An American in Paris
One of the greatest of 1950s screen musicals is a happy collaboration between the grace and athleticism of Gene Kelly and colorful palette of Vincente Minnelli. An American G.I. lingers in Paris after the war to study painting and soon falls in love with Caron, an engaged mademoiselle, much to the chagrin of his romance-minded benefactress. Features a seventeen-minute, avant-garde ballet choreographed by Kelly to George Gershwin's unbeatable melodies. Academy Award Nominations: 8, including Best Director. Academy Awards: 6, including Best Picture, Best Story and Screenplay. Kelly won a special Oscar for his achievements.

Anchors Aweigh
Gangway for Sinatra and Kelly as song and dance lead the list of activities when sailors on shore leave fall in with a fatherless boy and his beautiful aunt. Includes the irresistible dance sequence with Kelly and Jerry, the cartoon mouse. Academy Award Nominations: 5, including Best Picture, Best Actor Gene Kelly, Best Song ("I Fall in Love Too Easily"). Academy Awards: Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.

Annie
Based on the classic comic strip and Broadway musical, Annie follows the story of a redheaded orphan (Aileen Quinn) who escapes the terrifying head of her orphanage (Carol Burnett) to find a home with the wealthy Oliver Warbucks (Albert Finney).

Annie Get Your Gun
Sharpshooter and star of Colonel Buffalo Bill's Show, Frank Butler (Howard Keel) falls for the spirited Annie Oakley (Betty Hutton) until she provokes him into a clay pigeon shooting competition. Unfortunately, Annie is left to realize a man isn't always interested in a woman who can beat him at his own game. The film is based on Irving Berlin's play and contains the songs "Anything You Can Do," "Doin' What Comes Naturally," and "There's No Business Like Show Business." Winner of the 1951 Academy Award for Best Music and Scoring of a Musical Picture. It should be noted that Judy Garland was originally cast to star in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, but fell ill and was replaced by Betty Hutton.

Cabaret
Bob Fosse's adaptation of the Broadway musical focuses on a British writer (Michael York) who comes to 1930s Berlin and meets Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli), a dancer at the Kit Kat Klub, a hedonistic cabaret directed by a creepy emcee (Joel Grey). The songs, essentially all of which are sung on the stage of the club, reflect the decadent last-gasp hedonism of Germany just before the rise of Hitler and Nazism.

Camelot
A utopian society built by King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table meet a slow demise when Aurthur's queen engages in an illicit affair.

Chicago
This movie adaptation of Bob Fosse's 1975 Broadway musical is about two dreamers, Velma Kelley (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger). Velma is the Windy City's top nightclub star until the night she guns down her cheating husband, after which she becomes an even bigger celebrity, thanks to smooth attorney Billy Flynn (Richard Gere). Roxie also desperately wants fame, so the solution is simple: shoot her abusive lover dead. After Roxie replaces her, an outraged Velma plots Roxie's demise as she obsessively pursues her goal of being back on top.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Van Dyke's charming as a daydreaming inventor who fixes up an old jalopy and, with the vivid imaginations of his two children and a lady friend, it is transformed into a flying, floating wonder car that carries them to a magical kingdom. Inspired by an Ian Fleming idea.

Cry-Baby
Johnny Depp plays '50s bad boy Cry-Baby, on whom Allison, a straight-laced square, develops a crush. Allison's boyfriend, Baldwin, isn't a big fan of Cry-Baby and his pals, leading to a final showdown between the delinquents and the squares.

Everyone Says I Love You
A melange of sentimental musical vignettes about the various members of a madcap Manhattan family, who attempt by turns to find romance. Allen returns to his improvisational comic vein, reportedly springing the musical numbers on his nonmusical stars--only Barrymore was dubbed--shortly before production began.

Evita
Madonna tackles the title role in Alan Parker's ambitious recounting of the brief, amazing life of former Argentine first lady Eva Perón. Presented almost entirely in song and narrated by Antonio Banderas as a fictional everyman, the film charts the alternately revered and reviled Evita's rise from poverty to become a film and radio actress; her relationship with President Juan Perón (Jonathan Pryce); and her tragic death from cancer at age 33.

Banderas, a surprisingly moving singer, and the inimitable Madonna, who took voice lessons before filming commenced to expand her vocal range, provide the emotional bedrock for the eminently enjoyable film with their charismatic screen presences. The music, including the Oscar-winning song "You Must Love Me," weaves an entrancing web, and the sets and costumes are awe inspiring. Parker does a fine job of adapting Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical for the big screen. The director's vision shines clearly here: Like PINK FLOYD: THE WALL, EVITA is an enchanting mixture of epic fairy tale and sociopolitical psychodrama.

