Superheroes, demons, and plants are not your standard musical subject matter, but for the unique genre of Geek Musicals, they are the C# to our A major chord.  Musicals dwell in a world of fantasy and disbelief that geeks are well versed in making the genres oddly compatible yet rarely recognized.  Here I highlight the 7 best geek musicals, judged on their subject matter, entertainment value, and quality of songs.  Only musicals with released performances, either on stage or film, were considered.  Each musical includes a musical video, so prepare to hum, laugh, and cry through the list of the Best Geek Musicals here at Geek Musical Week on Prodigeek.

7. Superman: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane

This is one of the best descriptions of Lois Lane I’ve ever heard.

You know, you’re really quite a dish.
You’re what a guy might call delish.
You’ve got an awful lot of class.
You’re packed as solid as a knish.

Villain Max Mercury serenades Lois in this disturbingly hilarious Superman musical, It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane.  This 1966 Broadway bomb has evolved into a summer stock classic and the epitome of geek guilty pleasure.  Tony Award winning composer Charles Strouse, author of Bye Bye Birdie and Annie, wrote the music including “It’s Superman” and “You’ve Got Possibilities”.  ABC adapted the play into a TV-special in 1975 with Lesley Ann Warren.

6. Nightmare Before Christmas

Tim Burton’s stop-motion classic told of a world who’s sole purpose was to celebrate Halloween.  Bored of the repetition, Jack the Pumpkin King discovers another holiday, Christmas, and commanders the holiday with horrifying results.  Nightmare was the first stop-motion film of this size, taking more than three years to complete. Every movement had to be placed, shot, then placed again making a few seconds a time-consuming process.  But the result was a critical and box-office success, followed by a 3D re-release.  There is even a Broadway version in the works.

5. Little Shop of Horrors

The story of a man-eating alien plant originated as a 1960 Roger Corman comedy, appearing off-Broadway as a musical in 1982.  The musical then became its own movie in 1986, starring Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene with hilarious performances by Steve Martin, and Bill Murray, and a musical classic heterosexuals men could enjoy.  The peppy Motown-esque melodies sung by the geeky Seymour to the bad-ass talking, murderous plant make Little Shop a rare sci-fi treat of musical theater.

4. Avenue Q

Puppets having sex, masturbating, and whoring it up was once regulated to our sick, sick imaginations.  Thankfully Broadway awoke to the morbid potential of puppet’s sex lives, proving audiences with Avenue Q, where Sesame Street meets South Park.  From “The Internet is for Porn” to “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” this puppet/human extravaganza made us laugh and learn at the same time.

3. Rocky Horror Picture Show

The sweet transvestite from Transylvania turned cult classic and geek rite of passage has been featured in midnight shows for decades, turning this B-grade spoof into one of the most profitable movies in history.  The show has made several appearances on Broadway, time warping its way into our hearts with sexual escapades geeks can only fantasize about.  And do.  Frequently.

2. Buffy: Once More, With Feeling

One of the best musical spoofs ever ironically became one of the best musicals ever.  This unsuspecting sixth season episode continued many of the show’s important plots with song and danced that made sense in the plot.  Instead of just being weird, a demon cast a spell on Sunnydale causing its citizens to act as if in a musical.  Joss Whedon lampooned the musical genre with showtune gems worthy of Broadway, from the retro-pastiche “I’ll Never Tell” to the best lesbian love song ever, “I’m Under Your Spell”.

1. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

One of the most vulgar and profane movies ever is also a touching tale of tragedy and woe.  Matt Stone and Trey Parker turned their wise, troupe of 3rd graders into musical stars in a liberal adaptation of Les Misérables filled with the touching love ballad “I Can Change” sung by Saddam Hussein and the epic “Blame Canada” that logically blames Canada.  What other musical can include a giant demon, a terrorist, and a giant clitorises.  Buffy lacked the terrorist, and that’s the tie breaker.