60 Movies to Stream Picked by BWW's Editors

BroadwayWorld's editors have been keeping busy during the shutdown working on features, interviews, local news and more!

With all of us at home binging, streaming, and looking for ways to entertain ourselves, we wanted to ask our staff and critics around the country about their favorite things they've seen pre and post shutdown!

We asked our staff and critics around the country what their favorite films are - if you're in need of something to watch, check out some of their suggestions below!

Alan Portner from Kansas City

The Greatest Showman - Stellar cast - imaginative vision - the thing just works

Zoe Burke from Albuquerque

La La Land, hands down. - It's such a beautiful story about normal people chasing their dreams. The score is amazing, and the choreography is perfection.

Mike Noland from Arkansas

Wow, this is hard. This changes with the day and the mood. Today I will say Little Shop Of Horrors, but tomorrow it could be White Christmas or Wizard of Oz or the original Fame or maybe LaLaLand. - Little Shop Of Horrors still has the feel of a stage musical while being on screen. The music is so fun and the casting was perfect.

Ella Embry from Atlanta, Ga

Chicago - The ENERGY - being in a movie format allows for so many clever cut-aways, alternative POVS, and new sets. Plus, Catherine Zeta-Jones is perfect.

Lynn Beaver from Austin, Tx

West Side Story - It perfectly captures the essence of the musical genre. It uses larger settings but still manages to retain the stage musical magic.

Martin Ganeider from Austria

Cabaret - Well-directed from tip to toe.

Herbert Paine from AZ

Kinky Boots - All the elements, both performance and technical, coalesce seamlessly into an uplifting and inspiring statement about inclusiveness.

Jeanmarie Simpson from AZ

The Music Man - It's rich, attention to detail is off the scale. Robert Preston is perfection.

Marc Savitt from Berkshires

I am not big on the concept of perfection but Little Shop of Horrors is pretty awesome - Like I said above, I am not big on the concept of perfection but I can't think of a single element in Little Shop that is weak, casting, sets, costumes, timing all pretty great.

Jessa Lynn from Boise

Les Miserables - The entire cast was perfect, High Jackman as Valjean brought something amazing to the role and the music is timeless.

David Tompkins from Boston Area

An American in Paris - Gene Kelly - The story and book is incredible, the musical score and songs are among the best in the musical theatre cannon and the Choreography is rarely matched.

Vicki from Calgary

Mamma Mia - It's fun, catchy, aesthetically pleasing. The actors clearly enjoyed the work they were doing and delivered an entertaining performance.

David Clarke from NYC

Little Shop of Horrors (Director's Cut) - It translates the stage show to the film medium with aplomb. The puppets are phenomenal. The cast is superb.

Rich Mehrenberg from Central Pennsylvania

Chicago - Every song looks and sounds unique yet has a very specific purpose in the storytelling.

Susan Haubenstock from Central Virginia

High Society - I was taken to see it at the movies when I was very little. Everyone in it was unbelievably glamorous and sophisticated.

Rachel Weinberg from Chicago

West Side Story (1961) - No movie musical is ever perfect, but preserving Jerome Robbins's magnificent original choreography in amber comes close.

Roy Berko from Cleveland, OH

CHICAGO - Well conceived, brought the state to the screen without lip-synching and substituting of voices for the actors and actresses

Paul batterson from Columbus Ohio

Mary poppins sound of music - It tells a story in a way a live musical can't

Joseph Harrison from Connecticut

The Last Five Years - A strong adaptation and a great score.

Zac Thriffiley from Dallas-Fort Worth

Chicago - It's one of the few movie musicals I've seen that combined the best aspects of both genres. The film revels in show's decadently presentational format while emphasizing the gritty reality of the world beyond the stage lights.

Maria Bruun Fanoe from Denmark

Moulin Rouge - The movie has reinvented the genre. Amazing songs and a beautiful story

DC Felton from Des Moines

The Greatest Showman - I love how it draws you into the world of the circus, and challenges us to think about what makes us unique and embrace it.

Brian Stanczak-Tuscany from Detroit

Grease - It's really a feel good show. The original cast really bonded and had an immense amount of chemistry. I've seen it plenty of times

Katie Laban from Detroit

Mary Poppins - I find it it to be delightfully happy. It reminds me of my childhood watching it, yet I still enjoy it today. The music is catchy. The acting is well done. The colors are wonderful. Plus, it's Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke who are wonderful together. I think it is truly the best there is to offer.

Stefani Chudnow from Detroit

Hairspray - Hard to say it's just literal perfection

Mary Lincer from District of Columbia

Show Boat (1936) - Irene Dunne and Paul Robeson lead an outstanding cast (including some from the Original Broadway Cast like Helen Morgan).

