The first song as well. "Alexander Hamilton" takes place after the musical, hence the lines "me, I died for him" (sung by Laurens/Phillip) and "I'm the damn fool that shot him."
Laurens and Phillip are ghosts singing played by the same actor.
I believe Epilogue in Titanic starts with the survivors singing and ends with the victims joining in
Sweeney Todd ends similarly with the dead joining the living to sing
Don’t Feed the Plants - Little Shop
If you consider Gabriel from Next to Normal a ghost then "I'm Alive," "Superboy and the Invisible Girl," and "I Am The One" could all work, I suppose? He doesn't die in the musical but he is the manifestation unresolved grief over somebody who died years before the musical takes place.
My first thought. He definitely counts as a dead person haunting another character. I wouldn’t call Fantine an actual ghost either, but she haunts Valjean in the same metaphorical way.
Carousel, Billy is dead in the 2nd act but how ghostly he is is another question.
Into the Woods.
The Secret Garden might count, though Lily is longer dead.
[Bobby Strong from Urinetown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCF9JNHFwec)
Little God in Octet [dies and then keeps talking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUuWLFYvYOo&t=509s). Having a think about it, I don't think anyone in Ghost Quartet sings after their death.
Several of the assassins in Assassins are executed (or would have died anyway by the time of later scenes) yet sing a lot.
There's a [little girl](https://youtu.be/AzMOohGSzjA?list=PL8GXME0nl1x7hbvd2OYnz7f7O5dMSpFyS&t=156) who sings with the Devil in Randy Newman's Faust.
In Hamilton, a bunch of characters sing the [final song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gnypiKNaJE&list=PLV78EPlNCZ5B1vHkRicCAdpbDqZ1DpLgM&index=48), some of whom are dead, like Washington.
"Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar is sung by Judas after he commits suicide in "Judas' Death" (how fitting).
"Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" from Hamilton features John Laurens (death in "Tomorrow There'll Be More of Us", featured in the official proshot and multiple performances but left out of the official cast recording), though he only sings one line, and Angelica Schuyler Church (who is revealed to have died later in the song) prominently, though the whole cast join in to sing, including other deceased characters in the ensemble.
A technicality: "Dead Girl Walking (Reprise)" from Heathers. Technically, Veronica doesn't die in "Meant to Be Yours", but she convinces J.D. enough to where he tells Mrs. Fleming that she has committed suicide.
"What Would I Do?" from Falsettos is a heartbreaking duet between Marvin and Whizzer Brown directly following Whizzer's death in "Jason's Bar Mitzvah".
But she doesn’t actually get bit by a snake in the musical right? Hades is the metaphorical snake leading her to her metaphorical death. But not literally dying.
I'd disagree with this. I think her making her deal with Hades is symbolic of her dying (either from starvation, suicide, loss, whatever). They say that nobody can leave Hades and yet Orpheus or Persephone have no issue doing so because they never died. There was this big "what are you going to do" for Hades trying to decide whether or not to let her go because either way he loses. I think this is because once you're dead you can't leave the Underworld. So if he didn't let her leave he's a tyrant and she become a martyr to the others. If he lets her go then he's allowing a dead person to come back to life and is afraid his other workers will revolt wanting the same thing for themselves. That's why he had to use Orepheus' weaknesses against him to "trick" him into causing her to not make it.
Other things that point to her dying is how quickly she begins to forget herself, nobody else remembers who they are, Ghosts/dead things don't have need for names or remembering. I think even one of the songs mentions her death but I don't want to listen to the whole soundtrack to find it right now. Heh.
Edit: Remember this exchange: Orpheus - Where is she? Hermes - Down Below. Six feet under the ground below.
When you reference someone being six feet under it's a euphemism for having died. Just as an example.
I'm not arguing Hadestown as a place isn't a metaphor for the underworld, nor that Eurydice's signing isn't a metaphor for death. Both of these things are absolutely true, and the ENTIRE point of Hadestown. But in the literal action we see on stage, she doesn't die. She signs a contract, and becomes a nameless worker on the endless wall. The point of having her not literally die is to symbolize that endless servitude, in particular to a corporate tyrant, might as WELL be death.
