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musicalize

American  
[myoo-zi-kuh-lahyz] / ˈmju zɪ kəˌlaɪz /
especially British, musicalise

verb (used with object)

musicalized, musicalizing
  1. to write or produce a musical version of (a book, play, etc.).

    an attempt to musicalize one of Shakespeare's comedies.


Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of musicalize

First recorded in 1915–20; musical + -ize


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

How to musicalize such a state of transition?

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2025

If you’re going to musicalize a horror movie, “Teeth” is a doozy, and a gamble.

From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2024

More than 30 years into a convention-shattering career, Sondheim still raised eyebrows when he announced he was about to musicalize the likes of John Hinckley Jr. and John Wilkes Booth.

From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2021

“But in Sarah’s play, Orpheus is a normal dude, a pretty immature one, and not super communicative — a frustrating boyfriend. I wanted to musicalize both his doubleness and that there’s something Eurydice can’t see.”

From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2020

“It is unusual to take such a large brand franchise and not musicalize it,” acknowledged Sonia Friedman, who, with Colin Callender, has produced the play in London and New York.

From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2018

Gallagher spent much of what would have been his prime college years — from 20 to 23 — starring in the original, envelop-pushing Broadway show that musicalized teen angst.

From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2022

“It’s as if we were asked to know Hamlet from his soliloquies alone, for what are solo songs but musicalized soliloquies, encapsulated moments even when addressed to other characters?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2021

Who else has musicalized, for adults, cats and phantoms and trains, plus saviors and a dictatorial first lady?

From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2014

Asked what she first thought about a musicalized “Rocky,” Ms. Ahrens replied, “Honestly?”

From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2012

He popularized, vulgarized, and musicalized the great traditions of English tragedy, and passed them along to the nineteenth century as the possession of the illegitimate drama.

From Tragedy by Ashley H. Thorndike

“We’ve spent the past three years musicalizing the Warriors’ journey home, from the South Bronx to Coney Island,” Miranda and Davis said in a joint statement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2024

Kamen, at first, had been less than keen on musicalizing his signature franchise.

From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2022

In musicalizing Lynn Nottage’s play of the same title, Ricky Ian Gordon, working with a text by Nottage herself, wants more for Esther than a quick dance and a slick tune.

From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2022

Jane Austen’s novels really “sing,” you might say, but some creative people aren’t content to leave that verb in its figurative state and set about musicalizing the stories.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 7, 2018

But if musicalizing Sunset Boulevard does not detract, it does not add much either.

From Time Magazine Archive

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