Fame
Students at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts train for careers in singing, dancing, acting, and other such professions but soon learn that the path to showbiz success is fraught with peril.

Fiddler on the Roof
Set in pre-revolutionary Russia, Fiddler on the Roof tells the story of Tevye (Topol), a milkman who struggles to raise his daughters in a world that is quickly changing around his traditional Jewish community.

Funny Girl
Barbra Streisand plays 1930s comedian Fanny Brice, who rose to stardom in the Ziegfield Follies while maintaining a sometimes-difficult marriage to Nick Arnstein (Omar Sharif).

Gigi
Based on a Colette story, Gigi is a Lerner and Loewe musical about a poor Parisian girl (Leslie Caron) who is trained as a courtesan by her aunts to catch the attention of a wealthy and famous playboy (Louis Jordan).

Grease
Based on the popular Broadway musical, Grease is set in the '50s at Rydell High and follows the lives of the too-cool-for-school kids — the smoking, class-cutting T'Birds, led by Danny Zuko (John Travolta), and the Pink Ladies, the bad girls with reputations. Olivia Newton-John plays sweet Sandy, a girl Danny met on summer vacation, who shows up unexpectedly as the new kid at Rydell. Danny acts macho, though, pretending it was just a fling, but he knows better. Sandy tries to fit in with the Pink Ladies, who mock her Sandra Dee innocence. Ultimately, she decides that if she wants to win back Danny she must undergo a serious makeover. Along the way, there are musical numbers, drag races, a nationally televised dance contest, and, finally, graduation. Grease was the word in 1978, confirming Travolta's status as a superstar and making Newton-John an overnight sensation. The film became the highest-grossing musical ever.

Guys and Dolls
Based on the Broadway show from the Damon Runyon short story and filled to the brim with Frank Loesser tunes such as "Luck Be a Lady" and "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat," this outrageously comic film featuring Marlon Brando's bold musical debut is a colorful tale about gamblers, a feisty Salvation Army lass, and a dance-hall girl with a pining heart. Veteran gambler Sky Masterson (Brando) takes a bet from Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) that he can win the affection of a "soldier" (Jean Simmons) in the Salvation Army, setting himself up to lose both his money and his heart. Romance is the last thing the gambler and the missionary expect, and they fight against their attraction for all they're worth in glowing singing and dancing numbers. Love proves to be contagious as spicy dancer Miss Adelaide, in a role re-created for the screen from Broadway by showstopper Vivian Blaine, is determined to get her fiancé, Nathan, to the altar one way or another. Stubby Kaye and B.S. Pully also reprise their stage roles in this glorious Cinemascope film that earned four Academy Award nominations. GUYS AND DOLLS consistently ranks among the most popular film musicals of all time.

Hair
In this adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, a naive farm boy from Oklahoma named Claude (John Savage) heads to New York City to enlist in the Army and serve in the Vietnam War. In Central Park, he meets a troupe of free-spirited hippies led by a young man named Berger (Treat Williams), who introduce him to a debutante (Beverly D'Angelo). Inevitably, Claude is sent off to boot camp in Nevada, but Berger and his band of merry pranksters do what they can to rescue Claude from a tour of duty in Vietnam.

A Hard Day's Night
The musical A Hard Day's Night follows a hectic day in the life of The Beatles. Tag along for the high-jinks as John, Paul, George, and Ringo dodge mobs of fans in a frenzied attempt to arrive on time for a TV appearance.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch
The darkly comic tale of Hedwig Schmidt (John Cameron Mitchell), a German immigrant living in a trailer park in middle (of nowhere) America. Back in East Berlin, shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hedwig was the victim of a botched sex change operation which left her with an "angry inch" as a remnant of her previous life as a young man named Hansel. Hedwig, backed by the hard rock group The Angry Inch, relates her story in rock opera form and takes the audience along on a quest for her missing identity — and her other half.

