In recent years, the content of Vietnamese music textbooks has expanded to include Western classical music theory and music appreciation, aiming to introduce Vietnamese K-12 students to a diverse range of musical traditions (Nguyen et al., 2022). Yet, with the rapid growth of social media platforms like TikTok and the spread of viral, bite-sized soundtracks, the school music curriculum feels increasingly distant from the soundscapes that shape students’ daily lives. Guided by principles of Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT), I sought to bridge this gap by designing an online musical theater introduction course sequence that integrated CRT and Critical Listening (CL) for Vietnamese students, aged 11-15. Framed by the theoretical perspectives of CRT, CL, and musicking (Small, 1998), in this action research study, I examine whether learning musical theater through CL fosters interest in the art form and music among Vietnamese students. Though musical theater is a well-established art form in Western countries and has gained growing visibility on stages in East Asia (Kwon, 2025; Macdonald, 2017), it remains relatively new and unfamiliar to most Vietnamese population. Drawing on my training in Western music traditions and acknowledging the potential of CL to initiate discussions about contemporary social issues, which is largely absent from current Vietnamese curricula, I identified musical theater as an effective medium for fostering both artistic curiosity and critical engagement. Two sample lesson plans are provided to illustrate this pedagogical approach. Employing a qualitative methodology, I explored students’ musical history and their perceived effects of the course. Qualitative data include individual interviews with two Vietnamese parents and one former student, course artifacts and researcher analytic memos. Given my dual role as the instructor and researcher, I engaged in reflexive practices throughout the inquiry and recruited parents and adult former students to reduce instructional bias and enhance interpretive trustworthiness. This study seeks not only to bridge the gap between school curricula and students’ lived realities but also to connect Vietnamese learners with a Western art form in ways that are responsive, relevant, and respectful. More broadly, it demonstrates how Critical Listening and Culturally Responsive Teaching can be integrated into music education to deepen cultural understanding and ethically introduce diverse traditions. Through this work, I aim to encourage educators to build bridges that honor students’ identities while expanding their artistic horizons—an essential step toward unity in music education.