A jukebox musical is a stage or film musical that uses previously released popular songs as its musical score. Usually the songs have a connection with a particular popular musician or group — because they were either written by, or for, the artists in question, or at least covered by them. The songs are contextualized into a dramatic plot: often the biographical story of the performer(s) whose music is featured, although in some cases the plot does not revolve around the particular group at all.
A few films described as jukebox musicals feature a rock group or performer playing a fictional version of themselves using previously unreleased new music. For example, Andrew Sarris paid a high compliment to the Beatles first film A Hard Day's Night, calling it "the Citizen Kane of jukebox musicals", although all the Beatles songs in it were heard for the first time in this film. This is also true of the Beatles' second and third films, Help! and Magical Mystery Tour, although their fourth film Yellow Submarine featured mostly previously released material. Prior to the Beatles, many Elvis Presley films contained previously unreleased songs. Similarly, in the 1980s, Prince's film Purple Rain in which Prince plays a fictional musician called "The Kid", also features previously unreleased Prince songs.
Other films described as jukebox musicals take all their songs from a single concept album featuring an integrated song cycle with a story arc, sometimes labeled a rock opera. Both the movies of The Who's Tommy and of Pink Floyd's The Wall adapted the entire song cycle of a single album which already revolved around a fictional character.
Although jukebox musicals had achieved success for years (for instance Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, the musical about the life of Buddy Holly which ran in the West End for 13 years from 1989 to 2003), their recent surge in popularity was led by the success of Mamma Mia!, built around the music of ABBA.
Reception of jukebox musicals has been divided, with the most common criticism being that there is too much focus on how many songs can be fit into the musical. Some jukebox musicals, like Lennon and Good Vibrations have been critical and financial flops. Others, like Jersey Boys and All Shook Up have received acclaim and have become popular with fans and critics alike.
The term "jukebox musical" dates at least to 1962, following jukebox (1939), though the general genre – motion pictures consisting largely of hit recordings – dates to the 1940s and 1950s. Examples are Jam Session, An American in Paris (1951), Rock Around the Clock (1956), Juke Box Rhythm (1959), and A Hard Day's Night (1964).
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