The Best Musicals of the 2010s
The musical as a major blockbuster form of entertainment arguably died generations ago. People don’t line up for them like they used to, although this appears to be changing with major releases like “In the Heights” and “West Side Story” coming out in 2020. Looking back at the best musicals of the 2010s reveals a genre in flux. In fact, we decided to highlight not just straight-up musicals like “The Greatest Showman” or “La La Land,” but also include films in which music is a major component, including documentaries like “Amy” and “Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire,” and even films that diverge into musical flights of fancy like “Hail Caesar!” Music is still a major part of the human experience, and the best musicals of the 2010s reveal how that musical inspiration can come from any corner of the world and be embedded in any kind of film. What the best musicals of the 2010s often have in common is that aspect of the human condition that can’t be expressed through words – it must be sung.