Best movies like Applause
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An aspiring actress, whose sugar-coated appearance belies her ruthless drive, worms herself into the life of an aging star and schemes to replace her on the stage as the star of a new play.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 183
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Applause (1973):
Similar in 88%
Nunsense (1993)
Plot Summary:
An unfortunate convent cooking accident causes most of the order of the Little Sisters of Hoboken to die of botulism. Before all of the deceased sisters can be buried, Reverend Mother Superior (Rue McClanahan) buys a camcorder and VCR for the convent - resulting in not having enough money to bury the four remaining sisters (which, by the way, are temporarily being stored in the freezer). In order to raise money to bury the four dead sisters, the Little Sisters of Hoboken (well, what's left of them) put on a riotous revue packed with hilarious, show-stopping song and dance numbers.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 184
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Into the Woods (2011)
Plot Summary:
Into the Woods takes the stories of the Brothers Grimm and gives them a dark and humorous twist. The popular tales of Red Ridinghood, Jack (of Beanstalk fame), Cinderella and Rapunzel are interwoven with that of the Baker and his Wife and their quest to have a child. However this re-telling goes beyond "happily ever after" as the familiar characters find themselves in unfamiliar circumstances and hopes and dreams are questioned and revisited.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 134
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: UK, Canada
Duration: 153 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Viva Rena (1967)
Plot Summary:
Rena and her brother Stratakis trying to establish themselves as singers in Athens without fail successfully, unlike their cousin, Pepita NTU peaks that has become famous singer in Italy. A efolplistis, Lambros Fokas, who had met the Pepita few years ago, pays as much as to sing at a party that is preparing. The Pepita refuses the invitation, and then the agent of the owner proposes Rena after the looks amazing.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 361
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: Greece
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Nunsense 3: The Jamboree (1998)
Plot Summary:
Third in the Nunsense series of musicals.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 44
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Forever Plaid (2008)
Plot Summary:
Forever Plaid is an affectionate musical homage to the close-harmony 'guy groups' that reached the height of their popularity during the 1950s. This quartet of high-school chums, and their earnest dreams of recording an album, ended (symbolically, and even literally) in death, when their cherry red '54 Mercury collided with a bus filled with Catholic schoolgirls on their way to see the Beatles' American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. The girls were fine. The play begins with the wondrous and wondering Plaids returning from the afterlife for one final chance at musical glory.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 87
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
City of Lost Souls (1983)
Plot Summary:
With stars like Angie Stardust (also music credits), Judith Flex, and Joaquin La Habana, director Rosa von Praunheim has fashioned a film about the teeming flip side of life in Berlin centered on eccentric characters of almost every imaginable sexual orientation, or disorientation -- most are American performers drawn to the city of "lost souls" as a place where they can give full rein to their creative natures.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 107
Genere: Musical, Comedy
Country: West Germany
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: erotic, avant garde, sex comedy
Similar in 83%
The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Special (2020)
Plot Summary:
The story of two queens who set out to create a classic Christmas TV variety show, but just can’t agree on how. DeLa tries her hardest to uphold the cheery Christmas traditions of her childhood. Meanwhile, Jinkx is much more interested in bawdy jokes, cute boys, and boozy libations.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 541
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 65 min
Plot tags: christmas special, independent film, slapstick comedy, queer cinema, campy
Similar in 85%
The Pirates of Penzance (1980)
Plot Summary:
This Pirates of Penzance is primarily a historical document, part of the Broadway Theater Archive television series. It presents, with some inevitable, tiny technical shortcomings, a live 1980 performance in Central Park, not the 1983 movie of the same name that also starred Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline. Those who remember that film, which had the benefit of retakes and editing, a lavish production budget, and the spaciousness of a Hollywood studio, may find this video less polished. On its own terms, it is nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 446
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Waitress: The Musical (2023)
Plot Summary:
A waitress and expert pie-maker dreams of a way out of her small town and rocky marriage.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 545
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Movie Movie (1978)
Plot Summary:
Three movie genres of the 1930s, boxing films, WWI aviation dramas, and backstage Broadway musicals, are satirized using the same cast.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Musical, Sport
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, stylized, not serious, realistic, spoof, independent film, parody, sketch comedy
Similar in 83%
A Very Potter Sequel (2010)
Plot Summary:
Harry and his pals are back for more adventure than ever when they face off against dark wizards, demented monsters, and the most horrible woman in the world, Dolores Umbridge! So strap on your diapers because it's time to go back to Hogwarts!.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 213 min
Plot tags: parody, feel good, serious, captivating, entertaining, satirical, semi serious, psychotronic
Similar in 88%
Cherry Pop (2017)
Plot Summary:
When Zaza, headliner of a weekly drag show, 'CHERRY POP', refuses to come out of her dressing room, all hell breaks loose backstage. A young newcomer, The Cherry, is hiding a huge secret from the girls while getting ready for his debut performance.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: feel good, captivating, entertaining, satirical, semi serious, queer cinema, campy
Similar in 77%
Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962)
Plot Summary:
Elvis plays Ross Carpenter, a fishing guide/sailor who loves his life out on the sea. When he finds out his boss is retiring to Arizona, he has to find a way to buy the Westwind, a boat that he and his father built. He is also caught between two women: insensitive club singer Robin and sweet Laurel.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: retro, black and white, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, psychotronic, tense, light, sexy
