Not everyone reads plays, or at least after the required reading in high school and college. I do. (And more than Shakespeare, though I do love Shakespeare.) I enjoy them the same way I enjoy novels. Not that I read them like crazy, because I just don’t encounter them as much. Well, with this list I will at least be reading another of the greats every once in a while. And with Rowling coming out with her latest series as screenplays…

As always, this is not a list of plays that I am recommending. It is an amalgamation of some of the top best-of lists that I could find online. Mostly just limited to something like fifty and smashed together. I also try not to use lists like “Bob’s List.” Reputable sources, you know.

• Hamlet, William Shakespeare
• Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Eugene O’Neill
• Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Edward Albee
• Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller
• Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
• Angels in America, Tony Kushner
• The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams
• Look Back in Anger, John Osborne
• A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
• Woyzeck, Georg Buchner
• Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett
• The Bald Soprano, Eugene Ionesco
• Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
• The Homecoming, Harold Pinter
• Machinal, Sophie Treadwell
• Fences, August Wilson
• Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekov
• Tartuffe, Moliere
• What the Butler Saw, Joe Orton
• Uncommon Women (and others), Wendy Wasserstein
• This Is Our Youth, Kenneth Lonergan
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard
• The Normal Heart, Harry Kramer
• TopDog/Underdog, Suzan-Lori Parks
• Candida, George Bernard Shaw
• Playboy of the Western World, J.M. Synge
• The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde
• Awake and Sing!, Clifford Odets
• The School for Scandal, Richard Brinsley Sheridan
• Stuff Happens, David Hare
• Far Away, Caryl Churchill
• Blasted, Sara Kane
• Antigone, Sophacles
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, August Wilson
• Bent, Martin Sherman
• The Government Inspector, Nikolai Gogol
• Old Times, Harold Pinter
• Purgatory in Ingolstadt and Pioneers in Ingolstadt, Marieluise Fleiber
• The Changeling, Thomas Middleton
• Our Country’s Good, Timberlake Wertenbaker
• Independent 40 Best Plays of All Time
• Henry IV, Luigi Pirandello
• Intimate Apparel, Lynn Nottage
• An Oak Tree, Tim Crouch
• Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, Athol Fugard
• The Effect, Lucy Prebble
• The Seagull, Anton Chekhov
• One Man, Two Guvnors, Richard Bean
• A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen
• Making Noise Quietly, Robert Holman
• Private Lives, Noel Coward
• Mother Courage and Her Children, Berthold Brecht
• Faith Healer, Brian Friel
• Jerusalem, Jez Butterworth
• Medea, Euripides (*)
• Arcadia, Tom Stoppard
• La Dispute, Pierre de Marivaux
• Happy Days, Samuel Beckett
• John, Annie Baker
• The History Boys, Alan Bennett
• Frozen, Bryony Lavery
• Life is a Dream, Calderon de la Barca
• Copenhagen, Michael Frayn
• The Oresteia, Aeschylus
• Life with Father, Lindsay and Crouse
• Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare
• Cloud 9, Caryl Churchill
• Volpone, Ben Johnson
• Our Town, Thornton Wilder
• Ruined, Lynn Nottage
• The Vortex, Noel Coward
• She Stoops to Conquer, Oliver Goldsmith
• John, Annie Baker
• Clybourne Park, Bruce Norris
• Master Harold… and the Boys, Athol Fugard
• Fefu and Her Friends, Maria Irene Fornes
• The Women, Claire Booth Luce
• The Humans, Stephen Karam
• M Butterfly, David Henry Hwang
• Short Eyes, Miguel Pinero
• Everyman
• Dutchman, LeRoi Jones
• The Persians, Aeschylus
• Anything else Shakespeare, like Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, and Much Ado About Nothing
• Betrayal, Harold Pinter
• Richard III, William Shakespeare
• The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov
• The Clean House, Sarah Ruhl
• In the Blood, Suzan Lori-Parks
• Agamemnon, Aeschylus
• The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Bertolt Brecht
• Arms and the Man, George Bernard Shaw
• Miss Julie, August Strindberg
• Oedipus the King, Sophocles
• American Buffalo, David Mamet
• Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe
• Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw
• Six Characters in Search of an Author, Luigi Pirandello
• Glengarry Glen Ross, David Mamet
• August: Osage County, Tracy Letts
• True West, Sam Shepard
• The Iceman Cometh, Eugene O’Neill
• Look Back in Anger, John Osbourne
• A View from the Bridge, Arthur Miller
• The Little Foxes, Lillian Hellman
• The Real Thing, Tom Stoppard
• Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand

While it’s true that hardly anyone is going to curl up with the score of a musical and “read” it, it felt uneven presenting you with a best plays list and not a best musicals one. I also find it difficult to see many musicals, as many of them do not become blockbuster movies (in their original form, especially) or come to your town (and for a non-prohibitive price point, especially).

