Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed Guys and Dolls (1955), which was also Marlon Brando’s only musical. Its Score received an Academy Award nomination (among three others); "Luck Be A Lady" is #42 on AFI's 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time and the film is #23 on AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals list. Though I wouldn't rate it as one of my favorite musicals, I think the first scene with Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons in the mission – where they make "the deal" – is worth the price of admission. What great dialogue! Any doubts I had about Brando in the role were erased after watching it, even though his singing was pretty hard to bear. Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine also star in this Samuel Goldwyn produced film. In the Damon Runyon story that was adapted by Mankiewicz, Brando plays gambler Sky Masterson, who agrees to assist Nathan Detroit (Sinatra) find a place to play their "Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York" by putting one over on Sarah Brown (Simmons); she runs a mission in need of "buns on seats" (sinners to convert). Blaine plays Nathan’s longtime fiancee while Robert Keith plays the law. Stubby Kaye and Sheldon Leonard also play memorable roles.

Fred Zinnemann directed Oklahoma! (1955), perhaps the best among the musicals included in this article; it’s a (Richard) Rodgers and (Oscar) Hammerstein II gem that’s become a perennial favorite. Featuring the screen debut of Shirley Jones, who’s fifth billed behind Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, and Charlotte Greenwood, this entertaining musical western romance also features plenty of comic relief. The rest of its outstanding cast includes: Eddie Albert, James Whitmore, Rod Steiger, and Jay C. Flippen. The film took home Oscars for its Musical Score and Sound, Recording and received nominations for its Color Cinematography (Robert Surtees) and Editing. The following plot summary is from my website:

On a beautiful mornin’, cowboy Curly (MacRae) comes to call on his childhood gal pal Laurey (Jones), who lives on a farm with her Aunt Eller (Greenwood). Even though people have said they’re in love, Laurey plays "hard to get" on the eve of the big dance party. So, Curly ends up taking Eller in his surrey with the fringe on top. Laurey ends up being "forcibly" escorted by their rough and dirty farmhand Jud Fry (Steiger) who, though he’s poor, is also very much alive. Will Parker (Nelson) has returned from Kansas City, where everything’s up-to-date, to marry his girlfriend Ado Annie (Grahame), who "cain’t say no" and has gotten mixed up with peddler Ali Hakim (Albert). But Will is an all er nothin’ kind of guy, so Ali will get a three day belly ache and giggling Gertie (Barbara Lawrence) to boot. At Skidmore’s (Flippen) dance party, the farmers and the cowmen can’t be friends. Then, there’s a dispute which leads to a death, and the judge (Whitmore) and Marshal (Roy Barcroft) must hold an impromptu court to decide the accused’s fate. The film ends with a rousing rendition of the title song O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Oklahoma, yeah! James Mitchell plays Curly in a 16 minute dream sequence that splits the movie’s two superior one hour halves (it could be cut from the film without being missed).

William Wyler directed Barbra Streisand’s screen debut in/as Funny Girl (1968), and the singer ended up sharing the Best Actress Oscar that year with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter (1968)) for her portrayal of comedienne Fanny Brice. The film received seven other Oscar nominations including for Best Picture, its title (Original) Song, Score, Supporting Actress Kay Medford, and cinematographer Harry Stradling (Sr.), who had been nominated for Guys and Dolls (1955) and several other notable musicals (The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), Auntie Mame (1958), and My Fair Lady (1964), for which he won) during his career. This film also stars Omar Sharif, Anne Francis, and Walter Pidgeon as Florenz Ziegfeld; it’s #16 on AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals list, and "People" is #13 on AFI's 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time.

John Huston directed Annie (1982), which isn’t nearly as bad as its IMDb.com rating. The most objectionable scene in what is otherwise better than average family fare is near its end: there’s an Oliver! (1968) inspired moment in which the film’s red-headed woman – the orphanage’s drunken Miss Hannigan (played to a tee by Carol Burnett) – tries to save the little orphan (Annie, adequately performed by Aileen Quinn) from the male villain, in this case her brother Rooster (played deliciously by Tim Curry, who’d similarly portrayed Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)). Not only is the sequence contrived to allow Burnett to appear (her character redeemed) in the final scene, but there are some G-Ds thrown in for the sole purpose of earning the film a PG (in lieu of a G) rating. Albert Finney is his usual brilliant self as the busy billionaire Daddy Warbucks, dancer Ann Reinking is fine as his secretary that loves him, and Bernadette Peters (who conspires with Burnett and Curry to claim Annie), Geoffrey Holder (best known for his 7-Up commercials and for playing the voodoo doctor opposite Roger Moore’s Bond in Live and Let Die (1973)) as the mystical Punjab, Edward Herrmann as FDR, Peter Marshall as a 1930's radio personality, and the rest of the child actors are also good. There’s another homage to the classic era when Warbucks and his secretary take Annie to the movie Camille (1936) - even though this film is set in 1932 – and several of its sequences including Garbo’s death scene are featured.