10 Musicals With the Most Emotional Endings
Posted on
If you don’t leave the theatre sobbing, staring at a wall or walking on air, have you even gone to the theatre? With impeccable performances, memorable songs, and haunting lyrics, musicals are known to hit those feels a little harder than almost anything else.
Tragic love stories, terminal illness, injustice, war, political unrest, human rights movements - musicals do it all, and they do it well. But what are the 10 musicals with the most emotional endings? Well, let us tell you.
**But also, be warned. We’ll be discussing those skin-tingling moments and endings, so there will be spoilers ahead**. But no matter. If you’re just looking for a show that will devastate you, just grab the show names, head on over to see [what’s currently on in London](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/all-events?sorting=3), and find out what happens yourself!
### **Les Miserables**
[Les Mis](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/les-miserables-tickets) is possibly the most devastating show that has ever existed. Hear us out.
Not only does the show open with a convict being freed from jail after serving 18 years for stealing a loaf of bread; it goes on to show a single mother dying after she gets fired from her job and has to sell her body to provide for her child, a bloody battle where young people sacrifice themselves for their loved ones and their cause, and a man decides to end it all when he realises he’s wasted his life chasing his morals for no reason. There’s more, but we’ve made our point.
Not only does Les Mis have some of the most emotional moments, it also has incredibly beautiful and hard-hitting songs. Bring Him Home is a stunning solo by our show’s lead, Jean Valjean, as he wishes his life away for the survival of his daughter’s lover. Empty Chairs, Empty Tables is one of the final songs as Marius realises he’s one of the very few who survived the battle.
If that’s not one of the top 10 musicals with emotional endings, we don’t know what is.
### **Hamilton**
Well, that’s a lie. We do. Whenever you go to see [Hamilton](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/hamilton-west-end-tickets), the final song, Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story, is always accompanied by sniffing, sobbing, and whimpering. After 2 hours of adrenaline-pumping war, political violence, and speed rapping, the slow reflection of Alexander Hamilton’s life and those he left behind never fails to bring a tear to our eye. It’s also a moment for Eliza to take the spotlight and share all the amazing things she achieved in her lifetime, which is often overlooked.
### **Miss Saigon**
Based on Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, [Miss Saigon](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/miss-saigon-tickets)’s deeply emotional story and ending were inevitable.
If you’re unfamiliar with Miss Saigon, it tells the story of Kim, a 17-year-old girl who is working in a pleasure house during the Vietnam War. After an unforgettable night with an American soldier named Chris, Kim becomes pregnant. Years later, Chris and Kim reconnect, but he’s moved on and has a family of his own. Putting her son’s needs first, Kim makes the biggest sacrifice so her little boy can have the best life possible.
Miss Saigon is coming to the West End in May 2027, so get those tissues ready!
### **The Phantom of the Opera**
You’d be forgiven for having mixed emotions about this one, but it’s undeniable that [The Phantom of the Opera](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/phantom-of-the-opera-tickets) has one of the most emotional endings in musical theatre history.
After the young soprano, Christine, is lured into the underbelly of the Paris Opera House by a musically gifted social recluse, we witness the true meaning of stranger danger as he tries to woo her and keep her trapped forever. But in the end, Stockholm syndrome takes hold, and Christine develops feelings for the Phantom, and their parting hits the emotions hard.
### **Moulin Rouge! the Musical**
Fated mates and tragedy go hand in hand. So when Christian lays eyes on Moulin Rouge’s most popular showgirl, Satine, we know we’re in for an emotional ride.
Baz Luhrmann’s energetic, vivid, and mesmerising tale may have started as a film, but it was made for the stage. With more sequins and feathers than a Mardi Gras parade, it is a visual spectacle with the heart to match.
A story of forbidden love laced with greed, envy, and danger, [Moulin Rouge! The Musical](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/moulin-rouge-tickets) will have your heart racing until the very end… where it will stop, only to be replaced by heaving sobs and a flood of tears. Now, if you know, you know. But we’re not going to spoil the ending for this one.
You’ll just have to get tickets to see Moulin Rouge! so you can discover why it’s one of the musicals with the most emotional endings, ever.
### **Cabaret**
From start to finish, [Cabaret](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/cabaret-london-tickets) is the epitome of optimism while stuck in a hopeless situation.
Set in Berlin in 1939, war is on the horizon, and the Nazis are rising to power. We follow a group of artists and misfits who just want to be themselves without persecution or worse. During the show, we hear the heartbreaking and emotional songs that perfectly sum up the human experience, making it extremely relatable and incredibly emotional.
To be honest, the show may be devastating, but the message is a vibe. It reminds us that apathy and accepting the current social climate is dangerous, so we must always fight for our beliefs and what’s right.
### **Pride**
Not all emotional endings have to be sad. And Pride proves that. Based on true events, [Pride](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/pride-tickets) tells the story of a village coming together to support gay rights in the 1980s.
Set in 1984, we see an unlikely alliance form as Thatcher attacks coal miners and the AIDS crisis is on the rise. A young activist called Mark Ashton rallies a group of lesbian and gay campaigners to raise money for some Welsh miners and their cause, which forms a kinship that not only changed the two communities, but history itself.
Though the show is full of hardship, loss, discrimination, and frustration, it is also about hope, love and survival.
You can get a dose of those happy feels by seeing Pride at the Bridge Theatre from November 2026.
### **RENT**
Covering similar topics but in a wildly different setting, Rent follows a group of artists as they are trying to survive in New York City. Not only are they struggling to pay their rent, they’re also facing the AIDS epidemic head on. Some are living with the illness. Some have lost their lovers. All of them are trying to find love and hope.
From start to finish, it’s an emotional ride. And if the stage show wasn’t enough, the behind-the-scenes will hit you even harder.
The show’s creator, Jonathan Larson, wrote Rent as an ode to the friends he’d lost to HIV/AIDS. He was ready to give up the theatre after this one last shot. Unfortunately, he never got to see if Rent was a success as he died suddenly just hours before the first preview.
Between the show’s heartbreaking moments and message of love, plus the unbelievably tragic real-life events, [RENT](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/rent-tickets) is definitely one of musical theatre’s most emotional shows.
### **West Side Story**
It’s based on Romeo and Juliet. Need we say more? Fine. Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents’ musical adaptation of the Shakespearean classic is one of theatre’s most beloved shows of all time.
Set in the 1950s, it follows Tony, a former member of the street gang known as the Jets. The Jets are the mortal enemies of the Sharks… and it just so happens that Tony falls in love with Maria, the younger sister of the Sharks’ leader. Knowing their relationship will spark war between the two gangs, the pair hide their love until they’re caught and… we all know how Romeo and Juliet ends.
### **Next To Normal**
A tale about mental health, grief and a dysfunctional family. It was bound to end in tears.
Throughout the show, the emotions are laid on pretty thick as we discover secrets and witness the result of years of suffering and denial. But it all comes to a head when the mother of the family has to choose between her own well-being and her family.
If you don’t leave the theatre devastated, you may need to speak to someone as Next To Normal definitely has one of the most emotional endings in musical theatre ever.