Lin-Manuel Miranda is rightly regarded as one of the foremost talents when it comes to the form of the musical. Those will no doubt be on display in his first feature directorial debut, Tick, Tick... Boom!, a haunting musical about one man’s struggle with his dreams and the specter of aging.
More than anything else, it is a story about the creative struggle and a yearning to have one’s artistic endeavors recognized. Likewise, there are a significant number of other movies with similar themes that are sure to appeal to those who enjoy this new movie musical.
10 In The Heights (2021)
Even before Hamilton became a worldwide phenomenon, Miranda had earned a great deal of critical appreciation for his musical In the Heights, which was his love letter to the neighborhood of Washington Heights. Though it changes some elements of the story, the movie version, which debuted in 2021, manages to capture the elements that made the play such a success, and the lead, Anthony Ramos, is undeniably charismatic. It’s a musical movie that does new things with the form while also capturing the joy that is such an essential part of the genre.
9 A Chorus Line (1985)
At its heart, Tick, Tick... Boom! is about one artist’s desire to break into a notoriously fickle business, even as he feels the encroachment of age (he is almost thirty as the play begins). The conflict between aging and the creative career is also a key part of A Chorus Line, the 1985 movie based on the play of the same way. While it lacks some of the dynamism of the stage play, it still captures the sense that the dancers - all of whom are trying to have one last success before age catches up with them - know that their careers are almost over.
8 Rent (2005)
The original stage version of Tick, Tick... Boom! is based on a play written by Jonathan Larson, who was most famous for writing the play Rent, a searing and deeply emotional musical about the AIDS epidemic and a group of friends dealing with its ravages. The movie adaptation was not especially well-regarded when it was released, but it does still manage to capture the haunting beauty and lyricism of the original play, in large part because it features many of the key players that were so essential to the musical’s success.
7 Noises Off (1992)
While many backstage looks at creativity, including Tick, Tick... Boom! are sad or elegiac in nature, others are a bit more comedic, and that is certainly the case with Noises Off. The movie, like the play on which it’s based, follows a traveling theater company as they have to contend with increasing mayhem behind the stage as personal conflicts increasingly disrupt their ability to put on a coherent production.
It also features an all-star cast of comedic talent, including Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, and John Ritter, and it's been a delight for drama fans for years.
6 La La Land (2016)
La La Land is widely considered one of the best movies of the 2010s, and for good reason. Like Tick, Tick... Boom! it is a movie permeated with a sense of sadness, as its two lead characters struggle to make it in their careers and to find romance with one another. It is also a bit of a love letter to classic Hollywood itself, a nostalgic take on a period of moviemaking that has already receded far into the past. And, in its eschewing of a happily-ever-after, it is a reminder that not every movie has to end as happily as one might like.
5 Rocketman (2019)
Rocketman is one of the best biographical movies of the 2010s, which is only appropriate, since it focuses on Elton John, a true living legend of rock and roll. With Taron Egerton in the lead role (and one of his best), it’s a mix of fact and fiction as it chronicles John’s rise to stardom, his astounding success at the top of the music charts, and his eventual struggle with addiction and tendency toward self-destruction. Though it is overall a fairly optimistic movie that allows viewers to sympathize with Elton, it is also a haunting look at the terrible toll that fame can take on an individual.
4 Judy (2019)
2019 was a strong year for movies focusing on the lives of singing giants, and Judy, the biographical movie focusing on the last days of Judy Garland, is a beautiful look at this extraordinary talent.
Renée Zellweger earned significant critical praise for her ability to capture the essence of Garland’s screen persona, showing how she was both an extraordinary singing talent but also a woman beset with personal demons that kept her from ever attaining the full happiness that she so dearly desired.
3 A Star Is Born (2018)
The central story of A Star is Born - in which a young woman is discovered by a fading talent struggling with alcoholism - has been told many times, most recently in 2018 with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. It’s a profoundly sad movie that interweaves both a romance and a rise-to-stardom plot, and there’s undeniable chemistry between Gaga and Cooper, who bring out the profound complexities of their characters. And, given its story, it is also a movie full of rich and moving pathos.
2 Moulin Rouge! (2001)
There are very few movies quite like Moulin Rouge!, which is a dizzying spectacle that manages still to find the beating heart of its story, the doomed romance between Ewan McGregor’s and Nicole Kidman’s Satine, a penniless artist and a courtesan living in turn-of-the-century Paris. It is precisely its unique blend of melancholy and joy that make it sure to appeal to those who love Tick, Tick... Boom! for its similar ability to demonstrate the emotional flexibility of the musical genre.
1 Dreamgirls (2006)
As with so many of the great musicals that take a behind-the-scenes look at musical creativity, Dreamgirls succeeds because it shows how personality is as key to a musician’s career as any amount of talent. Like the stage play, the movie version follows the fortunes of a girl group known as the Dreams, who navigate the fraught world of R&B throughout the 60s and 70s as well as their deeply conflicted personal relationships and feelings about one another.
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