced this semi-staged concert in 2019 featuring an all-star cast that included Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, and Carrie Hope Fletcher. While not a fully staged production, this concert version is perhaps the closest to the stage musical compared to the rest of the concerts that were released (Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall and Les Miserables in Concert The 25th Anniversary). Stream Les Miserables now or get it on physical media here! Filmed live during the 2019 run of the show at the Hudson Theatre, this unique Broadway concert features Award-winning musician David Byrne of Talking Heads fame, together with musicians performing songs from his hit 2018 album. It's a unique experience for sure - and if you enjoyed filmed performances such as Spike Lee's Passing Strange, you probably want to catch this film. Get American Utopia on DVD or stream it online. Filmed by BroadwayHD in 2020, Jacqueline Wilson's best-selling novel comes to life in this imaginative musical about a feisty young orphan that embarks on an adventure to find her true home. The show premiered at the Rose Theatre in Kingston and later transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End. You can now purchase Hetty Feather on DVD. The absolutely hilarious off-Broadway spoof musical was recorded at the Arts Theatre in London and released on DVD shortly after. Ruthless! began its journey Off-Broadway nearly 30 years ago and famously spoofs Broadway classics from Gypsy to Mame as well as iconic films such as All About Eve. This digital capture from BroadwayHD stars West End superstar Tracie Bennett in a performance that is not to be missed. Look out for the song "I Hate Musicals"! You can own the recording of Ruthless! on DVD now. And what about more shows coming out on physical media? Check out what we think on the likelihood we will see Hamilton and Come From Away on DVD soon.Pippin (1981)
Sophisticated Ladies (1982)
Sunday in the Park with George (1986)
Into the Woods (1991)
Victor / Victora (1995)
Passion (1996)
Cats (1998)
Oklahoma! (1999)
Jekyll and Hyde the Musical (2001)
Putting it Together (2001)
Company (2007)
Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway (2008)
Memphis the Musical (2010)
The Phantom of the Opera (2011)
Love Never Dies (2012)
Shrek the Musical (2013)
Billy Elliot the Musical (2014)
Miss Saigon (2016)
Holiday Inn: The New Irving Berlin Musical (2017)
42nd Street (2019)
The Spongebob Musical (2019)
Kinky Boots the Musical (2019)
Les Miserables: The Staged Concert (2019)
American Utopia (2020)
Hetty Feather (2020)
Ruthless! the Musical (2019)