Best movies like Cabaret

Similar in 90%

Sweet Charity (1969)

Plot Summary:

Taxi dancer Charity continues to have Faith in the human race despite apparently endless disappointments at its hands, and Hope that she will finally meet the nice young man to romance her away from her sleazy life. Maybe, just maybe, handsome Oscar will be the one to do it.

Similar in 79%

West Side Story (1961)

Plot Summary:

In the slums of the upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, a gang of Polish-American teenagers called the Jets compete with a rival gang of recently immigrated Puerto Ricans, the Sharks, to "own" the neighborhood streets. Tensions are high between the gangs but two kids, one from each rival gang, fall in love leading to tragedy.

Similar in 80%

Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

Plot Summary:

This lavishly produced and critically acclaimed screen adaptation of the international stage sensation tells the life-affirming story of Tevye (Topol), a poor milkman whose love, pride and faith help him face the oppression of turn-of-the-century Czarist Russia. Nominated for eight Academy Awards.

Similar in 80%

Julia (1977)

Plot Summary:

At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.

Similar in 89%

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

Plot Summary:

Hansel Schmidt, is a young East German boy, born and raised during the Cold War in communist East Berlin. In his 20s, he meets Luther Robinson, an older American soldier, who falls in love with Hansel and the two decide to marry, which will allow Hansel to leave communist East Germany for the West. But, in order to marry, Hansel must undergo a sex-change. However, the procedure does not go perfectly and Hansel becomes not a trans woman, but a 'genderqueer', Hedwig. Back in the USA, on their first wedding anniversary, Luther leaves Hedwig for another man. On that same day the news headlines were of the fall of the Berlin Wall and freedom. Hedwig tours the US with her rock band and relates her life story while following her ex-boyfriend/band-mate Tommy Speck (to whom she gives the stage name "Tommy Gnosis"), who stole her songs and rose to fame.

Similar in 75%

Victor Victoria (1982)

Plot Summary:

A struggling female soprano finds work playing a male female impersonator, but it complicates her personal life.

Similar in 84%

A Chorus Line (1985)

Plot Summary:

A group of dancers congregate on the stage of a Broadway theatre to audition for a new musical production directed by Zach (Michael Douglas). After the initial eliminations, seventeen hopefuls remain, among them Cassie (Alyson Reed), who once had a tempestuous romantic relationship with Zach. She is desperate enough for work to humble herself and audition for him; whether he's willing to let professionalism overcome his personal feelings about their past remains to be seen.As the film unfolds, the backstory of each of the dancers is revealed. Some are funny, some ironic, some heartbreaking. No matter what their background, however, they all have one thing in common - a passion for dance.

Similar in 82%

Oliver! (1968)

Plot Summary:

Musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, a classic tale of an orphan who runs away from the workhouse and joins up with a group of boys headed by the Artful Dodger and trained to be pickpockets by master thief Fagin.

Similar in 81%

Nashville (1975)

Plot Summary:

This movie tells the intersecting stories of various people connected to the music business in Nashville. Barbara Jean is the reigning queen of Nashville but is near collapse. Linnea and Delbert Reese have a shaky marriage and 2 deaf children. Opal is a British journalist touring the area. These and other stories come together in a dramatic climax.

Similar in 89%

Velvet Goldmine (1998)

Plot Summary:

Almost a decade has elapsed since Bowiesque glam-rock superstar Brian Slade escaped the spotlight of the London scene. Now, investigative journalist Arthur Stuart is on assignment to uncover the truth behind the enigmatic Slade. Stuart, himself forged by the music of the 1970s, explores the larger-than-life stars who were once his idols and what has become of them since the turn of the new decade.

Similar in 86%

Swing Kids (1993)

Plot Summary:

The story of a close-knit group of young kids in Nazi Germany who listen to banned swing music from the US. Soon dancing and fun leads to more difficult choices as the Nazi's begin tightening the grip on Germany. Each member of the group is forced to face some tough choices about right, wrong, and survival.

Similar in 86%

Staying Alive (1983)

Plot Summary:

It's five years later and Tony Manero's Saturday Night Fever is still burning. Now he's strutting toward his biggest challenger yet - making it as a dancer on the Broadway stage.

Similar in 83%

Rent (2005)

Plot Summary:

This rock opera tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in modern day East Village, New York, USA. The story centers around Mark and Roger, two roommates. While a former tragedy has made Roger numb to life, Mark tries to capture it through his attempts to make a film. In the year that follows, the group deals with love, loss, HIV/AIDS, and modern day life.

Similar in 81%

Nine (2009)

Plot Summary:

Arrogant, self-centered movie director Guido Contini finds himself struggling to find meaning, purpose, and a script for his latest film endeavor. With only a week left before shooting begins, he desperately searches for answers and inspiration from his wife, his mistress, his muse, and his mother.

