Top 10 Must-Watch Modern Musical Movies Like 'La La Land'

La La Land is a 2016 American musical film written and directed by Damien Chazelle, and starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a musician and an aspiring actress who meet and fall in love in Los Angeles. The film's title refers both to the city of Los Angeles and to the idiom for being out of touch with reality.

La La Land received critical acclaim and was regarded as one of the best films of 2016. Critics praised Chazelle's screenplay and direction, Gosling and Stone's performances, Justin Hurwitz's score and the film's musical numbers. It won in every category it was nominated for at the 74th Golden Globe Awards, with a record-breaking seven wins, and received 11 nominations at the 70th British Academy Film Awards, winning five. It received 14 nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, tying the record for most nominations with Titanic (1997) and All About Eve (1950), and won the awards for Best Director, Best Actress (Stone), Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Original Song ("City of Stars") and Best Production Design.

Here is a list of some more great musical movies similar to La La Land:

DIRECTOR:

Julie Taymor

WRITER:

Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Julie Taymor

STARS:

Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson

PLOT SUMMARY:

Across The Universe is a fictional love story set in the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, the struggle for free speech and civil rights, mind exploration and rock and roll. At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, the story moves from high schools and universities in Massachusetts, Princeton and Ohio to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Detroit riots, Vietnam and the dockyards of Liverpool. A combination of live action and animation, the film is paired with many songs by The Beatles that defined the time.

DIRECTOR:

Baz Luhrmann

WRITER:

Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce

STARS:

Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo

PLOT SUMMARY:

Christian, a young wannabe Bohemian poet living in 1899 Paris, defies his father by joining the colorfully diverse clique inhabiting the dark, fantastical underworld of Paris' now legendary Moulin Rouge. In this seedy but glamorous haven of sex, drugs and newly-discovered electricity, the poet-innocent finds himself plunged into a passionate but ultimately tragic love affair with Satine, the club's highest paid star and the city's most famous courtesan. Their romance is played out against the infamous club - a meeting place of high life and low, where slumming aristocrats and the fashionably rich mingled with workers, artists, Bohemians, actresses and courtesans.

DIRECTOR:

Kevin Lima

WRITER:

Bill Kelly

STARS:

Amy Adams, Susan Sarandon, James Marsden

PLOT SUMMARY:

Once upon a time in the kingdom of Andalasia, a beautiful young maiden named Giselle lives in a cottage in the forest. But before she can marry the dashing Prince Edward, Giselle is sent tumbling down a magical well - and finds herself in the non-animated, extremely disenchanted world of modern-day New York City. There, she befriends a cynical divorce lawyer, Robert, who isn't so sure that her prince is coming to rescue her. Giselle's spontaneous singing and fairy-tale demeanor enchant everyone around her as she waits for Prince Edward. But she's about to discover that love in the real world isn't always as easy as sharing a single True Love's Kiss - and that she'll need courage, spunk and maybe just a little enchantment if she's ever going to find her own happily-ever-after.

DIRECTOR:

Michel Hazanavicius

WRITER:

Michel Hazanavicius

STARS:

Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman

PLOT SUMMARY:

It's 1927. Arguably Hollywood's most admired movie screen idol, George Valentin, is enjoying the success of his latest picture, The Russian Affair. He enjoys his work and the adulation he receives by being a movie star, as witnessed by how he hogs the spotlight during The Russian Affair's post-premiere bows. Peppy Miller is an aspiring young actress, who literally and figuratively runs into Valentin at the premiere, which ends up being the launching pad to her Hollywood acting career. The advent of talking pictures brings a reversal to their fortunes as Kinograph, the movie studio where Valentin is under contract, is looking for fresh faces such as Peppy Miller to star in their talking pictures, while Valentin resists the entire notion of talking pictures. Peppy, who appreciates everything that Valentin did for her career, tries to help him as much as she can, but Valentin may have to decide on his own where and if he fits into the Hollywood machine, one where he doesn't think people want to hear him speak.

DIRECTOR:

Rob Marshall

WRITER:

Bill Condon, Bob Fosse, Fred Ebb, Maurine Dallas Watkins

STARS:

Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere

PLOT SUMMARY:

Velma Kelly is the sexy vaudeville star who murders her husband and sister after finding them in bed together. Roxie is the wannabe vaudeville star who kills her lover after finding out he was never going to make her famous. Enter Billy Flynn, the greasy lawyer whose goal is not only to have his clients acquitted, but to make them legal legends. Billy, who apparently likes Roxie's angle (He tried to kill me) better than Velma's (I blacked out and can't remember a thing). With help from Matron Mama Morton both women vie for the spot as Illinois's most famed murderess, but there's only room for one legend... "That's Chicago".

DIRECTOR:

Damien Chazelle

WRITER:

Damien Chazelle

STARS:

Jason Palmer, Desiree Garcia, Sandha Khin

PLOT SUMMARY:

Set in modern-day Boston, Massachusetts, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench tells the story of Guy and Madeline, a couple who have been dating for three months. He’s an up-and-coming Boston jazz trumpeter, she an aimless introvert looking for work. The excitement of first love has faded, and Guy’s wandering eye is caught by Elena, a more outgoing woman. When Elena and Guy meet on a crowded subway car, sparks fly—and that spells the end of Guy and Madeline’s romance.

DIRECTOR:

Chris Columbus

WRITER:

Stephen Chbosky, Jonathan Larson

STARS:

Taye Diggs, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Rosario Dawson

PLOT SUMMARY:

This rock opera tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in modern day East Village New York. The story centers around Mark and Roger, two roommates. While a former tragedy has made Roger numb to life, Mark tries to capture it through his attempts to make a film. In the year that follows, the group deals with love, loss, AIDS, and modern day life in one truly powerful story.

DIRECTOR:

Craig Brewer

WRITER:

Dean Pitchford, Craig Brewer

STARS:

Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid

PLOT SUMMARY:

Ren MacCormack moves from big-city Boston to a small southern town, where life is very different. He lives with his aunt and uncle after his divorced mother's painful death from leukemia. An accident, in which five teenagers were killed after a night out, shocked the small town's community. The local councilmen and Reverend Shaw Moore reacted to the incident by banning loud music and dancing. Ren stands up to the outmoded ban and, in the process, falls in love with the Reverend's daughter Ariel Moore.

DIRECTOR:

Rob Marshall

WRITER:

James Lapine, Stephen Sondheim

STARS:

Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep, Chris Pine

PLOT SUMMARY:

Into the Woods is a modern twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales in a musical format that follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel-all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them.

DIRECTOR:

Richard LaGravenese

WRITER:

Jason Robert Brown, Richard LaGravenese

STARS:

Anna Kendrick, Jeremy Jordan, Tamara Mintz

PLOT SUMMARY:

The Last 5 Years by Tony award winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown is a musical deconstruction of a love affair and a marriage taking place over a five year period. Jamie Wellerstein is a young, talented up and coming Jewish novelist who falls in love with Cathy Hiatt, a Shiksa Goddess struggling actress. Their story is told almost entirely through songs using an intercutting time line device; all of Cathy's songs begin at the end of their marriage and move backwards in time to the beginning of their love affair while Jamie's songs start at the beginning of their affair and move forward to the end of their marriage. They meet in the center when Jamie proposes.