Similar in 87%
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
Plot Summary:
A wily slave must unite a virgin courtesan and his young smitten master to earn his freedom.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: funny, humorous, melancholic, talky, light, realistic, semi serious, retro, epic, historically accurate
Similar in 76%
Teenage Millionaire (1961)
Plot Summary:
A teenager whose father is a millionaire radio station owner secretly records a song and plays it on one of his father's stations. It becomes a hit.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 123
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sexual, sexy
Similar in 90%
Without You I'm Nothing (1990)
Plot Summary:
Sandra Bernhard stars in a studio version of her off-Broadway show, blending re-enactments of the original show's pieces with concept vignettes and 'testimonials' to underscore the relationship between a performer and an audience.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 657
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: independent film, clever, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, not serious, semi serious, biting
Similar in 88%
The Producers (2005)
Plot Summary:
After putting together another Broadway flop, down-on-his-luck producer Max Bialystock teams up with timid accountant Leo Bloom in a get-rich-quick scheme to put on the world's worst show.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: humorous, light, lyrical, not serious, feel good, parody, funny, slapstick comedy, witty, cult classic
Similar in 77%
Victor/Victoria (1995)
Plot Summary:
An out-of-work singer, Victoria Grant (Julie Andrews), meets a just-fired, flamboyant gay man in a diner in 1920's Paris. He convinces her to pretend to be a man who is a female impersonator in order to get a job. The act is a hit in a local nightclub, but things get complicated when a gangster and nightclub owner from Chicago, King Marchan (Michael Nouri) falls in-love with "her." Flimed live on stage on Broadway, 1995.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, realistic, stylized, semi serious, remake of american film, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
Beach Ball (1965)
Plot Summary:
Edd Byrnes tries to get an ethnic-music-studies grant to buy instruments for his rock and roll group.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 196
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, independent film, sentimental, touching, offbeat, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, slang
Similar in 88%
It's a Bikini World (1967)
Plot Summary:
Male chauvinist Mike attempts to get an intelligent burgeoning feminist Delilah into his harem. When she resists, Mike then poses as his brother Herbert, but in the process falls in love with Delilah.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 384
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, humorous, realistic, semi serious, psychotronic
Similar in 87%
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
Plot Summary:
A young but bright former window cleaner rises to the top of his company by following the advice of a book about ruthless advancement in business.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: funny, humorous, witty, stylized, technicolor, feel good, realistic, not serious, parody, light
Similar in 86%
The Boy Friend (1971)
Plot Summary:
The assistant stage manager of a small-time theatrical company is forced to understudy for the leading lady at a matinée performance at which an illustrious Hollywood director is in the audience scouting for actors to be in his latest "all-talking, all-dancing, all-singing" extravaganza.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Musical, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: romantic comedy, feel good, humorous, realistic, stylized, semi serious, spoof, parody
Similar in 82%
Company (2011)
Plot Summary:
Following five couples and their friend Robert (Neil Patrick Harris), the perpetual bachelor, Company explores the true meaning of being in a relationship through a series of vignettes. Winner of the 1971 Tony Award for Best Musical, Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Rent) will led an all-star cast in a sold out event at the New York Philharmonic with this rendition of Stephen Sondheim's Company.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: stylized, semi serious, feel good, humorous, realistic
Similar in 77%
Death of a Dynasty (2003)
Plot Summary:
A story which centers around Dave Katz, a journalist at a hip-hop magazine who is sent on assignment to uncover the often comedic underworld of Roc-a-Fella Records run by Damon Dash and Jay-Z.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 414
Genere: Musical, Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: realistic, humorous, talky, semi serious, independent film, mockumentary, witty
Similar in 90%
Bye Bye Birdie (1995)
Plot Summary:
Rock-and-roll icon Conrad Birdie is about to go into the Army, and plans are being made to arrange his final going-away concert.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 904
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Musical
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 85%
Billy Elliot: The Musical Live (2014)
Plot Summary:
A talented young dancer has to learn to fight for his dream despite social and parental disapproval.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Musical
Country: UK
Duration: 169 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, thought provoking, captivating, disturbing, inspirational, uplifting, humorous, inter cultural
Similar in 90%
Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
Plot Summary:
A singer goes to a small town for a performance before he is drafted.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: funny, retro, black and white, hilarious, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, satirical, vintage
Similar in 82%
Freak Dance (2010)
Plot Summary:
A spoiled rich girl who wants to be a dancer finds herself caught into between two rival dance groups set to do battle at an underground competition.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 358
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, not serious, light, captivating, parody, realistic, alternative comedy
Similar in 84%
Cry-Baby (1990)
Plot Summary:
A prim and proper schoolgirl goes against her mother's wishes when she dates a motorcycle-riding juvenile delinquent.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 64000
Genere: Comedy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: humorous, sentimental, light, parody, teen, feel good, surreal, cult classic, dark comedy, retro
Similar in 86%
Gypsy (1962)
Plot Summary:
Based on the Broadway hit about the life and times of burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee and her aggressive stage mother, Mama Rose.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: retro, sentimental, touching, humorous, captivating, realistic, stylized, semi serious, entertaining, light