I was so taken the other night by Springsteen on Broadway, which I regard as a piece of one-man musical portraiture, that I thought I’d assemble a roster of my 25 all-time favorite musicals. How am I defining a musical? Any presentation of any kind (filmed narrative musical, stage musical live or captured on film/video, filmed concert) in which a minimum of five or six musical numbers are performed, for any reason or within any scheme.
2. John Carney‘s Once
3. Lars von Trier‘s Dancer in the Dark
4. Sunday in the Park with George (1999 taping of B’way stage musical)
5. Damien Chazelle‘s La La Land
6. Richard Lester‘s A Hard Day’s Night
7. Alex Gibney‘s Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown
7. Alfred and David Maysles‘ Gimme Shelter
8. D.A. Pennebaker‘s Monterey Pop
9. Carousel (Live From Lincoln Center)
10. Michael Wadleigh‘s Woodstock
11. Pennies From Heaven (oriainal 1978 British version)
12. Baz Luhrman‘s Moulin Rouge
13. Richard Linklater‘s School of Rock
14. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen‘s Singin’ in the Rain
15. Bill Condon‘s Dreamgirls
16. Ken Russell‘s Tommy
17. Tie between Randall Kleiser‘s Grease and Allan Arkush‘s Rock ‘n’ Roll High School
18. Fred Zinneman‘s Oklahoma!
19. Hal Kanter‘s Loving You
20. Vincent Minnelli‘s An American in Paris
21. Otto Preminger‘s Carmen Jones
22. Martin Scorsese‘s Shine A Light
23. Frank Oz‘S Little Shop of Horrors
24. Albert Magnoli‘s Purple Rain
25. Otto Preminger‘s Porgy and Bess
