200 Greatest Movie Musicals of All Time

Musicals are movie-making at its most spectacular. They unify sight and sound, create performances of song, dance and story. They bring us back to films’ antecedents on stage and push the art form forward into the future. This list of 200 musicals is a guide for both a film neophyte wanting to see the best of the best and a film expert looking for a masterpiece she may have overlooked.

TOP 200

#TitleReleasedDirectorTop Lists
197¡Ay, Carmela!1990Carlos SauraGreatest MusicalsPaulino and Carmela are husband and wife, troubadours touring the countryside during the Spanish Civil War. They are Republicans, and with their mute assistant, Gustavete, they journey into rebel territory by mistake. They are arrested, fear a firing squad, and receive a reprieve from an Italian Fascist commander who loves the theatre. He arranges a performance for his troops, bargaining with Paulino to stage a burlesque of the republic in exchange for the actors' freedom. Will the fiery and patriotic Carmela consent?
15817761972Peter H. HuntGreatest Musicals

The film version of the Broadway musical comedy of the same name. In the days leading up to July 4, 1776, Continental Congressmen John Adams and Benjamin Franklin coerce Thomas Jefferson into writing the Declaration of Independence as a delaying tactic as they try to persuade the American colonies to support a resolution on independence. As George Washington sends depressing messages describing one military disaster after another, the businessmen, landowners and slave holders in Congress all stand in the way of the Declaration, and a single “nay” vote will forever end the question of independence. Large portions of spoken and sung dialog are taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants.

 

803 Idiots2009Rajkumar HiraniGreatest Musicals

Farhan Qureshi and Raju Rastogi want to re-unite with their fellow collegian, Rancho, after faking a stroke aboard an Air India plane, and excusing himself from his wife – trouser less – respectively. Enroute, they encounter another student, Chatur Ramalingam, now a successful businessman, who reminds them of a bet they had undertaken 10 years ago. The trio, while recollecting hilarious antics, including their run-ins with the Dean of Delhi’s Imperial College of Engineering, Viru Sahastrabudhe, race to locate Rancho, at his last known address – little knowing the secret that was kept from them all this time.

 

3242nd Street1933Lloyd BaconGreatest Musicals

Renowned Broadway producer/director Julian Marsh is hired to put together a new musical revue. It’s being financed by Abner Dillon to provide a starring vehicle for his girlfriend, songstress Dorothy Brock. Marsh, who is quite ill, is a difficult task master working long hours and continually pushing the cast to do better. When Brock breaks her ankle one of the chorus girls, Peggy Sawyer, gets her big chance to be the star. She also finds romance along the way.

 

1018 Women2002François OzonGreatest Musicals

One morning at an isolated mansion in the snowy countryside of 1950s France, a family is gathered for the holiday season. But there will be no celebration at all because their beloved patriarch has been murdered! The killer can only be one of the eight women closest to the man of the house. Was it his powerful wife? His spinster sister-in-law? His miserly mother-in-law? Maybe the insolent chambermaid or the loyal housekeeper? Could it possibly have been one of his two young daughters? A surprise visit from the victim’s chic sister sends the household into a tizzy, encouraging hysterics, exacerbating rivalries, and encompassing musical interludes. Comedic situations arise with the revelations of dark family secrets. Seduction dances with betrayal. The mystery of the female psyche is revealed. There are eight women and each is a suspect. Each has a motive. Each has a secret. Beautiful, tempestuous, intelligent, sensual, and dangerous…one of them is guilty. Which one is it?

 

21A Hard Day's Night1964Richard LesterGreatest Musicals

The Beatles–the world’s most famous rock and roll band–travel from their home town of Liverpool to London to perform in a television broadcast. Along the way they must rescue Paul’s unconventional grandfather from various misadventures and drummer Ringo goes missing just before the crucial concert.

 

151A Star Is Born1976-12-17Frank PiersonGreatest Musicals

Talented rock star John Norman Howard has seen his career begin to decline. Too many years of concerts and managers and life on the road have made him cynical and the monotony has taken its toll. Then he meets the innocent, pure and very talented singer Esther Hoffman. As one of his songs in the movie says “I’m gonna take you girl, I’m gonna show you how.” And he does. He shows Esther the way to stardom while forsaking his own career. As they fall in love, her success only makes his decline even more apparent.

 

16A Star Is Born1954George CukorGreatest Musicals

Norman Maine, a movie star whose career is on the wane, meets showgirl Esther Blodgett when he drunkenly stumbles into her act one night. A friendship develops, then blossoms into romance before tensions increase as Esther’s career takes off while Norman’s continues to plummet.

 

65A Star Is Born2018Bradley CooperGreatest Musicals

Jackson Maine (Cooper), a country music star on the brink of decline, discovers a talented unknown named Ally (Germanotta). As the two begin a passionate love affair, Jackson coaxes Ally into the spotlight, catapulting her to stardom. But as Ally’s career quickly eclipses his own, Jack finds it increasingly hard to handle his fading glory.

 

94A Woman Is a Woman1961Jean-Luc GodardGreatest Musicals

Angela,a striptease artist, wants to have a baby and tries to persuade her boyfriend Emile to go along with the idea. Emile will have none of it so she goes after Emile’s friend Alfred.

READ: Godard’s Musical Comedy

 

 

180Across the Universe2007Julie TaymorGreatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsAcross The Universe is a fictional love story set in the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, the struggle for free speech and civil rights, mind exploration and rock and roll. At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, the story moves from high schools and universities in Massachusetts, Princeton and Ohio to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Detroit riots, Vietnam and the dockyards of Liverpool. A combination of live action and animation, the film is paired with many songs by The Beatles that defined the time.  
26Aladdin1992John Musker, Ron ClementsGreatest Animated Films, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsAladdin is a poor street urchin who spends his time stealing food from the marketplace in the city of Agrabah. His adventures begin when he meets a young girl who happens to be Princess Jasmine, who is forced to be married by her wacky yet estranged father. Aladdin’s luck suddenly changes when he retrieves a magical lamp from the Cave of Wonders. What he unwittingly gets is a fun-loving genie who only wishes to have his freedom. Little do they know is that the Sultan’s sinister advisor Jafar has his own plans for both Aladdin and the lamp.  
175Alice in Wonderland1951Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Jack Kinney, Wilfred JacksonGreatest Animated Films, Greatest MusicalsAlice is a daydreaming young girl. She finds learning poems and listening to literature boring. She prefers stories with pictures and to live inside her imagination. One day, while enduring just such a poetry reading, she spots a large white rabbit…dressed in a jacket and carrying a large watch. He scurries off, saying he’s late, for a very important date. She follows him through the forest. He then disappears down a rabbit hole. Alice follows, leading her to all manner of discoveries, characters and adventures.  
9All That Jazz1979Bob FosseGreatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsChoreographing and picking dancers for his current show whilst editing his feature film about a stand-up comedian is getting to Joe Gideon. Without the chemical substances, he would not have the energy to keep up with his girlfriend, his ex-wife, and his special dancing daughter. They attempt to bring him back from the brink, but it’s too late for his exhausted body and stress-ravaged heart. He chain-smokes, uses drugs, sleeps with his dancers and overworks himself into open-heart surgery. Scenes from his past life start to encroach on the present and he becomes increasingly aware of his mortality.  
10An American in Paris1951Vincente MinnelliBest Picture Winners, Greatest Musicals

Jerry Mulligan, a struggling American painter in Paris, is “discovered” by an influential heiress with an interest in more than Jerry’s art. Jerry in turn falls for Lise, a young French girl already engaged to a cabaret singer. Jerry jokes, sings and dances with his best friend, an acerbic would-be concert pianist, while romantic complications abound.

 

162Anchors Aweigh1945George Sidney, Joseph Barbera, William HannaGreatest Musicals

Two sailors, one naive, the other experienced in the ways of the world, a musical set in Los Angeles.

 

128Barfi!2012Anurag BasuGreatest Musicals

Set in the 1970s in a pretty corner of India, Barfi! is the story of three young people who learn that love can neither be defined nor contained by society’s norms of normal and abnormal. Barfi, a hearing and speech impaired boy falls in love with Shruti. In spite of her deep affection for Barfii, Shruti gives into societal and parental pressure to marry a ‘normal’ man and lead a ‘normal’ life. Many years later their paths cross once again when Barfi, now in love with Jhilmil, is on the run from the police. Barfi is desperately seeking Jhilmil, who has gone missing. Shruti’s realization that Jhilmil is autistic makes her recognize that true love is really blind. Caught in a cat and mouse game, in the search for the girl Barfi loves, Shruti realizes that she is still in love with him. She must now choose between her happiness and Barfi! stars three of India’s most loved young stars, all essaying roles of a lifetime. The uber cool Ranbir Kapoor plays the lead role of Barfi!, the very talented Priyanka Chopra takes on the challenge of playing Jhilmil and South star Ileana makes her Hindi debut as Shruti. This season, don’t worry, be Barfi!

 

79Beauty and the Beast2017Bill CondonGreatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through History

Disney’s animated classic takes on a new form, with a widened mythology and an all-star cast. A young prince, imprisoned in the form of a beast, can be freed only by true love. What may be his only opportunity arrives when he meets Belle, the only human girl to ever visit the castle since it was enchanted.

 

23Beauty and the Beast1991Gary Trousdale, Kirk WiseGreatest Animated Films, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsHaving lived a life in selfishness, a young prince is cursed by a mysterious enchantress to having the appearance of a monstrous beast. His only hope is to learn to love a young woman and earn her love in return in order to redeem himself. Years later, his chance shows itself when a young maiden named Belle offers to take her ill father’s place as his prisoner. With help from the castle’s enchanted staff, Belle learns to appreciate her captor and immediately falls in love with him. Back in the village however, an unscrupulous hunter has his own plans for Belle.  
161Beloved2011Christophe HonoréGreatest Musicals

In London, a mother and daughter navigate their respective romances: Madeline rekindles an affair from thirty years earlier, while her daughter Vera is caught between a musician who cannot commit and her ex, who still pines for her.

 

97Beyoncé: Lemonade2016Beyoncé, Dikayl Rimmasch, Jonas Åkerlund, Kahlil Joseph, Mark Romanek, Melina Matsoukas, Todd ToursoGreatest Musicals

A view of a woman’s journey through life.

 

121Black and Tan1929Dudley MurphyGreatest Musicals

Duke Ellington in a jazz musical short with a tragic plotline.

 

179Black Cat, White Cat1998Emir KusturicaGreatest Musicals

Matko is a small time hustler, living by the river Danube with his 17 year old son Zare. After a failed business deal he owes money to the much more successful gangster Dadan. Dadan has a sister, Afrodita, that he desperately wants to see get married so they strike a deal: Zare is to marry her. But none of the two care much for an arranged marriage: Zare is in love with Ida, Afrodita is waiting for the man of her dreams.

 

75Black Orpheus1959Marcel CamusGreatest Musicals

In the heady atmosphere of Rio’s carnival, two people meet and fall in love. Eurydice, a country girl, has run away from home to avoid a man who arrived at her her looking for her. She is convinced that he was going to kill her. She arrives in Rio to stay with her cousin Serafina. Orfeo works as a tram conductor and is engaged to Mira – as far as Mira is concerned anyways. As Eurydice and Orpheus get to know one another they fall deeply in love. Mira is mad with jealousy and when Eurydice disappears, Orfeo sets out to find her.

 

146Blood Wedding1981Carlos SauraGreatest MusicalsGroup of dancers put Lorca's 'Blood Wedding' on stage, the tragic play about a married man who is still in love with his ex girlfriend, and tries to get back to her despite her planned wedding.
184Bohemian Rhapsody2018Bryan SingerGreatest Musicals

The story of the legendary British rock band Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury, leading up to their famous performance at Live Aid (1985).

 

46Bugsy Malone1976Alan ParkerGreatest Musicals

A gangster movie where all the gangsters are played by children. Instead of real bullets they use “splurge guns” that cover the victim in cream. The story tells of the rise of “Bugsy Malone” and the battle for power between “Fat Sam” and “Dandy Dan”.

 

8Cabaret1972Bob FosseGreatest Musicals

Cambridge University student Brian Roberts arrives in Berlin in 1931 to complete his German studies. Without much money, he plans on making a living teaching English while living in an inexpensive rooming house, where he befriends another of the tenants, American Sally Bowles. She is outwardly a flamboyant, perpetually happy person who works as a singer at the decadent Kit Kat Klub, a cabaret styled venue. Sally’s outward façade is matched by that of the Klub, overseen by the omnipresent Master of Ceremonies. Sally draws Brian into her world, and initially wants him to be one of her many lovers, until she learns that he is a homosexual, albeit a celibate one. Among their other friends are his students, the poor Fritz Wendel, who wants to be a gigolo to live a comfortable life, and the straight-laced and beautiful Natalia Landauer, a Jewish heiress. Fritz initially sees Natalia as his money ticket, but eventually falls for her. However Natalia is suspect of his motives and cannot overcome their religious differences. Also into Sally and Brian’s life comes the wealthy Baron Maximilian von Heune, who has the same outlook on life as Sally, but who has the money to support it. Max is willing to lavish his new friends with gifts and his favors. Around them all is the Nazi uprising, to which they seem to pay little attention or care. But they ultimately learn that life in all its good and particularly bad continues to happen to them and around them.

 

68Cabin in the Sky1943Busby Berkeley, Vincente MinnelliGreatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsChronic gambler and carouser “Little” Joe Jackson is shot by Domino Johnson at Jim Henry’s gambling club over an outstanding gambling debt. Little Joe’s wife, the God-fearing Petunia Jackson, prays not only for her husband’s mortal life, but also his eternal soul as she’s afraid that if he dies now, he, despite not being an evil man, won’t make it into heaven. As Little Joe is close to death, he is visited by agents of both the Lord and of Lucifer. They make a deal with him: they will give him six months to atone for the errors of his human life. Once back on Earth, he won’t remember the deal but both the Lord and Lucifer will be watching over him, trying to get him to see things their way. As both sides try to get Little Joe’s soul, they figure that some of the most powerful tools they have at their disposal are the women in Little Joe’s life: Petunia on behalf of the Lord, and Georgia Brown, a gold-digging floozy, on behalf of Lucifer. As hard as both the Lord and Lucifer try to get Little Joe on their side, they don’t factor into the equation human judgment, which turns some of their work against them.  
126Calamity Jane1953David ButlerGreatest Musicals

Deadwood, Dakota Territory, is largely the abode of men, where Indian scout Calamity Jane is as hard-riding, boastful, and handy with a gun as any; quite an overpowering personality. But the army lieutenant she favors doesn’t really appreciate her finer qualities. One of Jane’s boasts brings her to Chicago to recruit an actress for the Golden Garter stage. Arrived, the lady in question appears (at first) to be a more feminine rival for the favors of Jane’s male friends…including her friendly enemy Wild Bill Hickock.

