In honor of the Riverdale musical, we gathered together some other memorable musical TV episodes from non-musical shows.
Riverdale‘s high school production of “Carrie the Musical” gave the show a perfect reason to tackle a musical episode. And the actors did a great job singing and dancing their way through the production (see our review).
The musical TV episode in a traditionally non-musical show is a high-wire act, but Riverdale managed to pull it off. The musical episode fits in with the show’s moody tone while moving its plot forward at the same time. If you want to check out the episode, it’s available to stream on The CW website.
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The challenge of a musical episode is something many other shows have decided to take on with varying degrees of success.
Unlike shows like Glee and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend that include song-and-dance numbers in every episode, musical episodes in non-musical shows need to explain the reason their characters suddenly burst into song.
Fantasy series, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, can use magic to justify their actors’ warbling. On the other hand, it can be disconcerting when characters on shows that are typically grounded in reality, like Grey’s Anatomy, start giving voice to the song in their hearts.
Whether sublime or head-scratching or both, musical episodes can be a fun change of pace for a show.
Here, we cover some of the shows that took on the musical episode, for better and for worse.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: “Once More With Feeling”
No list of musical TV episodes would be complete without a mention of Buffy‘s “Once More With Feeling.” Broadcast during the show’s sixth season in 2001, the episode is still regarded as one of the series’ best.
When a demon puts a curse on the town of Sunnydale, its citizens are forced to express themselves through song. This causes each character to finally sing something they haven’t been able to speak, and by the end of the episode, major revelations are made that impact everyone.
The music of “Once More With Feeling” was written by show creator Joss Whedon and each character has a moment to shine. James Marsters’s vampire Spike rocked out on “Rest in Peace,” Amber Benson’s Tara crooned the ballad “Under Your Spell” to girlfriend Willow (Alyson Hannigan), and Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy confessed she was just “Going Through the Motions.”
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While Buffy‘s musical TV episode is now considered iconic, when the cast originally found out they were going to be singing and dancing, many were less than thrilled. Ultimately, the gamble was worth it. Fans love everything about the episode, even the filler songs (Man singing as he comes out of dry cleaners: “They got the mustard OUT!”).
Nowadays, “Once More With Feeling” continues to be the touchstone by which all other TV musical episodes are measured. And over 20 years after it first aired it’s still one of the most beloved hours of TV ever filmed, and continues to be discussed and celebrated in panels and sing-alongs at fan conventions.
Scrubs: “My Musical”
When the sitcom Scrubs decided to do a musical TV episode during its sixth season, it used its hospital setting to its advantage.
After a woman collapses in a park, she wakes up to find everyone around her singing. She is brought in as a patient to Sacred Heart Hospital where we see the musical numbers through her eyes.
When she isn’t watching the doctors, the show’s usual comic banter resumes. But when she’s in the picture everyone around her sings.
This leads to some hilarious original songs, including ones composed by the team from Broadway’s Avenue Q, Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez. From the medically, uh, instructive, “Everything Comes Down to Poo” to the rapid-fire “The Rant Song” to the bromance- celebrating “Guy Love,” the songs feature clever wordplay and fun examinations of the characters’ relationships.
The episode moves the show’s plot along too, surfacing difficult conflicts between J.D. (Zach Braff) and his roommate, Elliot (Sarah Chalke), and Turk (Donald Faison) and his wife, Carla (Judy Reyes).
Seeing the singing and dancing through the eyes of a random hospital patient was a great gimmick. And the musical genre fit this quirky show well.
We eventually discover the patient hearing the singing has an aneurysm that’s caused her world to go musical. At the end of the episode, her aneurysm is removed and things go back to normal.
But it’s clear the patient misses the musical that had been happening around her, as does the audience.
Grey’s Anatomy: “Song Beneath the Song”
Probably the oddest entry in this list is this episode that happened during the hospital drama’s seventh season.
Show creator Shonda Rhimes said she had wanted to do a musical TV episode for a long time, but
"We needed it to make sense for our show. Plus, I had to convince the network, which took me seven years."
When Grey‘s finally got its musical moment, the episode centered on the hallucinations of Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez). After a horrific car accident, Callie starts to see her colleagues, as well as a version of herself, singing.
Ramirez is a Tony winner (for Spamalot) and a few of the other cast members have musical experience, or at least, passable singing voices. So the show’s songs were mostly tackled by these actors.
That meant that the show’s leads had far less screen time than they often did in other episodes. Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey only crooned a couple of verses, while Patrick Dempsey’s Derek Shepherd and Sandra Oh’s Cristina Yang didn’t sing at all.
The songs were covers of background music that had previously appeared in the show. These included songs that the show helped make hits like Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars” and a big operating room group sing to The Fray’s “How to Save a Life:”
All in all, the episode received mixed reviews, with some critics feeling the musical conceit worked and others thinking it landed with a thud.
Community: “Regional Holiday Music”
The comedy Community already had a track record of original one-off episodes — including a stop-motion animation episode, among other unexpected ideas — so a musical TV episode was inevitable. “Regional Holiday Music, which aired during the show’s third season, doubled as a Christmas episode and a spoof of the show Glee.