Emily Yorgey from Fort Myers/Naples

Mamma Mia! - It is lighthearted yet sentimental and has such fun music, and it always makes me happy when I watch it.

Cheyne Nomura from Hawaii

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Jacques Demy's direction - from the use of his staging and colors to the performances he elicits from his cast - ultimately culminate to the poignant, heartbreaking ending of this exquisite musical.

Suzanne Tidwell from Houston

The Greatest Showman - Joyful numbers, genius choreography, cheesy feel-good ending and Keala Settle!

Melissa Hall from Indiana

Moulin Rouge - It's not for everyone, but if you love it, it's so wonderfully over-the-top and fun!

Rakaputra Paputungan from Indonesia

Enchanted - Because Giselle is the best. It's got instant classic show tunes by Alan Menken, the concept is interesting, there are a bazillion Disney cameos and references, the characters are lovable and the story is interesting!

Jonas Schwartz-Owen from Los Angeles

Gypsy - It's not my favorite musical, but it is perfect. The songs reflect either the characters needs/desires or combat everything they've been repressing. Turning a child's song "Let Me Entertain You" into a strip tease was inspired.

Maria Nockin from Los Angeles, Reno, Albuquerque, occasionally Phoenix.

The Met Opera HD Agrippina. - It's funny and timely as well as being amazingly. well sung.

Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold from Maine

Singing' in the Rain - Incomparable cast, flawless dancing, wonderful cinematography for era

Laura Iniguez from Mexico

Little Shop of Horrors - I think it keeps you engaged from beginning to end, no matter how insane and possibly ridiculous Audrey 2 might be.

Cristina Pla-Guzman from Miami, Florida

There's No Business Like Show Business - Ethel Merman!!!! Also, it's just so iconic! I also love love love spectacle and boy is there spectacle!

Korey Beyersdorf from Minneapolis/St. Paul

West Side Story - Gorgeous orchestrations, smart, beautiful lyrics, intense choreography and a timeless story of love and loss - what's not to like?

Erica Handel from New Jersey

Enchanted - It pokes fun at Disney and tells a nontraditional story

Jackie Camborde from New Mexico

West Side Story - WSS is sublime. It's the gold standard for movie musicals, in my opinion. The visceral quality of the camerawork to capture the vibrance of the dancers and the musical numbers is unparalleled.

Melanie Votaw from New York

Hairspray - It took a great score and assembled the perfect cast.

Tory Gates from Northeast US

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - I acted in it for years...as strange as it is, the songs move seamlessly between dialogue and plot.

Dan Dwyer from NYC, Hudson Valley, Berkshires

THE BANDWAGON - It's not only a backstage Broadway fable but also an exemplar of the Hollywood musical in its heyday.

Adrienne Proctor from Oklahoma

Chicago - The dance numbers are ICONIC! The movie itself is its own legendary piece of art, even aside from the stage show. It stands on its own quite well.

Albert Gutierrez from Orlando, Florida

Moulin Rouge! (2001) - When I first saw the film, I didn't think movies could be this bipolar (I mean that in a good way, I promise). It begins immediately at the lowest of lows, with a burnt-out writer who has lost the will to write, until he realizes that the story within him MUST be told. Immediately, we blast back to the past, to the young and the restless of Paris, and a hopeful, naive young man named Christian wanting to be a part of it. He's thrown into it all, embracing everything as part of the new Bohemian lifestyle, but it doesn't really *click* for him until he meets Satine.

Most Hollywood romances give the girl the role of a starry-eyed youth who falls for love-at-first-sight, while the guy is the tortured soul that has to learn to love. To its benefit, "Moulin Rouge!" switches the roles around. We don't see this kind of characterization often enough in romcoms, it was comforting to see a guy as the hopeful romantic for once. The doomed love between Christian and Satine takes us through the film's emotional highs and lows, but is best exemplified within the "Elephant Love Medley," one of my favorite film sequences of the 21st century. The way they effortlessly move from song to song, showing the power that love holds on all artists, was a very uplifting message for an awkward kid in high school who was figuring out his own identity. The love medley ends on a hopeful note which becomes the pervading theme of the whole film: there's always hope, even when things don't go well.