 

27Carmen Jones1954Otto PremingerGreatest Musicals

At an all-black army camp, civilian parachute maker and “hot bundle” Carmen Jones is desired by many of the men. Naturally, she wants Joe, who’s engaged to sweet Cindy Lou and about to go into pilot training for the Korean War. Going after him, she succeeds only in getting him into the stockade. While she awaits his release, trouble approaches for both of them. Songs from the Bizet opera with modernized lyrics.

 

199Cat Ballou1965Elliot SilversteinGreatest Musicals, Greatest Westerns

Cat(herine) Ballou’s family farm is being threatened by the Rail Road. She sends for Kid Shelleen, finding him to be the drunkest gunfighter in the west. When her father is killed by the rail road magnate’s gunman, she vows to fight on. Shelleen manages to ride sideways in several scenes, while minstrels sing the ballad of Cat Ballou in between scenes.

 

36Chicago2002Rob MarshallBest Picture Winners, Greatest Musicals

Murderesses Velma Kelly (a chanteuse and tease who killed her husband and sister after finding them in bed together) and Roxie Hart (who killed her boyfriend when she discovered he wasn’t going to make her a star) find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.

 

111Chitty Chitty Bang Bang1968Ken HughesGreatest Fantasy Films, Greatest Musicals

An eccentric professor invents wacky machinery but can’t seem to make ends meet. When he invents a revolutionary car, a foreign government becomes interested in it and resorts to skulduggery to get their hands on it.

 

140Cinderella1950Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred JacksonGreatest Animated Films, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsIn a far away, long ago kingdom, Cinderella is living happily with her mother and father until her mother dies. Cinderella’s father remarries a cold, cruel woman who has two daughters, Drizella and Anastasia. When the father dies, Cinderella’s wicked stepmother turns her into a virtual servant in her own house. Meanwhile, across town in the castle, the King determines that his son the Prince should find a suitable bride and provide him with a required number of grandchildren. So the King invites every eligible maiden in the kingdom to a fancy dress ball, where his son will be able to choose his bride. Cinderella has no suitable party dress for a ball, but her friends the mice, led by Jaques and Gus, and the birds lend a hand in making her one, a dress the evil stepsisters immediately tear apart on the evening of the ball. At this point, enter the Fairy Godmother, the pumpkin carriage, the royal ball, the stroke of midnight, the glass slipper, and the rest, as they say, is fairy tale history.  
132Coal Miner's Daughter1980Michael AptedGreatest Musicals

At only thirteen years of age, Loretta Webb marries Doolittle Lynn and is soon responsible for a sizeable family. Loretta appears destined to a life of homemaking, but Doolittle recognises his wife’s musical talent, and buys her a guitar as an anniversary present one year. At eighteen, the mother of four children and busy housewife still finds time to write and sing songs at small fairs and local honky-tonks. This gift sets Loretta Lynn on the gruelling, tumultuous path to superstardom and country music greatness.

 

28Coco2017Adrian Molina, Lee UnkrichGreatest Animated Films, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsDespite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel (voice of newcomer Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (voice of Benjamin Bratt). Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector (voice of Gael García Bernal), and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel’s family history.  
185Congress Dances1931Erik CharellGreatest Musicals

Vienna glove-sales-lady Christl falls in love to Czar Alexander. Metternich tries to use this to keep him out of the conferences of the Vienna Congress from 1815.

 

138Country Strong2011Shana FesteGreatest Musicals

A drama centered on a rising country-music songwriter (Hedlund) who sparks with a fallen star (Paltrow). Together, they mount his ascent and her comeback, which leads to romantic complications involving her husband/manager (McGraw) and a beauty queen-turned-singer (Meester).

 

129Cry-Baby1990John WatersGreatest Musicals

Allison is a “square” good girl who has decided she wants to be bad and falls hard for Cry-Baby Walker, a Greaser (or “Drape” in John Waters parlance). Spoofing Elvis movies and Juvenile Delinquency scare films of the ’50s, this movie follows the adventures of Cry-Baby who, though he is sent to juvie, is determined to cross class (and taste) boundaries to get Allison back.

 

29Dancer in the Dark2000Lars von TrierGreatest Musicals

1964 in small town Washington state. Selma Jezková, a Czechoslovakian immigrant, and her preteen son Gene live in a rented trailer owned by and on the property of married Bill and Linda Houston, he the town sheriff. Beyond Bill and Linda, Selma has a small group of friends who look out for her, including her primary confidante, Kathy, with who she works, and Jeff who wants to be her boyfriend. Jeff regularly waits outside Selma’s workplace long before the end of her shift to drive her home, despite she always refusing in not wanting to lead him on. Her primary job is working on the Anderson Tool factory assembly line, but she does whatever she can to earn money. What only Kathy knows among Selma’s friends is that she is slowly going blind, her medical condition being genetic. Selma is barely able to see, just enough to do her job. Her primary reason for moving to the US and for working all the time is to earn enough money for an operation for Gene when he turns thirteen, he who doesn’t know anything about his mother or his own degenerative eyesight. None of Selma’s friends, not even Kathy, know about the money for Gene’s operation. Beyond this sole goal of the operation, Selma allows only one indulgence in her life, anything having to do with musicals, which she loves, it an escape from the problems of her life. Kathy often takes her to the cinema to watch old musicals, Kathy who has to describe to Selma what is happening on the screen much to the other patrons’ chagrin. Selma also has the lead of Maria in a community theater production of “The Sound of Music”. Close to having enough money for the operation, Selma is in a race against time before she loses enough of her sight not to be able to work or participate in the musical production. What may also threaten Selma’s goal of the operation for Gene is some financial problems facing Bill. He feels pressured to provide Linda with the comforts of life to which she is accustomed that he believes she requires in their marriage to be satisfied, and as such he is reluctant to tell Linda of those financial problems.

READ: Von Trier’s Musical Critique of America

 

191Days and Nights1944Henry BarakatGreatest MusicalsN/A
168Destiny1998-10-16Youssef ChahineGreatest Musicals

The story is set in the 12th century in Arab-ruled Spanish province Andalusia, where famed philosopher Averroes is appointed grand judge by the caliph and his liberal court judgements are not liked by everyone. The caliph’s political rivals, centered around the leader of a fanatical Islamic sect, force the caliph to send Averroes into exile, but his ideas keep on living thanks to his students.

 

144Dil Se..1998Mani RatnamGreatest Musicals

Amar Varma, a producer for Indian news radio, meets an enigmatic woman at a railroad station and then again at a hill station. He falls in love with her, but the woman, who calls herself Meghna, rejects and leaves him although she seems to be interested. Later, Varma agrees to marry his family’s choice, Preeti. But suddenly Meghna is back, and what is the secret that she holds?

 

107Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge1995Aditya ChopraGreatest Musicals

When Raj (Shahrukh Khan) and Simran (Kajol) first met on an inter-rail holiday in Europe, it wasn’t exactly Love at first sight but when Simran is taken back to India for an arranged marriage, things change. Encouraged by his father Dharamvir (Anupam Kher), Raj decides to fly down from London to not just win his Bride but her whole family and the blessings of her father Baldev Singh (Amrish Puri).

 

188Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog2008N/AGreatest Musicals, Greatest Superhero Films

Dr. Horrible, an aspiring supervillain with his own video blog, is attempting to join the prestigious Evil League of Evil (led by the legendary “thoroughbred of sin”, Bad Horse), but his plans are usually foiled by the egotistical superhero Captain Hammer. Horrible’s life is thrown for a loop when he falls in love with Penny, a beautiful and optimistic advocate for the homeless he meets at the laundromat, a situation which complicates itself even further when Penny begins dating the boorish, oafish Hammer after he apparently saves her life. Faced with the task of impressing the League, can Horrible overcome his own incompetence to ruin the day, kill the hero, and still get the girl?

 

70Dreamgirls2006Bill CondonGreatest Musicals

Detroit, the early 1960s. Curtis Taylor, Jr., a car salesman, breaks into the music business with big dreams. He signs a trio of young women, the Dreamettes, gets them a job backing an R&B performer, James “Thunder” Early, establishes his own record label and starts wheeling and dealing. When Early flames out, Curtis makes the Dreamettes into headliners as the Dreams, but not before demoting their hefty big-voiced lead singer, Effie White, and putting the softer-voiced looker, Deena Jones, in front. Soon after, he fires Effie, sends her into a life of proud poverty, and takes Deena and the Dreams to the top. How long can Curtis stay there, and will Effie ever get her due?

 

64Enchanted2007Kevin LimaGreatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsThe beautiful princess Giselle is banished by an evil queen from her magical, musical animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn’t operate on a “happily ever after” basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer who has come to her aid – even though she is already promised to a perfect fairy tale prince back home – she has to wonder: Can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?  
76Everyone Says I Love You1996Woody AllenGreatest Musicals

Holden and Skylar are in love with each other. Skylar lives with a large and extended family on Manhattan. Her parents, Bob and Steffi have been married to each other for many years. Joe, a friend of theirs, who has a daughter, DJ, with Steffi. After yet another relationship, Joe is alone again. He flees to Venice, and meets Von, and makes her believe that he is the man of her dreams. However, their happiness is fake all the way, and she returns to her previous husband. Steffi spends her time with charity work, and manages to break up Skylars and Holdens relation when she introduces Skylar to a released jailbird, Charles Ferry.

 

136Fame1980Alan ParkerGreatest Musicals

At the New York City High School for the Performing Arts, students get specialized training that often leads to success as actors, singers, etc. This movie follows four students from the time when they audition to get into the school, through graduation. They are the brazen Coco Hernandez, shy Doris Finsecker, sensitive gay Montgomery MacNeil, and brash, abrasive Raul Garcia.

 

98Fantasia1940Ben Sharpsteen, Bill Roberts, David Hand, Ford Beebe Jr., Hamilton Luske, James Algar, Jim Handley, Norman Ferguson, Paul Satterfield, Samuel Armstrong, T. Hee, Wilfred JacksonBestselling Blockbusters Through History, Greatest Animated Films, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through HistoryDisney animators set pictures to Western classical music as Leopold Stokowski conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra. “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” features Mickey Mouse as an aspiring magician who oversteps his limits. “The Rite of Spring” tells the story of evolution, from single-celled animals to the death of the dinosaurs. “Dance of the Hours” is a comic ballet performed by ostriches, hippos, elephants, and alligators. “Night on Bald Mountain” and “Ave Maria” set the forces of darkness and light against each other as a devilish revel is interrupted by the coming of a new day.  
124Fiddler on the Roof1971Norman JewisonGreatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through History

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Jews and Orthodox Christians live in the little village of Anatevka in the pre-revolutionary Russia of the Czars. Among the traditions of the Jewish community, the matchmaker arranges the match and the father approves it. The milkman Reb Tevye is a poor man that has been married for twenty-five years with Golde and they have five daughters. When the local matchmaker Yente arranges the match between his older daughter Tzeitel and the old widow butcher Lazar Wolf, Tevye agrees with the wedding. However Tzeitel is in love with the poor tailor Motel Kamzoil and they ask permission to Tevye to get married that he accepts to please his daughter. Then his second daughter Hodel (Michele Marsh) and the revolutionary student Perchik decide to marry each other and Tevye is forced to accept. When Perchik is arrested by the Czar troops and sent to Siberia, Hodel decides to leave her family and homeland and travel to Siberia to be with her beloved Perchik. When his third daughter Chava decides to get married with the Christian Fyedka, Tevye does not accept and considers that Chava has died. Meanwhile the Czar troops evict the Jewish community from Anatevka.

 

173Footloose1984Herbert RossGreatest Musicals

Classic tale of teenage rebellion and repression features a delightful combination of dance choreography and realistic and touching performances. When teenager Ren McCormack and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small Midwestern town, he’s in for a real case of culture shock. Though he tries hard to fit in, the streetwise Ren can’t quite believe he’s living in a place where rock music and dancing are illegal. However, there is one small pleasure: Ariel Moore, a troubled but lovely blonde with a jealous boyfriend. And a Bible-thumping minister, who is responsible for keeping the town dance-free. Ren and his classmates want to do away with this ordinance, especially since the senior prom is around the corner, but only Ren has the courage to initiate a battle to abolish the outmoded ban and revitalize the spirit of the repressed townspeople. Fast-paced drama is filled with such now-famous hit songs as the title track and “Let’s Hear It for the Boy”.

 

63French Cancan1955Jean RenoirGreatest Musicals

Henri Danglard, proprietor of the fashionable (but bankrupt) cafe ‘Le Paravent Chinois’ featuring his mistress, belly dancer Lola, goes slumming in Montmarte (circa 1890) where the then-old-fashioned cancan is still danced. There, he conceives the idea of reviving the cancan as the feature of a new, more popular establishment…and meets Nini, a laundress and natural dancer, whom he hopes to star in his new show. But a tangled maze of jealousies intervenes…

 

15Frozen2013Chris Buck, Jennifer LeeGreatest Animated Films, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest Musicals

Anna, a fearless optimist, sets off on an epic journey – teaming up with rugged mountain man Kristoff and his loyal reindeer Sven – to find her sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom. From the outside Anna’s sister, Elsa looks poised, regal and reserved, but in reality, she lives in fear as she wrestles with a mighty secret-she was born with the power to create ice and snow. It’s a beautiful ability, but also extremely dangerous. Haunted by the moment her magic nearly killed her younger sister Anna, Elsa has isolated herself, spending every waking minute trying to suppress her growing powers. Her mounting emotions trigger the magic, accidentally setting off an eternal winter that she can’t stop. She fears she’s becoming a monster and that no one, not even her sister, can help her.

READ: INVESTIGATION: Just what *are* Arendelle’s major exports?

