# Movie musicals for someone who doesn't like movie musicals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039 "2014-02-23T22:40:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/21 "2014-02-24T02:01:43Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > Blues Brothers? Excellent choice- really too bad the sequel sucked so bad. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/22 "2014-02-24T02:06:39Z")
I’m putting in another vote for _Cabaret_. It was a great musical, especially the final scene where the camera moves backwards to reveal the Nazis in the audience. Gives me chills every time . . . Although this has a bit of song and dance, my all time favorite musical is _My Fair Lady_. The songs are absolutely incredible (a few of the best: “I Could Have Danced All Night”, “Why Can’t a Woman”, “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly”, the list goes on and on). ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/23 "2014-02-24T02:10:24Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > How about “sung-through” musicals, where the entire story is done as a musical number, with little or no regular speech at all? > [Sung-through - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sung-through) What’s the difference between a sung-through musical and an opera? ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/24 "2014-02-24T02:48:03Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > O Brother, Where Art Thou? Also **Inside Llewyn Davis**. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/25 "2014-02-24T02:55:22Z")
I felt the same way regarding musicals. Then I saw _West Side Story_. Now, I love musicals. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/26 "2014-02-24T03:02:04Z")
Hedwig & the Angry Inch - the main character is the fronts a band & the songs the band’s performances. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > I stumbled on a weird 60s movie once, and suddenly they started singing [Hey Big Spender](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG3VfKlfDEk). I hadn’t realised it was from a movie. That may have been the day I realised what the song was actually about, which makes me wonder why I recall seeing kids singing it in various Variety Shows on TV. Sweet Charity - I love that musical, but there are songs and [amazingly](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0--eFfzDAM) [choreographed](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SbmaGAXlGQ) dances that bare little resemblance to real life. Probably not the OP’s thing. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/27 "2014-02-24T03:12:58Z")
_ **My Fair Lady** _. _ **Mary Poppins.** _ _ **South Pacific.** _ _ **Gigi.** _ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/28 "2014-02-24T03:20:54Z")
_ **Funny Face** _. _ **An American in Paris** _. _ **On the Town** _. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/29 "2014-02-24T03:27:31Z")
\*\*Monty Python and the Holy Grail Rocky Horror Picture Show\*\* ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/30 "2014-02-24T03:29:31Z")
_ **Yankee Doodle Dandy** _. _ **This Is the Army** _. _ **Never Steal Anything Small** _. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/31 "2014-02-24T03:34:33Z")
[_The Return of the King_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoAfb3f04mo)? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/32 "2014-02-24T03:39:22Z")
_ **High Society** _. Like _ **My Fair Lady** _, the work on which it was based (_ **The Philadelphia Story** _) was great in and of itself. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/33 "2014-02-24T03:42:36Z")
Thirty-two posts, and no one has mentioned _ **The Wizard of Oz** _?!? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/34 "2014-02-24T03:50:22Z")
I hate musicals. Dr. Horribles Sing-Along Blog was awesome. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/35 "2014-02-24T04:27:31Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > I hate musicals. I generally don’t care for them myself, but I enjoy most of the ones that have been listed. And while I’ve never seen _ **Pennies from Heaven** _, this clip from the movie with Christopher Walken is awesome:\* https://www.youtube.com/embed/raoHt0AD-dQ?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque \*Plus, Bernadette Peters really brings out the horny teenager in me! So does Natalie Wood in _ **Gypsy** _. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/36 "2014-02-24T04:50:58Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > _The Replacements_ is about a bunch of Irish dudes who sing a lot. Or were they Scottish? Either way, it was good. They were Irish. I loved the following exchange (so far as I can remember it): \*“Jimmy, don’t you think we’re too … **white** t’be playin’ this music?” “Dean! The Irish are the blacks of Europe. Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once and say it out loud: I’m black and I’m proud.” \* 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/37 "2014-02-24T04:55:34Z")
Purple Rain My Best Friend’s Wedding The Commitments is the movie about the Irish rock/blues band. Alan Parker is a great director of movie musicals. The Commitments, The Wall, Evita. Try his stuff. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/38 "2014-02-24T04:58:04Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > The Commitments is the movie about the Irish rock/blues band. I was so focused on the description, I missed the different name totally! Damn! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/39 "2014-02-24T07:13:01Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Maybe it’s just me, but I find the scheme of typical movie musicals – an ordinary movie except where at some points the stars and supporting cast burst into song and dance instead of dialogue or narrative-- utterly ridiculous. I really have no patience for them because they take me right out of whatever suspension of disbelief I might have and slap me in the face with their unreality. Just wondering: How do you feel about abrupt scene editing? Or flashbacks? Or background music? Or computer graphics? Or silent films? Or dubbing, or subtitles, or black & white films? These are all things that tinker with your suspension of disbelief, so why do you single out musicals? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039/40 "2014-02-24T08:09:50Z")
I love musicals, but I can see where the OP is coming from - It’s just one of those _different from real life_ things that’s too jarring for some people - I guess it’s a sort of sudden realisation of “Don’t they actually know they’re singing?” that yanks some people out of the story. The same thing can happen with other things (“Don’t they realise they’re all facing the camera?” maybe), but singing is quite a lot more noticeable. That’s how I divine the difference the OP is talking about; films containing songs where the characters _know they are singing_ vs films containing sung dialogue where _everyone appears somehow unaware that singing is an unusual way to communicate_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-musicals-for-someone-who-doesnt-like-movie-musicals/682039.md?page=3)