Today we are counting down the absolute scariest musicals of all time in honor of Halloween 2014.
Invitation To The Ball What makes something scary and what makes something good are two vastly different things, yet it is illuminating to note that not only is the most successful musical in Broadway history a tale of terror, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, but also that the biggest hit of the new century portrays a fantastical world populated by wizards, dragons and witches, as well - WICKED. Furthermore, many musical theatre aficionados would likely cite perhaps the finest musical ever written, or at least the greatest musical of the last 50 years, to be the bloodiest of them all - SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. To add to all of that, the most popular and enduring cult movie musical of all time is indisputably midnight movie mainstay THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. Yet, on the other side of the equation, two of the biggest flops in Broadway history boasted themselves as being horror shows and turned out to be precisely that, just not quite as initially intentioned - CARRIE and DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES. Furthermore, some of the most controversial musicals of the last 15 years have focused on phantasmagorical themes, as well - namely, JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA and the recent sequel to THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, LOVE NEVER DIES.Additionally, the increasingly popular camp horror musical genre has boasted a few considerable successes among its ranks, ranging from the weird and wacky BAT BOY to creator Larry O'Keefe's most recent theatrical endeavor, HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL, as well as the successful Hannibal Lector-centric parody piece SILENCE! THE MUSICAL and zombie movie homage EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL. In addition to O'Keefe, John Dempsey and Dana Rowe have also contributed two significant entries to the canon of musicals featuring magical or perceivably horror elements, namely ZOMBIE PROM and THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK. Plus, on the topic of witches, besides WICKED and the ladies of Eastwick, who could forget the nefarious major villain in INTO THE WOODS, soon to be essayed onscreen by none other than legendary leading lady Meryl Streep in the feature film adaptation coming this Christmas? The sub-genre of horror musicals is an intriguing one, indeed, so let's take a look at 13 fantasy and horror musicals that are sure to rip right to the heart of what makes a good musical - and maybe shed a little light on what makes a bad one, too. It's all in the eye of the beholder, after all, anyway - unless you are actually physically holding the eyeball in question in your hand, that is.
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