 
190Funny Face1957Stanley DonenGreatest Musicals

Fashion photographer Dick Avery, in search for an intellectual backdrop for an air-headed model, expropriates a Greenwich Village bookstore. When the photo session is over the store is left in a shambles, much to salesgirl Jo Stockton’s dismay. Avery stays behind to help her clean up. Later, he examines the photos taken there and sees Jo in the background of one shot. He is intrigued by her unique appearance, as is Maggie Prescott, the editor of a leading fashion magazine. They offer Jo a modeling contract, which she reluctantly accepts only because it includes a trip to Paris. Eventually, her snobbish attitude toward the job softens, and Jo begins to enjoy the work and the company of her handsome photographer.

 

34Funny Girl1968William WylerGreatest Musicals

Early twentieth century New York. Fanny Brice knows that she is a talented comedienne and singer. She also knows that she is not the beauty typical of the stage performers of the day, she with skinny legs and a crooked nose among other physical issues. So she knows she has to use whatever other means to get her break in show business, that break so that she can at least display her talents. With the help of Eddie Ryan who would become her friend, Fanny is able to get a part in a novelty act in a vaudeville show, the renown from which eventually comes to the attention of famed impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.. Fanny does become one of the Ziegfeld Follies most popular acts, despite she almost getting fired after her first performance by defying Flo’s artistic vision for her closing number. Beyond stage success, Fanny also wants a happy personal life, most specifically with the suave Nicky Arnstein, a gambler in every respect of the word. Fanny loves him and loves that he loves her despite her lack of traditional beauty, but she does not love that he comes in and goes out of her life based on his financial standing at any given time and his need to earn that quick buck by the next poker game or high stakes business deal as he feels he needs to play the traditional role of money maker in their relationship on his own terms.

 

47Gentlemen Prefer Blondes1953Howard HawksGreatest Musicals

Lorelei and Dorothy are just “Two Little Girls from Little Rock”, lounge singers on a transatlantic cruise, working their way to Paris, and enjoying the company of any eligible men they might meet along the way, even though “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Based on the Broadway musical based on the novel.

 

71Gigi1958Charles Walters, Vincente MinnelliBest Picture Winners, Greatest Musicals

Weary of the conventions of Parisian society, a rich playboy and a youthful courtesan-in-training enjoy a platonic friendship, but it may not stay platonic for long. Gaston, the scion of a wealthy Parisian family finds emotional refuge from the superficial lifestyle of upper class Parisian 1900s society with the former mistress of his uncle and her outgoing, tomboy granddaughter, Gigi. When Gaston becomes aware that Gigi has matured into a woman, her grandmother and aunt, who have educated Gigi to be a wealthy man’s mistress, urge the pair to act out their roles but love adds a surprise twist to this delightful turn-of-the 20th century Cinderella story.

 

130Going My Way1944Leo McCareyBest Picture Winners, Bestselling Blockbusters Through History, Greatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through History

Youthful Father Chuck O’Malley led a colorful life of sports, song, and romance before joining the Roman Catholic clergy, but his level gaze and twinkling eyes make it clear that he knows he made the right choice. After joining a parish, O’Malley’s worldly knowledge helps him connect with a gang of kids looking for direction and handle the business details of the church-building fund, winning over his aging, conventional superior, Father Fitzgibbon.

 

194Gold Diggers of 19331933Mervyn LeRoyGreatest Musicals

Chorus girls Polly, Carol and Trixie are ecstatic when they learn that Broadway producer Barney Hopkins is putting on a new show. He promises all of the girls parts in the new show and even hires their neighbor Brad Roberts, an unknown composer, to write some of the music. There’s only one problem: he doesn’t have the money to bankroll it all. That problem is solved when Brad turns out to be quite rich but he insists that he not perform. When opening night comes, the juvenile lead can’t go on forcing Brad to take the stage. He’s recognized of course and his upper crust family wants him to quit. When he refuses, they tell him to end his relationship with Polly or face having his income cut off. When Brad’s snobbish brother Lawrence mistakes Carol for Polly, the girls decide to have a bit of fun and teach him a lesson.

 

192Golden Eighties1986Chantal AkermanGreatest MusicalsThree young women at a hair salon all like the son of the clothing store proprietors across the mall. Although Robby is selfish and shallow, he's appealing to Lili, the salon's manager, who's trendy and also the salon-owner's moll; to Mado, who's innocent and sweet; and to Pascale, who's intelligent but passive and downcast. Robby's dad tells him to grow up and see beyond the mercurial Lili, so he proposes suddenly to Mado. She's delighted, but the day before the wedding, Lili returns to give Robby another look. In the background, a Yank who was a soldier in France in World War II returns to Paris and tries to recapture the love of his wartime sweetheart, Robby's mom.
24Grease1978Randal KleiserGreatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through History

A musical about teens in love in the 50’s! It’s California 1959 and greaser Danny Zuko and Australian Sandy Olsson are in love. They spend time at the beach, and when they go back to school, what neither of them knows is that they both now attend Rydell High. Danny’s the leader of the T-Birds, a group of black leather jacket-wearing greasers while Sandy hangs with the Pink Ladies, a group of pink-wearing girls led by Rizzo. When they clash at Rydell’s first pep rally, Danny isn’t the same Danny from the beach. They try to be like each other so they can be together.

 

102Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench2010Damien ChazelleGreatest Musicals

After connecting with the shy Madeline, a jazz trumpeter embarks on a quest for a more gregarious paramour, but through a series of twists and turns punctuated by an original score, the two lovers seem destined to be together.

 

38Guys and Dolls1955Joseph L. MankiewiczGreatest Musicals

All the hot gamblers are in town, and they’re all depending on Nathan Detroit to set up this week’s incarnation of “The Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York”; the only problem is, he needs $1000 to get the place. Throw in Sarah Brown, who’s short on sinners at the mission she runs; Sky Masterson, who accepts Nathan’s $1000 bet that he can’t get Sarah Brown to go with him to Havana; Miss Adelaide, who wants Nathan to marry her; Police Lieutenant Brannigan, who always seems to appear at the wrong time; and the music/lyrics of Frank Loesser, and you’ve got quite a musical. Includes the songs: Fugue for Tinhorns, “Luck Be a Lady”, “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat”.

 

60Hair1979Milos FormanGreatest Musicals

This movie, based on the cult Broadway musical of the 60s, tells a story about Claude, a young man from Oklahoma who comes to New York City. There he strikes up a friendship with a group of hippies, led by Berger, and falls in love with Sheila, a girl from a rich family. However, their happiness is short because Claude must go to the Vietnam war.

 

77Hairspray2007Adam ShankmanGreatest Musicals

Tracy Turnblad, an overweight teenager with all the right moves, is obsessed with the Corny Collins Show. Every day after school, she and her best friend Penny run home to watch the show and drool over the hot Link Larkin, much to Tracy’s mother Edna’s dismay. After one of the stars of the show leaves, Corny Collins holds auditions to see who will be the next person on the Corny Collins show. With all of the help of her friend Seaweed, Tracy makes it on the show, angering the evil dance queen Amber Von Tussle and her mother Velma. Tracy then decides that it’s not fair that the black kids can only dance on the Corny Collins Show once a month, and with the help of Seaweed, Link, Penny, Motormouth Maybelle, her father and Edna, she’s going to integrate the show…..without denting her ‘do!

 

 

44Hedwig and the Angry Inch2001John Cameron MitchellGreatest Musicals

Hedwig, born male as Hansel in East Berlin, fell in love with an American G.I. and underwent a Gender Confirmation Surgery in order to marry him and flee to the West. Unfortunately, nothing worked out quite as it was supposed to – years later, Hedwig is leading her rock band on a tour of the U.S., telling her life story through a series of concerts at Bilgewater Inn seafood restaurants. Her tour dates coincide with those of arena-rock star Tommy Gnosis, a wide-eyed boy who once loved Hedwig – but then left with all her songs.

 

178Hello, Dolly!1969Gene KellyGreatest Musicals

A matchmaker named Dolly Levi takes a trip to Yonkers, New York to see the “well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire,” Horace Vandergelder. While there, she convinces him, his two stock clerks and his niece and her beau to go to New York City. In New York, she fixes Vandergelder’s clerks up with the woman Vandergelder had been courting, and her shop assistant (Dolly has designs of her own on Mr. Vandergelder, you see).

 

181Help!1965Richard LesterGreatest Musicals

An Eastern cult discovers that the sacrificial ring is missing. Ringo, drummer of The Beatles band has it; sent by the girl (who’s to be sacrificed) as a gift. Clang, Ahme, Bhuta and several cult members leave for London to retrieve the ring. After several failed attempts to steal the ring, they confront him in an Indian restaurant. Ringo learns that if he does not return the ring soon, he will become the next sacrifice. Ringo then discovers that the ring is stuck on his finger. Its a race against time; John, Paul, and George try to protect their friend while they’re all being chased not only by Clang and his minions, but also by two mad scientists and the chief inspector of Scotland yard. Will Ringo be saved, or will he be sacrificed?

 

78Hercules1997John Musker, Ron ClementsGreatest Musicals

Hercules, son of the Greek God, Zeus, is turned into a half-god, half-mortal by evil Hades, God of the Underworld, who plans to overthrow Zeus. Hercules is raised on Earth and retains his god-like strength, but when he discovers his immortal heritage Zeus tells him that to return to Mount Olympus he must become a true hero. Hercules becomes a famous hero with the help of his friend Pegasus and his personal trainer, Phil the satyr. Hercules battles monsters, Hades and the Titans, but it is his self-sacrifice to rescue his love Meg which makes him a true hero.

 

93High Society1956Charles WaltersGreatest Musicals

C.K. Dexter-Haven, a successful popular jazz musician, lives in a mansion near his ex-wife’s Tracy Lord’s family estate. She is on the verge of marrying a man blander and safer than Dex, who tries to win Tracy’s heart again. Mike Connor, an undercover tabloid reporter, also falls for Tracy while covering the nuptials for Spy magazine. Tracy must choose between the three men as she discovers that “safe” can mean “deadly dull” when it comes to husbands and life.

 

169Hipsters2011Valeriy TodorovskiyGreatest Musicals

While the Cold War heats up on the world stage, rebellious youth in 1955 Moscow wage a cultural battle against dismal Soviet conformity, donning brightly colored black-market clothing, adopting American nicknames and reveling in forbidden jazz. Straight-laced 20-year-old Communist Mels finds these brazen ‘hipsters’ shocking until he falls under the spell of one, namely Polly, and joins the new revolution. Soon he’s a peacock, cavorting in the latest flashy fashions, sporting an enormous pompadour and wailing on the saxophone.

 

139Holiday Inn1942Mark Sandrich, Robert AllenGreatest Musicals

Lovely Linda Mason has crooner Jim Hardy head over heels, but suave stepper Ted Hanover wants her for his new dance partner after femme fatale Lila Dixon gives him the brush. Jim’s supper club, Holiday Inn, is the setting for the chase by Hanover and manager Danny Reed. The music’s the thing.

 

200Hong Kong Nocturne1967Umetsugu InoueGreatest MusicalsThe tale of a female trio singing and dancing in night city of Hong Kong's everyday life.
193How the Grinch Stole Christmas!1966Ben Washam, Chuck JonesFavorite Christmas Movies, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsBitter and hateful, the Grinch is irritated at the thought of the nearby village having a happy time celebrating Christmas. So disguised as Santa Claus, with his dog made to look like a reindeer, he raids the village to steal all the Christmas things. The village is sure to have a sad Christmas this year.  
154Hustle & Flow2005Craig BrewerGreatest Musicals

Aspiring emcee DJay works the angles to get his first record made with help from assorted people in his Memphis ‘hood. And when he hears that hip-hop superstar Skinny Black is heading to his area, he throws together a supreme hustle to grab Skinny’s attention.

 

88Into the Woods2014Rob MarshallGreatest Musicals

Into the Woods is a modern twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales in a musical format that follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel-all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them.

 

103Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro1983Kundan ShahGreatest Musicals

Vinod (Naseeruddin Shah) and Sudhir (Ravi Baswani) are two professional photographers trying to start a photo studio. The first real assignment that they get, from the activist magazine Khabardar (literally meaning beware), draws them into the shady world of Bombay real estate. They discover that one of the biggest builders in Bombay, Tarneja, is trying to bribe Municipal Commissioner D’Mello (Satish Shah) into giving him a bridge contract. Meanwhile D’Mello is negotiating with Tarneja’s arch rival Ahuja (Om Puri). The contract is finally awarded to a third person. By chance Vinod and Sudhir find out that Tarneja has murdered D’Mello…

 

198Jailhouse Rock1957Richard ThorpeGreatest Musicals

Vince Everett is serving a one-year jail sentence for manslaughter. While in the big house, his cellmate, a former country singer, introduces him to the record business. Everett takes to it so well that he decides to become a singer when he gets out. However, he is quickly disillusioned by the record business. But with the help of a new friend, he decides to form his own label, and soon becomes an overnight sensation. But when he becomes a superstar, will his desire for fame and money cause him to forget the people who got him there?

 

156Jesus Christ Superstar1973Norman JewisonGreatest Musicals

Based on a concept album project written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, and the subsequent long-running Broadway performance, this film tells the story of the final 6 days in the life of Jesus Christ through the troubled eyes of Judas Iscariot. Too often mis-labeled a musical, this film is a “rock opera.” There are no spoken lines, everything is sung.

 

150Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...2001Karan JoharGreatest Musicals

Yashvardhan Raichand lives a very wealthy lifestyle along with his wife, Nandini, and two sons, Rahul and Rohan. While Rahul has been adopted, Yashvardhan and Nandini treat him as their own. When their sons mature, they start to look for suitable brides for Rahul, and decide to get him married to a young woman named Naina. When Rahul is told about this, he tells them that he loves another woman by the name of Anjali Sharma. Yashvardhan decides to meet with the Sharma family, and finds out that they are middle-classed, unsophisticated, and will not be able to it into his family circle, as a result he refuses to permit Rahul to marry Anjali. A defiant Rahul decides to leave, gets married to Anjali, without his foster parents blessings, and re-locates to London, England, where Anjali’s unmarried sister, Pooja, also lives. Rohan, who was studying in a hostel, returns home to find that Rahul is no longer living with them, and he also discovers that while outwardly his dad is not interested in seeing Rahul get back, Nandini wants the family back all together for all happy and sad moments. Rohan also misses Rahul a lot, and decides to travel to London in order to try and get Rahul to return home. Yashvardhan, is unable to prevent this, and as a result Rohan does travel to London, meets with Rahul, Anjali, and Pooja. The question remains will the hurt and sorrow that Rahul experienced with his foster parents be erased and enable the family to be reunited, or will Rahul forget about the past, and continue to live his life without getting back to his roots and the family who brought him up, leaving Rohan to return alone?

