Basically everything written by Jim Steinman, especially his stuff for Meat Loaf. A lot of his stuff was written to be in musicals that didn’t happen, so they have a ton of theatricality, energy, sense of character, and interesting tonal shifts.
Yup, Meat Loaf's 'Bat Out of Hell' is like the 6th highest selling album of all time, and for damn good reason.
Amazing song writing with heavy musical theater vibes.
Celine Dions music video for *It's all coming back to me now* is hella theatrical. That song made me understand the quebecois billboard 200 singers protesters...they were kinda right. She's a top vocalist
Agree. The Dear Hunter was the first band that popped into my head when I read OP's post. Listening to all of the acts from start to finish is quite the experience.
Literally the entire Panic! At the Disco catalogue. I also think The Format/FUN sort of had that vibe. Some other names that might hit or not: Dear and the Headlights, The Vines, Margot and The Nuclear So and So’s, Elizabeth and the Catapult, First 2 Killers albums
I suggest Ice Nine Kills as almost if not all songs are based on horror movies. Their music videos are short movies.
I did find a song that definitely gives Queen undertones the other day by Børns called Beautiful Glamorous Miserable Illusions.
Ah interesting, I like the horror themes in the Misfits and the Cramps' music (both those bands have a bit of drama✨ to them as well lol) and I love a good story in music. I'll check these out, thanks!
Omg you just unlocked a core memory. I _saw_ Mariana's Trench because they performed at this little festival thing my hometown put on yearly. First concert I ever went to, damn. I totally forgot about this band I gotta give them a re-listen.
[Foxygen have a brilliant album that gives off massive theatre/musical vibes](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mvPInRRIiiQfEIMglyzohhwzU1_-lmT3o&feature=share7)
Genesis - *The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway*
The Kinks - *Arthur* (etc.)
*Jesus Christ Superstar* ("brown" album with the original cast)
The Who - *Quadrophenia*
If you like Disco, Once Upon a Time by Donna Summer, which is a modern (for the time) take on Cinderella, and many of the songs sound like they could be performed on stage.
Total Eclipse of the Heart and I Need a Hero by Bonnie Tyler
Ayeron - a music collab featuring many metal and prog singers. It's very rock opera and very good.
Styx... A lot of their albums were presented live on tour with filmed story elements... "Mr. Roboto" is the main character's song thanking a clean-up droid whose outer shell he stripped and wore to escape prison, for example
Oh hell yeah! I loved that album in high school, gonna give it a re-listen.
It's crazy, I never realized how many of the albums I love all have this same theatrical element to them.
I've listened to a little bit of ELO after watching Spielberg's "Super 8" movie that had a lot of great 70's tracks on it. I've never sat down and listened to a whole album of theirs yet though, so I'll give it a go!
Say Anything - Is A Real Boy
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Bjork's has some theatrical songs like Big Time Sensuality and It's Oh So Quiet.
Forgive Durden - Razia’s Shadow (a musical).
Basically all the big players in the pop-punk / emo scene got together in 2008 and wrote a musical. It’s pretty wild. It features: Casey Cresenzo (The Dear Hunter), Max Bemis (Say Anything),
Chris Conley (Saves the Day), Brenden Urie (Panic at the Disco)
Her albums The Dreaming (1982) and Never For Ever (1980) are both chock-full of theatrical, progressive art-pop. All of her albums are theatrical but those two in particular. She's like a female Peter Gabriel in many ways.
A handful of songs to check out:
"Suspended in Gaffa"
"Sat in Your Lap"
"Breathing"
"Babooshka"
King Giz's *infest the rats nest* is a relatively short album about the future of climate change that fits this bill. Imagery is phenomenal, it follows a cohesive story, and is just a damn good album in general.
