Greetings everyone, and welcome back to another blog post here! This week, we're going to be going in a bit of a different direction than usual, going a bit more modern but still thinking about how the wild west has truly impacted it, and that's the productions of musicals over the years! Although there have been a number of musicals that have touched on various historical periods throughout the year that have gotten popular (Hamilton, Les Misérables, Allegiance, etc.), it's a bit more common that wild west themed musicals seem to be left in the past sometimes after their success. That is exactly why I'm here today to detail a little bit more about these shows so you can get to know more about them and maybe find a new favourite as well!
One of the most notable and well known wild west musicals, Annie Get Your Gun, actually follows the life of a real woman by the name of Annie Oakley who was a sharpshooter who became popular in the 1880s and 1890s for her impressive performances. This musical originally came out in May of 1946, when it first premiered on Broadway, ran for over 1,100 performances, and was such a big hit that a movie with the same title was made that came out in 1950! Since then, Annie Get Your Gun has had 3 Broadway revivals, as well as international revivals in the UK and London, and a U.S. tour in the early 2000s.
Some of you might have heard the name "Buffalo Bill", who was the owner of 'Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show' that toured around the country during the 1880s. Annie was a simple backwoods girl, who learned how to shoot so her family could eat. She was discovered by Buffalo Bill, who offered her a part in his show, and is basically an instant success due to her talent. There, Annie meets her match, Frank Butler, who is the right hand man to Buffalo Bill. The two of them start to fall in love but, due to their competitiveness, butt heads constantly, and they decide on a friendly shooting competition to see who's the better one of the two.
Another musical that's based off of real historical events is Bonnie & Clyde, named after the infamous outlaw couple from the 1930s during the height of the Great Depression. The musical had a few smaller runs in 2009 and 2010 before its Broadway debut in 2011, in which the production earned a number of award nominations, including two Tony Award nominations for Best Actress in a Musical and Best Original Score. Since then, it's had a number of international tours and productions, including countries such as Japan, Australia, Sweden, Brazil, Canada, and more.
Bonnie & Clyde focuses on the relationship over time between Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, their first meeting(although there are a few different accounts on how this happened with no confirmed source), and their crimes throughout their two years together that included armed robbery, kidnapping, stealing, and even murder. Although the musical doesn't focus on being 100% accurate with it's historical retelling and a bit of romanticising these criminals, its overall beautiful cast and songs are surely something to be amazed of.
Lastly is a newer musical that only came out about two years ago on Broadway called Dead Outlaw, which follows the bizarre story of Elmer McCurdy, both during and after his life(you may wonder how that works, which I'll detail later 😉). The show started Off-Broadway in February of 2024 before officially opening after previews on Broadway in April of 2025, running only until June 29, 2025. Despite it's short production runs, the Off-Broadway productions won a number of smaller awards, including a few Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and the Broadway production was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
As for the story around Dead Outlaw, it was sort of hard for me to believe that it was actually based on a true story, but it is! The musical follows the life and afterlife journey of Elmer McCurdy, who was an outlaw who died in a shootout with the police in his attempt to rob a train in 1911. After his death, Elmer's body is preserved in arsenic and is put up at the morgue by the undertaker, and people begin to come visit to see the preserved corpse after hearing about the dead man's interesting life. From there, two circus owners disguised as McCurdy's brothers bought the body and featured him in their travelling carnival. The corpse then cycled through different hands, including wax museums and even filmmakers, before he was finally put to rest more than 60 years after his death.
Well, that's about it for this time, hopefully you enjoyed reading a bit about some interesting stories that stemmed from the wild west and a little bit more in the future as well! Let me know in the comments which musical you like or would like to see the most :D
One of the most notable and well known wild west musicals, Annie Get Your Gun, actually follows the life of a real woman by the name of Annie Oakley who was a sharpshooter who became popular in the 1880s and 1890s for her impressive performances. This musical originally came out in May of 1946, when it first premiered on Broadway, ran for over 1,100 performances, and was such a big hit that a movie with the same title was made that came out in 1950! Since then, Annie Get Your Gun has had 3 Broadway revivals, as well as international revivals in the UK and London, and a U.S. tour in the early 2000s.
Some of you might have heard the name "Buffalo Bill", who was the owner of 'Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show' that toured around the country during the 1880s. Annie was a simple backwoods girl, who learned how to shoot so her family could eat. She was discovered by Buffalo Bill, who offered her a part in his show, and is basically an instant success due to her talent. There, Annie meets her match, Frank Butler, who is the right hand man to Buffalo Bill. The two of them start to fall in love but, due to their competitiveness, butt heads constantly, and they decide on a friendly shooting competition to see who's the better one of the two.
Another musical that's based off of real historical events is Bonnie & Clyde, named after the infamous outlaw couple from the 1930s during the height of the Great Depression. The musical had a few smaller runs in 2009 and 2010 before its Broadway debut in 2011, in which the production earned a number of award nominations, including two Tony Award nominations for Best Actress in a Musical and Best Original Score. Since then, it's had a number of international tours and productions, including countries such as Japan, Australia, Sweden, Brazil, Canada, and more.
Bonnie & Clyde focuses on the relationship over time between Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, their first meeting(although there are a few different accounts on how this happened with no confirmed source), and their crimes throughout their two years together that included armed robbery, kidnapping, stealing, and even murder. Although the musical doesn't focus on being 100% accurate with it's historical retelling and a bit of romanticising these criminals, its overall beautiful cast and songs are surely something to be amazed of.
Lastly is a newer musical that only came out about two years ago on Broadway called Dead Outlaw, which follows the bizarre story of Elmer McCurdy, both during and after his life(you may wonder how that works, which I'll detail later 😉). The show started Off-Broadway in February of 2024 before officially opening after previews on Broadway in April of 2025, running only until June 29, 2025. Despite it's short production runs, the Off-Broadway productions won a number of smaller awards, including a few Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and the Broadway production was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
As for the story around Dead Outlaw, it was sort of hard for me to believe that it was actually based on a true story, but it is! The musical follows the life and afterlife journey of Elmer McCurdy, who was an outlaw who died in a shootout with the police in his attempt to rob a train in 1911. After his death, Elmer's body is preserved in arsenic and is put up at the morgue by the undertaker, and people begin to come visit to see the preserved corpse after hearing about the dead man's interesting life. From there, two circus owners disguised as McCurdy's brothers bought the body and featured him in their travelling carnival. The corpse then cycled through different hands, including wax museums and even filmmakers, before he was finally put to rest more than 60 years after his death.
Well, that's about it for this time, hopefully you enjoyed reading a bit about some interesting stories that stemmed from the wild west and a little bit more in the future as well! Let me know in the comments which musical you like or would like to see the most :D