 

189Karmen Gei2001Joseph Gaï RamakaGreatest Musicals

Like every Carmen, Karmen Geï is about the conflict between infinite desire for freedom and the laws, conventions, languages, the human limitations which constrain that desire.

 

167La France2007Serge BozonGreatest Musicals

In France in the darkest days of the Great War Camille receives an alarming letter from her soldier boyfriend. Disguising herself as a man she sets off to try and find him. As she lives near the Western Fromt she hooks up with a passing group of French soldiers without too much trouble. But there’s something a bit odd about these stragglers, and it’s not just their habit of bursting into song at every opportunity.

 

7La La Land2016Damien ChazelleGreatest Musicals

Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

 

84La Vie En Rose2007Olivier DahanGreatest Musicals

An un-chronological look at the life of the Little Sparrow, Édith Piaf (1915-1963). Her mother is an alcoholic street singer, her father a circus performer, her paternal grandmother a madam. During childhood she lives with each of them. At 20, she’s a street singer discovered by a club owner who’s soon murdered, coached by a musician who brings her to concert halls, and then quickly famous. Constant companions are alcohol and heartache. The tragedies of her love affair with Marcel Cerdan and the death of her only child belie the words of one of her signature songs, “Non, je ne regrette rien.” The back and forth nature of the narrative suggests the patterns of memory and association.

 

61Labyrinth1986Jim HensonGreatest Fantasy Films, Greatest Musicals

The teenager Sarah is forced by her father and her stepmother to babysit her baby brother Toby while they are outside home. Toby does not stop crying and Sarah wishes that her brother be taken by the Goblin King. Out of the blue, Toby stops crying and when Sarah looks for him in the cradle, she learns that he wish was granted and the Goblin King Jarethhas taken him to his castle in the Goblin City in the middle of a labyrinth. Sarah repents an asks Jareth to give Toby back; but the Goblin King tells that she has to rescue her brother before midnight, otherwise Toby will be turned into a goblin. Soon Sarah teams up with the coward goblin Hoggle, the beast Ludo and the knight Didymus and his dog Ambrosius in her journey. Will they rescue Toby in time?

 

142Lady and the Tramp1955Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred JacksonGreatest Animated Films, Greatest MusicalsLady, a golden cocker spaniel, meets up with a mongrel dog who calls himself the Tramp. He is obviously from the wrong side of town, but happenings at Lady’s home make her decide to travel with him for a while. This turns out to be a bad move, as no dog is above the law.  
92Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India2001Ashutosh GowarikerGreatest Musicals

This is the story about the resilience shown by the Indians when they were under the British Rule. They are already taxed to the bone by the British and their cronies, but when Jack Russell announces that he will double the Lagaan (tax) from all villagers, they decide to oppose it. Leading the villagers is a handsome young man named Bhuvan, who challenges them to a game of cricket, a game that is to be played by veteran British cricket players, versus villagers, including Bhuvan himself, who have never played this game before, and do not even know a bat from a piece of wood. As the challenge is accepted, the interest grows and attracts Indians from all over the region, as well as the British from all over the country – as everyone gathers to see the ‘fair play’ that the British will display against their counter-parts, who are aided by none other than the sister, Elizabeth, of Captain Rusell.

READ: Bollywood & Hollywood Nationalism

 

 

148Le Million1931René ClairGreatest Musicals

Michel, a Parisian artist, is being hounded by numerous impatient creditors. To make things worse, when he is embracing the woman whose portrait he is painting, he is surprised by his indignant fiancée Béatrice. Suddenly, Michel learns that he holds the winning ticket in the Dutch Lottery. But when he goes to retrieve the ticket from the pocket of his jacket, he finds that Béatrice has given the jacket to a stranger who was in need. Now everyone has a keen interest in finding that jacket.

READ: René Clair, From Silents to Sound

 

137Les Misérables2012Tom HooperGreatest Musicals

Jean Valjean, known as Prisoner 24601, is released from prison and breaks parole to create a new life for himself while evading the grip of the persistent Inspector Javert. Set in post-revolutionary France, the story reaches resolution against the background of the June Rebellion.

 

35Little Shop of Horrors1986Frank OzGreatest Horror Films, Greatest Musicals

Seymour Krelborn is a nerdy orphan working at Mushnik’s, a flower shop in urban Skid Row. He harbors a crush on fellow co-worker Audrey Fulquard, and is berated by Mr. Mushnik daily. One day as Seymour is seeking a new mysterious plant, he finds a very mysterious unidentified plant which he calls Audrey II. The plant seems to have a craving for blood and soon begins to sing for his supper. Soon enough, Seymour feeds Audrey’s sadistic dentist boyfriend to the plant and later, Mushnik for witnessing the death of Audrey’s ex. Will Audrey II take over the world or will Seymour and Audrey defeat it?

 

114London Road2015Rufus NorrisGreatest Musicals

London Road documents the events of 2006, when the quiet rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women. The residents of London Road had struggled for years with frequent soliciting and kerb-crawling on their street. When a local resident was charged and then convicted of the murders, the community grappled with what it meant to be at the epicentre of this tragedy.

 

81Love Me Tonight1932Rouben MamoulianGreatest Musicals

When Parisienne tailor Maurice Courtelin learns that one of his aristocratic clients, the Viscount Gilbert de Varèze, is a deadbeat who never pays for the merchandise he acquires, he heads off to try and collect what is owed to him. He gets little in the way of cash from the Viscount who is desperate that his uncle, the Duke D’Artelines not learn of his debts. He suggests that Maurice spend a little time at the chateau until the money can be found. The Duke takes an immediate liking to Maurice – who’s been introduced as a Baron – but that’s not the case for the Princess Jeanette who, after an encounter with him him on the road earlier that day. Over time Jeannette falls in love with him

 

116Love Songs2007Christophe HonoréGreatest Musicals

Julie’s boyfriend Ismaël lives with her; rather than worry about the time he spends with his colleague Alice, Julie invites Alice to join them. The three walk the streets of Paris, party, read, and sleep together. Sometimes it’s lighthearted, sometimes there are jealousies. Then death strikes. In various ways, those left come to terms with the departure and absence of a loved one: showing concern, eating together, attempting new relationships, trying to “be there” for the other. Then, the spirit returns and new commitments are possible. The romantic elements of musical comedy play in contrast to the ambivalence of the lyrics and the story.

 

123Mamma Mia!2008Phyllida LloydGreatest Musicals

Set on a colorful Greek island, the plot serves as a background for a wealth of ABBA songs. A young woman about to be married discovers that any one of three men could be her father. She invites all three to the wedding without telling her mother, Donna, who was once the lead singer of Donna and the Dynamos. In the meantime, Donna has invited her backup singers, Rosie and Tanya.

 

22Mary Poppins1964Robert StevensonBestselling Blockbusters Through History, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through HistoryWhen Jane and Michael, the children of the wealthy and uptight Banks family, are faced with the prospect of a new nanny, they are pleasantly surprised by the arrival of the magical Mary Poppins. Embarking on a series of fantastical adventures with Mary and her Cockney performer friend, Bert, the siblings try to pass on some of their nanny’s sunny attitude to their preoccupied parents.  
17Meet Me in St. Louis1945Vincente MinnelliGreatest Musicals

St. Louis 1903. The well-off Smith family has four beautiful daughters, including Esther and little Tootie. 17-year old Esther has fallen in love with the boy next door who has just moved in, John. He however barely notices her at first. The family is shocked when Mr. Smith reveals that he has been transfered to a nice position in New York, which means that the family has to leave St. Louis and the St. Louis Fair.

 

73Moana2016Chris Williams, Don Hall, John Musker, Ron ClementsGreatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsMoana Waialiki is a sea voyaging enthusiast and the only daughter of a chief in a long line of navigators. When her island’s fishermen can’t catch any fish and the crops fail, she learns that the demigod Maui caused the blight by stealing the heart of the goddess, Te Fiti. The only way to heal the island is to persuade Maui to return Te Fiti’s heart, so Moana sets off on an epic journey across the Pacific. The film is based on stories from Polynesian mythology.  
40Mother India1957Mehboob KhanGreatest Musicals

The film begins with the finishing of a water canal for the village set in the present. Radha (Nargis), as the mother of the village, is asked to open the canal and remembers back to her past when she was newly married, mirroring the new independence of India. The wedding between Radha and Shamu (Raaj Kumar) was paid for by Radha’s mother-in-law, who got a loan from the moneylender Sukhilala. This event starts the spiral of poverty and hardship that Radha endures. The conditions of the loan are disputed, but the village elders decide in favor of the moneylender, after which Shamu and Radha are forced to pay three-quarters of their crop as interest on the loan of 500 rupees. While trying to use more of their land to alleviate their poverty, Shamu’s arms are crushed by a boulder. He is shamed by his helplessness and is humiliated by others in the village. Deciding that he is no use to his family, he leaves and does not return. Soon after this, Radha’s mother-in-law dies. Radha continues to work in the fields with her children and gives birth again. Sukhilala offers to help alleviate her poverty in return for Radha marrying him, but she refuses to sell herself. A storm sweeps through the village that destroys the harvest and kills Radha’s youngest child, and the villagers start to migrate but decide to stay and rebuild because of Radha’s urging. The film then skips forward several years to when Radha’s two surviving children, Birju (Sunil Dutt) and Ramu (Rajendra Kumar), are young men. Birju, embittered by the exactions of Sukhilala since he was a child, takes out his frustrations by pestering the village girls, especially Sukhilala’s daughter. Ramu, by contrast, has a calmer temper and is married soon after. He becomes a father ,but his wife is soon absorbed into the cycle of poverty. Birju’s anger finally becomes dangerous and, after being provoked, attacks Sukhilala and his daughter and violently lashes out at his family. He is chased out of the village and becomes a bandit. On the day of the wedding of Sukhilala’s daughter, Birju returns to exact vengeance. He kills Sukhilala and takes his daughter–but Radha, who had promised that Birju would not do harm, shoots Birju, who dies in her arms. The film ends with her opening the canal and reddish water flowing into the fields.

 

12Moulin Rouge!2001Baz LuhrmannGreatest Musicals

The year is 1899, and Christian, a young English writer, has come to Paris to follow the Bohemian revolution taking hold of the city’s drug and prostitute infested underworld. And nowhere is the thrill of the underworld more alive than at the Moulin Rouge, a night club where the rich and poor men alike come to be entertained by the dancers, but things take a wicked turn for Christian as he starts a deadly love affair with the star courtesan of the club, Satine. But her affections are also coveted by the club’s patron: the Duke. A dangerous love triangle ensues as Satine and Christian attempt to fight all odds to stay together but a force that not even love can conquer is taking its toll on Satine…

 

96Mughal-E-Azam1960K. AsifGreatest Musicals

Set in the 16th century AD, the movie brings to life the tale of the doomed love affair between the Mughal Crown Prince Saleem and the beautiful, ill-fated court dancer, whose fervor and intensity perpetrates a war between the prince and his father the great Mughal Emperor Akbar, and threatens to bring an empire to its knees.

 

45Mulan1998Barry Cook, Tony BancroftGreatest Animated Films, Greatest MusicalsThis retelling of the old Chinese folktale is about the story of a young Chinese maiden who learns that her weakened and lame father is to be called up into the army in order to fight the invading Huns. Knowing that he would never survive the rigours of war in his state, she decides to disguise herself and join in his place. Unknown to her, her ancestors are aware of this and to prevent it, they order a tiny disgraced dragon, Mushu to join her in order to force her to abandon her plan. He agrees, but when he meets Mulan, he learns that she cannot be dissuaded and so decides to help her in the perilous times ahead.  
11My Fair Lady1964George CukorBest Picture Winners, Bestselling Blockbusters Through History, Greatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through History

Pompous phonetics professor Henry Higgins is so sure of his abilities that he takes it upon himself to transform a Cockney working-class girl into someone who can pass for a cultured member of high society. His subject turns out to be the lovely Eliza Doolittle, who agrees to speech lessons to improve her job prospects. Higgins and Eliza clash, then form an unlikely bond — one that is threatened by an aristocratic suitor.

 

174My Voice2002Flora GomesGreatest MusicalsIt has always been a firm conviction of the family that any woman who sings, will die. Now, while a girl is in France she becomes an international star. She realises that sooner rather than later her mother in Africa will learn that she sings. To solve this dilemma she goes back to her native village and arranges her own funeral, albeit with instantaneous rebirth. She is lying in the coffin while all invited guest form a queue and pass the coffin one by one. When she needs go to the toilet a boy will take her place. And then one of the guests says: How different she looks after having died. Is this an allusion to Bergman's movie "Now About These Women"?
25Nashville1975Robert AltmanGreatest Election Movies, Greatest Musicals

This movie tells the intersecting stories of various people connected to the music business in Nashville. Barbara Jean is the reigning queen of Nashville but is near collapse. Linnea and Delbert Reese have a shaky marriage and 2 deaf children. Opal is a British journalist touring the area. These and other stories come together in a dramatic climax.

 

69New York, New York1977Martin ScorseseGreatest Musicals

The day WW II ends, Jimmy, a selfish and smooth-talking musician, meets Francine, a lounge singer. From that moment on, their relationship grows into love as they struggle with their careers and aim for the top.

 

157No One Knows About Persian Cats2009Bahman GhobadiGreatest Musicals

Negar and Ashkan, two young Iranian songwriters, decide to set up an underground band and look for other musicians to join them, but the authorities keep putting a spanner in the works. Fed up with being hindered from expressing themselves, the two young people try to get documents to leave the country for Europe.

 

195Novgorodtsy1970Boris BarnetGreatest MusicalsN/A
62Oliver!1968Carol ReedBest Picture Winners, Greatest Musicals

Musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’s classic tale of an orphan who runs away from the orphanage and hooks up with a group of boys trained to be pickpockets by an elderly mentor.

 

159Om Shanti Om2007Farah KhanGreatest Musicals

Om Prakash Makhija is a Junior Artist in the 1970’s hindi film industry, who is in love with actress Shantipriya. Om rescues Shanti from a fire scene where the fire has escaped control, and they become friends. His hopes seems to be coming true, but shortly thereafter he finds out that she is married to a film producer, Mukesh Mehra, and is expecting his child. He then watches in horror as Mukesh, after luring her in an abandoned studio, sets it on fire to prevent a financial loss and protect his career. Om attempts to rescue her in vain, and he eventually is killed. 30 years later, Om has reincarnated as the only son of a Bollywood actor, Rajesh Kapoor, and is himself an actor. His memories start to return when he meets with his widowed mother, Bela, from his previous birth. He also meets with Mukesh and together they decide to make a movie ‘Om Shanti Om’. Om then hires a look-alike of Shantipriya, and hopes to force a confession out of Mukesh – but things go awry and Om finds his life endangered once again.

