Stage Frights: Spooky Plays and Musicals to Haunt Your Season

Get ready to experience a spine-tingling twist! Dive into our spooky shows guide for chilling tales, eerie events, and haunted adventures that will make your sunny days thrilling and your nights delightfully frightful. Whether you’re looking for ghostly getaways, creepy crafts or supernatural stories to share around the campfire, we’ve got everything you need for spooky season.

10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse: The Musical! Book by Don Zolidis, Music and Lyrics by Billy Recce, Based on the play by Don Zolidis

When zombies attack, a ragtag group of survivors are thrown into a chaotic fight for their lives! Enter Jimmy, Christy, Susan and Sam: four not-so-qualified heroes who stumble through ten outrageous methods to survive the zombie apocalypse. As they try sacrificing friends, weaponizing song and dance, and even leaving the planet, each new promising idea keeps coming up short. With a cheeky score, sarcastic narrators and undead mayhem, this hilarious story turns the end of the world into a show-stopping, brain-eating, laugh-out-loud adventure!

Based on the play, 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse, by Don Zolidis

All Because of Agatha by Jonathan Troy

When cartoonist Duff O’Hara and his young bride, Joan, move to historic Salem, Massachusetts, they learn that their new house has one rather bizarre feature: it is visited each year by a slightly destructive witch named Agatha Forbes. When Agatha’s annual visitation is due, Duff and Joan decide to throw a party – hopefully, a farewell one for Agatha. They invite Joan’s Aunt Thelma and local reporter Flip Cannon, along with their new neighbors, Dr. Randolph and his mother, a medium who calls herself Madame La Solda. But the atmosphere of gaiety soon vanishes when Agatha arrives in a cloud of smoke and bad temper. Impatient from the outset, she demands that everyone leave the house, but later admits that she’d prefer to leave the house and stay wherever it is witches live out eternity. When Madame La Solda’s attempt to dissolve Agatha’s commitment fails, Agatha loses patience and casts a spell making everyone become, temporarily, as they secretly wish themselves to be. The results are uproarious. Fortunately, Joan keeps her wits about her and solves the riddle of how to free Agatha from her house-haunting obligation – which she does in the nick of time and to the relief of all.

Bat Boy: The Musical Story and Book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming, Music & Lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe

Based on a story in The Weekly World News, Bat Boy: The Musical is a musical comedy/horror show about a half boy/half bat creature who is discovered in a cave near Hope Falls, West Virginia. For lack of a better solution, the local sheriff brings Bat Boy to the home of the town veterinarian, Dr. Parker, where he is eventually accepted as a member of the family and taught to act like a “normal” boy by the veterinarian’s wife, Meredith, and teenage daughter, Shelley. Bat Boy is happy with his new life, but when he naively tries to fit in with the narrow-minded people of Hope Falls, they turn on him, prodded by the machinations of Dr. Parker, who secretly despises Bat Boy. Shelley and Bat Boy, who have fallen in love, run away together from the ignorant townfolk and have a blissful coupling in the woods, but their happiness is shattered when Meredith arrives and reveals a shattering secret. Soon the entire town arrives and hears the shocking story of Bat Boy’s unholy origin.

Gillian Holroyd is one of the few modern people who can actually cast spells and perform feats of supernaturalism. She casts a spell over an unattached publisher, Shepherd Henderson, partly to keep him away from a rival and partly because she is attracted to him. He falls head over heels in love with her at once and wants to marry her. But witches, unfortunately, cannot fall in love, and this minute imperfection leads into a number of difficulties. Ultimately, the lady breaks off with her companions in witchery, preferring the normal and human love offered her by the attractive publisher. But before the happy conclusion of the romance, Gillian comes very near to losing him – but doesn’t.

Book of Days by Lanford Wilson

When murder roars through a small Missouri town, Ruth Hoch begins her own quest to find truth and honesty amid small town jealousies, religion, greed and lies. This tornado of a play propels you through its events like a page-turning mystery.

Clue: On Stage adapted from the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn, written by Sandy Rustin, additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price

Based on the Paramount Pictures Motion Picture based on the Hasbro board game CLUE.

Based on the iconic 1985 Paramount movie, which was inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, Clue is a hilarious farce-meets-murder mystery. The tale begins at a remote mansion, where six mysterious guests assemble for an unusual dinner party where murder and blackmail are on the menu. When their host turns up dead, they all become suspects. Led by the butler Wadsworth, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock and Colonel Mustard race to find the killer as the body count stacks up. Clue is the comedy whodunit that will leave both cult-fans and newcomers in stitches as they try to figure out…WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT?

