Hell Is A Musical

Sing 2 is a 2021 animated jukebox musical comedy from animation studio Illumination. It was directed by Garth Jennings, and featuring an ensemble cast, including Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Bono, and various others. A sequel to the original 2016 film Sing, the plot (Such as it was) featured a cast of anthromorphic animal characters attempting to put t...

Rock Of Ages was a 2012 film adaptation of the broadway musical of the same name, directed by Adam Shankman, and starring Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta alongside an ensemble cast including Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and many more. The film, which takes place in Los Angeles during the late 1980s, follows the romantic journeys of two fresh-faced young individuals trying to mak...

Xanadu is a musical fantasy film directed by Robert Greenwald, starring Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, and Michael Beck. Containing a soundtrack heavily featuring the music of the band Electric Light Orchestra, Xanadu followed the story of a struggling artist in Los Angeles, who suddenly finds himself in the company of a mysterious woman, who encourages him to open a nightclub alongside a former...

The Music Man is a 1962 musical adaptation of the Meredith Wilson musical of the same name. Taking place in the early 1910s of America, it follows the national con man Harold Hill, as he slowly develops a plot to swindle the town of River City, Iowa (Based on Wilson's own hometown of Mason City) out of its money via the creation of a boys' marching band. The film version starred Robert Preston, Sh...

Bo Burnham: Inside is a 2021 Netflix special by standup/musical comedian Bo Burnham. Filmed over the course of a single year during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the special contained several short vignettes, songs, and segments filmed and performed entirely by Burnham himself. Though advertised as a comedy special, Inside was more of an experimental character study sprinkled with elements of sa...

Hedwig & The Angry Inch began as a 1998 off-Broadway stage show, before being adapted to film in 2001, directed by and starring John Cameron Mitchell, who also wrote and starred in the original play. The movie follows Hansel Schmidt, a gay youth in communist East Germany, who escapes with a lover by undergoing a botched sex change operation, only to be abandoned upon reaching America, and turning...

Into The Woods is a 2014 musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. An adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim broadway musical, the film was directed by Rob Marshall, and takes place in a world drawn from the fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers, but with a more consequential twist. It featured an ensemble cast including Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, and...

Across The Universe was a 2007 romantic drama/jukebox musical film directed by Julie Taymor, and featured starring roles from Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, and Joe Anderson, with cameo appearances from Bono, Salma Hayek, Eddie Izzard, and Joe Cocker, among others. The movie follows a loose plot involving romance blossoming during the height of protests against the war in Vietnam, set against a m...

Yesterday was a 2019 musical romantic comedy film, directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later) and written by Richard Curtis. (Love Actually, Four Weddings And A Funeral, Bridget Jones' Diary) The film stars Himesh Patel as a struggling musician who suddenly finds himself in a world where famed English pop group The Beatles never existed, and the subsequent success...

Bugsy Malone was a 1976 musical gangster film written and directed by Alan Parker, who would later go on to direct acclaimed films like Mississippi Burning, Midnight Express, and The Commitments. Parker presented a setting at the height of the gangland 1920s, following the titular Bugsy Malone, a con man and swindler caught up in a war between two rival gangs. The twist of the film however, came f...

Phantom Of The Paradise was a 1974 rock musical/horror comedy, one of the earliest cinematic works of Brian De Palma. It featured a story loosely adapted from European works of literature such as The Picture of Dorian Gray, Faust, and most notably The Phantom Of The Opera, more than a decade before Andrew Lloyd Webber would get his hands on the property. The story of music industry excess and reve...

The Muppet Christmas Carol was a 1992 musical Christmas film produced by the Jim Henson Workshop, the directorial debut of Brian Henson, and the 4th overall Muppet franchise film; the first since the deaths of creator Jim Henson and principal player Richard Hunt. The film sought to re-tell the classic Charles Dickens story with a cast of Muppets characters standing in for characters from the origi...

Tick, Tick...Boom! was a 2021 musical drama which depicted the life of composer and lyricist Jonathan Larson. It marked the directorial debut of Lin-Manuel Miranda, and is adapted from the stage musical/one-man show of the same name. Starring Andrew Garfield, Robin de Jesús, and Alexandra Shipp, it depicted the trials and tribulations of Larson, fast approaching his 30th birthday, and in the midst...

