Are you missing Broadway and/or your regular trips to your local theatre? Are you in need of some show tunes? From the classics like Singin’ In The Rain and Oklahoma! to new favourites like Sing Street and The Last Five Years, here are some movie musicals you can rent, buy, or stream from the comfort of your home. 

Singin’ In The Rain (1952)

In this classic Gene Kelly movie, the movie industry is shifting from silent movies to ‘talkies’. Don and Lina’s, frequently cast as romantic couples, new movie is being remade into a musical. But only Don can sing. Even after extensive training and coaching, Lina still sounds terrible so a new actress, Kathy, is brought in to record over her voice. It turns out, making the leap from silent movies to talkies might be harder than Lina thought.

Available on Youtube, Google Play

Oklahoma! (1955)

Oklahoma! was the first musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein. It’s time for the local box social and Laurey and Ado Annie are torn as to who to take. A cowboy named Curly asks Laurey but Larey says he waited too long and accepts Jud’s offer instead. Meanwhile, Ado Annie is torn between a cowboy named Will and a peddler named Ali Hakim. These women have a difficult choice to make before the social.

Available on Prime Video, iTunes, Youtube, Google Play

West Side Story (1961)

This is Stephen Sondheim’s classic retelling of Romeo and Juliet in modern times. Two gangs, the white Sharks, led by Riff, and the Puerto Rican Jets, led by Bernardo battle for control of the Upper West Side. However, the battle intensifies and things get more complicated when Tony, co-founder of the Jets, falls in love with Bernardo’s sister Maria. This movie won ten Oscars and features songs including “Tonight”, “Somewhere”, and “I Feel Pretty”. 

Available on iTunes, Google Play, Youtube

The Sound of Music (1965)

Julie Andrews stars as Maria (one of her most iconic roles) in this heartwarming family film about love, family and music. Maria doesn’t quite fit in with the other nuns at the abbey. After wondering “how do you solve a problem like Maria”, the Mother Abbess thinks she may be better off elsewhere and sends her to be the new governess in the von Trapp household of a widowed naval captain and his seven children. Maria brings new life, fun, and into a house run on strict discipline and soon Captain von Trapp realizes that this may be for the best. 

Available on Disney+, Youtube, Google Play

Cabaret (1972)

Set in Berlin in 1931 during the Weimar Republic, this movie, directed by Bob Fosse, focuses on the relationship between American writer Brian Roberts and cabaret performer Sally Bowles and the nightlife at the sordid Kit Kat Klub. But things get harder when playboy Maximilian von Huene shows up and complicates matters for Sally and Brian, as love triangles often do. This love story plays out in the shadow of the rise of the Nazi party and the fall of the Republic.

Available on Prime Video, iTunes, Youtube, Google Play

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

Take a trip down to Skid Row where Seymour works in a flower shop and he has a huge crush on his coworker Audrey. Unfortunately, Audrey is currently with the evil, sadistic dentist. One day, Seymour finds a mysterious new plant and names it Audrey II. Seymour finds out that Audrey II has an appetite for human flesh and blood and demands to be fed. It begins to grow uncontrollably. Now it’s up to Seymour and Audrey to stop Audrey II before it takes over the world. 

Available on Prime Video, iTunes, Youtube, Google Play

Chicago (2002)

Celebrity, sex, crime, scandal, drama, everything you could want in a movie. This 2003 Best Picture winner directed by Rob Marshall is based on the 1975 Broadway musical and features some of the classic show tunes like “All That Jazz” and “The Cell Block Tango”. The film centres on Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, two murderesses in Cook County Jail together awaiting trial. They fight for the best lawyer, Billy Flynn, and they fight over publicity and attention from the media. After all, being a famous celebrity might just save their lives. 

Available on iTunes, Prime Video, Youtube, Google Play

Rent (2005)

Based on Jonathan Larson’s 1996 hit Broadway musical of the same name, this film follows a group of New Yorkers in the early 1990s during the AIDS epidemic. We share in the characters’ struggles with sexuality, drugs, and paying their rent. This movie features favourite songs such as “Seasons of Love”, “One Song Glory”, and “Another Day.”

Available on Prime Video, iTunes, Youtube, Google Play

Mamma Mia! (2008)

Sophie Sheridan is about to get married and everything’s perfect. Well, almost. She wants her dad to walk her down the aisle, but she doesn’t know who her father is. She secretly invites three men from her mother’s past, in hopes that one of them is her father. Set in Greece and to the music of ABBA, this movie musical will have you singing and dancing all day long. And if one isn’t enough, make it a double feature and follow it up with Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again. 

Available on Netflix, Youtube, iTunes, Google Play

The Last Five Years (2014)

Starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, this movie based on the Jason Robert Brown musical, tells the story of Cathy and Jamie’s relationship. They each tell the story of their failed marriage from their own perspective. Jamie’s side of the story is told in the order in which events unfold and Cathy’s story is told in reverse, beginning at the end of their relationship.

Available on Prime Video, iTunes, Youtube, Google Play

Sing Street (2016)

It’s a simple story really—boy meets girl, boy forms a band to impress the girl. It’s a time of economic hardship in Dublin and Conor is having a hard time at his new school. Then he meets Raphina, a girl who lives across the street from the school. Conor turns to music and forms a band with his friends to impress Raphina and invite her to star in their music videos. The score features new catchy ‘80s new wave pop songs that are just delightful and fun to listen to. John Carney succeeds in making another feel-good movie that just makes you smile. Sing Street was supposed to premiere on Broadway this month but has now been postponed due to coronavirus.

Available on Prime Video, Youtube, iTunes, Google Play

Bonus:

• Mary Poppins (1964) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
• Disney Classics: Aladdin (1992), Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Little Mermaid (1989), Tangled (2010)
• An American In Paris (1951)
• My Fair Lady (1964)
• Funny Girl (1968)
• Hairspray (2007)
• Grease (1978)
• A Star Is Born (1954, 1976, 2018)
• Into the Woods (2014)
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
• Les Miserables (2012)
• La La Land (2016)
• The Greatest Showman (2017)