A High School Edition of the play is available here.

DIVA: Live from Hell Book & Characters by Nora Brigid Monahan, Music & Lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen

As president of the drama club at Ronald Reagan High School and the star of every school play, Desmond Channing spent most of his short life in the spotlight. But when Evan Harris, a hotshot transfer from New York, challenges his throne, Desmond responds, as any diva would, with lethal force. Now, stuck in the Seventh Circle, Hell’s most squalid cabaret venue, Desmond is forced to relive his disturbing tale of woe. As he presents his one-millionth consecutive show, Desmond performs with a desperate vigor in the hopes that he can prove he’s repented and be freed from this eternal, campy torment.

Empanada Loca by Aaron Mark

Inspired by the legend of Sweeney Todd

Now living deep under Manhattan in an abandoned subway tunnel with the Mole People, a very hungry Dolores recounts her years selling weed with her boyfriend, her return to Washington Heights after 13 years in prison, her fortuitous reunion with an old stoner friend who lets her give massages for cash in the basement under his empanada shop, and the bloodbath that sent her fleeing underground. Loosely inspired by the legend of Sweeney Todd, Empanada Loca is contemporary Grand Guignol horror in the style of Spalding Gray and the basis for The Horror of Dolores Roach, the hit Spotify podcast and Amazon Prime Video series.

Evening at the Talk House by Wallace Shawn

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the opening of an unsuccessful play, the playwright, the leading actor, the producer and various other members of the company get together at their former haunt, the Talk House. Most haven’t been there, or even seen each other, in years, and the gossip and nostalgia are mixed with questions and accusations. Why does a washed-up old actor keep getting beaten up by his friends? Where does a failed actress-turned-waitress disappear to for months at a time? Evening at the Talking House is a biting portrayal of people grasping to find their place in a world in which terror has become an accepted part of life. Is this the world we’re living in now?

Feathers and Teeth by Charise Castro Smith

Home-sweet-home turns into a haunted house for 13-year-old Chris when Carol – her father’s new fiancée – moves in. Struggling with the recent death of her mother, Chris is convinced Carol is evil, but she just can’t persuade Dad. When a mysterious, potentially dangerous but kind of cute creature is found in the family’s backyard, Chris assumes it’s a sign from above to eliminate Carol once and for all. This imaginative, bone-chilling and wildly funny play brings the notion of dysfunctional family drama to sensationally scary heights.

Frankenstein: The Musical Music by Mark Baron, Book & Lyrics by Jeffrey Jackson, Original Story Adaptations by Gary P. Cohen

With earnest ballads and soaring ensemble numbers, this compelling musical brings the suspense and romance of the classic tale to life in a uniquely faithful yet thoroughly innovative adaptation of Mary Shelley’s original novel. In his quest to discover the secret of life, Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant young scientist, creates a human of his own design that turns out to instead be a horrifying beast. This is no “Hollywood monster,” but a flesh-and-blood man who, while terrifying in appearance, grows to become articulate, cunning and hungry for revenge upon the creator who abandoned him. A tragic love story and exploration of humanity, Frankenstein: The Musical breathes new life into the world-renowned story of man and creator pitted against one another in epic battle.

Ghost Brothers of Darkland County Book by Stephen King, Music and Lyrics by John Mellencamp

A blues-inflected country score by legend John Mellencamp and a claustrophobic, refractured parable from the master of thriller Stephen King combine to create the spooky, cautionary tale of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County. In an eerie cabin in the woods, a young couple comes across its caretaker, the Troubador, who reveals to them an almost biblically violent story that took place in that very house, about a set of brothers who were in love with the same woman and the ensuing rivalry that sparked between them. Hearing this tale, the young couple realizes that this cabin’s past is certainly like their present. When the young man’s brother shows up to stake a claim for the woman he loves, will they repeat the sins of the past – especially if it means staying alive?

Goblin Market Book, Music & Lyrics by Polly Pen, Book by Peggy Harmon

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: High School Edition by John Tiffany, Jack Thorne, and J.K. Rowling

Nineteen years after saving the Wizarding World, Harry, Ron and Hermione are back on a most extraordinary new adventure – this time, joined by a brave new generation that has only just arrived at the legendary Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When Harry Potter’s headstrong son Albus befriends the son of his fiercest rival, Draco Malfoy, it sparks an unbelievable new journey for them all – with the power to change the past and future forever. Prepare for spectacular spells, a mind-blowing race through time, and an epic battle to stop mysterious forces, all while the future hangs in the balance. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (High School Edition) is a special adaptation of the beloved worldwide hit. Tailored for high school theatre productions, it provides young actors the opportunity to play Harry, Hermione, Ron and all of their favorite characters on their very own stage, bringing the Wizarding World to life for their communities. Students are empowered to conjure the magic through their own creativity, making it a truly exciting and engaging experience for students and audiences alike.