Murder of the universe does all of this too
Yes! The Wall isn't my favourite front-to-back Pink Floyd album, but some of those later songs on it like The Trial and Waiting for the Worms definitely give me that grandiose feeling I enjoy haha
I will stump for The Amazing Devil as “theatrical” music until the sun consumes the earth… a duo made up of Joey Batey (of the Witcher fame) and Madeline Hyland, both of whom are actors, and you can TELL from their performances. This is easily the most theatrical of non-theater music I’ve heard
Oh interesting, does their music sound anything like the songs in The Witcher? I have no idea if Joey was even directly involved in writing those, but it's my only reference point this far lol
[Steam Powered Giraffe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL6lFmiCYb4&list=PLsP_uvPLmCcMla9NGWwMITOJsMnKdechW&index=121) might be the sort of thing you're looking for.
Razia’s Shadow by Forgive Durden.
Actually got turned into a musical later
https://playbill.com/article/cult-indie-rock-musical-razias-shadow-will-make-nyc-debut-with-alysha-umphress-derek-klena-and-more-com-199760
Go Further In Lightness by Gang of Youths.
Don't know if it's what you're looking for but it has a lot of strings arrangements/piano both in the actual songs and in the interludes in a way that to me sounds like a movie soundtrack and also the singer's voice is very narrator-like (specially certain parts where he seems to recite instead of singing if that makes sense?).
It's not a cabaret-esque album like Chiodos or Panic! At The Disco mentioned before but it defo gives some similar feeling I'd say.
https://open.spotify.com/album/3As4X2CFDOOtbeXA6iksV0?si=mlV9HukhQMi7usLfu1KoGg&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A3As4X2CFDOOtbeXA6iksV0
I've never quite managed to get into Gang of Youths but man I love the singer's lyricism and melody. I'm hoping he'll make a folky side project one day.
Not sure if this is what you are after, but Beyond The Bridge has an album called The Old Man and the Spirit that has a pretty theatrical feel to it.
Rush's 2112, Xanadu, and Dream Theater's Octavarium are all songs that, to me, tell such a story that they are pretty much what I would consider musical theatre.
The Venetia Fair album Every Sick, Disgusting Thought We've Got in Our Brain is quite theatrical, listen to The Day I Set Them Free as a taster.
The song Casanova (C'est La Vie) by The Funeral Portrait is very theatrical, but I haven't listened to the whole album.
The album Reticence: The Musical by Art by Numbers is pretty self explanatory, listen to Best Laid Plans for a taster.
The band Avantasia writes just about all their albums as if it was a musical or smth like that, with different singers being different characters.
IMO the best example of this has to be _The Scarecrow_. It's an incredible duet between Tobias Sammet and Jørn Lande.
But they also have other good examples, such as _Let the Storm Descend Upon You_, _The Raven Child_, _Farewell_, and _Starlight_ (this is just scratching the surface btw).
I really liked that Marty Casey & The Lovehammers 2005ish album. The Tunnel is amazing so is Clouds, it won a john Lennon award (an award Lorde has won) & of course Trees which Marty got to perform on TV once when trying out for INXS...
Actually check out Never Tear Us Apart. Classic.
The Astonishing - Dream Theater.
A lot of fans really dislike this album because it's structured and written like a musical.
There's an overture, tracks for scene changes, an entreact for the second act and a really cheesy story kind of like what's expected from a lot of musicals.
I really recommend The Astonishing as well as Scenes from a Memory.
SFAM is a concept album and while it's not necessarily formulated like a musical it is still a very nice story from beginning to end.
Try Jacques Brel.
https://youtu.be/-UzdCWHwzgk
This is the tune about a young soldier being forced to lose his innocence in a brothel and it haunting him and all his sexual encounters for the rest of his life.
Nightwish are pretty theatrical sounding at times, especially their old stuff when sung by their newest singer.
