Features

Top musical movies of the year – as voted for by you

We’re talking musicals based on stage shows

The top four choices
The top four choices

With a raft of new musical films out this year, we wanted to know which one left the biggest impression on you! With voting having opened on Wednesday, the results are now tallied – here's what has made the cut.


6. Cyrano

Peter Dinklage
Peter Dinklage
© MGM

Given it's never been staged here and its wider UK cinematic release is coming early next year, we can excuse Cyrano for not performing all that well! The Peter Dinklage-led musical is based on the Rostand tale about a man who is infatuated with a woman but, despite his gift for words, is unable to be with her.

5. Dear Evan Hansen

Evan Hansen (Ben Platt) and Jared Kalwani (Nik Dodani)
Evan Hansen (Ben Platt) and Jared Kalwani (Nik Dodani)
© 2021 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

With a very limited theatrical release and tepid reviews, it's sad to see the stage phenomenon, about a boy who deceives the world in a whole palaver with a deceased schoolmate, have something of a limp response among fans. For theatre completists, it's definitely a key watch!

4. Everybody's Talking About Jamie

Max Harwood as Jamie New
Max Harwood as Jamie New
© 2021 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved. Photo by John Rogers

Very much a whopping fan favourite, the film version of the beloved Sheffield musical was released this autumn and is the perfect cockle-warming tonic to these turbulent times. It'll also be the perfect career launch for the leading light Max Harwood – can we get him on stage soon?

3. West Side Story

The West Side Story company
The West Side Story company
© 2021 20th Century Studios. Photo by Niko Tavernise

The Steven Spielberg mammoth film, which was only released this month, pushed its way to a solid 22 per cent of the vote – it's a kinetic, conceptually rich and slightly modified version of the 1950s seminal piece.

2. In the Heights

In the club at In the Heights
In the club at In the Heights
© Macall Polay

It's been out for a few more months than West Side, and pipping the Spielberg hit to second place with 25 per cent of the vote is the big-screen version of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes' Broadway smash about the vibrant community in Washington Heights.

1. tick, tick…Boom!

Andrew Garfield
Andrew Garfield
© Macall Polay/NETFLIX

At the start of 2021, few would have predicted just how explosive the reaction to tick, tick…Boom! was to be. But with Golden Globe nominations and the rumblings of Oscar-dom on the horizon, the Netflix-sat musical film, based on the life of Jonathan Larson and directed by Miranda, is a runaway train of success. You guys clearly think so too, as it grabbed 36 per cent of the vote.

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