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the 100 musicals list

posted 14 years ago by mystical_window
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1. Grease (1978)
2. The Sound of Music (1965)
3. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
4. West Side Story (1961)
5. Mary Poppins (1964)
6. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
7. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
8. Chicago (2002/stage)
9. Oliver! (1968)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)
11. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
12. My Fair Lady (1964)
13. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Once More With Feeling (2002)
14. The Lion King (1994)
15. Les Misérables (stage)
16. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
17. Cabaret (1972)
18. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (stage)
19. Bugsy Malone (1976)
20. The Phantom of the Opera (stage)
21. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
22. Evita (1996)
23. The King and I (1956)
24. The Blues Brothers (1980)
25. Calamity Jane (1953)
26. Annie (1982)
27. The Jungle Book (1967)
28. Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
29. Fame (1980)
30. Cats (stage)
31. Blood Brothers
32. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
33. Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
34. High Society (1956)
35. Oklahoma! (1955)
36. Guys and Dolls (1955)
37. White Christmas (1954)
38. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
39. South Pacific (1958)
40. 8 Mile (2002)
41. Carousel (1956)
42. Starlight Express (stage)
43. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
44. Tommy (1975)
45. A Star Is Born (1954)
46. A Chorus Line (1985)
47. Summer Holiday (1963)
48. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
49. The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
50. Hello, Dolly! (1969)
51. Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
52. Carmen Jones (1954)
53. Cinderella (1950)
54. On the Town (1949)
55. Hair (1979)
56. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
57. Paint Your Wagon (1969)
58. An American in Paris (1951)
59. Funny Girl (1968)
60. Top Hat (1935)
61. Scrooge (1970)
62. Sweet Charity (1969)
63. Jailhouse Rock (1957)
64. Easter Parade (1948)
65. The Jazz Singer (1927)
66. Gypsy (1962)
67. Doctor Dolittle (1967)
68. Kiss Me Kate (1953)
69. The Producers (1968)
70. Gigi (1958)
71. Show Boat (1951)
72. Godspell: A Musical Based on the Gospel Acco... (1973)
73. Half a Sixpence (1967)
74. Shall We Dance (1937)
75. From the Heart (1998)
76. Dancer in the Dark (2000)
77. Porgy and Bess (1959)
78. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
79. All That Jazz (1979)
80. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (stage)
81. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
82. Anything Goes (stage)
83. A Star Is Born (1976)
84. Ziegfeld Follies (1945)
85. Funny Face (1957)
86. There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
87. Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)
88. For Me and My Gal (1942)
89. A Little Night Music (1977)
90. Cry-Baby (1990)
91. Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
92. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
93. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Tr... (1967)
94. Sholay (1975)
95. Breaking Glass (1980)
96. Lullaby of Broadway (1951)
97. The Cotton Club (1984)
98. Bright Eyes (1934)
99. Miss Saigon(stage)
100. Let's Make Love (1960)

[–] roark183 7 years ago

Not all these items are actual musicals. Take Ziegfeld follies for example. It certainly has music in it, and it's a story about music, but it's not a musical.

A musical must make use of music and singing to tell the story line.

Dictionary.com says "musical comedy, a play or motion picture in which the story line is interspersed with or developed by songs, dances, and the like."

Merriam-Webster.com defines a musical as "a movie or play that tells a story with both speaking and singing."

IMDb defines a musical as "A movie whose dramatic story structure includes unrealistic episodes of musical perfomance and/or dancing." Are romance and comedy unrealistic? I think not. So IMDb has it very wrong.

Defining a musical simply because it has music in it is certainly not workable, as almost every film has music in it. The key to making a film a musical is that the plot dialog must be interwoven with music. Without that specific quality, it's just another film that happens to have music in the film.