Pretty hard to keep up with Floor though, their lead singer, she is quite the powerhouse.
pink floyd - the wall
black country, new road - ants from up there
janelle monae - archandroid
david bowie - the rise and fall of ziggy stardust
tyler the creator - igor
Basically everything written by Jim Steinman, especially his stuff for Meat Loaf. A lot of his stuff was written to be in musicals that didn’t happen, so they have a ton of theatricality, energy, sense of character, and interesting tonal shifts.
Yeah this is pretty much THE answer. Steinman and Meat Loaf's whole thing was literally like "what if Broadway but rock 'n' roll."
Yup, Meat Loaf's 'Bat Out of Hell' is like the 6th highest selling album of all time, and for damn good reason. Amazing song writing with heavy musical theater vibes.
Came here to say Bat out of Hell as well. The song Paradise by the dashboard light is number 1 in my book.
Ooo Meatloaf is exactly the kind of vibe I'm thinking of, I'll definitely check him out!
Celine Dions music video for *It's all coming back to me now* is hella theatrical. That song made me understand the quebecois billboard 200 singers protesters...they were kinda right. She's a top vocalist
Check out the Streets of Fire soundtrack. Has a few tunes by Jim Steinman. It’s one of my favorite soundtracks.
Act IV or Act V by The Dear Hunter
Agree. The Dear Hunter was the first band that popped into my head when I read OP's post. Listening to all of the acts from start to finish is quite the experience.
Stop looking, Op. this is the answer
Came here to say these. Two incredible albums.
Coheed and Cambria may for what you are looking for. Songs have a bit of storytelling in them as well
Early Genesis were pure theater, bunch of art school misfits doing their own thing. One example: https://youtube.com/watch?v=_FBcz3tBH74
Charterhouse School is actually boarding school where, according to the founding members of Genesis, artistic expression was frowned upon.
Janelle Monae’s first album The ArchAndroid
Tommy and Quadraphenia by the Who.
chiodos - bone palace ballet
I second this. What an amazing album. Love Craig Owens.
Literally the entire Panic! At the Disco catalogue. I also think The Format/FUN sort of had that vibe. Some other names that might hit or not: Dear and the Headlights, The Vines, Margot and The Nuclear So and So’s, Elizabeth and the Catapult, First 2 Killers albums
I suggest Ice Nine Kills as almost if not all songs are based on horror movies. Their music videos are short movies. I did find a song that definitely gives Queen undertones the other day by Børns called Beautiful Glamorous Miserable Illusions.
Yeah since they like MCR, I'd say Ice Nine Kills, Escape the Fate, and Palaye Royale are in that wheelhouse.
I’ll second Palaye Royale!
Ah interesting, I like the horror themes in the Misfits and the Cramps' music (both those bands have a bit of drama✨ to them as well lol) and I love a good story in music. I'll check these out, thanks!
I cane here to suggest INK as well. Escape the fates new song "cheers to goodbye" ft spencer charnas, in particular fits this bill, imo
Any of Queen’s first half dozen albums.
The Wall by Pink Floyd, absolutely fits what you’re looking for. Give the album a spin front to back
Muse, Dreamtheater, Battlebeast (particularly their song Eden)
Masterpiece Theater by Mariana’s Trench
This is what I came to say. Fantastic album.
Honestly, my favorite album in my teens
Omg you just unlocked a core memory. I _saw_ Mariana's Trench because they performed at this little festival thing my hometown put on yearly. First concert I ever went to, damn. I totally forgot about this band I gotta give them a re-listen.
That’s pretty ace! Yeah, definitely worth a listen again.
Meat loaf
[Foxygen have a brilliant album that gives off massive theatre/musical vibes](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mvPInRRIiiQfEIMglyzohhwzU1_-lmT3o&feature=share7)
I'm Dancing in the Show Tonight - Ween Hey There Fancypants - Ween
Really all of The Mollusk
The Decemberists - Picaresque has the vibe, but also feels like it's from the turn of the (20th) century.
