Characters in Shakespeare who canonically sing:

–Iago

–Edmund (if you count “fa so la mi” to mean ‘singing to himself’)

Characters in Shakespeare who don’t canonically sing, but should:

–Hamlet

Shakespeare Adaptation Stats (courtesy of wikipedia)

(all info is taken off of this wiki page

descriptions in purple refer to the most recent adaptation)

All’s Well That Ends Well:

4 adaptations, oldest from 1968, most recent from 2009, from National Theatre Live

Antony and Cleopatra:

7 adaptations, oldest from 1908, most recent from 2002, ‘Kannaki’, Indian modern-day adaption (I never read A&C so idk how loyal the adaptation is based off of the wikipidia summary)

As You Like It:

11 adaptations, oldest from 1912, most recent from 2010, direct-to-video recording from a performance at Shakespeare’s Globe

Comedy of Errors:

9 adaptations, oldest from 1940, most recent from 1989, Canadian TV production

Coriolanus:

2 adaptations, oldest from 1984, most recent from 2012, just listed as 'Film’ with no notes, so nothing to say about this one

Cymbeline:

3 adaptations, oldest from 1913, most recent from 2014, a modern-day adaptation featuring biker gangs

Hamlet:

43 adaptations, oldest from 1900, most recent from 2019, the live-action Lion King remake, which somehow qualifies for this because it’s listed on the wiki. unfortunately.

Henry IV, 1:

7 adaptations, oldest from 1960, most recent from 2012, The Hollow Crown series

Henry IV, 2:

6 adaptations, oldest from 1960, most recent from 2012, The Hollow Crown series

Henry V:

9 adaptations, oldest from 1944, most recent from 2019, 'The King’, supposedly based on Henry IV 1+2 too, but only listed as an adaptation of Henry V

Henry VI, 1:

5 adaptations, oldest from 1960, most recent from 2016, The Hollow Crown series

Henry VI, 2:

8 adaptations, oldest from 1960, most recent from 2016, The Hollow Crown series

Henry VI, 3:

6 adaptations, oldest from 1960, most recent from 2016, The Hollow Crown series

Henry VIII:

2 adaptations, oldest from 1911, most recent from 1979, a BBC TV adaptation

Julius Caesar:

9 adaptations, oldest from 1950, most recent from 2018, all-female stage production, filmed

King John:

4 adaptations, oldest from 1899, most recent from 2015, Stratford festival stage production, filmed

King Lear:

20 adaptations, oldest from 1910, most recent from 2018, modern AU in a militarized London

Love’s Labour’s Lost:

4 adaptations, oldest from 1920, most recent from 2000, 1930s AU, also described as a 'musical romantic comedy,’ also directed by Kenneth Branagh, also the music is “classic broadway songs of the 1930s”– there’s a lot going on with this one.

Macbeth:

47 adaptations, oldest from 1908, most recent from 2021, the A24 version

Measure for Measure:

6 adaptations, oldest from 1943, most recent from 2019, modern-day Australian AU

Merchant of Venice:

14 adaptations, oldest from 1914, most recent from 2004, the Al Pacino version, but other than that a straightforward adaptation

Merry Wives of Windsor:

5 adaptations, oldest from 1950, most recent from 1982, BBC TV adaptation

Midsummer Night’s Dream:

22 adaptations, oldest from 1909, most recent from 2018, modern-day Los Angeles, California AU

Much Ado About Nothing:

7 adaptations, oldest from 1973, most recent from 2023, 'Anyone But You’, an enemies to lovers romcom where the main characters named Beatrice and Ben– other than that it doesn’t seem like it has much in common with the original play (based on the wiki summary at least)

Othello:

26 adaptations, oldest from 1906, most recent from 2024, 'Athhoi’, Indian adaptation, based on the wiki it seems to follow the main plot points fairly well

Pericles:

1 adaptation, 1984, BBC TV adaptation

Richard II:

9 adaptations, oldest from 1960, most recent from 2012, The Hollow Crown series

Richard III:

19 adaptations, oldest from 1911, most recent from 2022, 'The Lost King’, seems to be more about someone who’s obsessed with Richard III than the shakespeare play itself

Romeo and Juliet:

51 adaptations, oldest from 1900, most recent from 2021, West Side Story reboot

Taming of the Shrew:

23 adaptations, oldest from 1908, most recent from 2008, 'Frivolous Wife,’ a Korean adaptations, wiki summary doesn’t resemble anything from the original plot, to the point where I’m not sure why it’s listed here. (I tried looking at summaries on different sites to understand what makes this a Taming of the Shrew adaptation, but it almost seems like the exact opposite of TotS. “spoiled girl who could have any guy she wants” is the opposite of Katherine, “awkward and shy guy” is the opposite of Petruchio, there’s no taming and no shrew)

The Tempest:

17 adaptations, oldest from 1911, most recent from 2020, 'Shakespeare’s Shitstorm’, mad scientist AU, horror-comedy musical, seems like it’s got a lot going on in general

Timon of Athens:

2 adaptations, oldest from 1973, most recent from 1981, BBC TV adaptation

Titus Andronicus:

3 adaptations, oldest from 1985, most recent from 2017, 'The Hungry,’ modern-day AU set in New Delhi (no summary listed on the wiki, the only summary I could finds makes it seem like it’s Titus Andronicus from Tamora’s pov, so congrats to this one for being the adaptation I most wanna watch)

Troilus and Cressida:

2 adaptations, oldest form 1954, most recent from 1981, BBC TV adaptation

Twelfth Night:

13 adaptations, oldest from 1910, most recent from 2013, filmed Globe production, all-male cast in an original practice production

Two Gentlemen of Verona:

2 adaptations, oldest from 1931, most recent from 1983, BBC TV adaptation

The Winter’s Tale:

4 adaptations, oldest from 1910, most recent from 1999, filmed version of a RSC production

hamlet style justice system

whenever you do something sketchy they make you watch a play where actors reenact what you did. if you react, you’re declared guilty