- 1776 does this concerning the Continental Congress and figures in early American History. For example, the Running Gag of John Adams being "obnoxious and disliked" by everyone in Congress comes from his own description of how other people viewed him, the New Jersey delegation was actually missing from Congress for a while, and New York never voted on anything. Many of the more memorable lines are straight historical quotes, or very slight paraphrases of them. Given the attention to historical accuracy that perfuses the thing, the few obvious strays from history that are made are that much more puzzling — Caesar Rodney and John Dickinson in particular are portrayed quite inaccurately. You could chalk them up to dramatic license, but given the actual drama that hardly seems necessary. note
- In the stage adaptation of Anastasia, despite the inaccuracies , the musical does go to lengths to display accuracy in several aspects:
- In the "Paris Holds The Key To Your Heart" sequence, several historical figures who really were part of the 1920s Parisian scene take center stage.
- While the motives for the Russian Revolution are still skirted around, the post-revolution life is depicted with more realism: the Chekists, the complaints about the new systems, the reality of how the government would have reacted to an apparent princess reappearing. Most notably, the actual location and circumstances of the Romanovs' execution are described accurately.
- Russian speakers often noted that the animated film got the nickname for "Anastasia" wrong; it would be "Nastya", not "Anya." Perhaps in response to this, the musical deliberately uses the correct informal "Dima" for affectionate references to Dmitry. It also makes it clear that "Anya" was a random name given to her in the orphanage, not a nickname.
- Stephen Sondheim quotes a great deal of the characters' writing in Assassins. Most famously, The beginning of "The Ballad of Guiteau" is almost completely lifted from an actual poem written by Guiteau himself that he recited on the gallows before he was executed. Said ballad also noted that Guiteau believed God chose him to assassinate President Garfield, and he drew a crowd to his trial, something the real Guiteau also faced from his behavior.
- Part of the reason Oscar Hammerstein II wrote "A Real Nice Clambake" for the second act opening of Carousel was to demonstrate his research into authentic New England cuisine. note
- The original concept album of Chess has an interminable song called "The Story of Chess", in which lyricist Tim Rice shoved way too much ancillary information about the origins of the game. It's generally cut from the staged versions. Later versions had information more inconspicuously worked into the background lyrics in "You and I/The Story of Chess", "Endgame", and "The American and Florence".
- Company: In the song "Another Hundred People", Kathy takes Robert to a quiet little park she likes in the middle of the busy East 50's section of Manhattan. This is an actual park, Paley Park
by name, complete with the waterfall and renown for being a serene getaway in the middle of the bustling city. It may or may not be a coincidence that the park has a vibrant history as the former site of a ritzy night club. Giving up an exciting past for a quieter life is a recurring theme for many of the characters. - Gilbert and Sullivan employed a curious mix of this and Artistic License:
- Gilbert's set designs for H.M.S. Pinafore were so thoroughly researched and meticulously detailed that senior naval officers complimented his accuracy, and the sailors' uniforms were made by the same tailors in Portsmouth who made the real uniforms for the Royal Navy. Yet wooden, sail-driven warships like the Pinafore was meant to be were obsolete by the time the Navy adopted uniforms for the sailors; Gilbert just knew that a uniformed chorus looked better.
- In The Yeomen of the Guard, which is set early in the reign of Henry VIII (c.1520), Gilbert correctly puts Yeomen of the Guard on duty at the Tower of London instead of Yeomen Warders note . He also received critical praise for the accuracy of his set design, which included a the Cold Harbour Tower that had been destroyed long before the 19th Century. And yet, again for Rule of Cool, the chorus of Yeomen were dressed in the Elizabethan uniforms audiences were familiar with.
- Most of The Mikado foregoes accuracy in favor of Rule of Funny, but Gilbert did hire a Japanese tea-girl to teach the "little maids from school" how to comport themselves like young Asian ladies.
- Hamilton is based on a real life biography of the titular Founding Father, so it works to be historically accurate whenever it can be. It doesn't always succeed, but there are plenty of Genius Bonuses that can be confirmed with a quick google search and it's very clear that Lin-Manuel Miranda did plenty of research himself.
- All those obscure and not-so-obscure quotes and references in The History Boys? Accurate, and what's more, each of them in some way contributes to the philosophical argument of the play without most of them ever being explained to the audience. The original stage cast effectively took an intensive literature and philosophy class during the initial rehearsal period to make sure they understood all the references and could deliver them so as to have the right impact.
- A number of opera singers were very intelligent in that regard:
- Enrico Caruso's last role was Eleazer in La Juive. While he was studying for the role in 1919, he attended a Jewish synagogue so as to make his performance more authentic.
- In 1957, Renata Tebaldi was chosen as Violetta for the Old Met's new production of La Traviata. Since Violetta dies of consumption, Tebaldi visited hospitals to understand how people die of tuberculosis in real life. She concluded that more often than not they are "practically unconscious of what they are doing or saying, and finally go out like the light of a candle."
- Marat/Sade: The work in large part involves inmates at the mental asylum at Charenton putting on a play about the death of Jean-Paul Marat interwoven with debates on the subject of force between Marat and the Marquis de Sade. Historically the Marquis de Sade (or Citizen Sade, as he was called then) was imprisoned in Charenton on one of Napoleon's whims and he did stage plays in the asylum as part of Coulmier's therapy. Likewise, de Sade had delivered the eulogy for Marat's funeral, and they apparently interacted a couple of times
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