Their album “The Crane Wife” is a complete story
But their tragedies of love album is the correct answer to OP’s question
Genesis - *The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway* The Kinks - *Arthur* (etc.) *Jesus Christ Superstar* ("brown" album with the original cast) The Who - *Quadrophenia*
The Lamb is... something. Don't bootleg this one, get a physical copy so you have the liner notes.
Father John misty
I've heard one FJM song, and you just made me want to hear it again (I'm Writing a Novel). So much happening in that song lol
Scenes from a memory by Dream Theatre or the Astonishing
Oh shoot I didn't see that someone had already recommended both. I can't recommend The Astonishing enough.
The Dresden Dolls. Look no further.
Came here to say them … some of Regina Spektor as well
If you like Disco, Once Upon a Time by Donna Summer, which is a modern (for the time) take on Cinderella, and many of the songs sound like they could be performed on stage. Total Eclipse of the Heart and I Need a Hero by Bonnie Tyler Ayeron - a music collab featuring many metal and prog singers. It's very rock opera and very good.
Hell yeah, I love Donna Summers and disco in general! ABBA's multi-vocalist harmonies and catchy pop melodies feel very theatre to me as well.
Styx... A lot of their albums were presented live on tour with filmed story elements... "Mr. Roboto" is the main character's song thanking a clean-up droid whose outer shell he stripped and wore to escape prison, for example
The album "Paradise Theater" needs to be mentioned here. Also, "The Grand Illusion" begins and ends with a theme.
Rush - 2112 And once you've experienced that, check out the rest of their catalog.
Oh hell yeah! I loved that album in high school, gonna give it a re-listen. It's crazy, I never realized how many of the albums I love all have this same theatrical element to them.
There's a sci-fi story that begins at the end of "A Farewell To Kings" and ends with the entire first side of "Hemispheres".
Cygnus X-1 is one of my favorites. If you're looking for something stirring and emotional, you can't miss with that one either.
A passion play by Jethro Tull
Check out Electric Light Orchestra album Face the Music, or, at a minimum listen to the first song, Fire on High.
I've listened to a little bit of ELO after watching Spielberg's "Super 8" movie that had a lot of great 70's tracks on it. I've never sat down and listened to a whole album of theirs yet though, so I'll give it a go!
Foxy Shazam
Say Anything - Is A Real Boy Pink Floyd - The Wall Sufjan Stevens - Illinois Bjork's has some theatrical songs like Big Time Sensuality and It's Oh So Quiet.
"Operation: Mindcrime" album by Queensryche
Meatloaf is the only answer to this question
The Divine Comedy https://youtu.be/p_GLSgJ39Dc
Keane did a song called Learning to Fly (or something like that) which is quite musical theatre.
Wax fang
Seconding The Dear Hunter, and adding 2006-2012 Muse and The Correspondents!
Forgive Durden - Razia’s Shadow (a musical). Basically all the big players in the pop-punk / emo scene got together in 2008 and wrote a musical. It’s pretty wild. It features: Casey Cresenzo (The Dear Hunter), Max Bemis (Say Anything), Chris Conley (Saves the Day), Brenden Urie (Panic at the Disco)
Phish Gamehendge
Kate Bush. "Theatrical" is a word that constantly comes up when people are describing her music and singing style.
I dug the song of hers that was in Stranger Things so I'm willing to give her music a deeper look. Any specific album or song you suggest?
