Top 50 Musical Theater Composers

Musical Theater Composers: Top 50

This list was first posted on March 22, 2012 in honor of the births of two of musical theater’s most celebrated composers (Stephen Sondheim: March 22, 1930; Andrew Lloyd Webber: March 22, 1948). While this list focused on musical theater, a separate list produced around the same time focused on The Top 100 Songwriters of the Rock Era. See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories. Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II 1. Richard Rodgers 2. Oscar Hammerstein II 3. Stephen Sondheim 4. Andrew Lloyd Webber 5. George Gershwin George and Ira Gershwin, image from wmky.org 6. Leonard Bernstein 7. Cole Porter 8. Irving Berlin 9. John Kander 10. Stephen Schwartz Stephen Sondheim 11. Jerry Herman 12. Frank Loesser 13. Frederick Loewe 14. Ira Gershwin 15. Alan Jay Lerner Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice 16. Tim Rice 17. Fred Ebb 18. Jonathan Larson 19. Jerome Kern 20. Harold Arlen Irving Berlin 21. Lorenz Hart 22. Alan Menken 23. Charles Strouse 24. Marvin Hamlisch 25. Lee Adams Cole Porter, image from hometownstohollywood.com 26. Cy Coleman 27. Jason Robert Brown 28. Jeanine Tesori 29. Dorothy Fields 30. Jerry Ross Leonard Bernstein, image from npr.org 31. Jule Styne 32. Richard Adler 33. Sheldon Harnick 34. Jerry Bock 35. Lin-Manuel Miranda Jerry Herman, image from jerryherman.com 36. Kurt Weill 37. Betty Comden 38. Adolph Green 39. Harold Rome 40. Elton John Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe 41. E.Y. “Yip” Harburg 42. Burton Lane 43. Richard Sherman 44. Robert Sherman 45. Claude-Michel Schönberg Jerome Kern, image from discogs.com 46. Mel Brooks 47. Lynn Ahrens 48. Bob Merrill 49. Johnny Mercer 50. Noël Coward Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Top 50 Musicals/Cast Albums: Top 50 Dave’s Music Database: The Top 100 Songwriters of the Rock Era Dave’s Music Database: Lists Focused on Media, including Stage & Screen Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories First posted 3/22/2012; last updated 7/1/2026.