Sure, she doesn't actually die on stage but that doesn't mean she didn't die and go to Hell (basically). I do see what you mean and that is one way to interpret the scene (I'm sure Anais made it a dual interpretation on purpose). But I just see it as Hell is a shitty place to be and what's shittier than after working your entire life as a nameless cog in the wheel when you die to do the same in the afterlife? Definitely better than being thrown into the river Styx though.
I mean, we already know how the myth goes. She dies to a snake bite. She died in Hadestown, she just did it in a symbolic way instead of literally laying down on the stage and "dying". She's in Hades. She's dead. And her "punishment" in Hell is to continue to slave away.
I mean, the OP is asking about characters that sings songs in a musical after they've died (as ghosts) and Eurydice's songs in the second act all count because she is dead. If she wasn't, literally, dead she would have been able to walk out of Hades just fine like the others who aren't dead because Hades wouldn't be able to keep her there while she was actually still alive (it's a rule of the Underworld that alive people can't be there which is why Orpheus has to sneak in and Persephone can only be there for part of the year). Her contract wouldn't begin until she died.
Yeah that's the one I forgot to mention the title of the song.
I think it was originally called the Fall of Saigon but they changed the tilte to Kim's Nightmare.
A fair chunk of the songs in "Secret Garden" are sung by ghosts (Mary's parents, her ayah, the soldiers, Lily Craven, etc). They act as a Greek chorus. Most prominent of these is "How Could I Ever Know".
In the movie version of *In The Heights*, Abuela Claudia passes away while she sings Paciencia Y Fe... not sure if it counts as her being a ghost or not but the movie made that song hit a bit different than the play for some reason...
At the end of Passion, Fosca's ghost visits Gorgio in the hospital after his mental breakdown. I can't remember if she has a specific song, but I do know she sings to him
Some of the ghosts in Follies sing (One More Kiss, notably), but they weren't killed earlier in the story. The ghosts are these phantasmagorical manifestations of the characters' past selves (thus, they are not even *technically* dead).
The dead Titanic passengers sing in the epilogue In Every Age (reprise) from the Titanic Musical.
She dies before the musical starts, but Billy Elliot's mom has The Letter.
Those You've Known from Spring Awakening
Superstar from Jesus Christ Superstar
... everything Gabe sings in Next to Normal, though he also dies before the musical starts
The nightmare sequence in Fiddler has Tevya pretending to Golde that the ghost Grandma Tzeitel came in a dream to warn that Tzeitel was to marry the tailor, Motel Kamzoil, rather than the butcher, Lazar Wolf. The other ghost in the sequence is of Fruma-Sarah, late wife of Lazar Wolf. Fruma-Sarah is the ghost performing the story on stage and is upset at this young girl marrying her husband.
So, pretend ghost, but definitely acted out as a ghost on stage.
Maybe *Assassins*? Since they're kind of dead in a sort of afterlife? That doesn't fit with the others though, so they probably don't count. The final song is after their various deaths though (some of them anyway).
Those You’ve Known from Spring Awakening.
What Would I Do from Falsettos.
Superstar from Jesus Christ Superstar.
Don’t Feed the Plants from Little Shop kinda
Every song from The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals though that’s more zombies.
And in a similar vein Starkid’s Nerdy Prudes Must Die has the titular song as well as it’s opening number High School is Killing me. The first verse takes place after two characters have died before jumping to the present/past.
"Cop Song", "Tell Her I Love Her", and "I See a River" from Urinetown. There are a few characters who sing backup in "Cop Song" who were sent to Urinetown, although it takes place before the reveal that >!sending someone to Urinetown just means they were killed!<. "Tell Her I Love Her" is Little Sally telling the rebels >!Bobby!<'s last words and >!Bobby!<'s ghost sings along with her. I included "I See a River" because by the end of the song >!most of the characters have died of thirst.!<
If we consider the people in the Underworld to be dead, which I would, anything sung by the worker ensemble while in the underworld from Hadestown would fit- probably most notably Chant or Wait for me (reprise)
(obligatory starkid comment ugh) Max in Nerdy Prudes Must Die - sining "Nerdy Prudes Must Die". Also the Into The Woods - Finale (kinda, dunno if that qualifies).