Jackie Lantern’s Hallowe’en Revenge by Burton Cohen

It’s Hallowe’en night, and trouble’s brewing on the porch of a “typical” American farmhouse, where a jack-o’-lantern named “Jackie” glows and flickers diabolically. Mother and Father, daughter Betsy and son Tom, are getting ready for a local masquerade party when the Sheriff arrives with bad news. He’s been sent to the farmhouse to find out “whodunit,” even though he isn’t sure what the culprit “dun.” The family is immediately wracked with guilt, certain that one of them has committed a heinous crime. Mother and Father suspect that Tom is the guilty party, and attempt to drown him. Then Mother tries to wing Betsy with a shotgun. And Father, aping the investigations he’s seen in the movies, persuades the others into making lurid confessions, including, finally, Mother’s tortured admission that “I did it and I’m glad!” What she did, it turns out, was to find Betsy and Tom in a sack at the train station many years before, and to claim that they were her own children. Her revelation throws the family into a frenzy of remorse and regret that ends only when the Sheriff receives word that he’s at the wrong farmhouse, and that no one here “dun” anything after all. Relieved that their ordeal is over, the family heads off at last for the masquerade party, with Betsy dressed as a pregnant prom queen, and Tom decked out in high heels and a dress – while “Jackie” glows ever more brightly (and maniacally) in the descending darkness.

LUCY by Erica Schmidt

On paper, Ashling is the perfect person to take care of Mary’s young children: a confident, highly qualified childcare professional with a sunny disposition and lots of experience. But from the moment Mary hires her, something starts to feel just a little off. Is Ashling as wonderful as she seems? Is the misunderstanding all in Mary’s overworked, stressed-out, sleep-deprived mind? Surely she hasn’t welcomed someone unstable into her home, has she? Lucy is a comedic thriller about what happens when you don’t trust the person who holds the key to your front door.

Misery by William Goldman, based on the novel by Stephen King

Misery follows successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon, who is rescued from a car crash by his “number one fan,” Annie Wilkes, and wakes up captive in her secluded home. While Paul is convalescing, Annie reads his latest book and becomes enraged when she discovers the author has killed off her favorite character, Misery Chastain. Annie forces Paul to write a new Misery novel, and he quickly realizes Annie has no intention of letting him go anywhere. The irate Annie has Paul writing as if his life depends on it – and it does.

Night Watch by Lucille Fletcher

Unable to sleep, Elaine Wheeler paces the living room of her Manhattan townhouse, troubled by unsettling memories and vague fears. Her husband tries to comfort her, but when he steps away for a moment Elaine screams as she sees (or believes she sees) the body of a dead man in the window across the way. The police are called, but find nothing except an empty chair. Elaine’s terror grows as shortly thereafter she sees still another body – this time a woman’s – but by now the police are skeptical and pay no heed to her frantic pleas. Her husband, claiming that Elaine may be on the verge of a breakdown, calls in a psychiatrist, who agrees with his suggestion that Elaine should commit herself to a sanitarium for treatment. From this point on, the plot moves quickly and grippingly as those involved – Elaine’s old friend and house guest Blanche; the inquisitive and rather sinister man who lives next door; and the nosy German maid Helga—all contribute to the deepening suspense and mystery of the play as it draws towards its riveting and chilling climax.

Quills by Doug Wright

Doctor Royer-Collard, head of Charenton Asylum, is visited by Renee Pelagie, wife of the asylum’s most notorious inmate, the Marquis de Sade. Furious that her husband’s sadomasochistic pornography has tarnished her reputation, Renee offers the Doctor any amount of money, if only her husband can be kept from writing. After confiscating the Marquis’ quills and paper, the Abbe de Coulmier is surprised to find lascivious new stories circulating in public. The source? A lusty young seamstress named Madeleine has been smuggling material out of the asylum. Immediately, the Abbe bars the girl from seeing the Marquis, but, ever resourceful, the Marquis pens his stories on his bedclothes in wine, blood and worse. Driven to a fury, the Abbe strips bare the Marquis and his cell, leaving nothing but stone and straw. Undaunted, the Marquis devises a fantastic plan to whisper his stories from lunatic to lunatic, until Madeleine can pen them down – but the last lunatic, in whose cell Madeleine crouches, mutilates and kills the girl in response to the Marquis’ grisly tale. A riot ensues, nearly destroying the asylum, and as the second act unfolds, the Abbe is driven to increasingly desperate acts to silence the Marquis: the removal of his hands, feet, genitals and eventually his beheading. Wracked by guilt, the once humane but now murderous and sexually deviant Abbe is committed to his own asylum, where he finds himself crying out for a paper and pen with which to record his own newly arisen perversions. In the last scene, the boxes containing the body parts of the Marquis tremble with pleasure. One hand snakes loose from its box… and begins to write.

