The first work of Korie's to receive major attention was a "new-vaudeville" crossover opera called Where's Dick?, composed by Stewart Wallace and developed at Playwrights Horizons.

A satire that transformed current events into a comic book world of villainy, the opera featured characters including the “midget master builder” Stump Tower, based on Donald Trump, and the twin Tarnish Brothers: Sterling and Stainless, inspired by William and Lamar Hunt's attempts to corner the world silver market.

The work's libretto is written entirely in archaic languages, including Medieval French and German, early Spanish, and Aramaic, in order to trace the growth of Kabbalistic practice through the Jewish Diaspora.

Recordings of interviews he conducted while in residence among orthodox Kabbalistic communities in Jerusalem were mixed into live performances during the work's 1989 premiere, co-produced by the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival and Dance Theater Workshop, with direction and choreography by Ann Carlson.

Milk's premonition of his death is shown in the aria “If a Bullet Should Enter My Brain...,” as he makes a tape recording of his last will just weeks before his murder by White.

Joshua Kosman in The San Francisco Chronicle wrote of the SFO production, “By turns haunting and hilarious, brassy and mystically poetic, the libretto is a magnificent creation.”[11] The opera was recorded by Teldec in 1998, with Donald Runnicles conducting.

A concert work for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Kaddish for Harvey Milk, was reworked by the composer from forty-five minutes of text and music extracted from the opera's third act requiem before its premiere.

[12] In February 2015, a new semi-staged concert version drawn from the entire opera was presented in Melbourne, Australia, directed by Cameron Lukie, and again in Sydney in 2016.

[17] It was developed at the Sundance Musical Theater Lab, and was staged in 2003 at Chicago's Ravinia Festival, directed by Lonny Price, with a cast featuring Michael Cerveris and David Hyde Pierce.

Music and lyrics provide an actor with the equivalent of a close-up on the screen, a defining gesture that stops time and glimpses momentarily into the soul.”[19] Grey Gardens opened on February 10, 2006 at Playwrights Horizons with direction by Michael Greif and a cast featuring Christine Ebersole, Mary Louise Wilson, and John McMartin, later transferring to Broadway.

The New York Times cited the song "Another Winter in a Summer Town" as one that should be included in the standard American musical theater repertoire.

Also in 2016, the musical had its European premiere at London's Southwark Playhouse, starring Olivier award-winning actresses Sheila Hancock and Jenna Russell, and directed by Thom Southerland.

Writing for theartsdesk.com, Matt Wolf commented that “the portrait of a party gone spectacularly sour works very well in its own right and allows in practical terms for Russell to dazzle as both mother in act one and her own daughter in act two– a gift of a dual assignment that Russell bats out of the park....Grey Gardens' singular achievement is to seem absolutely and bracingly unique.”[22] In 2017 the production was named as “Best Musical of the Year” by the Off-West End Offies Awards.

Writing for The New Yorker, Alex Ross praised Korie for the libretto's “teeth,” marveling that he “found ways to leave [the novel’s] rage intact even as he gives lyric voice to the suffering Joad clan”, and The Los Angeles Times praised the “strong, literate libretto” for finding “the timeless and timely essence of Steinbeck’s epic.”[24] It was subsequently produced at Utah Opera and Pittsburgh Opera.

Ted Sperling conducted the American Symphony Orchestra, MasterVoices (formerly the Collegiate Chorale), and soloists from both Broadway and opera including Victoria Clark, Christine Ebersole, Elizabeth Futral, Steven Pasquale, and Nathan Gunn in the lead roles.

[27] Far From Heaven was the team's next musical, based on the Todd Haynes film of the same name and adapted for the stage by playwright Richard Greenberg.

Classics original cast recording, New York Magazine theater critic Jesse Green wrote “The singular achievement of Far From Heaven is to have turned so much seriousness—so much fury and pain—into so much songwriting beauty.”[31] Korie co-wrote lyrics with Amy Powers to the stage musical Doctor Zhivago, with music by Lucy Simon, book by playwright Michael Weller (based on Boris Pasternak’s novel), and direction by Des McAnuff.