Excellent choice- really too bad the sequel sucked so bad.
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).
What’s the difference between a sung-through musical and an opera?
Also Inside Llewyn Davis.
I felt the same way regarding musicals. Then I saw West Side Story. Now, I love musicals.
Hedwig & the Angry Inch - the main character is the fronts a band & the songs the band’s performances.
Sweet Charity - I love that musical, but there are songs and amazingly choreographed dances that bare little resemblance to real life. Probably not the OP’s thing.
My Fair Lady.
Mary Poppins.
South Pacific.
Gigi.
Funny Face.
An American in Paris.
On the Town.
**Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Rocky Horror Picture Show**
Yankee Doodle Dandy.
This Is the Army.
Never Steal Anything Small.
High Society. Like My Fair Lady, the work on which it was based (The Philadelphia Story) was great in and of itself.
Thirty-two posts, and no one has mentioned The Wizard of Oz?!? :eek:
I hate musicals. Dr. Horribles Sing-Along Blog was awesome.
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:*
*Plus, Bernadette Peters really brings out the horny teenager in me! So does Natalie Wood in Gypsy. 
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.” *
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.
I was so focused on the description, I missed the different name totally! Damn! :smack:
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?
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.