Return to Seymour Street by Tom Dudzick

Childhood sweethearts Peter and Irene have found each other again after more than 20 years apart. After Irene shows up to an event promoting Peter’s latest book on paranormal experiences, Peter offers his childhood home to Irene for the home-renovation TV show she is producing. Irene brings her teenage son, Gary, with her in the hopes that Peter might be able to help Gary with the strange, possibly supernatural communications he has been receiving. As Peter and Irene’s romance slowly rekindles, they find themselves up against the house’s angry tenant, the ghost of Peter’s dead father – and he wants them OUT! Frightening ghostly confrontations, wild psychokinetic activity, and the unearthing of long-dead secrets all lead to a hair-raising showdown to see who can take possession of the family homestead.

Ride the Cyclone Book, Music, & Lyrics by Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell

In this hilarious and outlandish story, the lives of six teenagers from a Canadian chamber choir are cut short in a freak accident aboard a roller coaster. When they awake in limbo, a mechanical fortune teller invites each to tell a story to win a prize like no other: the chance to return to life. This popular musical is a funny, moving look at what makes a life well-lived!

Rough Magic by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Transplanting characters from The Tempest to present-day New York, Rough Magic is a Shakespearean action-adventure-fantasy in the tradition of Harry Potter and The X-Men that conjures a mythical, magical meta-universe in which the evil sorcerer Prospero is willing to do anything to recover his stolen book of magic – even if it means Manhattan’s destruction. Lucky for us, New York’s defenders include a quartet of unlikely heroes: Melanie Porter, a plucky, raven-haired dramaturg with the ability to free characters from plays; Caliban, Prospero’s hunky (though not-too-bright) son; Tisiphone, a revenge-seeking Fury from Ancient Greece; and a 17-year-old lifeguard from Coney Island named Chet Baxter. May the forces of evil beware…

Sorry, Wrong Number and The Hitch-Hiker by Lucille Fletcher

Sorry, Wrong Number. A mystery thriller; the tale of a neurotic invalid, whose only contact with the outside world is her phone. Over it, one night, because of a crossed wire, she hears plans for a murder, which turns out to be her own. Her frantic efforts to enlist help through the only means at her disposal, her growing terror, and the hints about her own life and personality she lets drop, make this a full character portrait not only of herself but of the unseen murderer, whose identity and motivations are surmised but never revealed. A tour de force for the female star, who commands the stage throughout, this play also picks up – through the many phone calls – personality vignettes of the outside world, including gangsters, phone operators, a police sergeant, etc., each of which is distinct and of vital importance to the storyline. The play has been adapted by the author for an easy stage presentation, which should be as telling as the original radio version, although both have been made available in this printing.

The Hitch-Hiker. A ghost thriller; this story has the quality of an anecdote out of American folklore, drawing as it does on the local color and place-names of the United States. It is the tale of Ronald Adams, an average motorist, who sets out to drive from Brooklyn to California, and early on his journey encounters a strange and inexplicable hitch-hiker. His efforts to explain, then avoid, and finally destroy the constantly appearing figure along the highway carry him through several episodes and many states until the adventure finally culminates in an amazing and terrifying climax in New Mexico. The play, like good ghost stories, hovers between reality and unreality. Its mood of deepening horror makes it a fine display piece for a young male actor, and, at the same time, its dashes of local color, its episodic bits of human reality give opportunities for strong acting among the supporting players.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow adapted by Tracy Wells

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, adapted by Tracy Wells from Washington Irving’s classic tale, brings the eerie charm of colonial America to life in a spooky and delightfully witty stage production. When quirky schoolmaster Ichabod Crane arrives in the mysterious village of Sleepy Hollow, he hopes to find purpose, community and maybe even love. But whispers of a fearsome ghost – the Headless Horseman – haunt the woods, and Ichabod quickly finds himself entangled in the disappearances of neighbors, supernatural intrigue and a romantic rivalry over the beautiful and intelligent Katrina Van Tassel. Filled with lively townsfolk, laugh-out-loud moments and a chilling climax, this adaptable play offers multiple endings to suit audiences of all ages.