When Jeff (Joel McHale) derails the glee club, the club’s director (Taran Killam) hopes the show’s central study group will perform the Christmas Pageant instead. But the study group hates glee club and refuses the request.
The director manages to recruit Abed (Danny Pudi), though, who just wants to spend time with his friends’ over Christmas. With Abed on board, the study group members get sucked into joining the musical one-by-one.
The episode featured several original songs.
These include “Christmas Infiltration,” where Abed convinces Troy (Donald Glover) that as a non-Christmas celebrating Jehovah’s Witness, he could go undercover to see what the holiday is all about. And “Baby Boom Santa” where Troy and Abed use different historical musical styles to appeal to Pierce’s (Chevy Chase) generational vanity.
In a send-up of Glee, regionals are repeatedly referenced throughout the episode, but never fully explained.
Eventually, Abed realizes that after regionals there are more singing competitions that will result in the group’s never-ending commitment to glee club. So he convinces Britta (Gillian Jacobs) to switch roles with him during the Christmas Pageant.
Despite not knowing the part and being a terrible singer to boot, Britta performs an awkward song and dance, ruining the Pageant. This enrages the glee club director who admits he was responsible for the deaths of a previous glee club’s members and runs off.
The episode fit the show’s sardonic tone, making for an entertaining holiday treat.
Supernatural: “Fan Fiction”
To celebrate its milestone 200th episode during its 10th season, Supernatural decided to get meta through song.
Monster-hunting brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) learn of a possible case of supernatural activity at an all-girls high school. But when they arrive to interview witnesses, they discover the musical the school is producing is about them.
In its earlier seasons, the show introduced a book series centering on the brothers’ exploits. The author of the books had visions of Sam and Dean’s adventures. But he wasn’t aware that what he saw was real, so his books were published as fiction.
In the show’s story, the books became hugely popular, spawning fan conventions, fan theories, and fan fiction, just like Supernatural the television show has.
In the musical episode, a fan of the books, a girl with strong opinions about its characters and storylines writes the musical. This lets the show tipped its hat to its devoted fan base in some very funny ways.
Each of the characters from the show —Sam, Dean, Castiel, Bobby, even third brother Adam—are played by girls in drag. And they perform songs like “A Single Man Tear” and “The Road So Far,” as well as a cover of the show’s unofficial theme song, “Carry On My Wayward Son” by Kansas.
Sam and Dean don’t sing, of course. They’re far too manly for that. But Dean does inadvertently end up on stage fighting a supernatural foe, leading to a show-stopping climax.
Fans enjoyed the episode, especially its many nods to the enthusiastic fandom that’s sprung up around the show.
The Flash: “Duet”
Given its lead Grant Gustin once starred on Glee, it was only a matter of time before The Flash decided to do a musical episode.
This season 3 episode finally found the cast singing and dancing. And to sweeten the deal, the show crossed over with sister Arrowverse series, Supergirl. Melissa Benoist, who stars as Supergirl, is also a former Glee cast member, so the crossover allowed both actors to showcase their vocal chops.
Many of the other actors on the two shows are also accomplished singers, including several Broadway vets, so the musical conceit allowed them to show off their talent.
In addition, the Music Meister, the episode’s villain and catalyst for the musical numbers, was played by yet another Glee alum, Darren Criss.
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When the Music Meister sends both the Flash and Supergirl into a coma, they find themselves in a shared musical in their minds. They’re told they must follow the story to free themselves and wake up in the real world. This leads to their taking part in several musical numbers.
The songs were mostly covers, but the episode featured two original tunes: “Running Home to You” written by La La Land lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and “Super Friends” written by Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s Rachel Bloom and Robot Chicken‘s Tom Root.
Ultimately the episode introduces the Flash and Supergirl to different perspectives on their current relationship difficulties. Their adventures in musical-land help the superheroes embrace the vulnerability they feel in their relationships and fix their love lives.
It’s a light but charming hour featuring some truly talented singers.
Once Upon a Time: “The Song in Your Heart”
If ever there was a show that deserved a musical TV episode, it’s this ABC drama based on Disney animated musicals. At the end of its sixth season, the inevitable finally happened.
Incorporating musical numbers into “Once Upon a Time” was a natural fit. Especially since the episode’s songs mostly take place in flashback in the Enchanted Forest, the fairy-tale land that serves as the location for much of the show’s backstory.
The characters start to sing when Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) wishes to protect her unborn child from the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla). The next day, the whole kingdom wakes up singing, starting with Snow White and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas), who duet on “Powerful Magic.”
The numerous original songs all have a very Disney feel. They also include fun references like the Wizard of Oz‘s Wicked Witch declaring in “Wicked Always Wins,”
"What they call green with envy, I just call looking good."
The numbers also feature entertaining dance moments like pirates prancing in the background as Captain Hook belts out a solo.
Ultimately the singing comes into the present and the real world when protagonist Emma (Jennifer Morrison) battles the evil Black Fairy. A situation that brings out the song placed in her heart by her parents, Snow and Charming.
The episode ends with the wedding of Emma and Hook and a big celebratory group sing.
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The episode has some hokey moments, like a sing-off between the Evil Queen and Snow White and Prince Charming. But the musical was a good fit for Once Upon a Time‘s fairytale universe.
What are your favorite musical TV moments? Let us know in the comments.