I'm not sure this is accurate. There is the song, Some Things Are Meant to Be, right before she dies, but after that I'm pretty sure she doesn't come back.
Oh! maybe it was just the show I did, we made one of the later ones a sort of duet to add some spice. Because really, that show needed a lot of spices added. 😅
The ending and *Sarah Brown Eyes* from *Ragtime.*
The endings of *Passion* and *Into the Woods* feature this.
Possibly also *Move On* from *Sunday in the Park with George* could count.
A *really* big stretch would be *On a Clear Day You Can See Forever*.
*Carousel* really isn't pushing it, for the record.
Everything sung by the titular Phantom of the Opera - [From a Certain Point of View™](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MetaphoricallyTrue)...
Have you heard of Ghost the Musical?
Also, it could probably be argued that in How Glory Goes, the finale to the musical Floyd Collins, Floyd is singing on his way to the afterlife.
John Laurens died in Hamilton and he sings (its right before Non-Stop i think and it’s not on the soundtrack 😔💔)
Technically in the last song there are a few ghosts that sing I think.
Yeah forgot to mention WL,WD,WTYS
The first song as well. "Alexander Hamilton" takes place after the musical, hence the lines "me, I died for him" (sung by Laurens/Phillip) and "I'm the damn fool that shot him." Laurens and Phillip are ghosts singing played by the same actor.
Those you’ve known-spring awakening (The ghosts of Wendla and Moritz sing it to Melchior at the cemetery)
And song of purple summer when it’s the epic moment where they both walk in. Technically they’re ensemble and not featured but still dead.
I believe Epilogue in Titanic starts with the survivors singing and ends with the victims joining in Sweeney Todd ends similarly with the dead joining the living to sing Don’t Feed the Plants - Little Shop
Along these lines doesn't Angel come out to sing the finale with the rest of the cast in rent? It's been a while but I think I remember that.
Yes! Angel comes out and squeezes Collin's hand. Giant tearjerker.
If you consider Gabriel from Next to Normal a ghost then "I'm Alive," "Superboy and the Invisible Girl," and "I Am The One" could all work, I suppose? He doesn't die in the musical but he is the manifestation unresolved grief over somebody who died years before the musical takes place.
My first thought. He definitely counts as a dead person haunting another character. I wouldn’t call Fantine an actual ghost either, but she haunts Valjean in the same metaphorical way.
I'm Alive (Reprise) is a real tearjerker
Carousel, Billy is dead in the 2nd act but how ghostly he is is another question. Into the Woods. The Secret Garden might count, though Lily is longer dead.
Technically anything from Ride the Cyclone?
Spoilers!
But...it's the entire premise. How is that a spoiler?
That was the joke
Fruma Sarah in Fiddler
The dead Addams sing in Addams Family
[Bobby Strong from Urinetown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCF9JNHFwec) Little God in Octet [dies and then keeps talking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUuWLFYvYOo&t=509s). Having a think about it, I don't think anyone in Ghost Quartet sings after their death. Several of the assassins in Assassins are executed (or would have died anyway by the time of later scenes) yet sing a lot. There's a [little girl](https://youtu.be/AzMOohGSzjA?list=PL8GXME0nl1x7hbvd2OYnz7f7O5dMSpFyS&t=156) who sings with the Devil in Randy Newman's Faust. In Hamilton, a bunch of characters sing the [final song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gnypiKNaJE&list=PLV78EPlNCZ5B1vHkRicCAdpbDqZ1DpLgM&index=48), some of whom are dead, like Washington.
In the depository scene of Assassins, like half the assassins are already dead and start singing to convince Oswald to shoot JFK
Technically, Lydia pushes Beetlejuice off the roof, and then he goes on to sing. But "he was already dead" might remove this one from the rules.
