Editing 1981 in music (section)

==[[Musical theater]]==
* ''[[Barnum (musical)|Barnum]]'' – [[West End theatre|London]] production opened at the [[London Palladium]] on June 11 and ran for 655 performances
* ''[[Bring Back Birdie]]'' –  Broadway production
* ''[[Cats (musical)|Cats]]'' ([[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]) – London production opened at the [[New London Theatre]] on May 11 and ran for 8949 performances
* ''[[Dreamgirls (musical)|Dreamgirls]]'' – Broadway production opened on December 20 at the [[Imperial Theatre (Broadway)|Imperial Theatre]] and ran for 1522 performances
* ''March of the Falsettoes'' – off-Broadway production
* ''[[Merrily We Roll Along (musical)|Merrily We Roll Along]]'' – Broadway production opened at the [[Alvin Theatre]] on November 16 and ran for 16 performances
* ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'' – Broadway revival
* ''[[Song and Dance]]'' – London production
* ''[[Woman of the Year (musical)|Woman of the Year]]'' – Broadway production opened at the [[Palace Theatre (New York City)|Palace Theatre]] on March 29 and ran for 770 performances