MUSICALS

• Guys and Dolls
• Gypsy
• Sweeney Todd
• Oklahoma!
• West Side Story
• Cabaret
• A Chorus Line
• Rent
• The Book of Mormon
• My Fair Lady
• Fiddler on the Roof
• The Music Man
• Chicago
• The Fantasticks
• Carousel
• Company
• Show Boat
• The King and I
• Little Shop of Horrors
• Sunday in the Park with George
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
• A Little Night Music
• Phantom of the Opera
• Les Miserable
• Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat
• She Loves Me
• Nine
• Follies
• Falsettos
• Ragtime
• Kiss Me, Kate
• 1776
• Into the Woods
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
• Urinetown
• The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
• Wicked
• Hair
• Evita
• Hello, Dolly!
• La Cage au Folles
• 110 in the Shade
• The Producers
• Lady in the Dark
• City of Angels
• Dreamgirls
• Avenue Q
• 42^nd Street
• Brigadoon
• The Cradle Will Rock
• The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
• Jesus Christ Superstar
• Once on This Island
• Adding Machine
• South Pacific
• The Sound of Music
• Rent
• Man of la Mancha
• You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown
• Camelot
• The Full Monty
• Godspell
• Annie Get Your Gun
• Beauty and the Beast
• Annie
• Ain’t Misbehavin’
• Bye Bye Birdie

BONUS: MUSICAL MOVIES

• Annie
• Newsies
• Into the Woods
• The Sound of Music
• 42^nd Street
• Tophat
• Swingtime
• Follow the Fleet
• Shall We Dance
• A Damsel in Distress
• Carefree
• The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
• Broadway Melody of 1940
• Second Chorus
• You’ll Never Get Rich
• Easter Parade
• Take Me Out to the Ballgame
• On the Town
• Summer Stock
• An American in Paris
• Showboat
• Singin’ In the Rain
• The Belle of New York
• The Bandwagon
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
• Kiss Me, Kate
• Brigadoon
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
• White Christmas
• Guys and Dolls
• Oklahoma!
• Carousel
• The King and I
• Funny Face
• Gigi
• Damn Yankees
• Bells are Ringing
• Flower Drum Song
• West Side Story
• Bye Bye Birdie
• Mary Poppins
• My Fair Lady
• The Sound of Music
• Camelot
• Finian’s Rainbow
• Funny Girl
• Sweet Charity
• Paint Your Wagon
• Fiddler on the Rood
• Bedknobs and Broomsticks
• Mame
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Fame
• Pennies from Heaven
• The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
• Yentl
• Annie
• A Chorus Line
• Newsies
• Chicago
• The Phantom of the Opera
• Rent
• Dreamgirls
• Hairspray
• Sweeney Todd
• Across the Universe
• Moulin Rouge!
• Mamma Mia!
• Nine
• Burlesque
• Les Miserables (2012)
• Jersey Boys
• Into the Woods
• Lucky Stiff
• La La Land
• The Greatest Showman
• Mama Mia! Here We Go Again
• Mary Poppins Returns
• Cats
• Judy
• The Wizard of Oz
• Cabin in the Sky
• An American in Paris
• Cabaret
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Bugsy Malone
• Dancer in the Dark
• The Umbrellas of Cherborg
• Grease
• The Lion King
• Mary Poppins
• New York, New York
• Meet Me in St Louis
• Lemonade
• The Young Girls of Rochefort
• I Could Have Danced All Night
• Beauty and the Beast
• Rocketman (2019) ***
• Cyrano (2022) ***

And if you are intense, or you want to become a screenwriter:

BEST SCREENPLAYS TO READ

• Some Like It Hot
• Casablanca
• Psycho
• Chinatown
• The Godfather
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Bringing Up Baby
• American Beauty
• Memento
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Annie Hall
• The Sting
• When Harry Met Sally
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Shawshank Redemption
• Apocalypse Now
• Pulp Fiction
• The Usual Suspects
• Shakespeare in Love
• The Best Years of Our Lives
• LA Confidential
• Raging Bull
• The Life of Brian
• Rear Window
• 12 Angry Men
• The French Connection
• The Manchurian Candidate
• Blade Runner
• High Noon
• La La Land
• Dances with Wolves
• Die Hard
• Network
• Forrest Gump
• The Apartment
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Citizen Cane
• Pulp Fiction
• Some Like It Hot
• Fargo
• Finding Nemo
• Lovely & Amazing
• Creed
• The Kids Are All Right
• Punch Drunk Love
• Carol
• Inglorious Basterds
• You Can Count on Me
• Moonlight
• Lost in Translation
• Lord of the Rings trilogy
• Sideways
• Spotlight
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Toy Story 3 and Toy Story
• A Serious Man
• Lady Bird
• Zodiac
• Manchester by the Sea
• Social Network
• Get Out
• Adaptation
• Stand By Me
• The Matrix
• The Borne Identity
• Braveheart
• Four Weddings and a Funeral
• The Hangover
• North by Northwest
• The Platoon
• The Dark Night
• A Quiet Place
• Star Wars
• Tootsie
• All About Eve
• Rocky