11 Books That Were Adapted Into Musicals

We're celebrating National #ReadaBookDay! From Hamilton to Matilda, we're highlighting just 11 of many shows based on books.

Book adaptations have graced the Broadway stage for years! Learn about some of the original source material of some of your favorite shows.

Which one is your favorite?

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

When Lin-Manuel Miranda picked up Ron Chernow's book for a vacation read, who would have thought it would turn into one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time?

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow presents a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation.

Read reviews for the book on GoodReads!

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Natalie Babbitt's book about an immortal family might have been on a required reading list sometime during your education. But it also ended up on the Broadway stage in 2016!

Is eternal life a blessing or a curse? That is what young Winnie Foster must decide when she discovers a spring on her family's property whose waters grant immortality. Members of the Tuck family, having drunk from the spring, tell Winnie of their experiences watching life go by and never growing older.

Read reviews for the book on GoodReads!

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

The Tony Award winner for Best Musical originally started out as a autobiographic graphic novel by Alison Bechdel!

In this groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir, Alison Bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father. In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power, written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and heartbreaking detail.

Read reviews for the book on GoodReads!

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Before Cynthia Erivo was belting out 'I'm Here' as Celie, The Color Purple was actually a book that won the Pulitzer Prize!

A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence.

Read reviews for the book on GoodReads!

Carrie by Stephen King

Although it was short-lived on Broadway in 1988, this musical based on Stephen King's first book has quickly become a cult classic.

Stephen King's legendary debut, about a teenage outcast and the revenge she enacts on her classmates. The story of misunderstood high school girl Carrie White, her extraordinary telekinetic powers, and her violent rampage of revenge, remains one of the most barrier-breaking and shocking novels of all time.

Read reviews for the book on GoodReads!

Matilda by Roald Dahl

The revolting children of Crunchem Hall were first featured in the classic Roald Dahl novel Matilda before coming to Broadway in 2013.

Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a kid-hating terror of a headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with which to fight back. It'll take a superhuman genius to give Miss Trunchbull what she deserves and Matilda may be just the one to do it!

Read reviews for the book on GoodReads!

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Did you know Wicked is just the first book of Gregory Maguire's 'The Wicked Years' series? Go into the life and times of Elphaba in more depth in this bestselling book.

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? Gregory Maguire has created a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again.

Read reviews for the book on GoodReads!

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Do you hear the people sing? Or the people read? Les Misérables is actually based on the novel by Victor Hugo. But don't expect a light read with this one-- the average length of the book (depending on edition/version) is nearly 900 pages!

"So long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use," says Victor Hugo in the preface of his famous novel. Set in the years after the French Revolution, Les Misérables is certainly French history recounted through the personal stories of its main characters

Read reviews for the book on GoodReads!

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous musical is actually based on the novel of the same name that was released in 1909.

Erik, the Phantom of the Paris Opera House, is one of the great icons of horror literature. This tormented and disfigured creature has made his home in the labyrinthine cellars of this opulent building where he can indulge in his great passion for music, which is a substitute for the love and emotion denied him because of his ghastly appearance. It is in the Opera House that he encounters Christine Daaé whom he trains in secret to become a great singer.

Read reviews for the book on GoodReads!

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

This Disney on Broadway classic made its supercalifragilisticexpialidocious entrance in 2006, based on the film and book of the same name. Although it did have most of the original songs from the film, it also featured storylines and characters from throughout the P.L. Travers series.

From the moment Mary Poppins arrives at Number Seventeen Cherry-Tree Lane, everyday life at the Banks house is forever changed. It all starts when Mary Poppins is blown by the east wind onto the doorstep of the Banks house.

Read reviews for the book on GoodReads!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Another Roald Dahl classic, which was transformed into the stage production starring Christian Borle as Willy Wonka himself, opened on Broadway in 2017.

Charlie Bucket's wonderful adventure begins when he finds one of Mr. Willy Wonka's precious Golden Tickets and wins a whole day inside the mysterious chocolate factory. Little does he know the surprises that are in store for him!

Read reviews for the book on GoodReads!