 

53On the Town1949Gene Kelly, Stanley DonenGreatest Musicals

Three sailors – Gabey, Chip and Ozzie – let loose on a 24-hour pass in New York and the Big Apple will never be the same! Gabey falls head over heels for “Miss Turnstiles of the Month” (he thinks she’s a high society deb when she’s really a ‘cooch dancer at Coney Island); innocent Chip gets highjacked (literally) by a lady cab driver; and Ozzie becomes the object of interest of a gorgeous anthropologist who thinks he’s the perfect example of a “prehistoric man”. Wonderful music and terrific shots of New York at its best.

 

56Once2007John CarneyGreatest Musicals

An unnamed guy is a Dublin guitarist/singer/songwriter who makes a living by fixing vacuum cleaners in his Dad’s Hoover repair shop by day, and singing and playing for money on the Dublin streets by night. An unnamed girl is a Czech who plays piano when she gets a chance, and does odd jobs by day and takes care of her Mom and her daughter by night. Guy meets girl and they get to know each other as the girl helps the guy put together a demo disc that he can take to London in hope of landing a music contract. During the same several day period, the guy and the girl work through their past loves, and reveal their budding love for one another, through their songs.

 

149One Hundred and One Dalmatians1961Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wolfgang ReithermanGreatest Animated Films, Greatest MusicalsPongo and Perdita have a litter of 15 puppies. Cruella De Vil takes a fancy to the pups, and wants to get hold of them, as well as more pups, to make herself a lovely dalmatian skin coat… Cruella hires some thugs to kidnap the pups and hold them at her mansion. Will Pongo and Perdita find them in time ?    
85Pennies from Heaven1982Herbert RossGreatest Musicals

In Chicago during the 1930s depression, sheet music salesman Arthur Parker is trying to sell his products, but it’s not easy to convince unwilling music store owners to buy them. Although he’s already married to the somewhat drab Joan, when he meets school teacher Eileen in a music store, he falls in love with her.

 

52Phantom of the Paradise1974Brian De PalmaGreatest Musicals

Notorious record tycoon Swan has sold his soul to the devil for eternal youth and success – 20 years ago. Swan’s current scheme is to steal the music from meek composer Winslow Leach to celebrate the opening of his rock palace, The Paradise. While trying to stop Swan, Leach was framed and convicted for drug dealing, and becomes the victim of a freak accident that leaves him horribly disfigured. He takes refuge in the cavernous Paradise, hiding his mangled face beneath an eerie mask and planning gruesome vengeance upon Swan – and everyone else who has hurt him. However, Leach signs a contract with Swan to complete his rock opera based on the legend of Faust for an aspiring singer – Phoenix.

 

72Pink Floyd: The Wall1982Alan ParkerGreatest Musicals

The movie tells the story of rock singer “Pink” who is sitting in his hotel room in Los Angeles, burnt out from the music business and only able to perform on stage with the help of drugs. Based on the 1979 double album “The Wall” by Pink Floyd, the film begins in Pink’s youth where he is crushed by the love of his mother. Several years later, he is punished by the teachers in school because he is starting to write poems. He slowly begins to build a wall around himself to be protected from the world outside. The film shows all this in massive and epic pictures until the very end where he tears down the wall and breaks free.

 

37Pinocchio1940Ben Sharpsteen, Bill Roberts, Hamilton Luske, Jack Kinney, Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred JacksonGreatest Animated Films, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsInventor Gepetto creates a wooden marionette called Pinocchio. His wish that Pinocchio be a real boy is unexpectedly granted by a fairy. The fairy assigns Jiminy Cricket to act as Pinocchio’s “conscience” and keep him out of trouble. Jiminy is not too successful in this endeavor and most of the film is spent with Pinocchio deep in trouble.  
110Pitch Perfect2012Jason MooreGreatest Musicals

The Barden Bellas are a collegiate, all-girls a cappella singing group thriving on female pop songs and their perfect looks. After a disastrous failing at last year’s finals, they are forced to regroup. Among the new recruits is freshman Beca, an independent, aspiring DJ with no interest in the college life. But after she meets Jesse, from the rival all-male a cappella group, Beca has a new outlook and takes it upon herself to help the Bellas find their new look and sound and get back into the competition.

 

163Porgy and Bess1959Otto Preminger, Rouben MamoulianGreatest Musicals

In this legendary Gershwin opera set among the black residents of a fishing village in 1912 South Carolina, Bess – a woman with a disreputable history – tries to break free from her brutish lover Crown after he becomes wanted for murder. The only person willing to overlook her past and offer her shelter is the crippled Porgy. Their relationship is threatened by the disapproval of the townspeople, the presence of her old drug supplier Sportin’ Life – and the threatened return of Crown.

 

112Purple Rain1984Albert MagnoliGreatest Musicals

A young man with a talent for music has begun a career with much promise. He meets an aspiring singer, Apollonia, and finds that talent alone isn’t all that he needs. A complicated tale of his repeating his father’s self destructive behavior, losing Apollonia to another singer (Morris Day), and his coming to grips with his own connection to other people ensues.

 

176Pyaasa1957Guru DuttGreatest Musicals

Unemployed Vijay is the youngest in his family consisting of his widowed mom, and two brothers. His passion is poetry – frowned upon by his brothers – who want him to find gainful employment instead. Vijay’s poems are quite radical in which he laments about the poor, the destitute, and the arrogance of the rich after the departure of the British from India. His efforts to get them published are in vain. He takes to drinking, gets in trouble with the law, is disowned by his brothers, ends up at a brothel and befriends a prostitute named Gulabo. Gulabo is sympathetic, listens to him as he pours his heart out, and decides to assist Vijay. Watch what happens when Gulabo approaches some of her affluent clientèle to assist Vijay and try and get his work published, without revealing that they are written by an alcoholic, disheveled, homeless man.

 

155Rabbit of Seville1950Chuck JonesGreatest Musicals

Behind the Hollywood Bowl stage which is playing the opera, The Barber of Seville, Bugs Bunny flees into the backstage area with Elmer Fudd in close pursuit. Seeing his opportunity to fight on his terms, Bugs raises the curtain on Elmer, trapping him on stage. As the orchestra begins playing, Bugs comes into play as the barber who is going to make sure that Elmer is going to get a grooming he will never forget.

 

115Rainbow Dance1936Len LyeGreatest MusicalsThe film was made by colorful printing of footage combined with drawing directly on film. The bouncy music drives home the message heard at the end of the film, promoting the GPO (General Post Office): “The Post Office Savings Bank puts a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for you. No deposit too small for the Post Office Savings Bank.”  
186Requiem from Java2008Garin NugrohoGreatest Musicals

Setyo (Martinus Miroto) and Siti (Artika Sari Dewi) are young married couple with a classic domestic issue: communication. With their earthenware business comes close to going bankrupt, Setyo’s ever determined efforts to make ends meet often make Siti feels lonely. Their alienation to each other is worsened by the presence of Ludiro (Eko Supriyanto), a spoiled character from the local wealthy family who is used to having all his wishes granted. In the spirit of the (Javanese) Ramayana epic, the story tells about what it takes to win Siti’s heart.

 

177Robin Hood1973David Hand, Wolfgang ReithermanGreatest Musicals

An imaginative Disney version of the Robin Hood legend. Fun and romance abound as the swashbuckling hero of Sherwood Forest and his valiant sidekick plot one daring adventure after another to outwit the greedy prince and his partner as they put the tax squeeze on the poor.

 

104Rock 'n' Roll High School1979Allan Arkush, Joe DanteGreatest Musicals

Vince Lombardi High School keeps losing principals to nervous breakdowns because of the students’ love of rock ‘n’ roll and their disregard of education. The putative leader of the students is Riff Randell, who loves the music of the Ramones. A new principal, the rock-music-hating Miss Evelyn Togar, is brought in and promises to put an end to the music craze. When Miss Togar and a group of parents attempt to burn a pile of rock records, the students take over the high school, joined by the Ramones, who are made honorary students. When the police are summoned and demand that the students evacuate the building, they do so, which leads to an explosive finale.

 

187Same Old Song1997Alain ResnaisGreatest Musicals

Odile is looking for a new, bigger apartment. Her younger sister Camille just completed her doctoral thesis has fallen in love with an estate agent who is responsible for Odile’s apartment and who has an elder employee.

 

89School of Rock2003Richard LinklaterGreatest Musicals

Down and out rock star Dewey Finn gets fired from his band, and he faces a mountain of debts and depression. He takes a job as a 4th grade substitute teacher at an uptight private school where his attitude and hijinx have a powerful effect on his students. He also meets Zack, a 10-year-old guitar prodigy, who could help Dewey win a “battle of the bands” competition, which would solve his financial problems and put him back in the spotlight.

 

67Seven Brides for Seven Brothers1954Stanley DonenGreatest Musicals

Adam, the eldest of seven brothers, goes to town to get a wife. He convinces Milly to marry him that same day. They return to his backwoods home. Only then does she discover he has six brothers – all living in his cabin. Milly sets out to reform the uncouth siblings, who are anxious to get wives of their own. Then, after reading about the Roman capture of the Sabine women, Adam develops an inspired solution to his brothers’ loneliness.

 

141Shall We Dance1937Mark SandrichGreatest Musicals

Ballet star Pete “Petrov” Peters arranges to cross the Atlantic aboard the same ship as the dancer he’s fallen for but barely knows, musical star Linda Keene. By the time the ocean liner reaches New York, a little white lie has churned through the rumor mill and turned into a hot gossip item: that the two celebrities are secretly married.

 

54Sholay1975Ramesh SippyGreatest Musicals

Sholay means embers in Hindi. In this particular movie, a Police Officer, who’s family was killed by a bandit named Gabbar Singh, decides to fight fire with fire and recruits two convicts, Jai and Veeru to capture Gabbar. He approaches them in jail, puts the proposal in front of them, and they agree to bring in Gabbar Singh alive – for a hefty price. After their discharge from jail, they travel by train to the village where the Police Officer lives – now with only his widowed daughter-in-law. The three band together to fight one of the most elusive and dreaded bandits of all time. Will the two ex-cons be able to bring Gabbar alive to the Police Officer?

 

125Show Boat1951George SidneyGreatest Musicals

The “Cotton Blossom”, owned by the Hawk family, is the show boat where everyone comes for great musical entertainment down south. Julie LaVerne and her husband are the stars of the show. After a snitch on board calls the local police that Julie (who’s half- African-American) is married to a white man, they are forced to leave the show boat. The reason being, that down south interracial marriages are forbidden. Magnolia Hawk, Captain Andy Hawks’ daughter, becomes the new show boat attraction and her leading man is Gaylord Ravenal, a gambler. The two instantly fall in love, and marry, without Parthy Hawks approval. Magnolia and Gaylord leave the “Cotton Blossom” for a whirl-wind honeymoon and to live in a Pl: fantasy world. Magnolia soon faces reality quickly, that gambling means more to Gaylord than anything else. Magnolia confronts Gaylord and after he gambles away their fortune he leaves her – not knowing she is pregnant. Magnolia is left penniless and pregnant, and is left to fend for herself, and make a new start.

 

131Show Boat1936James WhaleGreatest MusicalsAdaptation of the Broadway musical. Magnolia Hawks is the lovely but protected, and thus very naive, daughter of Cap’n Andy Hawks, the genial proprietor of a show boat that cruises the Missisippi, and his nagging wife, Parthy. She is best friends with the show boat’s star, Julie LaVerne, but Julie and her husband Steve are forced to leave when it is revealed that Julie has “Negro” blood in her, thereby breaking the state law by being married to the white Steve. Magnolia replaces Julie as the show boat’s female star, and the show’s new male star is the suave gambler Gaylord Ravenal. “Nola” and Gaylord fall in love and marry against Parthy’s wishes. They and their young daughter lead the high life when Gaylord is lucky in gambling, but live like dirt when he’s unlucky. During one such unlucky streak, a broken Gaylord leaves Nola, and she is forced to start over by returning to the stage. Like Old Man River, as the famous song from this show goes, she just keeps rollin’ along.  
39Sing Street2016John CarneyGreatest Musicals

This is the beginning of the eighties and everybody is moving to the beat of Pop music, as the brand-new concept of the music video appears on television for the first time. However, in Dublin, Conor, a teenager with a sensitive heart, is trying to deal with a tense family relationship, reconnect with his older brother while dealing with the hostile environment in his new public school. And then one day, he sees her. Tall, with long chestnut hair, a buttery complexion and big, dark eyes; an enigmatically beautiful girl standing in front of his school’s gate, indolently observing people passing by. But who is she and how could a boy ever get noticed by such a distant girl? That’s easy. He would form a band. Surprisingly, with every lyric Conor writes, the gap narrows and with every song he plays, her heart fills with affection. In the end, before a sea of opportunities lying ahead of them, what will the future hold for a brave love like this?

 

5Singin' in the Rain1952Gene Kelly, Stanley DonenGreatest Musicals, Sight & Sound 2022 Critics' Top 100, Sight & Sound 2022 Directors' Top 100

1927 Hollywood. Monumental Pictures’ biggest stars, glamorous on-screen couple Lina Lamont and Don Lockwood, are also an off-screen couple if the trade papers and gossip columns are to be believed. Both perpetuate the public perception if only to please their adoring fans and bring people into the movie theaters. In reality, Don barely tolerates her, while Lina, despite thinking Don beneath her, simplemindedly believes what she sees on screen in order to bolster her own stardom and sense of self-importance. R.F. Simpson, Monumental’s head, dismisses what he thinks is a flash in the pan: talking pictures. It isn’t until The Jazz Singer (1927) becomes a bona fide hit which results in all the movie theaters installing sound equipment that R.F. knows Monumental, most specifically in the form of Don and Lina, have to jump on the talking picture bandwagon, despite no one at the studio knowing anything about the technology. Musician Cosmo Brown, Don’s best friend, gets hired as Monumental’s ideas man and musical director. And by this time, Don has secretly started dating Kathy Selden, a chorus girl who is trying to make it big in pictures herself. Don and Kathy’s relationship is despite their less than friendly initial meeting. Cosmo and Kathy help Don, who had worked his way up through the movie ranks to stardom, try make the leap to talking picture stardom, with Kathy following along the way. However, they have to overcome the technological issues. But the bigger problem is Lina, who will do anything to ensure she also makes the successful leap into talking pictures, despite her own inabilities and at anyone and everyone else’s expense if they get in her way, especially Kathy as Don’s off screen girlfriend and possibly his new talking picture leading lady.

