Suspiciously Similar Song/Theatre

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Examples of Suspiciously Similar Songs in Theatre include:

  • In the musical Dames At Sea, "That Mister Man Of Mine" has a melody mostly copied from "The Man I Love".
  • The "Nightingale Lullaby" from the musical Once Upon a Mattress includes an obvious pastiche of the Lullaby from Stravinsky's ballet music for The Firebird. It's even written in the same key (and since that key is E flat minor, this is actually significant).
  • "Sunday" from tick...tick...BOOM! is a parody of the song of the same name from the Sondheim musical Sunday in The Park With George, with the melody turned upside down.
  • Since its surprise appearance is in service of a gag, it probably needs spoiler tags: in Cirque Du Soleil's Mystere, an instrumental sound-alike of "Stayin' Alive" turns up.
    • The bungee music (Il sogno di volare) in Saltimbanco sounds similar to the intro of Mozart's Requiem.
  • The Victorian-melodrama villain's theme in the Show Within a Show in Show Boat sounds like the Russell Bennett version of Mysterioso Pizzicato.
  • In an Older Than Radio example, "With Catlike Tread" from The Pirates of Penzance cribs substantially from the Anvil Chorus in Verdi's Il trovatore.
    • This troper feels duty bound to disagree with this example (and I am a slave to duty!); whilst "With Catlike Tread" is a clear pastiche of Verdi, that's rather different to saying it's basically cribbed from the Anvil Chorus. Sullivan earlier did a fantastic pastiche of Handel in Trial by Jury, but again there's not a piece it's basically the same as, which is what this trope is surely getting at.
  • Used to dark comic effect in "My Psychopharmacologist and I" from Next to Normal, where a litany of antidepressant medications (and their side effects) is sung to the Jimmy Hart Version of "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music.
  • Kit And The Widow show us here how to do this and make great deals of money in the West End, all while taking unsubtle shots at Andrew Lloyd Webber.
  • The final refrain of "Letting Go"("not letting go, not letting go, never letting go, never letting go... of you") from Vanities: The Musical resembles the ending of "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin. The verse and pre-chorus of Hey There, Beautiful are a JHV of Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra, although the latter has a longer verse melody. "Looking Good" ends similarly to "For Good" from Wicked.
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