Student Blog: Broadway's Best: Halloween Edition

It's freezing cold here in upstate New York which means it's October and Halloween time. I love both Halloween and Broadway, so it's time to put those two things together and create a list of the best spooky Broadway songs and Halloween-related songs, in no specific order.

"Sexy" from Mean Girls: The Musical

How can we start a list of Halloween-related Broadway songs without the iconic bop that is "Sexy" from Mean Girls? The whole song is about how fun Halloween is and how, on Halloween, we can be who we want to be. While the song does have a deeper meaning in the context of the show, saying that on other days Karen cannot be who she wants to be because of Regina's power, it gives costume ideas and has super fun choreography. In the stage version, we get to see some of the iconic costumes that we know and love from the movie, including Karen's mouse costume and Cady's zombie bride. "Sexy" is an iconic bop about how Halloween is a great holiday filled with joy, fun costumes, and being your true self.

Literally Any Song from Beetlejuice: The Musical

I have tried my hardest to narrow down the song from Beetlejuice that I wanted to include in this article, but I ultimately failed. The full show is a Halloween spectacular and filled with fun songs, great costumes, demons, ghosts, and so many other creatures. There are certain songs, like "The Whole Being Dead Thing" that fit better into this list than others, like "Home", but overall this show as a whole fits into this list. This show just fits with the whole vibe of Halloween and the spooky season that surrounds it. With this show coming back to Broadway in early 2022, now is the best time to enjoy the musical with the season and get ready for its return in April.

"Prom Climax" and "The Destruction" from Carrie

Oh, Carrie, my underrated love. This wonderful music is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name and is something I have written about before. This is the second version of the musical because the first version was absolutely trashed by critics and played around 20 performances on Broadway. This version has never been on Broadway, but it does have a wonderful cast album. Like Beetlejuice mentioned above, there are so many songs that could go on this list, but I have chosen a song. I chose "Prom Climax" and "The Destruction" because it is the moment when we see Carrie use her powers to her full potential and kill a whole gymnasium of students after she had a bucket of pig's blood dropped on her head after winning prom queen. A lot of the show before this point shows Carrie learning that she has powers and using them along with being bullied by her school and being oppressed by her mother's strict religious beliefs. This song and this scene in the show is true horror. We see young, bullied Carrie finally reach the end of her rope and murder so many people. Staged well, this scene comes straight from any horror film.

"Time Warp" from Rocky Horror Picture Show

This one might be considered a little bit of a throwback, but it's still a classic. Almost everyone knows "Time Warp" or "Science Fiction Double-Feature". I chose "Time Warp" for this list because it's just a necessity for any Halloween party. Rocky Horror is a whole Halloween show, like many others mentioned above, but "Time Warp" really brings in the creepiness, supernatural, and weird vibes of the full show. It's a great Halloween song and something that really encompasses the spooky season vibes that I'm trying to live in this season.

Honorable Mentions

"Michael in the Bathroom" from Be More Chill

"No Good Deed" from Wicked

"Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" from The Book of Mormon

"And Eve was Weak" from Carrie

"Skid Row (Downtown)" from Little Shop of Horrors