11 Books That Inspired Great Musicals

This French ghost story launched a thousand pop operas after Andrew Lloyd Webber's behemoth show debuted in the 1980s in London and on Broadway. It's really creepy if you just let it wash over you as you read. "Silently the senses abandon their defenses...."

What a story this is. An incredible book, a miraculous movie, and then a beautiful musical. If you ever find a production in your hometown or nearby, you HAVE to go. It's uplifting, gorgeous and life-affirming, just like the book.

Ms. Lee's memoirs inspired the musical GYPSY, which is often cited among the best American musicals ever created. "Ya gotta gimmick if you wanna get ahead...." And boy, did she get one. Well done, Ms. Lee!

This sprawling novel inspired one of the greatest musicals of the 1990s and both ask the questions: how far have we come in 100 years, and how much further do we have to go? OTS's Kevin Myers cried really hard every single time he saw this show on Broadway (4 times, thank you).

The book is quite harrowing when you think about it - an orphan boy is abused and put through some awful social systems before landing at a wealthy man's home. It's certainly not as "lovely" as the musical OLIVER! which was inspired by Dickens' novel. Part satire, part morality tale, and part fairy tale, the story has inspired so much popular culture and media over the years, yet we still enjoy the proper source material today.

Based on L. Frank Baum’s beloved The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Gregory Maguire’s novel views the land of Oz, its inhabitants, its Wizard, and the Emerald City, through a darker lens. Brilliantly inventive, it offers a radical new evaluation of one of the most feared and hated characters in all of literature: the much maligned Wicked Witch of the West.

T. S. Eliot's playful cat poems have delighted readers and cat lovers around the world ever since they were first published in 1939. They were originally composed for his godchildren, with Eliot posing as Old Possum himself, and later inspired the legendary musical "Cats."

Victor Hugo’s tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, when, owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place; and by the relentless investigations of the dogged policeman Javert. It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty. A compelling and compassionate view of the victims of early nineteenth-century French society, Les Misérables is a novel on an epic scale, moving inexorably from the eve of the battle of Waterloo to the July Revolution of 1830.

Michener's stories inspired Rodgers & Hammerstein to write their beloved musical SOUTH PACIFIC, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950.

In this collection of Isherwood's writing, you'll see some familiar names like Sally Bowles and Fraulein Schroeder. Both these ladies can be found in Kander & Ebb's smashing musical CABARET. We really hope you've seen this show, and further hope you'll read the stories which inspired the tale about the times of the Weimar Republic in Germany.

Forced to put up with crude and distant parents, Matilda takes refuge in her love of reading. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a kid-hating terror of a headmistress. When she is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with which to fight back.