Also, I loved that the film lovingly borrowed a lot from "Camille" - the Dumas tale that was best immortalized in the 1936 Greta Garbo film. I delighted in seeing such an Old Hollywood kind of story within a contemporary movie setting. I was a burgeoning cinephile around the time of "Moulin Rouge!", but I already knew "Camille" intimately thanks to both the 1982 film "Annie" (where it features in "Let's Go To The Movies") and a VHS copy of the film I recorded off PBS one weekend. Seeing something that was classic to me still having relevance in a modern, splashy, Technicolor org*sm of a musical helped me to better appreciate both "Camille and "Moulin Rouge!", although I think my Old Hollywood heart would probably still prefer "Camille" at the end of the day. But "Moulin Rouge!" has become a modern classic that helped make musicals relevant again in Hollywood, for which I'll always be grateful.

Greg Kerestan from Pittsburgh

Phantom of the Paradise - It knows exactly what it wants to be, and becomes exactly that. Brian DePalma knows campy horror and melodrama, and Paul Williams knows soft rock, so the two of them together, writing a campy horror melodrama about the cutthroat world of seventies soft rock and pop stars, is pure brilliance.

Daria Vorobyeva from Russia

Mamma Mia - It's so stupid and good at the same time. This is something that always relieves me from stress because it is so positive and heart-warming. The cast is my favourite.

Tyler Hinton from Salt Lake City

The Greatest Showman - The Pasek and Paul score, period setting, uplifting themes, and modern vibe make it the perfect film to watch and re-watch, and it doesn't have the shadow of a stage version to be compared to.

Ashley Corbaley from San Antonio

Les Miserables - Les Miserables is just pure perfection. The music is outstanding. The story is wonderful. It touches your very soul and everyone is a better person after having watched it. It has something for everyone and speaks to all of us no matter what stage of life we are in. It is the universal musical of human suffering and hope.

Jim Munson from San Francisco

Meet Me in St. Louis - Vincent Minnelli's direction where every shot is perfectly composed, Judy Garland's incandescence, and a perfect score where each song is a gem. I mean, the shy wistfulness of "The Boy Next Door," the sheer exuberance of "The Trolley Song" and heartbreaking beauty of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"? It doesn't get better than that!

Paul Bolton from San Francisco

I've loved "The Sound of Music" since childhood and it still is just as interesting as the first time I watched it. - Great cast, beautiful music, and visually stunning still today.

Harker Jones from Southern California

Oliver! - I don't care how corny it is or how underrated (I know it won Best Picture, but it's widely denigrated as old-fashioned for the time and unworthy of the award). I think every moment is sublime. Even the "Who Will Buy" number, which is almost seven minutes long, employs a cast of thousands, and doesn't move the story one whit, is astonishing. The songs are all classic sing-alongs, rousing and moving and full of energy. It's colorful and creative at every turn.

Annette Stolt from Sverige

Les Miserable - It is one of the best Musical ever made

Peter Nason from Tampa-St. Petersburg

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN - There's nothing not to love about SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, the greatest movie musical of them all. This is the show to watch whenever you're down, or when you're quarantined without anything to do. It's joyousness exemplified. Pure escapism, and yet with a deeper meaning (the changing of times, a Hollywood seismic shift, from the silent era of filmmaking to the advent of sound). I've seen it dozens of times, and after each viewing, I find myself wanting to skip down the aisles in pure elation. What a glorious feeling!

Deborah Bostock-Kelley from Tampa/St Pete

The Greatest Showman - It tells a beautiful story of love, determination, betrayal, and redemption. The talent is top-notch.

Chantal Kunst from The Netherlands

Moulin Rouge - It's amazeballs. Perfection. Great story, drama, romance and Ewan McGregor is heartbreakingly good throughout but in the final scene- unbelievable. Love it.

AniKatrina Fageol from TN

The Greatest Showman - The music is rich and powerful. It's a different retelling of Barnum's story and the "exploitation" of "freaks". Did Barnum see them as people or profit? The music tells the story, and Keala Settle's song This Is Me is the most perfect anthem for many people today. The costumes, the music, the rousing opening number... it all just draws you in!

Verity Wilde from UK

Sound of Music - it has the dull bits taken out, it's looks beautiful, Julie Andrews is exquisite, the children aren't too annoying and I have the hots for Captain von Trapp. Georg can call me any time...

Ben Tomchik from Washington DC

Chicago - Because, by framing each character as a performer, it solves the issue of why are people randomly breaking out into song.

James McQuillen from Washington, DC Metro

The Sound of Music - Perfect casting, gorgeous cinematography, every cast member (especially Our Lord and Savior Julie Andrews) at the absolute TOP of their game.

Danny Decker from Advertising

West Side Story - West Side Story (1961) is an absolutely perfect musical film! Between the alterations made to the original book for film, the orchestrations and the exuberant performances, it's one to go back and watch over and over again.