 

99Sita Sings the Blues2009Nina PaleyGreatest Musicals

The movie is about Sita, the Hindu Goddess from the epic “The Ramayana”, who accompanies Lord Rama on a 14 year exile in forest. Sita is abducted by Ravana, the ruler of Lanka. This movie tells the story of Rama and Sita, along-with a biographical account of the director’s relationship with her husband.

 

164Sleeping Beauty1959Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Les Clark, Wolfgang ReithermanGreatest Animated Films, Greatest MusicalsAfter a beautiful princess is born in to royalty everyone gathers to exchange gifts. Everything is perfectly fine until an unwanted guest appears, Magnifient. Magnificent curses a spell on the young princess and tells here that she will fall asleep at sunset on the evening of her 16th birthday, and that the only way to wake her up were the tears from here true love. Finally the day comes. Will she be left to sleep forever?  
13Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs1937Ben Sharpsteen, David Hand, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Wilfred Jackson, William CottrellBestselling Blockbusters Through History, Greatest Animated Films, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through HistoryThe beautiful and kindhearted princess Snow White charms every creature in the kingdom except one – her jealous stepmother, the Queen. When the Magic Mirror proclaims Snow White the fairest one of all, she must flee into the forest, where she befriends the lovable seven dwarfs – Doc, Sneezy, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Sleepy and Dopey. But when the Queen tricks Snow White with an enchanted apple, only the magic of true love’s kiss can save her!  
135Song of the South1946Harve Foster, Wilfred JacksonGreatest Musicals

Uncle Remus draws upon his tales of Brer Rabbit to help little Johnny deal his confusion over his parents’ separation as well as his new life on the plantation. The tales: The Briar Patch, The Tar Baby and Brer Rabbit’s Laughing place.

 

 

171South Pacific1958Joshua LoganBestselling Blockbusters Through History, Greatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through History

Can a girl from Little Rock find happiness with a mature French planter she got to know one enchanted evening away from the military hospital where she is a nurse? Or should she just wash that man out of her hair? Bloody Mary is the philosopher of the island and it’s hard to believe she could be the mother of Liat who has captured the heart of Lt. Joseph Cable USMC. While waiting for action in the war in the South Pacific, sailors and nurses put on a musical comedy show. The war gets closer and the saga of Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque becomes serious drama.

 

30South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut1999Trey ParkerGreatest Musicals

When four boys in South Park Stan Marsh, Kyle and his stepbrother Ike Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick sees an R-rated movie featuring Canadians “Terrance & Phillip: Asses of Fire”, they are pronounced “corrupted”, and Kyle’s mom Sheila with the rest of the parents pressure the United States to wage war against Canada for World War 3! It’s all up to Stan, Kyle and Cartman to save Terrence and Phillip before Satan and his lover Saddam Hussein from Hell rules the world and it’ll be the end of the whole world.

 

122Stormy Weather1943Andrew L. StoneGreatest Musicals

Dancing great Bill ‘Williamson’ sees his face on the cover of Theatre World magazine and reminisces: just back from World War I, he meets lovely singer Selina Rogers at a soldiers’ ball and promises to come back to her when he “gets to be somebody.” Years go by, and Bill and Selina’s rising careers intersect only briefly, since Selina is unwilling to “settle down.” Will she ever change her mind? Concludes with a big all-star show hosted by Cab Calloway.

 

119Sunshine on Leith2013Dexter FletcherGreatest Musicals

Sunshine on Leith is based on the sensational stage hit of the same name, featuring music by pop-folk band The Proclaimers. The film follows the stories of Davy and Ally, who have to re-learn how to live life in Edinburgh after coming home from serving in Afghanistan. Both struggle to learn to live a life outside the army and to deal with the everyday struggles of family, jobs and relationships.

 

51Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street2007Tim BurtonGreatest Horror Films, Greatest Musicals

In the Victorian London, the barber Benjamin Barker is married to the gorgeous Lucy and they have a lovely child, Johanna. The beauty of Lucy attracts the attention of the corrupt Judge Turpin, who falsely accuses the barber of a crime that he did not commit and abuses Lucy later after gaining custody of her. After fifteen years in exile, Benjamin returns to London under the new identity of Sweeney Todd, seeking revenge against Turpin. He meets the widow Mrs. Lovett who is the owner of a meat pie shop who tells him that Lucy swallowed arsenic many years ago, and Turpin assigned himself tutor of Johanna. He opens a barber shop above her store, initiating a crime rampage against those who made him suffer and lose his beloved family.

 

19Swing Time1936George StevensGreatest Musicals

Lucky is tricked into missing his wedding to Margaret by the other members of Pop’s magic and dance act, and has to make $25000 to be allowed to marry her. He and Pop go to New York where they run into Penny, a dancing instructor. She and Lucky form a successful dance partnership, but romance is blighted (till the end of the film at least!) by his old attachment to Margaret and hers for Ricardo, the band leader who won’t play for them to dance together.

 

49Tangled2010Byron Howard, Nathan GrenoGreatest Musicals

After receiving the healing powers from a magical flower, the baby Princess Rapunzel is kidnapped from the palace in the middle of the night by Mother Gothel. Mother Gothel knows that the flower’s magical powers are now growing within the golden hair of Rapunzel, and to stay young, she must lock Rapunzel in her hidden tower. Rapunzel is now a teenager and her hair has grown to a length of 70-feet. The beautiful Rapunzel has been in the tower her entire life, and she is curious of the outside world. One day, the bandit Flynn Ryder scales the tower and is taken captive by Rapunzel. Rapunzel strikes a deal with the charming thief to act as her guide to travel to the place where the floating lights come from that she has seen every year on her birthday. Rapunzel is about to have the most exciting and magnificent journey of her life.

 

152Tangos, the Exile of Gardel1985Fernando E. SolanasGreatest MusicalsIn the sorrow of exile, a group of Argentinians in Paris seek solace and connection to their culture by staging a set of tangos. The film alternates between their vibrant rehearsals and their circumscribed lives in low-rent apartments, underemployed, fitfully communicating with families back home, trying to make do with what they hope are only temporary arrangements in a foreign land.
182Tarzan1999Chris Buck, Kevin LimaGreatest Musicals

The movie is about the life of Tarzan. Tarzan was a small orphan who was raised by an ape named Kala since he was a child. He believed that this was his family, but on an expedition Jane Porter is rescued by Tarzan. He then finds out that he’s human. Now Tarzan must make the decision as to which family he should belong to…

 

105Teacher's Pet2004Timothy BjörklundGreatest Musicals

Leonard is a 4th grader; his mother, Mrs. Mary Lou Helperman, is his teacher, and has been nominated for a teaching award. They plan a trip to Florida for the finals, but need to leave their dog, Spot, behind. Unknown to Mrs. Helperman, Spot has been masquerading as a boy, Scott, who is her star pupil. Spot wants nothing more than to be a real boy, and sees a way to this when mad scientist Ivan Krank appears on the Barry Anger show. Krank thinks he can turn animals into humans. Conveniently, his lab is right down the street from where the Helpermans are staying, so Spot, as Scott (and the rest of his family) convinces Mary Lou to take him along. Spot becomes a man, but discovers it’s not everything he ever dreamed of after all.

 

82Tender Mercies1983Bruce BeresfordGreatest Musicals

Alchoholic former country singer Mac Sledge makes friends with a young widow and her son. The friendship enables him to find inspiration to resume his career.

 

90That Thing You Do!1996Tom HanksGreatest Musicals

Recounts a fable of a pop rock band formed a year after the Beatles took America by storm in early 1964. Jazz aficionado Guy Patterson, unhappily toiling in the family appliance store, is recruited into the band the Oneders (later renamed the Wonders) after regular drummer Chad breaks his arm. After Guy injects a four/four rock beat into lead singer Jimmy’s ballad, the song’s undeniable pop power flings the Wonders into a brief whirlwind of success, telling the tale of many American bands who attempted to grab the brass ring of rock and roll in the wake of the British Invasion.

 

20The Band Wagon1953Vincente MinnelliGreatest Musicals

Tony Hunter, a famous singer/dancer movie star, is feeling washed up and old hat (old top hat, tie and tails to be exact). The reporters are out for Ava Gardner, not him. But his old friends Lily and Les Martin have an idea for a funny little Broadway show and he agrees to do it. But things begin to get out of hand, when bigshot “artistic” director/producer/star Jeffrey Cordova joins the production, proclaims it’s a modernistic Faust and insists on hiring a prima ballerina, Gabrielle Gerard, to star opposite Tony, and it’s hate at first sight. And her jealous choreographer isn’t helping to ease the tension. The show is doomed by pretentiousness. But romance, a “let’s put on a show” epiphany, and a triumphant opening are waiting in the wings. After all, this is a musical comedy!

READ: The Band Wagon at The Metropolis Times

 

 

108The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas1982Colin HigginsGreatest Musicals

Founded in 1910 just outside of the city limits of Gilbert located in Lanville County, Texas, the Chicken Ranch has for generations been known as the best whorehouse in Texas for its wholesome fun, strict moral code and cleanliness, all perpetuated by its original owner, Miss Wulla Jean. Seven years ago, Miss Wulla Jean passed on, leaving the Chicken Ranch to her favorite working girl, Miss Mona Stangley, who wants to keep the same traditions of Miss Wulla Jean. The Chicken Ranch has always had the unofficial blessing of the local authorities, who see the ranch providing an important community service, one which most in local authority have used at one time or another in their life. In fact, Miss Mona and Lanville County Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd have been in a relationship for years, Ed Earl who is Miss Mona’s protector, albeit one with a hot temper and good ol’ boy attitude that doesn’t exactly match the needs of his law upholding position. That blessing may change when television personality and consumer watchdog, Melvin P. Thorpe, one of the most powerful men in the state, starts an on-air exposé of the illegal activities at the Chicken Ranch, the exposé which includes Ed Earl’s role in letting it happen. Ed Earl and Miss Mona’s relationship goes through some difficult times on how to deal with this issue, especially with the upcoming annual party night with the players following the Thanksgiving Day football game between the University of Texas and Texas A&M, this party which is arguably the Chicken Ranch’s busiest night of the year and one filled with tradition for the ranch and the participating schools. Will the Chicken Ranch be able to remain open especially in light of a spineless Governor who sways to the direction of polls, and will Ed Earl and Miss Mona’s relationship be able to withstand the pressure?

 

100The Blue Angel1930Josef von SternbergGreatest Musicals

Germany 1924. Middle aged Dr. Immanuel Rath is a literature professor at a boys college. Most of his students don’t much like him, often calling him “unrath” – German for garbage. Dr. Rath learns that many of his boys often frequent a cabaret called Der blaue Engel – the Blue Angel – which he believes is corrupting their impressionable young minds. He heads to the Blue Angel himself to catch the boys in the act and shame them into not going again. Over several visits, Rath is able to catch the boys, but in the process he also understands what attracts the boys, namely the headlining performer Lola Lola. Rath falls under Lola’s spell, he who falls in love with her – and she seemingly with him – so much so that he wants to marry her and give up his teaching career to be with her on her travels from cabaret to cabaret. Their relationship ends up not being what either envisioned, the question being how they will both deal with their disintegrating relationship and the reasons behind that disintegration.

 

145The Blues Brothers1980John LandisGreatest Musicals

After the release of Jake Blues from prison, he and brother Elwood go to visit “The Penguin”, the last of the nuns who raised them in a boarding school. They learn the Archdiocese will stop supporting the school and will sell the place to the Education Authority. The only way to keep the place open is if the $5000 tax on the property is paid within 11 days. The Blues Brothers want to help, and decide to put their blues band back together and raise the money by staging a big gig. As they set off on their “mission from God” they seem to make more enemies along the way. Will they manage to come up with the money in time?

 

133The Commitments1991Alan ParkerGreatest Musicals

Funny, musical and occasionally dramatic, this is the story of tumultuous rise and fall of a Dublin Soul band, The Commitments. Managed by Jimmy Rabbitte, an unemployed wheeler and dealer with a vision to create “The Worlds Hardest Working Band”.

 

170The Court Jester1955Melvin Frank, Norman PanamaGreatest Musicals

The throne of rightful king of England, the small babe with the purple pimpernel birthmark, has been usurped by the evil King Roderick. Only the Black Fox can restore the true king to the throne–and all he needs is the king’s key to a secret tunnel. And while he’s trying to steal it, someone has to change the king’s diapers. The task falls to Hawkins, the gentlest member of the Fox’s band. The Fox’s lieutenant, Maid Jean, guards Hawkins and the babe while they travel, but when they meet the King’s new jester on the road, they decide to initiate a daring plan for Hawkins to replace him, become an intimate at the court, and steal the key. So, humble Hawkins becomes Giacomo: the king of jesters and jester to the king. But things begin to get zany when the King’s daughter falls for Giacomo, the King falls for Jean, people randomly sing what are supposed to be recognition codes, and a witch with very effective spells (and poison pellets) begins to interfere.

 

166The Gay Divorcee1934Mark SandrichGreatest Musicals

Mimi Glossop wants a divorce so her Aunt Hortense hires a professional to play the correspondent in apparent infidelity. American dancer Guy Holden meets Mimi while visiting Brightbourne (Brighton) and she thinks he is the correspondent. The plot is really an excuse for song and dance. The movie won three Academy nominations and the first Oscar for Best Song: “The Continental”, a twenty-two minute production number.

 

120The Greatest Showman2017Michael GraceyGreatest Musicals

Celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.