The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh

With echoes of Stoppard, Kafka and the Brothers Grimm, The Pillowman centers on a writer in an unnamed totalitarian state who is being interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a series of child murders. The result is an urgent work of theatrical bravura and an unflinching examination of the very nature and purpose of art.

The Turn of the Screw by Jeffrey Hatcher, from the story by Henry James

Based on the provocative tale of suspense, horror and repressed sexuality, this adaptation gives the famous story yet another turn of its own. A young governess journeys to a lonely English manor house to care for two recently orphaned children. But she is not their first governess. Her predecessor, Miss Jessel, drowned herself when she became pregnant by the sadistic valet, Peter Quint, who was himself found dead soon after under mysterious circumstances. Now the new governess has begun to see the specters of Quint and Jessel haunting the children, and she must find a way to stop the fiends before it is too late. But one frightening question tortures the would-be heroine: Are the ghosts real, or are they the product of her own fevered imagination?

Trap by Stephen Gregg

Menchap, California. An incomprehensible event: Every person in the audience of a high school play falls unconscious – every person but one. Using interviews with witnesses, loved ones, first responders, and the investigators pursuing the case, a theatre ensemble brings the story of the strange event to life, documentary-style. But as the strands weave together into an increasingly dangerous web, it becomes clear that this phenomenon might not be entirely in the past. Unnerving, exhilarating and wildly inventive… you’ve never walked into anything quite like Trap.

Unwrap Your Candy: An Evening of One-Act Plays by Doug Wright

From the author of Quills comes a deliciously macabre collection of four short plays. Alternately chilling and hilarious, Unwrap Your Candy is a delectable evening of bedtime tales for adults guaranteed to keep you awake for nights on end. Inspired in equal parts by Alfred Hitchcock, Roald Dahl and The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Unwrap Your Candy boasts a versatile cast of five and minimal production requirements. Together, the plays examine the danger of being a child, the terror of being an adult, and even the perils of being an unsuspecting audience member. Spine-tinglers for the 21st century, the collected one acts in Unwrap Your Candy are guaranteed to jolt the senses and stimulate the mind.

In the title play, Unwrap Your Candy, five actors portray actual members of the theatre audience and prove far more intriguing than the play they’ve come to watch.

In Lot 13: The Bone Violin, a stunning young violin prodigy skyrockets to international prominence, only to meet a shocking and supernatural fate.

In Wildwood Park, a neurotic real-estate agent shows a house filled with unspeakable secrets to a potential buyer who harbors an almost insatiable thirst for tabloid atrocities.

And in Baby Talk, a woman is unwound when her precocious baby begins to speak early while still inside her womb.

Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher

Forty-seven years after Wait Until Dark premiered on Broadway, Jeffrey Hatcher has adapted Frederick Knott’s 1966 original, giving it a new setting. In 1944 Greenwich Village, Susan Hendrix, a blind yet capable woman, is imperiled by a trio of men in her own apartment. As the climax builds, Susan discovers that her blindness just might be the key to her escape, but she and her tormentors must wait until dark to play out this classic thriller’s chilling conclusion.

Zombies from the Beyond Book, Music & Lyrics by James Valcq

A musical comedy celebration of American ideals and foibles in the Eisenhower era. Songs, dances and laughs abound in the unlikeliest of settings as the Cold War and space race paranoia threaten the good folks at the fictional Milwaukee Space Center in 1955, where the staff is all abuzz at the arrival of rocket scientist Trenton Corbett. The budding romance of Trenton and Mary – the daughter of Space Center commander Major Malone – is jeopardized when a flying saucer lands in Milwaukee. The craft is piloted by Zombina, a buxom alien aviatrix bent on procuring he-specimens to re-populate her planet. Can Mary uphold her lady-like demeanor while using her facile intelligence to save Milwaukee from a Red Menace and a flying saucer invasion? Can plucky delivery boy Billy ever get secretary Charlene to notice his tap-dancing charms?? Can the stalwart men of Milwaukee survive brainwashing by a musical menace from another world who gives new meaning to “stratospheric” soprano??? Taking its cue from pulp movies popular at the time, Zombies from the Beyond brings the 1950s nostalgically and hilariously to life with a tuneful, toe-tapping score.

For more great plays and musicals, visit BroadwayLicensing.com.