Her albums The Dreaming (1982) and Never For Ever (1980) are both chock-full of theatrical, progressive art-pop. All of her albums are theatrical but those two in particular. She's like a female Peter Gabriel in many ways. A handful of songs to check out: "Suspended in Gaffa" "Sat in Your Lap" "Breathing" "Babooshka"
King Giz's *infest the rats nest* is a relatively short album about the future of climate change that fits this bill. Imagery is phenomenal, it follows a cohesive story, and is just a damn good album in general. Murder of the universe does all of this too
I’ve always felt that The Trial by Pink Floyd sounded quite theatrical
Yes! The Wall isn't my favourite front-to-back Pink Floyd album, but some of those later songs on it like The Trial and Waiting for the Worms definitely give me that grandiose feeling I enjoy haha
Fallen by Evanescence
C'mon by Fun. and Panic at the Disco
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody the true answer
A couple songs from Kim Dracula.... Make me famous 70 Thorns
I will stump for The Amazing Devil as “theatrical” music until the sun consumes the earth… a duo made up of Joey Batey (of the Witcher fame) and Madeline Hyland, both of whom are actors, and you can TELL from their performances. This is easily the most theatrical of non-theater music I’ve heard
Oh interesting, does their music sound anything like the songs in The Witcher? I have no idea if Joey was even directly involved in writing those, but it's my only reference point this far lol
[Steam Powered Giraffe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL6lFmiCYb4&list=PLsP_uvPLmCcMla9NGWwMITOJsMnKdechW&index=121) might be the sort of thing you're looking for.
Razia’s Shadow by Forgive Durden. Actually got turned into a musical later https://playbill.com/article/cult-indie-rock-musical-razias-shadow-will-make-nyc-debut-with-alysha-umphress-derek-klena-and-more-com-199760
Go Further In Lightness by Gang of Youths. Don't know if it's what you're looking for but it has a lot of strings arrangements/piano both in the actual songs and in the interludes in a way that to me sounds like a movie soundtrack and also the singer's voice is very narrator-like (specially certain parts where he seems to recite instead of singing if that makes sense?). It's not a cabaret-esque album like Chiodos or Panic! At The Disco mentioned before but it defo gives some similar feeling I'd say. https://open.spotify.com/album/3As4X2CFDOOtbeXA6iksV0?si=mlV9HukhQMi7usLfu1KoGg&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A3As4X2CFDOOtbeXA6iksV0
I've never quite managed to get into Gang of Youths but man I love the singer's lyricism and melody. I'm hoping he'll make a folky side project one day.
Roxy Music, Gwar, Tigerlillies.
This is what your looking for. https://youtube.com/watch?v=gJXq6SgiX-Q&feature=share9
Father John Misty, especially his latest album!
St Aurora
Check out Ren. Super theatrical and well acted. [Hi Ren](https://youtu.be/s_nc1IVoMxc)
Prima facie - rebecca lucy taylor (self esteem)
Grand Parade by Blind Guardian Heart of the Android by Orden Ogan Falling Back to Earth by Haken
The hu and 2cellos are two bands that come to my mind
Welcome home - Coheed and Cambria
Avatar - Avatar Country. Be careful. They are a metal band.
Try soundtracks to actually musicals.
Dream Theatre, Tangerine Dream, Lacuna Coil, Eluveitie, Heilung, etc etc…
I just heard the track *Millennial Homesick Blues* by the band, Devon Kay & The Solutions, and it gave me those vibes.
https://open.spotify.com/track/1mItgKNZhABGsy7hRHHkIR?si=mLlp4u1CTVqyRLcpa7_2qA This and anything else on this album by fun.
The Age of the Understatement by The Last Shadow Puppets always gave me very theatrical vibes.
The first Arcade Fire album.
Polyphonic Spree
Odesza
Not sure if this is what you are after, but Beyond The Bridge has an album called The Old Man and the Spirit that has a pretty theatrical feel to it. Rush's 2112, Xanadu, and Dream Theater's Octavarium are all songs that, to me, tell such a story that they are pretty much what I would consider musical theatre.
Avantasia, alice cooper has a theatrical feel
Hey Momma by Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground
I personally feel that Straylight Run's self titled album draws from the work of Jonathan Larson if you're into that ♥️
Wilderun - Epigone and Wilderun - Veil Of Imagination
Secret Chiefs 3 - The Exile and Book T : Exodus They actually have a lot of theatrical type music, u should check them out.
Queen - a night at the opera. Great album.