 

58The Jungle Book1967Jack Kinney, James Algar, Wolfgang ReithermanGreatest Animated Films, Greatest MusicalsAbandoned after an accident, baby Mowgli is taken and raised by a family of wolves. As the boy grows older, the wise panther Bagheera realizes he must be returned to his own kind in the nearby man-village. Baloo the bear however thinks differently taking the young Mowgli under his wing and teaching that living in the jungle is the best life there is. Bagheera realizes that Mowgli is in danger, particularly from Shere Khan the tiger who hates all people. When Baloo finally comes around, Mowgli runs off into the jungle where he survives a second encounter with Kaa the snake and finally, with Shere Khan. It’s the sight of a pretty girl however that gets Mowgli to go the nearby man-village.  
43The King and I1956Walter LangGreatest Musicals

Mrs. Anna Leonowens and her son Louis arrive in Bangkok, where she has been contracted to teach English to the children of the royal household. She threatens to leave when the house she had been promised is not available, but falls in love with the children. A new slave, a gift of a vassal king, translates “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” into a Siamese ballet. After expressing her unhappiness at being with the King, the slave decides to make an attempt to escape with her lover. Anna and the King start to fall in love, but her headstrong upbringing inhibits her from joining his harem. She is just about to leave Siam but something important she finds out makes her think about changing her mind.

 

2The Lion King1994Rob Minkoff, Roger AllersGreatest Animated Films, Greatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through HistoryA young lion Prince is cast out of his pride by his cruel uncle, who claims he killed his father. While the uncle rules with an iron paw, the prince grows up beyond the Savannah, living by a philosophy: No worries for the rest of your days. But when his past comes to haunt him, the young Prince must decide his fate: will he remain an outcast, or face his demons and become what he needs to be?  
42The Little Mermaid1989John Musker, Ron ClementsGreatest Animated Films, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsIn Disney’s beguiling animated romp, rebellious 16-year-old mermaid Ariel is fascinated with life on land. On one of her visits to the surface, which are forbidden by her controlling father, King Triton, she falls for a human prince. Determined to be with her new love, Ariel makes a dangerous deal with the sea witch Ursula to become human for three days. But when plans go awry for the star-crossed lovers, the king must make the ultimate sacrifice for his daughter.  
109The Lure2015Agnieszka SmoczynskaGreatest Musicals

One dark night, at water’s edge, a family of musicians encounter aquatic sirens Silver and Golden. After assuring the family that they won’t eat them up, the winsome sirens are recruited to join the Figs and Dates band at a neon-lit Warsaw dance club. When Silver becomes romantically entangled with beautiful blonde bassist Mietek, the more cunning Golden, who cannot escape her bloodthirsty nature, worries that her sister’s relationship will doom their shared dream of swimming to a new life in America.

 

153The Meaning of Life1983Terry Gilliam, Terry JonesGreatest Musicals

Why are we here, what’s it all about? The Monty Python-team is trying to sort out the most important question on Earth: what is the meaning of life? They do so by exploring the various stages of life, starting with birth. A doctor seems more interested in his equipment than in delivering the baby or caring for the mother, a Roman Catholic couple have quite a lot of children because ‘every sperm is sacred’. In the growing and learning part of life, catholic schoolboys attend a rather strange church service and ditto sex education lesson. Onto war, where an officer’s plan to attack is thwarted by his underlings wanting to celebrate his birthday and an officer’s leg is bitten off by presumably an African tiger. At middle age a couple orders ‘philosophy’ at a restaurant, after which the film continues with live organ transplants. The autumn years are played in a restaurant, which, after being treated to the song ‘Isn’t It Awfully Nice to Have a Penis?’ by an entertainer, sees the arrival of an extremely fat man. He can eat a lot, but also throw up quite copiously. The Grim Reaper brings for the final stage of human life, death, a visit to a mansion, where the people are rather interested in him. But life doesn’t stop at death. It’s onto heaven, where it’s always Christmas.

 

33The Muppet Movie1979James FrawleyGreatest Musicals

While living the quiet life in a swamp, Kermit the Frog is approached by a Hollywood agent to audition for the chance of a lifetime. So Kermit takes this chance for his big break as he makes the journey to Hollywood. Along the way, Kermit comes across several quirky new friends including comedic Fozzie Bear, beautiful but feisty Miss Piggy and the Great Gonzo. But Kermit must also watch out for ruthless Doc Hopper, who plans to use him as his spokesman for his Frog Legs food chain.

 

87The Muppets2011James BobinGreatest Musicals

When 3 Muppet fans learn that Tex Richman wants to drill under the Muppet Theater for oil, Gary, Mary and Walter set out to find the Muppets who have been split up for years so that they can put on one last show and save the Muppet Theater. Kermit the Frog now lives in his own mansion depressed in Hollywood, ‘The Great Gonzo’ is a high class plumber at Gonzo’s Royal Flush, Fozzie Bear performs with a tribute band called The Moopets, Miss Piggy is the plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, and Animal is at a celebrity anger management rehab center in Santa Barbara.

 

95The Muppets Take Manhattan1984Frank OzGreatest Musicals

The Muppets graduate from college and decide to take their senior revue on the road. They hit the streets of Manhattan trying to sell their show to producers, finally finding one young and idealistic enough to take their show. After several mishaps and much confusion, things begin to come together for them.

 

55The Music Man1962Morton DaCostaGreatest Musicals

It’s the early twentieth century American Midwest. A con man, currently going by the assumed name Harold Hill, has used several different schemes to bilk the unsuspecting, he now traveling from town to town pretending to be a professor of music – Gary (Indiana) Conservatory of Music, class of ’05 – being able to solve all the respective towns’ youth problems by forming a boys’ marching band. He takes money from the townsfolk to buy instruments, music, instructional materials and uniforms for their sons. However, he, in reality, has no degree, knows nothing about music, and after all the materials arrive and are distributed, hightails it out to move to the next town with all the money never to be seen again. Many of the traveling salesmen in the territory have been negatively impacted by him, as the townsfolk then become suspicious of any stranger trying to sell them something. For Harold’s scheme to work, he has to gain the trust of the local music teacher, he usually doing so by wooing her, regardless of her appearance. And if the town doesn’t believe it has a youth problem needing to be fixed, he will manufacture one for them. That is the case when he arrives in River City, Iowa, population 2,212, where he will have some unexpected help from Marcellus Washburn, a friend and former grifter colleague who he didn’t know now lives in River City, has gone straight, but still wants to make sure Harold survives his stay in town. The music teacher he has to impress in River City is spinster Marian Paroo, who is also the town librarian. Unlike all the other River Citizens who he is able to impress with his fast talking sales pitches, he is unable to impress suspicious Marian, whose hard as nails exterior is partly due to her somewhat removed standing in the town, as all the gossipy housewives believe she is a smut peddler – encouraging the teenagers to read authors such as Chaucer and Balzac – and mistakenly believe she got her position as librarian through less than scrupulous means. What Harold does not know is that one way to Marian is through her young adolescent brother, Winthrop Paroo, a sullen boy who has withdrawn from life since the death of their father two years ago and when he started to lisp. Complications for Harold ensue when he starts to fall for Marian, something that has never happened with another music teacher before. Further complications may ensue for him if any of those traveling salesmen who have been following his same route through the territory catches up with and exposes him.

 

31The Nightmare Before Christmas1993Henry SelickGreatest Animated Films, Greatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsJack Skellington, the pumpkin king of Halloween Town, is bored with doing the same thing every year for Halloween. One day he stumbles into Christmas Town, and is so taken with the idea of Christmas that he tries to get the resident bats, ghouls, and goblins of Halloween town to help him put on Christmas instead of Halloween — but alas, they can’t get it quite right.  
196The Prince of Egypt1998Brenda Chapman, Simon Wells, Steve HicknerGreatest Animated Films, Greatest MusicalsThis is the extraordinary tale of two brothers named Moses and Ramses, one born of royal blood, and one an orphan with a secret past. Growing up the best of friends, they share a strong bond of free-spirited youth and good-natured rivalry. But the truth will ultimately set them at odds, as one becomes the ruler of the most powerful empire on earth, and the other the chosen leader of his people! Their final confrontation will forever change their lives and the world.  
66The Princess and the Frog2009John Musker, Ron ClementsGreatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsA modern day retelling of the classic story The Frog Prince. The Princess and the Frog finds the lives of arrogant, carefree Prince Naveen and hardworking waitress Tiana crossing paths. Prince Naveen is transformed into a frog by a conniving voodoo magician and Tiana, following suit, upon kissing the amphibian royalty. With the help of a trumpet-playing alligator, a Cajun firefly, and an old blind lady who lives in a boat in a tree, Naveen and Tiana must race to break the spell and fulfill their dreams.  
59The Rocky Horror Picture Show1975Jim SharmanGreatest Horror Films, Greatest Musicals

While driving home during a rain filled night, straight-laced lovebirds Brad Majors and Janet Weiss end up by chance at the castle of one Dr. Frank-N-Furter and his strange and bizarre entourage, and find that he’s having a party. This is no ordinary party, no ordinary night. This is the unveiling of the doctor’s latest creation: Rocky Horror, a man-made Adonis that will give absolute pleasure. Over the course of the night, Frank seduces both Brad and Janet, Janet and Rocky become biblically involved, and Dr. Everett Von Scott arrives looking for his nephew Eddie (whom Frank killed earlier in this film). This is an exceedingly grand visual and musical camp satire of the golden days of the B-movie horror and science-fiction genres. Projected along with a musical soundtrack to give audience participation a new meaning in dimension, time and space, this shall be a night that both Brad and Janet will remember for a very long time in the sexually kinky, rock ‘n roll, rock-opera world of a gender-bending scientist – and his time warped plans.

 

117The Sapphires2012Wayne BlairGreatest Musicals

1968 was the year that changed the world. And for four young Aboriginal sisters from a remote mission this is the year that would change their lives forever. Around the globe, there was protest and revolution in the streets. Indigenous Australians finally secured the right to vote. There were drugs and the shock of a brutal assassination. And there was Vietnam. The sisters, Cynthia, Gail, Julie and Kay are discovered by Dave, a talent scout with a kind heart, very little rhythm but a great knowledge of soul music. Billed as Australia’s answer to ‘The Supremes’, Dave secures the sisters their first true gig, and flies them to Vietnam to sing for the American troops. Based on a true story, THE SAPPHIRES is a triumphant celebration of youthful emotion, family and music.

 

4The Sound of Music1965Robert WiseBest Picture Winners, Bestselling Blockbusters Through History, Greatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through History

In 1930’s Austria, a young woman named Maria is failing miserably in her attempts to become a nun. When the Navy captain Georg Von Trapp writes to the convent asking for a governess that can handle his seven mischievous children, Maria is given the job. The Captain’s wife is dead, and he is often away, and runs the household as strictly as he does the ships he sails on. The children are unhappy and resentful of the governesses that their father keeps hiring, and have managed to run each of them off one by one. When Maria arrives, she is initially met with the same hostility, but her kindness, understanding, and sense of fun soon draws them to her and brings some much-needed joy into all their lives — including the Captain’s. Eventually he and Maria find themselves falling in love, even though Georg is already engaged to a Baroness and Maria is still a postulant. The romance makes them both start questioning the decisions they have made. Their personal conflicts soon become overshadowed, however, by world events. Austria is about to come under the control of Germany, and the Captain may soon find himself drafted into the German navy and forced to fight against his own country.

 

172The Things of Love1989Jaime ChávarriGreatest Musicals

In 1940’s Madrid. Juan plays piano for Pepita and her on-stage partner Mario. Although Mario really wants to steal Juan for himself, Juan is not interested and Mario resorts to a string of lovers as consolation. When he loves (and leaves) a young nobleman, the young man wants revenge.

 

6The Umbrellas of Cherbourg191964Jacques DemyGreatest Musicals

Told in four acts, the lives of Geneviève Emery and Guy Foucher of Cherbourg France are presented. Act 1 begins in November 1957, when sixteen year old Geneviève, who works in her widowed mother’s umbrella shop called “Les parapluies de Cherbourg”, and twenty year old Guy, who works as a mechanic at a gas station, are madly in love and want to get married. They are reluctant to tell anyone not only of their want to get married, but of their relationship. Geneviève believes her mother will think her too young, and would want her to marry someone with better prospects, especially considering her own tenuous financial situation. And Guy is more concerned now about not abandoning his ailing godmother, Aunt Élise, who raised him, and who he looks after along with a young woman named Madeleine. Act 2, told largely from Geneviève’s perspective, begins in February 1958. Guy, drafted to fight for the French in Algeria, has been gone for two months, and is expected to be gone for two years. Geneviève rarely hears from Guy. In order to solve their many problems, Geneviève’s mother wants her to marry Roland Cassard, a refined and well appointed diamond merchant who travels often for his work but who is devoted to Geneviève whenever he is in Cherbourg. Geneviève, who still loves Guy but who she is slowly losing in terms of him as a person in her mind, has to decide what to do about Roland, especially as it may become more difficult to accept his proposal as time progresses. Act 3, told largely from Guy’s perspective, begins in March 1959 upon his military discharge and return to Cherbourg. Life circumstances, including what happened during the war, has changed Guy, and he has to figure out what the next phase of his life will look like because of his new perspective. Act 4 takes place on one snowy day in December 1963, when Geneviève and Guy are shown in their current lives, that based on what has happened in those previous three acts.

READ: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

 

 

134The Wiz1978Sidney LumetGreatest Musicals

Dorothy, a twenty-four-year-old kindergarten teacher, born; raised; and still working in Harlem, is celebrating Thanksgiving with her extended family, but she doesn’t seem to be thankful for much in life. She lives a self-imposed sheltered life; she is shy and unfulfilled. Things change for her when she is caught in a snowstorm while chasing after her dog, Toto. They are transported to the mysterious Land of Oz, where she is informed that the only possible way to find her way back home is through the assistance of the powerful wizard in Emerald City. As she goes searching for him, she befriends some creatures who are facing problems in life just as she is. In their quest to find and get help from the wizard, they also face Evillene, the equally evil sister of Evermean, the wicked witch, whom Dorothy inadvertently killed when she arrived in Oz, and who may be their biggest obstacle in achieving their goals.

 

5The Wizard of Oz1939George Cukor, King Vidor, Mervyn LeRoy, Norman Taurog, Richard Thorpe, Victor FlemingGreatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsIn this charming film based on the popular L. Frank Baum stories, Dorothy and her dog Toto are caught in a tornado’s path and somehow end up in the land of Oz. Here she meets some memorable friends and foes in her journey to meet the Wizard of Oz who everyone says can help her return home and possibly grant her new friends their goals of a brain, heart and courage. More legends and folklore have grown around The Wizard of Oz than any of film in Hollywood history. (Have you heard about the munchkin suicide? Or L. Frank Baum’s coat?) The beloved movie is a key part not just of cinema culture, but of American heritage. READ: ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in the LGBT Community    
48The Young Girls of Rochefort1968Jacques DemyGreatest Musicals

Delphine and Solange are two sisters living in Rochefort. Delphine is a dancing teacher and Solange composes and teaches the piano. Maxence is a poet and a painter. He is doing his military service. Simon owns a music shop, he left Paris once month ago to come back where he fell in love 10 years ago. They are looking for love, looking for each other, without being aware that their ideal partner is very close… A film whose scenario is much less important than its feeling of euphory, according to the director Jacques Demy.

