Highest-Rated Movies about 'Broadway', Sort by Popularity

Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened (2016), ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway (2005), David Byrne's American Utopia (2020), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), But Not for Me (1959), Rhapsody in Blue (1945), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), The Velvet Touch (1948) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Broadway movies.

#1. Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened (2016)

Storyline: Stephen Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along" opened in November 1981 to scathing reviews and closed after just 16 performances. Despite its inauspicious beginnings, the musical's score has grown to become one of the composer's most beloved. Archival footage of the rehearsals along with interviews with the cast -- as well as Sondheim himself and director Harold Prince -- tell the tale of this infamous production.

Plot Keywords: actor, actress, musician, director, critic, casting director, brooding ...

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#2. ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway (2005)

Storyline: Filmmaker Dori Berinstein charts the evolution of four Broadway shows from inception to Tony Awards during the 2003-2004 season: "Wicked," "Taboo," "Avenue Q" and "Caroline, or Change." Featured cast members and producers include Idina Menzel, Rosie O'Donnell, Boy George, Alan Cumming and Euan Morton.

Plot Keywords: director, actor, actress, producer, critic, amusing, fascinating ...

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#3. David Byrne's American Utopia (2020)

Storyline: This movie is an intimately shot and thus presented live performance of David Byrne's Broadway show American Utopia which emerged from his album of the same name, the album from which most of the songs performed are taken. The show itself is part concert, part musical theater, part performance art, but always Byrne's commentary on the human condition, largely of humankind trying to find its place in a world that often does not make sense. That place includes finding those much needed connections to each other in his wish, as a naturalized U.S. citizen, for society to move closer to his vision of an American utopia.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: broadway star, drummer, uplifting, spectacular, rousing, new york, broadway theater ...

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#4. Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

Storyline: 1920s Broadway. Playwright David Shayne considers himself an artist, and surrounds himself with like minded people, most struggling financially as they create art for themselves, not the masses. David, however, believes the failure of his first two plays was because he gave up creative control to other people who didn't understand the material. As such, he wants to direct his just completed third play, "God of Our Fathers", insider scuttlebutt being that it may very well make David the toast of Broadway. With David having no directing history, David's regular producer, Julian Marx, can't find any investors,... until a single investor who will finance the entire production comes onto the scene. He is Nick Valenti, a big time mobster, with the catch being that his dimwitted girlfriend, non-actress Olive Neal, get the lead role. A hesitant David and Julian, who are able to talk Nick into them giving Olive one of the two female supporting roles instead, go along with the scheme hoping ...

Plot Keywords: playwright, actress, broadway star, mobster, bodyguard, actor, airy ...

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#5. But Not for Me (1959)

Storyline: Out of hit ideas and seemingly in the twilight of his career, Broadway producer Russ Ward (Clark Gable) decides to give up the game. But when Russ lays off his nubile secretary, Ellie Brown (Carroll Baker), she shocks him with a declaration of love. Inspired, Ward commands playwright MacDonald (Lee J. Cobb) to rewrite his latest show as a May-December romance starring Brown herself. Ward struggles to make a comeback as his ex-wife, Kathryn (Lilli Palmer), plots to end his new relationship.

Plot Keywords: broadway producer, secretary, playwright, ex-wife, lover, actress, hilarious ...

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#7. The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)

Storyline: The Muppets graduate from college and decide to take their senior revue on the road. They hit the streets of Manhattan trying to sell their show to producers, finally finding one young and idealistic enough to take their show. After several mishaps and much confusion, things begin to come together for them.

Plot Keywords: kermit the frog, miss piggy, restaurant owner, daughter, patron, con artist, heartwarming ...

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#8. The Velvet Touch (1948)

Storyline: Broadway star Valerie Stanton, breaking up with her producer-lover Gordon Dunning, unintentionally kills him. In flashback, she recalls meeting new flame Michael Morrell, and Dunning's machinations leading to the fatal argument. The next day, it appears that Valerie's former rival Marian Webster is the prime suspect. Or is suave police Captain Danbury just playing cat and mouse with her? Nicely catty dialogue.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: broadway star, producer, ex-girlfriend, rival, architect, police detective, intense ...

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#9. Black Widow (1954)

Storyline: A married Broadway producer is taken with an innocent young woman who wants to be a writer and make it on Broadway. He decides to take her under his wing, but it's not long before the young lady is found dead in his apartment. At first thought to be a suicide, it is later discovered that she has been murdered, and suspicion immediately falls on the producer. He begins his own investigation in order to clear his name, and one of the first things he finds out is that the young woman wasn't quite as naive and innocent as she appeared to be.—frankfob2@yahoo.com

Plot Keywords: producer, writer, actor, actress, wife, dark, suspenseful ...

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#10. Room Service (1938)

Storyline: The Marx Brothers try and put on a play before their landlord finds out that they have run out of money. To confuse the landlord they pretend that the play's author has contracted some terrible disease and can't be moved. Originally a stage play, the setting shows its origins, but this is vintage Marx Brothers.—John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

Plot Keywords: theatrical producer, director, manager, playwright, hotel manager, detective, unrestrained ...

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#11. Brewster's Millions (1945)

Storyline: Monty Brewster is a penniless, former U.S. Army soldier back from World War II Europe who learns that he has inherited $8 million from a distant relative, but there's a catch: he must spend $1 million of that money in less than two months before his 30th birthday in order to inherit the rest. Since he cannot tell anyone about spending the money as part of the agreement, everyone thinks that Brewster has flipped when he practically knocks himself out on a spending spree to get rid of the $1 million in time.—matt-282

Plot Keywords: veteran, fiancée, lawyer, best friend, heiress, heir, cheery ...

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#13. Morning Glory (1933)

Storyline: Eva Lovelace, would-be actress trying to crash the New York stage, is a wildly optimistic chatterbox full of theatrical mannerisms. Her looks, more than her talent, attract the interest of a paternal actor, a philandering producer, and an earnest playwright. Is she destined for stardom or the "casting couch"? Will she fade after the brief blooming of a "morning glory"?—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: actress, theatrical producer, diva, uplifting, moving, manhattan, small town ...

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#15. No Time for Comedy (1940)

Storyline: Playwright Gaylord Esterbrook scores a hit with his first Broadway play, both with the critics and with leading lady Linda Paige. He and Linda are happily married until a patroness of the arts convinces Esterbrook to forget about comedy and concentrate on writing a tragedy. The end result nearly destroys his career and his marriage.—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>

Plot Keywords: playwright, actress, socialite, ex-husband, director, charming, amusing ...

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