Since 2000, Broadway has seen a plethora of many different and exciting musicals. Many of these musicals have only lasted a few months, but others have been running in New York for over a decade, reaching even further success with national tour hitting theaters across the country. Some musicals miss the mark with critics, but they have found life due to public popularity. Some musicals receive widespread praise from critics, but they run for less than a year because they fail to find an audience. Some musicals are loved by everyone. Some find life and survive on a small but persistent following. When a new musical premieres, it often is difficult to predict where its future will go.

In London, the ever popular musical "Les Misérables" has been running for over 30 years because it has found an audience and persistent popularity. However, no one can ever tell when the next "Les Mis" (as it has become known) will come about. However, one certain predictor of potential success of a musical is when the musical breaks boundaries or does something new. Many musicals will be popular, but not every musical will become a turning point in theatre history. Musical theatre must constantly evolve in order to keep the art form alive. If shows are too similar to their predecessors, they are never going to find the popularity that will lead to longevity. Yet, there is a musical every few years that pushes the envelope just enough that it finds life and soars. The 2000's have been filled with many shows, but the following shows have especially found that niche.

"The Book of Mormon"

This show immediately earned its place in Broadway history when audiences heard the song "Hasa Diga Eebowa,i" which in a made up Ugandan language, translates to essentially flipping off God. Not exactly something you would expect to hear in a musical or really anywhere. However, if you have seen this show, you know that it works. "The Book of Mormon" follows the journey of two young Mormon missionaries to Uganda where they try to bring people in local village to the Mormon Church. They find it to be not as easy as they expected, due to bad medical conditions, a crazy warlord and an inability to connect with the villagers through a catchy song called "All-American Prophet." After trying all traditional methods, the missionaries begin to change around details of the content of the Book of Mormon to better align with the struggles of the Ugandans. These changes lead to some hilarious but rather catastrophic results. This musical is crass, offensive and quite shocking, but it all just works really well. No Broadway show had ever dared going places before where this show goes, but this shock has kept the crowds coming for years and years. The thing about the shock is that it is based in the truth about the nature of modern religion, the struggles of oppressed people and the challenges of growing up and self-realization. It will keep you laughing an entire two and a half hours, but it tells a really amazing coming-of-age story. It is not for everyone, but if you keep your mind open, it is an incredible show.

"Hamilton"

"Hamilton" is the big show on Broadway at the moment, having just premiered in the summer of 2015. This show is the pinnace of different and pushing boundaries as far as musicals do. If you do not know what this show is about, it is a rap musical about the founding fathers focusing upon Alexander Hamilton. I really promise I am not making this up. At first, I was very skeptical about this show and did not really get why it was so popular. However, I have been listening to it (a ton) lately, and I am hooked. The reason this show has been so successful is because it make two things, history and musical theatre, accessible and fun for a widespread audience. History and theatre are boring and unappealing to a lot of people, but Hamilton makes it different and fun, kind of like that teacher who made up a fun song to remember all the Presidents. It uses modern-style rap music and very racially diverse cast to create something very relevant but also historic. The creator of the show, Lin-Manuel Miranda, described it as "the story of America then, told by America now." "Hamilton" truly shows audiences the importance of tearing down the boundaries of the past and present because human nature and spirit never really changes.

"Wicked"

You really cannot write a list about the best musicals of the 2000's without mentioning "Wicked." This musical debuted back in 2004 and has been running on Broadway ever since continuing to sell out. There are productions all over the world and two different U.S. Tours. I have been lucky to see this show three times, and I completely can see why it is so popular. It does have a great strength in that it is a retelling of "The Wizard of Oz," which makes it very familiar to most audiences. However, that is not why "Wicked" has been running for over a decade. "Wicked" is a musical about two women, and even today, there is an extreme lack of strong female heroines in musical theatre. Female characters in mainstream musicals too often seem to just be the love interest of the main character which is really quite sad. "Wicked" does have romance, but it is really a side plot. The main story is about the friendship between two women. The two women, the witches of Oz, seem like the most unlikely of friends and both are very real flawed people. Despite the fact they are overly bubbly and green, they seem much more realistic than many characters in theatre. A story about self-realization and friendship is something that every person can relate to. "Wicked" really challenges us to look to how we relate to other people and how we are changed by the encounters in our lives.

