Horror musicals

Horror musicals is a subgenre that combines the genres of horror and musical.
== History ==
Music and horror have had a long relationship and there have had been musical numbers with horror themes before, primarily in short features and family friendly comedies. The film The Horror at Party Beach was a film that designated itself as the first "horror musical" on the film's poster, though the "musical" element is less musical numbers integrated into the narrative and more segments of the band The Del Aires playing songs during scenes of the film. Also noteworthy is The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad from 1949, which featured a musical retelling of the comical horror short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The most major iconic musical with horror elements was the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show, which premiered in 1973, inspired by by classic horror and science fiction films, particularly Frankenstein. The show was a hit, leading to a major motion picture two years later, which would become an iconic film. The year following the initial release of the Rocky Horror Show, the rock musical film The Phantom of the Paradise was released and gained a cult following as well, though not as ubiquitous. 
In 1975, The Rocky Horror Show was adapted into a film, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was initially ignored despite success in the West End and LA. Fox re-released the film with The Phantom of the Paradise as the double bill but still the film did not see much attention. When Fox executive Tim Deegan noticed films like Reefer Madness and Pink Flamingos getting an audience in midnight movie showings, he decided to release the film at a "secret" screening and the film began to find an audience and became a midnight movie cult hit. 
1979 was the premiere of the musical version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the character in the prose work "A String of Pearls". Playing on Broadway and in the West End of London a year later, the play received acclaim from audiences and critics and won 7 Tony awards and 8 Drama Desk awards. In 1982, Little Shop of Horrors, a musical reimagining of the 1960 film of the same name, premiered as an off-off-Broadway production that eventually hit the West End in 1983. 
 
Category:Genres
Category:Subgenres
Category:Horror Subgenres
Category:Musicals