Musical theatre is a genre of theater that uses music (usually sung) to help tell a story.
The genre evolved out of a synthesis between opera/operetta and straight plays: musicals tend to be less melodramatic than opera, and are exclusively performed in English (as opposed to Italian, French, or German, which are common languages for opera). Musicals also tend to be less controversial (although there are exceptions) and not to address social issues as often as dramatic plays.
Some musicals of note include:
* Annie
* Anyone Can Whistle
* Anything Goes
* Assassins
* Beauty and the Beast
* Brigadoon
* Bye Bye Birdie
* Carousel
* Cats
* Chess
* Chicago
* A Chorus Line
* Children of Eden
* Cinderella
* City of Angels
* Company
* Crazy For You
* Damn Yankees
* Evita
* The Fantasticks
* Fiddler On the Roof
* Flower Drum Song
* Forbidden Broadway
* 42nd Street
* A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum
* Godspell
* Grease
* Guys and Dolls
* Gypsy
* Hair
* Hello, Dolly!
* How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
* Into the Woods
* Jekyll & Hyde
* Jesus Christ Superstar
* Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
* The King and I
* Les Miserables
* The Lion King
* A Little Night Music
* Little Shop of Horrors
* Mame
* Man of La Mancha
* Miss Saigon
* The Music Man
* My Fair Lady
* Oklahoma!
* Oliver!
* On the Town
* Once Upon a Mattress
* Once on this Island
* Phantom of the Opera
* Pippin
* Ragtime
* RENT
* The Secret Garden
* Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
* 1776
* She Loves Me
* Show Boat
* The Sound of Music
* South Pacific
* Starlight Express
* Sunset Boulevard
* Sweeney Todd
* Titanic
* Tommy
* Victor/Victoria
* West Side Story