Listage: Five Musical Films That Don't Annoy Me

I don't think this one will be as universal as the kung-fu list. I'm not a huge fan of the traditional Broadway-style musical, in which characters start singing to each other as soon as they meet for no known reason. But musical numbers can be a very entertaining and powerful component of film (or stage, but this is a film list). For the most part, the movies that follow have some special setting or plot component that explains the musical content. Without further ado, and with bracketed lyrical snippets:

1. Cabaret- Just a great film, exploring the decadence of 1930s Berlin and the rise of the Nazis alongside the characters' personal angst and struggles. Almost all of the music takes place on stage at the titular cabaret. ["...but there's room on ze bottom if you drop in zome night"]
2. This is Spinal Tap- Yes, it counts, hilarious cult mockumentary though it may be. I still rock out to my cassette of the soundtrack. The music is all onstage, performed by the band themselves. ["My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo/ I like to sink her with my pink torpedo"] Indeed.
3. Chicago- More a fave of my wife than myself, but it does have lots of Bob Fosse style a la Cabaret, and doesn't nearly annoy me. Most of the music takes place inside the less-than-stable mind of Roxy, the protagonist. ["Let's all stroke together, like the Princeton crew/When you're strokin' Mama, MAMA'S STROKIN' YOU!"]
4. Dancer in the Dark- If you don't shed a tear at this film, shame on you. Bjork is joyous, tragic and magnetic. The music takes place in her mind as she escapes from the dreariness of her life into a fantasy world based on Hollywood musicals. ["This is not the last song..."]
5. Hair- There's no special reason for most of the music in Hair, which makes it a bit of an oddball on this list. But I just enjoy the subversive nature of the plot and the psychedelic nature of the songs. Plus, nudity. ["Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair, shining gleaming steaming flaxen waxen/ Give me it down to there, hair, shoulder length or longer, here, baby, there, mamma, everywhere, daddy daddy hair/ Flow it, show it, long as God can grow it, my hair!"]
6. Bonus TV selection: Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, "Once More With Feeling"- this time an evil curse is the reason for all the singing and dancing. Mentioned here because it's the best Buffy episode evah, and it's a good segue into my next planned post. ["Bunnies! Bunnies! It must be bunnies!"]