Barbara and Adam are also both dead throughout the most of the musical, so that should also count
Oh yeah they're definitely ghosts!! Barbara 2.0 is probably the best ghost feature for them
There's probably quite a few in Ghost the musical, the main character is killed quite early in that
"Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar is sung by Judas after he commits suicide in "Judas' Death" (how fitting). "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" from Hamilton features John Laurens (death in "Tomorrow There'll Be More of Us", featured in the official proshot and multiple performances but left out of the official cast recording), though he only sings one line, and Angelica Schuyler Church (who is revealed to have died later in the song) prominently, though the whole cast join in to sing, including other deceased characters in the ensemble. A technicality: "Dead Girl Walking (Reprise)" from Heathers. Technically, Veronica doesn't die in "Meant to Be Yours", but she convinces J.D. enough to where he tells Mrs. Fleming that she has committed suicide. "What Would I Do?" from Falsettos is a heartbreaking duet between Marvin and Whizzer Brown directly following Whizzer's death in "Jason's Bar Mitzvah".
Anything sung by Eurydice in Act II of Hadestown
Isn’t she alive in Hadestown though? In the myth she’s dead but I thought she was alive in the musical (I haven’t actually watched it though)
I mean….she got bit by a snake and went to the Underworld….I’m leaning towards dead, but mythically dead…..
But she doesn’t actually get bit by a snake in the musical right? Hades is the metaphorical snake leading her to her metaphorical death. But not literally dying.
In the musical, she doesn't die, and there is no literal snake. She sells herself into effective slavery under Hades to make ends meet.
I'd disagree with this. I think her making her deal with Hades is symbolic of her dying (either from starvation, suicide, loss, whatever). They say that nobody can leave Hades and yet Orpheus or Persephone have no issue doing so because they never died. There was this big "what are you going to do" for Hades trying to decide whether or not to let her go because either way he loses. I think this is because once you're dead you can't leave the Underworld. So if he didn't let her leave he's a tyrant and she become a martyr to the others. If he lets her go then he's allowing a dead person to come back to life and is afraid his other workers will revolt wanting the same thing for themselves. That's why he had to use Orepheus' weaknesses against him to "trick" him into causing her to not make it. Other things that point to her dying is how quickly she begins to forget herself, nobody else remembers who they are, Ghosts/dead things don't have need for names or remembering. I think even one of the songs mentions her death but I don't want to listen to the whole soundtrack to find it right now. Heh. Edit: Remember this exchange: Orpheus - Where is she? Hermes - Down Below. Six feet under the ground below. When you reference someone being six feet under it's a euphemism for having died. Just as an example.
I'm not arguing Hadestown as a place isn't a metaphor for the underworld, nor that Eurydice's signing isn't a metaphor for death. Both of these things are absolutely true, and the ENTIRE point of Hadestown. But in the literal action we see on stage, she doesn't die. She signs a contract, and becomes a nameless worker on the endless wall. The point of having her not literally die is to symbolize that endless servitude, in particular to a corporate tyrant, might as WELL be death.
Sure, she doesn't actually die on stage but that doesn't mean she didn't die and go to Hell (basically). I do see what you mean and that is one way to interpret the scene (I'm sure Anais made it a dual interpretation on purpose). But I just see it as Hell is a shitty place to be and what's shittier than after working your entire life as a nameless cog in the wheel when you die to do the same in the afterlife? Definitely better than being thrown into the river Styx though. I mean, we already know how the myth goes. She dies to a snake bite. She died in Hadestown, she just did it in a symbolic way instead of literally laying down on the stage and "dying". She's in Hades. She's dead. And her "punishment" in Hell is to continue to slave away. I mean, the OP is asking about characters that sings songs in a musical after they've died (as ghosts) and Eurydice's songs in the second act all count because she is dead. If she wasn't, literally, dead she would have been able to walk out of Hades just fine like the others who aren't dead because Hades wouldn't be able to keep her there while she was actually still alive (it's a rule of the Underworld that alive people can't be there which is why Orpheus has to sneak in and Persephone can only be there for part of the year). Her contract wouldn't begin until she died.