Hello, Dolly!
In early-20th-century Yonkers, a wealthy local merchant, Horace Vandergelder (played by Walter Matthau), hires matchmaker Dolly Levi (Barbra Streisand) to find a mate for him--but instead she decides to win him over for herself. His life is further complicated by his young niece, Ermengarde, who is determined to wed an artist Horace finds entirely unsuitable, and by his two hapless employees, who against Horace's wishes leave work to venture into New York so each can kiss a girl. Miserly, curmudgeonly, irascible Horace finds that matters have gotten completely out of his control--and the only person who seems to know exactly what is going on is the widowed Dolly Levi. The film is based on a succession of source material, beginning with the 1835 British play A DAY WELL SPENT by John Oxenford, Thornton Wilder's 1938 play THE MERCHANT OF YONKERS, and Wilder's successful 1954 adaptation of his own play, renamed THE MATCHMAKER, rewritten for Ruth Gordon and then made into a film by the same name in 1958 starring Shirley Booth. In 1964, Carol Channing starred in the story's next incarnation on Broadway: Michael Stewart's play HELLO, DOLLY! on which this film's screenplay is directly based.

Jailhouse Rock
While serving a year-long jail sentence, Vince Everett (Elvis Presley) learns how to croon. After getting out of jail, Vince starts a record label and becomes a rock and roll idol.

The Jazz Singer
One of the first talkies, The Jazz Singer follows a man from a traditional Jewish family who goes against his father's wishes and pursues his dream of becoming a jazz and ragtime singer.

Jesus Christ, Superstar
This adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway rock opera follows the final six days of Jesus Christ (Ted Neeley), as told by Judas Iscariot (Carl Anderson).

The King and I
After her husband's death, a woman (Deborah Kerr) moves from her native England to take a job teaching the sons of the King of Siam (Yul Brynner).

Little Shop of Horrors
A man-eating plant from space forever changes the life of Seymour (Rick Moranis), a shy clerk at a run-down flower shop.

Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins is a London nanny who drops out of the sky and into the home of a man and his two mischievous children. Once she's set up house, Mary (Julie Andrews) magically turns every chore into a game and every day into a whimsical adventure.

Meet Me in St. Louis
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS is a captivating musical about a St. Louis family at the time of the 1903 World's Fair. Tunes include "Trolley Song," "Boy Next Door," "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas," and others. Academy Award Nominations: 4, including Best Screenplay, Best Song ("The Trolley Song").

Moulin Rouge
In 1899, a young poet named Christian (Ewan McGregor) leaves his family's home and heads off to the Montmartre district of Paris, where he falls into the debauched bohemian world of painter Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo). When he's enlisted to write a nightclub routine, he soon falls for the club's star, a courtesan named Satine (Nicole Kidman).

The Music Man
An energetic con artist convinces the citizens of a small turn-of-the-century community to form a boy's band - which he plans to lead. This classic Hollywood musical features such hits as "76 Trombones," "Ya Got Trouble," and many more. Academy Award Nominations: 6, including Best Picture. Academy Awards: Best Adapted Score.

My Fair Lady
Linguistics professor Henry Higgins takes a bet from Colonel Pickering challenging him to transform an unrefined Cockney girl named Eliza (Audrey Hepburn) into a well-spoken lady. Over the course of teaching her manners and eliminating her accent, he becomes accustomed to her charms, but when he takes sole credit for her transformation, Eliza abruptly runs off with a young gentleman.

Oklahoma!
Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical about a love triangle in the midst of the Oklahoma land rush is adapted to the screen featuring the enduring songs "People Will Say We're in Love," "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin," "Oklahoma!" and more. Shirley Jones' debut, this panoramic film was actually shot in Arizona! Academy Award Nominations: 4. Academy Awards: Best Sound Recording and Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.

Oliver!
Putting Dickens' classic to music, this lavish 1968 production presents the master storyteller's tale of a young orphan championing over neglect, poverty, and crime.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Lost milquetoast couple Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) stumble upon a weird castle late one rainy night, where they encounter a cross-dressing fellow known as Frank N. Furter. Songs and sexual exploration ensue.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
In the Oregon Territory, mountain man Adam Pontipee (Howard Keel, acting and singing with gusto) comes to town to sell his crops and woo a woman to be his wife, succeeding with spirited Milly (Jane Powell), who is tired of feeding and waiting on so many men at the local inn. Her dreams of keeping house for just one man are shattered when she discovers that Adam shares his pigsty cabin with six brawling brothers. Milly's good cooking and stubborn nature whip the young men into shape and inspire them to seek women of their own. But after a disastrous barn raising during which the brothers snare the attention of the town girls only to be taunted into fighting with the town men, Adam suggests his brothers forget gentle methods of love and follow the actions of the Roman with the Sabine ("Sobbin'") women. The kidnapping of their six sweethearts spurs Milly to throw the men out of the house, but enforced proximity caused by winter and the brothers' good intentions just might help love bloom again.

