Here’s the thing about musicals: they’re the ultimate in whisking you away to another place. Want to go back to 17th century America? There’s a musical for that. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989? There’s a musical for that. The Vietnam War? There’s a musical for that.

Ultimately, musical theater is compelling because the stories are told with music, presented with intricately designed sets and costumes. Something about having live music performed with compelling storytelling in front of you is not just thrilling — it’s transformative and evokes emotion like no movie or book can.

Musicals have a way of sticking with people for long periods of time, and while tragedies such as “West Side Story” and “Les Mis” have a way of searing themselves in your subconscious, there’s no shortage of happy, feel-good musicals to take you to places far, far away.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Listen to: “Wicked Little Town,” “Origin of Love”

John Cameron Mitchell and co-creator Stephen Trask created Hedwig — a gender-bending, East German rock & roller — at a New York drag club in 1994. The story of a rock diva who underwent not only a botched sex change operation but also a disastrous love affair with a man who stole her songs, it is one of the most brilliant shows to ever hit Broadway, with the best life lessons and songs ever.

In this gender-bending show, you learn (through songs, of course!) that love knows no gender, delves into the Greek origins of love, and that acceptance — as a drag queen or otherwise — comes in all flavors. It’s a punk rock show that was way ahead of its time, and is just now going mainstream.