"Matilda the Musical"

OK, so people who know me are not going to be shocked this is on the list. "Matilda" is my very favorite musical, but despite this bias, I think there are many reasons it deserves a spot on this list. The show is based on a classic children's book by Roald Dahl, and it tells the story of a little girl named "Matilda" who has parents who hate her, a headmistress who detests children, and a big love of reading. "Matilda" is sort of a genius and reads books by Charles Dickens at the age of five, and her tremendous intelligence allows her to develop telekinetic powers which she uses to trick her headmistress to force her to flee town. That is the best summary I can do in a few sentences, but man, this show is just so amazing on so many levels. The lyrics are some of the most clever ones you will hear in any show, the sets are amazing, the music is beautiful, and it just has something for everyone. People who I talk to this show about immediately think back to the 1995 film adaptation of the novel starring Danny DeVito. God bless that movie, it is great, but the musical, which is based on the BOOK (sorry this has become a pet peeve of mine), is so much better. The message of being strong and standing up to injustice, even when all seems impossible, is so powerful. This show is about you kids and has many kids in it, but it will speak to you no matter what age you are.

"Fun Home"

This musical, like "Hamilton," is very new to the Broadway scene, but it has already become a classic. It is a musical that could not have worked even ten years ago, but it is very timely and current with social movements in the United States and around the world. "Fun Home" is based on the graphic autobiography by Alison Bechdel, who is a famous lesbian cartoonist. The novel and musical tell the story of Bechdel's relationship with her father during her childhood and adolescence. In the story, she comes to the realization of both her own sexuality and truth that her father was secretly gay and had affairs with other men while married to her mother. It sounds very heavy and not like something that would be a musical, but it is so amazing. The musical has Bechdel as an adult watching her memories take place around her (she is played by three different actresses for different ages) and tries to find things she may have missed about her father's secretive life. With the recent gay rights movement, this musical could not have come at a better time. However, the thing that makes it so universally appealing is the fact that, like many of the other shows on this list, it is about self-realization and growing up. "Fun Home" causes us to look back at our lives and think about things we may have missed that were occurring around us. It is never too late to look back and try to understand ourselves more clearly.

"Spring Awakening"

"Spring Awakening" is another sort of heavy musical. It is based on a German play, and it tells the story of young teenagers living in Germany who begin to have realizations about adult feelings and attraction. The two main characters are a girl and boy named Wendla and Melchior who develop feelings for each other and do not quite know how to handle them. The story is very dark and mature, but one of the biggest themes that can be drawn from it is the idea of transitioning from being a child to an adult. The children in the story often lament about how their parents tried to shelter them and did not teach them the things that they needed to know about life. However, "Spring Awakening" teaches us that sometimes we must learn things through our own experiences, and those experiences will not always be easy. Our parents can prepare us, but they cannot teach us everything especially when the world is always changing and developing. We must decide our own outlook on life and what type of person we want to become. Additionally, the music in this show is just incredible. Deep lessons about life and solid music are always a winning combination.

Hairspray

"Hairspray" takes place in the 1960's which was a time of great change and progress, and I think these themes are very relevant to modern audiences. There has been so much change in the last decade, and I have loved growing from being 10 to 20 during that time because I felt like the world really changed around me as I grew from being a kid to a young adult. Hairspray is about a girl named Tracy Turnblad who wants to dance on a local dance TV show, but she is a bit bigger and shorter than the stereotype of girl on the show. Yet, she manages to find a spot on the show and is successful, but as the show progresses, she learns her friends are going to be cut from the show as a result of the racism of the time. Tracy becomes heavily involved in a fight to get her friends back on the show and shake things up in her town to make things better for people who are outcast by society for being different. Change never happens unless someone makes it happen, and "Hairspray," though extremely funny and fun, gives us a big lesson about acceptance and looking beyond surface judgments. Tracy initially just wants to dance on a TV show, but her determination ends up making a much bigger difference that is way beyond herself. Every person should try to look out beyond themselves to see where they can help make things better.

"Once"

"Once" is the ultimate representation of how simple staging and structure of a musical can be irrepressibly powerful. "Once" is about the story of two people in Ireland who find each other by chance and learn that they can create truly magical music together. Through love and heartbreak, they give each other courage and a new outlook on life. The two main characters are simply called "the guy" and "the girl" throughout the show, which adds to the beautiful simplicity of the story, one of two lost people coming together and helping each other. There are those people who we encounter in our lives who seem to come in at just the right time and help us find our direction again. "Once" does not have a perfect ending, but it has a real ending. All the staging of the show is done in a simple set designed to be the inside of a pub. There also is not a traditional orchestra because all the actors play their own instruments throughout the production making the whole experience even more real and very organic. Musicals do not always have to have big sets or tell big fantastical stories. Sometimes, the best musicals are the ones which show a small glimpse into the authentic human experience.