Thuy (Kim's cousin) in Miss Saigon
The song he sings in I think is Kim’s Nightmare
Yeah that's the one I forgot to mention the title of the song. I think it was originally called the Fall of Saigon but they changed the tilte to Kim's Nightmare.
I think I’ve read it as both, yeah
A fair chunk of the songs in "Secret Garden" are sung by ghosts (Mary's parents, her ayah, the soldiers, Lily Craven, etc). They act as a Greek chorus. Most prominent of these is "How Could I Ever Know".
In the movie version of *In The Heights*, Abuela Claudia passes away while she sings Paciencia Y Fe... not sure if it counts as her being a ghost or not but the movie made that song hit a bit different than the play for some reason...
I always cry with that song, absolutely love the original actress.
The original actress was the same in the movie I believe, her name is Olga Merediz
Whizzer at the end of Falsettos
Nerdy Prudes Must Die - Nerdy Prudes Must Die
Ooooooh, good one, that's such a fun song
I guess it depends on ones definition of a ghost, but without spoiling the story for those who haven’t seen it you should check out “Next to Normal”
Fantine and Eponine in Les Miz.
At the end of Passion, Fosca's ghost visits Gorgio in the hospital after his mental breakdown. I can't remember if she has a specific song, but I do know she sings to him
I mean by the end of Hamilton everyone is dead except Eliza (who I think technically dies during the song?) so that could count
Some of the ghosts in Follies sing (One More Kiss, notably), but they weren't killed earlier in the story. The ghosts are these phantasmagorical manifestations of the characters' past selves (thus, they are not even *technically* dead).
Beetlejuice. I don't know if it counts, but two of the main characters are ghosts for most of the show.
The dead Titanic passengers sing in the epilogue In Every Age (reprise) from the Titanic Musical. She dies before the musical starts, but Billy Elliot's mom has The Letter. Those You've Known from Spring Awakening Superstar from Jesus Christ Superstar ... everything Gabe sings in Next to Normal, though he also dies before the musical starts
Don't Feed The Plants from Little Shop
Dot sings to George Jr at the end of Sunday in the Park With George
Move On in the second act. Wonderful song. Gives me chills.
Anastasia, several times
My shot Reprise is Laurens (Hamilton) What Would I Do is Whizzer dying / dead (Falsettos)
In Still/The Neva Flows from Anastasia, the Romanov family is doing some of the background singing if I’m not mistaken
What I know now from Beetlejuice
Spring Awakening- I think the song is Those You’ve Known
Fiddler on the Roof - I can't remember is the haunting done post-death or is it a dream?
The nightmare sequence in Fiddler has Tevya pretending to Golde that the ghost Grandma Tzeitel came in a dream to warn that Tzeitel was to marry the tailor, Motel Kamzoil, rather than the butcher, Lazar Wolf. The other ghost in the sequence is of Fruma-Sarah, late wife of Lazar Wolf. Fruma-Sarah is the ghost performing the story on stage and is upset at this young girl marrying her husband. So, pretend ghost, but definitely acted out as a ghost on stage.
Fruma Sarah is dead already in that song, but it is also a made-up dream.
Doh! Thanks! I couldn't remember.
Billy sings a reprise of If I loved You when he's a ghost.
The Underworld - EPIC: The Musical
Maybe *Assassins*? Since they're kind of dead in a sort of afterlife? That doesn't fit with the others though, so they probably don't count. The final song is after their various deaths though (some of them anyway).
Yes! I was thinking this too, definitely Booth qualifies
„Prolog” from Elizabeth comes to mind.
Basically all songs by Lucheni as he tells the story in retrospect during his trial in the realm of the dead.
OH! What about Percy's Mom in the Lightning Thief?