Frank was a 2014 black comedy directed by Lenny Abrahamson, which followed the journey of an aspiring singer-songwriter struggling with his own mediocrity and inability to write good songs, who soon finds himself among a experimental rock band that he hopes to break into America. The film starred Domnhall Gleeson, Maggie Gylenhaal, Scoot McNairy, and Michael Fassbender as the titular character; th...

Singin' In The Rain was a 1952 musical romantic comedy directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. Starring Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, and Jean Hagen, the film follows a lightly satirical take on late 1920s Hollywood, depicting the story of famed silent film actors caught up in the transition to talking pictures. Though only a modest hit upon its release, it's been pr...

Reefer Madness was a 1936 propaganda film intended to be a morality tale to keep children away from drug usage. In it, the film professed to expose a seedy underbelly of marijuana usage, depicting scenes of hallucination, sexual assault, murder, and descent into insanity. Though presenting itself as educational, over the years it gained new life as an unintentional satire for its campy production...

Mamma Mia! was a 2008 movie adaptation of the musical of the same name directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Utilizing the works of Swedish pop group ABBA as a soundtrack, Mamma Mia! tells a comedic story of infidelity and misunderstanding as a young girl invites three men suspected of being her father to come see her on the eve of her wedding night. The film adaptation featured Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Stree...

Annette was a 2021 musical romantic drama, directed by avant-garde filmmaker Leos Carax, and based off of a script by Ron and Russell Mael of the art-pop duo Sparks. The film follows the lives of two celebrities on differing career trajectories (Portrayed by Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard) whose idyllic lives are upended by the birth of a daughter, (The titular Annette) whom it is discovered has...

The Greatest Showman was a 2017 musical drama film directed by visual effects artist Michael Gracey in his directing debut. It followed a dramatic re-interpretation of the life of American showman P.T. Barnum, touching upon the creation of his American Museum, and eventually his famous circus. It featured performances by Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Zendaya, and many others in a fil...

Hairspray was a 2007 film adaptation of the romantic, comedic musical of the same name, which itself was adapted from a 1988 comedy from John Waters. The film was directed by Adam Shankman, and followed the story of a young girl in the early 1960s pursuing stardom as a dancer on a local TV show, and rallying against racial segregation. It featured an ensemble cast including John Travolta, Michelle...

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga was a 2020 musical comedy film directed by David Dobkin, and written by Will Ferrell and Andrew Steele. The story follows an unlikely Icelandic musical duo, the titular Fire Saga, portrayed by Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams, who through a technical fluke are admitted entry to the Eurovision Song Contest after every other entry in Iceland simultaneou...

Once was a 2007 musical drama directed by John Carney. It featured Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová of folk act the Swell Season in starring roles as two struggling musicians recording a record, and tensely working through mounting romantic feelings. Produced by the Irish Film Board on a shoestring budget, it was a considerable commercial and critical success, and received numerous film awards, in...

Prom was a 2020 musical film adaptation of the eponymous 2018 Broadway musical. It was directed by Ryan Murphy, and adapted to screen by the play's original authors; Chad Beguelin, Bob Martin, and Matthew Sklar. Partially inspired by real world events, The Prom follows the story of four past-their-prime theatrical performers, who in a fit of desperation for publicity travel to Indiana to inject th...

Jesus Christ Superstar was a 1973 film adaptation of the rock opera of the same name. The original was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, while the movie version was directed by Norman Jewison, who had previously found movie musical success adapting the stage show Fiddler On The Roof to film. The cast was primarily made up of actors from the original stage show, who had never acted for f...

Newsies was a 1992 musical film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, and the directing debut of noted film choreographer Kenny Ortega. An early starring role for Christian Bale, it told a story loosely based on the New York City Newsboys' Strike of 1899, with songs by Disney mainstay Alan Mencken, and words by lyricist Jack Feldman. The film (Which was set in New York) was neither a commercial nor cr...