 

57This Is Spinal Tap1984Rob ReinerGreatest Musicals

In 1982 legendary British heavy metal band Spinal Tap attempt an American comeback tour accompanied by a fan who is also a film-maker. The resulting documentary, interspersed with powerful performances of Tap’s pivotal music and profound lyrics, candidly follows a rock group heading towards crisis, culminating in the infamous affair of the eighteen-inch-high Stonehenge stage prop.

 

165Tokyo Tribe2014Sion SonoGreatest Musicals

In an alternate Japan, territorial street gangs form opposing factions collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes. Merra, leader of the Wu-Ronz tribe of Bukuro joins forces with heavy hitting sadistic gangster Buppa of Buppa Town. With Buppa’s support, Merra aims to initiate a gang war between the Wu-Ronz and the Musashino Saru, and in a confrontation between the two attempts to kill popular member of the Musashino Saru – Kai. By mistake, Merra instead kills Kai’s friend Tera (a Musashino Saru member beloved by members of all Tribes since before their formation). This leads to the joining of forces between all of the Tokyo Tribes in an all out war against Merra and Buppa’s forces.

 

83Tommy1975Ken RussellGreatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsNora Walker is told that her British fighter pilot husband is missing in action and presumed killed in World War II. On V.E. Day, Nora gives birth to their son, who she names Tommy. While Tommy is an adolescent, Nora marries Frank, a shifty camp counselor. Shortly thereafter, Tommy suffers an emotionally traumatic experience associated with his father and step-father, which, based on things told to him at that time, results in him becoming deaf, dumb and blind, a situation which several people exploit for their own pleasure. As Nora tries several things to bring Tommy out of his psychosomatic disabilities, Tommy, now a young man, happens upon pinball as a stimulus. Playing by intuition, Tommy becomes a pinball master, which in turn makes him, and by association Nora and Frank, rich and famous. Nora literally shatters Tommy to his awakening, which ultimately leads to both the family’s rise and downfall as people initially try to emulate Tommy’s path then rebel against it.  
14Top Hat1935Mark SandrichGreatest MusicalsShowman Jerry Travers is working for producer Horace Hardwick in London. Jerry demonstrates his new dance steps late one night in Horace’s hotel, much to the annoyance of sleeping Dale Tremont below. She goes upstairs to complain and the two are immediately attracted to each other. Complications arise when Dale mistakes Jerry for Horace.  
91Topsy-Turvy1999Mike LeighGreatest Musicals

After their production “Princess Ida” meets with less-than-stunning reviews, the relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan is strained to breaking. Their friends and associates attempt to get the two to work together again, which opens the way to “The Mikado,” one of the duo’s greatest successes.

 

147Tsirk1936Grigoriy Aleksandrov, Isidor Simkov(co-director)Greatest MusicalsUS - Vaudeville dancer Marion Dixon is with her German manager von Kneischitz on tour - in Moskau. Her act includes a gun shooting her to the trapeze, the stage director there wants a copy of this act for the USSR. She falls in love with a Soviet enginer, but von Kneischitz blackmails her with her dark spot in her life, she has a colored baby, to leave Moskau.
106U-Carmen eKhayelitsha2005Mark Dornford-MayGreatest Musicals

U-CARMEN is a feature film based on Georges Bizet’s 19th-century opera that was filmed on location in a modern South African township setting. The energy, compassion, and heat of township life in all its elements create a constantly visually interesting and dynamic background for the unfolding of the story, which owes part of its huge popularity to the thrilling combination of a violent gangster tale with a passionate, almost supernatural love story. As it unfolds, it explores issues of fame and wealth, the position of a strong and independently minded woman in a very masculine society and, perhaps most importantly, the incomprehensible attraction between abuser and victim. Bizet’s opera, based on Prosper Merimée’s novel, premiered in Paris on March 3, 1875. Set in a poor area of Seville, the story of the magnetic woman who seduces, loves, and ultimately destroys her lover and herself, is well known. Girl (Carmen) seduces boy (Don José), boy becomes completely obsessed, girl leaves boy for another (the Matador), boy in a jealous rage kills her. Carmen’s mother-obsessed soldier lover who is displaced by the glamorous matador is one of the greatest tragic figures in all of musical theater. But the story is her story. Why does she push her soldier into violence? Why doesn’t she escape at the last moment? What drives her to destruction? Although these fascinating aspects of human relationships are explored in a penetrating and at times uncomfortable way, this is no intellectual journey but a bawdy, passionate, and vibrant tale with enormous warmth and heat, and some of the greatest tunes ever written. The fantastic vitality and huge skill of the performers from Dimpho Di Kopane make an impact beyond that achieved by any filmed opera to date. The soundtrack, recorded by Dimpho Di Kopane with Imbumba, a young South African orchestra, combines Bizet’s score with traditional South African music, which creates a powerful musical experience.

 

183Victims of Sin1951Emilio FernándezGreatest Musicals

In México City, a Cuban dancer from “Cabaret Changó” rescues a baby from a garbage can and decides to raise him, but her pachuco pimp gets in her way.

 

143Victor Victoria1982Blake EdwardsGreatest Musicals

In 1934 Paris, trained coloratura soprano Victoria Grant, a native Brit, can’t get a job as a singer and is having trouble making ends meet. She doesn’t even have enough money for the basics of food and shelter. Gay cabaret singer Carole ‘Toddy’ Todd may befall the same fate as Victoria as he was just fired from his singing gig at a second rate club named Chez Lui. To solve both their problems, Toddy comes up with what he considers an inspired idea: with Toddy as her manager, Victoria, pretending to be a man, get a job singing as a female impersonator. If they pull this scheme off, Toddy vows Victoria, as her male alter ego, will be the toast of Paris and as such be extremely wealthy. That alter ego they decide is Polish Count Victor Grazinski, Toddy’s ex-lover who was disowned by his family when they found out he was gay. The Count auditions for the city’s leading agent, Andre Cassell, who, impressed, gets him a gig performing in the city’s best nightclub. In the audience on the successful opening night is Chicago nightclub owner and “businessman” King Marchand, a stereotypical macho male who falls in the love with the woman he sees on stage, which doesn’t sit well with his current girlfriend, Norma Cassady. King is shocked to learn that that woman is a man named Count Grazinski. While King tries to reconcile his romantic feelings for “Victoria” (in truth, King doesn’t truly believe the Count is a man), his business associates won’t tolerate his change in sexual orientation. Although feeling emancipated being treated as a man, Victoria, as herself, in turn falls in love with King. To pursue something with him as a woman would mean giving up this lucrative career. But the career may also come to an end in a jail term if the authorities find out that Victoria and Toddy have committed fraud in this impersonation.

 

50Waiting for Guffman1997Christopher GuestGreatest Musicals

A town of Blaine, Missouri is preparing for celebrations of its 150th anniversary. Corky St.Clair, an off-off-off-off-off-Broadway director is putting together an amateur theater show about the town’s history, starring a local dentist, a couple of travel agents, a Dairy Queen waitress, and a car repairman. He invites a Broadway theater critic Mr. Guffman to see the opening night of the show.

 

118Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story2007Jake KasdanGreatest Musicals

The up-and-down-and-up-again story of musician Dewey Cox, whose songs would change a nation. On his rock ‘n roll spiral, Cox sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 36 kids, stars in his own 70s TV show, collects friends ranging from Elvis to the Beatles to a chimp, and gets addicted to – and then kicks – every drug known to man; but despite it all, Cox grows into a national icon and eventually earns the love of a good woman – longtime backup singer Darlene.

 

127Walk the Line2005James MangoldGreatest Musicals

While growing up in the Great Depression era, Johnny Cash takes an interest in music and eventually moves out of his Arkansas town to join the air force in Germany. While there, he buys his first guitar and writes his own music, and proposes to Vivian. When they got married, they settled in Tennessee and with a daughter, he supported the family by being a salesman. He discovers a man who can pursue his dreams and ends up getting a record with the boys. Shortly after that, he was on a short tour, promoting his songs, and meets the already famous and beautiful June Carter. Then as they get on the long-term tours with June, the boys, and Jerry Lee Lewis, they have this unspoken relationship that grows. But when June leaves the tour because of his behavior, he was a drug addict. His marriage was also falling apart, and when he sees June years later at an awards show, he forces June to tour with them again, promising June to support her two kids and herself. While the tour goes on, the relationship between June and John grow more,and his marriage to his first wife ends. June finds out about the drugs, and help him overcome it. True love and care helped John eventually stop the drug usage, and finally proposes to her in front of an audience at a show.

 

1West Side Story1961Jerome Robbins, Robert WiseBest Picture Winners, Greatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through History

West Side Story is the award-winning adaptation of the classic romantic tragedy, “Romeo and Juliet”. The feuding families become two warring New York City gangs- the white Jets led by Riff and the Puerto Rican Sharks, led by Bernardo. Their hatred escalates to a point where neither can coexist with any form of understanding. But when Riff’s best friend (and former Jet) Tony and Bernardo’s younger sister Maria meet at a dance, no one can do anything to stop their love. Maria and Tony begin meeting in secret, planning to run away. Then the Sharks and Jets plan a rumble under the highway – whoever wins gains control of the streets. Maria sends Tony to stop it, hoping it can end the violence. It goes terribly wrong, and before the lovers know what’s happened, tragedy strikes and doesn’t stop until the climactic and heartbreaking ending.

 

74What's Opera, Doc?1957Chuck JonesGreatest Animated Films, Greatest Musicals“What’s Opera, Doc?” lampoons classic opera by using its elements to set up the latest chapter in Elmer Fudd’s hapless pursuit of Bugs Bunny. We open with a silhouette of a mighty Viking arousing ferocious lightning storms … only to find it’s Elmer — this time as the demigod Siegfried. Elmer admonishes the audience (in classical verse) to “be vewwy quiet, I’m hunting wabbits!” It’s not long before Elmer comes upon Bugs’ hole and sings out “Kill the wabbit!” not realizing that the hare has already climbed out and is viewing Elmer spearing fruitlessly in said hole. Bugs joins in the fun, querying his tagline in operatic verse and leaving Elmer in his dust (but not before “Siegfried” shows us an example of supposed “mighty powers” from his spear and magic helmet). Elmer goes after the wascally wabbit, but his pursuit is ended when he sets his eyes on the stunningly and awesomely beautiful Valkyrie Brunhilde (Bugs in disguise). After a “hard-to-get” pursuit” (brought on by Elmer’s eternally-misguided hormones) “Siegfried” and “Valkyrie” join in magnificent duet with “Return My Love.” However, Bugs’ scheme is exposed when his headdress falls off, enraging Elmer. The pseudo-Viking commands fierce lightning, rain, hail and wind storms (not to mention smog) to “kill the wabbit!” It works, but upon seeing the bunny’s corpse, a woefully remorseful Elmer is reduced to tears as he somberly carries the “dead” Bugs into the distance. But has Bugs really been struck dead?  
160White Christmas1954Michael CurtizFavorite Christmas Movies, Greatest MusicalsHaving left the Army following W.W.II, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis team up to become a top song-and-dance act. Davis plays matchmaker and introduces Wallace to a pair of beautiful sisters (Betty and Judy) who also have a song-and-dance act. When Betty and Judy travel to a Vermont lodge to perform a Christmas show, Wallace and Davis follow, only to find their former commander, General Waverly, as the lodge owner. A series of romantic mix-ups ensue as the performers try to help the General.      
41Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory1971Mel StuartGreatest Fantasy Films, Greatest MusicalsThe world is astounded when Willy Wonka, for years a recluse in his factory, announces that five lucky people will be given a tour of the factory, shown all the secrets of his amazing candy, and one will win a lifetime supply of Wonka chocolate. Nobody wants the prize more than young Charlie, but as his family is so poor that buying even one bar of chocolate is a treat, buying enough bars to find one of the five golden tickets is unlikely in the extreme. But in movieland, magic can happen. Charlie, along with four somewhat odious other children, get the chance of a lifetime and a tour of the factory. Along the way, mild disasters befall each of the odious children, but can Charlie beat the odds and grab the brass ring?  
18Yankee Doodle Dandy1942Michael CurtizBestselling Blockbusters Through History, Greatest Musicals, Mega Money Makers Through History

A musical portrait of composer/singer/dancer George M. Cohan. From his early days as a child-star in his family’s vaudeville show up to the time of his comeback at which he received a medal from the president for his special contributions to the US, this is the life- story of George M. Cohan, who produced, directed, wrote and starred in his own musical shows for which he composed his famous songs.

 

86Yentl1984Barbra StreisandGreatest Musicals

In an Ashkenazic shtetl in Poland, Yentl Mendel is the boyishly klutzy daughter and only child of long widowed Rebbe (“Talmud Teacher”) Mendel, who teaches Talmud (a codification of Jewish Law) to local boys – and to Yentl, but secretly because girls were not allowed to learn the law in those days. When her father dies, Yentl is all alone in the world. She takes the momentous decision to leave the village and – disguised as a boy and calling herself by the name of her late brother, Anshel – seeks and gets admitted to a Yeshiva, to study the texts, traditions, subtleties and complexities of Torah, Talmud, etc. She befriends Avigdor who is engaged to Haddas, but her family discovers his brother committed suicide so they call off the wedding (in case Avigdor possesses the same madness). Anshel then finds “him”-self in the awkward position of being called into service as substitute bridegroom, so that the wedding can go ahead and Haddas will have a husband. It is a marriage that never gets consummated – apart from the more obvious reasons, because Haddas still wants Avigdor (though she eventually falls in love with Yentl, too). After numerous complications (including Avidor and Yentl falling in love with each other, briefly, after she reveals her secret to him, along with her bosom), the film ends with everybody getting what they always wanted – Haddas and Avigdor to live happily ever after with each other, while Anshel, now Yentl once again, goes off to America to pursue her dream of serious study in Yeshiva, where she will be able to study without needing to hide her identity as a woman.