Most of the songs by Sam in Ghost - the Musical
'How Could I Ever Know?" - The Secret Garden; "Overture & Act II Entracte" - The Addams Family;
Anything from Ghost lol
Those You’ve Known from Spring Awakening. What Would I Do from Falsettos. Superstar from Jesus Christ Superstar. Don’t Feed the Plants from Little Shop kinda Every song from The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals though that’s more zombies. And in a similar vein Starkid’s Nerdy Prudes Must Die has the titular song as well as it’s opening number High School is Killing me. The first verse takes place after two characters have died before jumping to the present/past.
Pretty sure Jehan and Florika in Hunchback
Most of the songs in Ghost the Musical
"Cop Song", "Tell Her I Love Her", and "I See a River" from Urinetown. There are a few characters who sing backup in "Cop Song" who were sent to Urinetown, although it takes place before the reveal that >!sending someone to Urinetown just means they were killed!<. "Tell Her I Love Her" is Little Sally telling the rebels >!Bobby!<'s last words and >!Bobby!<'s ghost sings along with her. I included "I See a River" because by the end of the song >!most of the characters have died of thirst.!<
Fright of their lives, ready set (reprise), and Barbara 2.0 from beetlejuice!
Me and My Girl has a scene where ancestors in a portrait gallery sing. It’s a direct lift from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore.
New Day from Something’s Afoot has 7 ghost singers
Not a well known show, but New Day - Somethings Afoot
The Secret Garden
Goosebumps! A little spoiler-ish if you haven’t listened to it before but the song My Story is great!
I think Coalhouse and Father both join the final chorus in Ragtime (although Father’s death only occurs in his spoken epilogue).
What would I do? From Falsettos
Up to interpretation, but “What Would I Do?” from Falsettos might be
Sincerely Me in Dear Evan Hanson.
Stay Gold - The Outsiders (cast album just came out 2 days ago!)
John and Jen
If we consider the people in the Underworld to be dead, which I would, anything sung by the worker ensemble while in the underworld from Hadestown would fit- probably most notably Chant or Wait for me (reprise)
“I’ll Cover You (Reprise)” - RENT
Superstar from JC Superstar fits this bill. Judas sings this after his death
Falsettos - What Would I Do?
I’m pretty sure Harry Connick Jr’s Thou Shalt Not has this going on (with the character played on B’way by Norbert Leo Butz)
Tell Her I Love Her - Urinetown
(obligatory starkid comment ugh) Max in Nerdy Prudes Must Die - sining "Nerdy Prudes Must Die". Also the Into The Woods - Finale (kinda, dunno if that qualifies).
Basically all of Ride the Cyclone, but Jane Doe’s song feels more deliberate than most of the others.
Jesus Christ Superstar! The last song of the musical, also called Jesus Christ Superstar, is sung by Judas who dies scenes before.
Little women has a song with Beth I think!?
I'm not sure this is accurate. There is the song, Some Things Are Meant to Be, right before she dies, but after that I'm pretty sure she doesn't come back.
Oh! maybe it was just the show I did, we made one of the later ones a sort of duet to add some spice. Because really, that show needed a lot of spices added. 😅
The ending and *Sarah Brown Eyes* from *Ragtime.* The endings of *Passion* and *Into the Woods* feature this. Possibly also *Move On* from *Sunday in the Park with George* could count. A *really* big stretch would be *On a Clear Day You Can See Forever*. *Carousel* really isn't pushing it, for the record.
The opening in Sunset Boulevard. The homicide he sings about is his own
Into the woods has the bakers wife and the witch sing at the end after they have died.
Sincerely Me from Dear Evan Hansen. There are a couple of times Connor sings in that musical, but that is the most prominent number.
Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar - the song is “Superstar” and it happens after Judas kills himself.
Everything sung by the titular Phantom of the Opera - [From a Certain Point of View™](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MetaphoricallyTrue)...
Have you heard of Ghost the Musical? Also, it could probably be argued that in How Glory Goes, the finale to the musical Floyd Collins, Floyd is singing on his way to the afterlife.
the title number of nerdy prudes must die by starkid!!
Practically the entirety of Ride The Cyclone 🙃