Hello hello besties, happy world theatre day! As I’m sure you all know, I love anything that celebrates theatre, so I love this day and I love that it happens to fall during my birthday month!
In honor of this day, I thought it would be fun to recommend some books that you should read based on what musicals you like! Or, what musicals to listen to based on what books you like!
If you’re a fan of the musical Six then you absolutely need to read Enter the Body by Joy McCullough.
In the pop-rock musical Six written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss the six wives of Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr, step up to the microphone to reclaim their lives and their stories. Six is all about empowerment, sisterhood, and using your voice, all of which are themes in Joy McCullough’s Enter the Body.
Enter the Body takes place in the liminal theatre space called The Trap Room and when Shakespeare’s famous heroines are not on stage that’s where they stay until it’s time to perform once again. Throughout the story, Shakespeare’s heroines retell their stories from their own points of view, challenge the stereotypes that they’ve been forced to perpetuate, and uplift and support one another through the challenges they face. If you like Six, then you’ll definitely enjoy Enter the Body.
I posted a full review in 2023 if you’d like to learn more about Enter the Body.
If you like Sweeney Todd then I think you’ll be really fascinated by The Mad Woman’s Ball by Victoria Mas.
Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd is based on the 1970 play of the same name by Christopher Bond and based around the character that first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful called The String of Pearls. It also happens to be my personal favorite Sondheim musical and a show that is very close to my heart, so when I read The Mad Women’s Ball and found some storytelling parallels I was so excited!
The concept of madness and what madness actually is and if it’s something we’re predisposed to or something that is inflicted upon us is a theme in Sweeney Todd that I think is overlooked and if that is something that interests you about Sweeney Todd, then The Mad Women’s Ball is definitely a book that you should pick up. Sweeney is set in 19th-century England while The Mad Women’s Ball is set in 19th-century Paris, so there’s already some parallels there and some of the storylines in The Mad Women’s Ball parallel that of Lucy/The Beggar Woman And Johanna. I think that if you like one you’ll like the other and I highly recommend both!
This rec is two for the price of one, which honestly is very exciting. If you’re a fan of the musicals Hadestown and Spring Awakening, then you should definitely check out My Throat an Open Grave by Tori Bovalino.
My Throat an Open Grave actually opens with an excerpt from “Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hermes” by Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Franz Wright), which I thought was really interesting and then there is a very strong “working on a song” and going into hell vibe that really just screamed Hadestown to me. A major plot point is our main character, Leah, making a deal with The Lord of the Woods that felt a bit reminiscent of Eurydice’s deal with Hades in the way that I don’t think she fully understands the consequences of her actions when she makes that deal and the repercussions of it really hit much harder than she expected.
Additionally, there is (at least what I’m taking to be) a Spring Awakening reference in the book, and the dynamic between the adults and kids of this world are very reminiscent of the musical, as was part of Leah’s journey. The Spring Awakening vibes are definitely there, so if you’re a fan of either musical I definitely think you should check out this atmospheric folk horror novel.
Continuing on our Spring Awakening train, my friends, if you love Spring Awakening and haven’t read The Dark We Know by Wen-yi Lee, I truly don’t know what you’re doing. Not only is The Dark We Know an actual Spring Awakening inspired novel, it’s one of the best YA horror novels I’ve read in a LONG time.
Ultimately, The Dark We Know can be summed up in the lyrics “whispering, for the hope / for a new life / something beautiful / a new chance / hear it’s whispering, there again” and if that isn’t enough to get any Spring Awakening fan to read it, then here’s a little more.
This book is absolutely stunning. The inspiration from Spring Awakening is very clear for anyone who knows it, but you wouldn’t be lost reading The Dark We Know if you don’t already know the story and themes of Spring Awakening. However, if you do know, it just makes the book that much more masterful. The atmosphere is stunning, the characters are ones that you’ll easily connect to and feel for, and the writing is gorgeous. I just love this book so much and think that if you love Spring Awakening, you have to read this book.
If you want to read my full review, you can here.
I am a Mamma Mia girlie through and through (I get to see the tour again in May and I am SO excited) so when I heard about The Last Love Song by Kalie Holford and that it was inspired by Mamma Mia, I had to read it!
The Last Love Song is such a sweet coming of age YA romance and I think the Mamma Mia inspiration is clear without feeling like it’s trying to be Mamma Mia. While obviously this one pairs well with the musical itself, I also think this is a good comp title to Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (a true favorite film of mine) – the dual timelines in the book reflect the dual timelines of the film and I loved getting to learn more about the characters through both timelines.
You can read my full review here, but The Last Love Song is a really sweet and heartfelt story that I think touches on a lot of the same themes as Mamma Mia.
Obviously, I had to find a way to get & Juliet in here, I am who I am. But really, if you like & Juliet (which you should), then I would absolutely recommend checking out A Daughter of Fair Verona.
The concept of & Juliet can be summarized in the line “what if Juliet didn’t die?” which is basically the same concept idea behind A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd. In A Daughter of Fair Verona, Romeo and Juliet didn’t die; instead they lived, their parents got over their pointless feud and the two got married and had 7 children. The book follows Romeo and Juliet’s eldest daughter, Rosaline (yes, named after that Rosaline and the reason behind that being her name is SO funny), and it’s full of silly and fun chaos.
A Daughter of Fair Verona is a fun twist on Romeo and Juliet’s story, and I do think that fans of & Juliet would have a lot of fun while reading A Daughter of Fair Verona.
And there you have it! Some book recs for musical fans/musical recs for book fans! I had a lot of fun putting this together and have been planning this post for a few months, so I’m very happy to finally share it with you all!
If you’ve got any book recs based on musicals or vice versa, I’d love to hear them!
Until next time 
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