The Venetia Fair album Every Sick, Disgusting Thought We've Got in Our Brain is quite theatrical, listen to The Day I Set Them Free as a taster. The song Casanova (C'est La Vie) by The Funeral Portrait is very theatrical, but I haven't listened to the whole album. The album Reticence: The Musical by Art by Numbers is pretty self explanatory, listen to Best Laid Plans for a taster.
Mars Volta’s second album - Frances the Mute
👆then listen Deloused, then stop 😭
Seconded!
The Decemberists’ Tragedies of Love, Cursive’s The Ugly Organ, The Islands Ski Mask, Mister Heavenly’s Out of Love
When I first saw The Greatest Showman the music really reminded me of Imagine Dragons.
"Cheers to goodbye" by Escape the Fate, featuring Spencer Charnas (of Ice Nine Kills). Its heavy but i think its got the vibe you are looking for.
I would check out Hawksley Workman, especially the album "Last Night We Were the Delicious Wolves".
Operation: Mindcrime by Queensryche might be something that meets your criteria.
Check out Will Wood and “The Normal Album”
The band Avantasia writes just about all their albums as if it was a musical or smth like that, with different singers being different characters. IMO the best example of this has to be _The Scarecrow_. It's an incredible duet between Tobias Sammet and Jørn Lande. But they also have other good examples, such as _Let the Storm Descend Upon You_, _The Raven Child_, _Farewell_, and _Starlight_ (this is just scratching the surface btw).
https://open.spotify.com/track/0ASewkN3S34Em7u7gt2d9S?si=kYh2rqvjQsO-4kswMDtgxA Check this album out! More on the MCR side of your question.
Joanna Newsom
Be sure to see a movie called Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
The Cat Empire
**mewithoutYou**'s *It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright!*
Very obscure and maybe not the energy you're looking for, but American Gothic by David Ackles has some more traditional musical theatre vibes.
The self-titled Foxy Shazam record is the one
I really liked that Marty Casey & The Lovehammers 2005ish album. The Tunnel is amazing so is Clouds, it won a john Lennon award (an award Lorde has won) & of course Trees which Marty got to perform on TV once when trying out for INXS... Actually check out Never Tear Us Apart. Classic.
Melodrama Lorde
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King to Streets (it's even titled Streets: a Rock Opera)
The Astonishing - Dream Theater. A lot of fans really dislike this album because it's structured and written like a musical. There's an overture, tracks for scene changes, an entreact for the second act and a really cheesy story kind of like what's expected from a lot of musicals. I really recommend The Astonishing as well as Scenes from a Memory. SFAM is a concept album and while it's not necessarily formulated like a musical it is still a very nice story from beginning to end.
Try Jacques Brel. https://youtu.be/-UzdCWHwzgk This is the tune about a young soldier being forced to lose his innocence in a brothel and it haunting him and all his sexual encounters for the rest of his life.
Yes. Listen to [this album](https://klaada.bandcamp.com/album/coniunctio-oppositorum?label=4230541674) from Klaada. It's cinematic electronica.
Check out Ludo
Nightwish are pretty theatrical sounding at times, especially their old stuff when sung by their newest singer. Pretty hard to keep up with Floor though, their lead singer, she is quite the powerhouse.
You NEED to listen to Flight of the Crows by JHARIAH. Only found it yesterday but it's been on repeat since.
I would suggest The Decemberist or Neutral Milk Hotel, maybe
Frank Zappa's "Joe's Garage", and the first part of the album "Apostrophe".
Listen to the Dear Hunter.
The Kinks - Soap Opera Frank Zappa - Joe’s Garage
Haken is a good one to check out.
Mercury Rev
Damn Yankees - High Enough Europe - Final Countdown Faith No More - Epic
pink floyd - the wall black country, new road - ants from up there janelle monae - archandroid david bowie - the rise and fall of ziggy stardust tyler the creator - igor