Similar in 86%

My Fair Lady (1964)

Plot Summary:

A snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.

Similar in 89%

Burlesque (2010)

Plot Summary:

The Burlesque Lounge has its best days behind it. Tess, a retired dancer and owner of the venue, struggles to keep the aging theater alive, facing all kinds of financial and artistic challenges. With the Lounge's troupe members becoming increasingly distracted by personal problems and a threat coming from a wealthy businessman's quest to buy the spot from Tess, the good fortune seems to have abandoned the club altogether. Meanwhile, the life of Ali, a small-town girl from Iowa, is about to change dramatically. Hired by Tess as a waitress at the Lounge, Ali escapes a hollow past and quickly falls in love with the art of burlesque. Backed by newfound friends amongst the theater's crew, she manages to fulfill her dreams of being on stage herself. Things take a dramatic turn though when Ali's big voice makes her become the main attraction of the revue.

Similar in 81%

Behind the Candelabra (2013)

Plot Summary:

Based on the autobiographical novel, the tempestuous 6-year relationship between Liberace and his (much younger) lover, Scott Thorson, is recounted.

Similar in 88%

Lili Marleen (1981)

Plot Summary:

Lili Marleen is the story of a German singer named Wilkie who while working in Switzerland falls in love with a Jewish composer named Robert who’s family is helping people to flee from the Nazis. Roberts family is skeptical of Walkie thinking she could be a Nazi as she becomes famous for singing Lili Marleen.

Similar in 77%

Dreamgirls (2006)

Plot Summary:

Three young women – Deena Jones, Effie White and Lorrell Robinson – dream of becoming pop stars and they get their wish when they're chosen to be backup singers for the legendary James 'Thunder' Early.

Similar in 89%

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.

Similar in 75%

De-Lovely (2004)

Plot Summary:

From Paris to Venice to Broadway to Hollywood, the lives of Cole Porter and his wife, Linda were never less than glamorous and wildly unconventional. And though Cole's thirst for life strained their marriage, Linda never stopped being his muse, inspiring some of the greatest sons of the twentieth century.

Similar in 76%

All That Jazz (1979)

Plot Summary:

Joe Gideon is at the top of the heap, one of the most successful directors and choreographers in musical theater. But he can feel his world slowly collapsing around him - his obsession with work has almost destroyed his personal life, and only his bottles of pills keep him going.

Similar in 89%

Christopher and His Kind (2011)

Plot Summary:

In 1931 budding author Christopher Isherwood goes to Berlin at the invitation of his friend W. H. Auden for the gay sex that abounds in the city. Whilst working as an English teacher his housemates include bewigged old queen Gerald Hamilton and would-be actress Jean Ross, who sings tunelessly in a seedy cabaret club. They and others he meets get put into his stories. After a fling with sexy rent boy Caspar he falls for street sweeper Heinz, paying medical bills for the boy's sickly mother, to the disapproval of her other son, Nazi Gerhardt. With Fascism rapidly rising Christopher returns to London with Heinz but is unable to prevent his return to Germany when his visa expires. Years later Christopher, now a successful writer, returns to Berlin for a final meeting with Heinz, now married with children.

Similar in 76%

Mephisto (1981)

Plot Summary:

A German stage actor finds unexpected success and mixed blessings in the popularity of his performance in a Faustian play as the Nazis take power in pre-WWII Germany. As his associates and friends flee or are ground under by the Nazi terror, the popularity of his character supercedes his own existence until he finds that his best performance is keeping up appearances for his Nazi patrons.

Similar in 79%

New York, New York (1977)

Plot Summary:

An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.

Similar in 88%

The Sound of Music (1965)

Plot Summary:

Film adaptation of a classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on a nun who becomes a governess for an Austrian family.

Similar in 90%

Farewell My Concubine (1992)

Plot Summary:

Abandoned by his prostitute mother in 1920, Douzi was raised by a theater troupe. There he meets Shitou and over the following years the two develop an act entitled, "Farewell My Concubine," that brings them fame and fortune. When Shitou marries Juxian, Doutzi becomes jealous, the beginnings of the acting duo's explosive breakup and tragic fall take root.

Similar in 81%

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Plot Summary:

A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century. A young poet, who is plunged into the heady world of Moulin Rouge, begins a passionate affair with the club's most notorious and beautiful star.

Similar in 75%

Evita (1996)

Plot Summary:

The hit musical based on the life of Evita Duarte, a B-movie Argentinian actress who eventually became the wife of Argentinian president and dictator Juan Perón, and the most beloved and hated woman in Argentina.