Show Boat
This vivacious remake of the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein musical (based on an Edna Ferber novel) about life on a Mississippi riverboat tracks the hardships of Julie Laverne (Ava Gardner), a mulatto trying to pass for white while also following the course of a tumultuous love between a captain's daughter, Magnolia Hawks (Kathryn Grayson), and an itinerant gambler, Gaylord Ravenal (Howard Keel). Gardner (with help from Annette Warren, whose voice was overdubbed for Gardner's songs) gives a heartbreaking performance, and Grayson's clear, pure voice soars, set off magnificently by Keel's rich baritone. The film stands as a classic for both its surprising emotional impact and its well-known score, featuring timeless gems such as "Old Man River" and "Can't Help Lovin' that Man of Mine."

Singin' in the Rain
Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are trying to move from the silent-film era, in which they were stars, to the new "talkie" pictures. Their latest movie is a musical, and with the help of Don's pal Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), a cheerful guy and accomplished pianist, the numbers are coming together. The only problem is Lina's voice, or lack thereof. Don has fallen for a chorus girl who can sing (Debbie Reynolds), so she's brought in secretly to dub Lina's lines and sing the songs. Unfortunately, Lina finds out.

The Sound of Music
A trouble-making nun named Maria is sent to be the governess of Captain Von Trapp's seven children. While there, she brings life, music, happiness, and, yes, love to the household.

South Pacific
A Rodgers and Hammerstein classic revolving around a forbidden love affair between a native girl and a young American sailor on a Pacific island during World War II. Songs include "Some Enchanted Evening," "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy," and "Bali H'ai." Academy Award Nominations: 3. Academy Awards: Best Sound.

A Star Is Born
A STAR IS BORN was conceived as a comeback vehicle for Judy Garland, who gives a fascinating and heartrending performance in perhaps the finest work of her career. This film was director George Cukor's first musical and first color picture; the tale of a doomed Hollywood couple, it was a remake of the 1937 William Wellman movie with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. Garland plays young singer Esther, who saves Norman Maine (James Mason), a famous star, from making a fool of himself onstage. Maine is an alcoholic whose career is on the wane but who manages, nonetheless, to acknowledge Esther's talent and help her jump-start a career in Hollywood. But as her star rises and his declines, Maine's misery grows. Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin provided Garland with songs that would become standards in her concert repertoire, including "The Man That Got Away," which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Song. A STAR IS BORN is also based on the earlier Cukor picture WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD?

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
Despite having recently presided over a very successful Halloween, Jack Skellington, aka the Pumpkin King, is bored with his job and feels that life in Halloweenland lacks meaning. Then he stumbles upon Christmastown and promptly decides to make the Yuletide his own.

Tommy
The Who's rock opera stars lead singer Roger Daltrey as Tommy. Born deaf, dumb, and blind, Tommy is a misfit whose mother (Ann-Margret) starts up an affair with a lout (Oliver Reed) when his soldier father is presumed dead after he's shot down in his plane. Tommy grows to be a man but is still ridiculed … until one day he's drawn to a pinball machine, where he regains all his powers and becomes a pinball wizard.

West Side Story
This retelling of Romeo and Juliet updates the story to contemporary city life, focusing on street gangs the Sharks and the Jets. Tony, a founder of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Shark leader Bernardo.

White Christmas
Director Michael Curtiz (CASABLANCA, CAPTAIN BLOOD, MILDRED PIERCE) changes directions with this holiday classic. Two talented song-and-dance men team up after the war to become one of the hottest acts in show business. The film includes a veritable treasury of Irving Berlin classics: "Sisters," "Blue Skies," and of course "White Christmas." Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are a joy to watch. Academy Award Nominations: Best Song ("Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep".)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Based on the book by Roald Dahl, this movie follows a poor boy named Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), who is one of five winners to receive a personalized tour of the chocolate factory belonging to eccentric candy-maker Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder).

The Wizard of Oz
In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) is a Kansas girl swept away in a tornado. She lands in Oz, where she meets a scarecrow (Ray Bolger), a lion (Bert Lahr), and a tin man (Jack Haley). Together they set off for the city in hopes of finding a wizard who can help Dorothy get back home.

Yankee Doodle Dandy
An outstanding musical about the life and times of George M. Cohan, playwright, entertainer, composer and patriot. Academy Award Nominations: 8, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Story. Academy Awards: Best Actor--James Cagney, Best Sound Recording, Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.