Movie musicals have been a cinematic staple pretty much since sound was introduced. That's actually a major plot point of one of the most beloved movie musicals of them all, Singin' In The Rain. Reaching their apex in the '60s, the movie musical saw a decline in subsequent decades. Then in the early 2000s, when the one-two combo of Moulin Rouge! and Chicago (which won the Best Picture Oscar in 2002) proved that the movie musical was far from a relic of the past.

While not as dominant as in the '60s, musicals have become a staple of cinema for audiences every year. 2023 will close out the year with major musical events like Trolls: The Band Together, Wish, Wonka, and The Color Purple. Meanwhile, audiences are eagerly awaiting the release of the two-part adaptation of Wicked by Universal Pictures, which is scheduled for 2024. The musicals of the 21st century have seen some of the greatest actors of our generation and some fresh new talent take center stage to capture audiences' hearts and send them out into the world, humming some catchy tunes. These are the best musical performances of the 21st Century so far.

Updated November 2, 2023: This article has been updated with even more great musical performances of the 21st Century and where you can watch each film.

10 Hugh Jackman - The Greatest Showman (2017)

For most, Hugh Jackman will always be Wolverine, and yet The Greatest Showman shows another side of the actor, the one that loves singing and being part of a musical. The actor plays the aforementioned greatest showman, P.T. Barnum, and although the film is not an accurate biography, it’s a great musical. Jackman is as charismatic as ever and having the time of his life, as this project was a personal one for him, as he tried to shoot it for almost a decade, and it shows.

Jackman is able to show all the enthusiasm and almost naiveté Barnum has while trying to get off the ground his dream project, the Barnum & Bailey Circus. As with any great musical, even if Jackman was great, the movie wouldn’t work without awesome songs for him to sing, and this film delivers, as there’s no song as catchy as “The Other Side”.

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9 Evan Rachel Wood - Across the Universe (2007)

Across the Universe is one of the greatest musicals for any Beatles fan, and it wouldn’t work without Evan Rachel Wood. Although the film starts from Jude’s (Jim Sturgess) point of view, it’s her that gives it all its heart and soul as Lucy. The Julie Taymor film has some incredible and creative musical numbers, and at its center, through the Fab Four songs, is the love story between Jude and Lucy.

The actress has the most interesting arc in the film, as she goes from a naive teenage girl into a fully formed woman in 1960s New York who wants to change the world and make it a better place, and she conveys so with every musical performance. From having fun in “It Won’t Be Long” to the much more soulful “Black Bird”, Wood sells the whole transformation through songs until their happy ending when she’s being serenaded to “All You Need Is Love”.

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8 Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables (2012)

Anne Hathaway only has about 20 minutes of screen time in this 160-minute movie, but she makes every second she's onscreen count. About a quarter of that screen time is her big number, "I Dreamed A Dream." The whole number is shot up close and personal, one of the few times Les Misérables' awkward camera angles actually work as we see all of Hathaway's heartbreak, all the emotional pain, and how truly broken down her Fantine is. Even the few times her voice wavers and cracks a little add to the performance, really underlining how far Fantine has fallen. It's wonderful work and rightfully won Hathaway a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

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7 Glen Hansard & Makéta Irglová - Once (2007)

Glen Hansard and Makéta Irglová’s performances in Once can’t be separated as they’re part of one incredible love story, and the acting of one of them wouldn’t work without the other. This is a movie about two struggling musicians who connect because they love music and start working together, writing songs while falling in love. All the compositions they create in the film are beautiful and intimate, but the best might be “Falling Slowly”; the song won the Academy Award for Best Song, and it expresses what they love best about the other, making it the perfect duet possible as every lyric has an incredible rich meaning for them.

The two actors really fall in love during the shooting of the movie, and it shows, as they have incredible real chemistry together, creating one of the most unique, creative, emotional stories with music involved in the last two decades. The two actors and musicians kept working together for a while as the band The Swell Season, proving they were much more than a one-hit-wonder.

Rent on Apple TV

6 Bradley Cooper - A Star Is Born (2018)

A Star is Born has been remade again and again, with the story remaining the same every time. An established male star discovers a young female ingénue whose fame surpasses his own while he descends into alcoholism. In the 2018 version of the story, the male star is a country rock singer named Jackson Maine, played by Bradley Cooper (who also directed the film), and the young female ingénue, named Ally, is played by Lady Gaga. Both of them give great performances, but Cooper is a hair stronger.

He's perfectly believable as a rock star and even brings some likeability and warmth to the character. His chemistry with Gaga is excellent, and the love he has for her is so palpable. Their Oscar-winning duet, "Shallow," is sung perfectly by both, but it's the moment right before when Cooper's trying to convince Gaga to sing it on stage with him that's great, too. Every choice Cooper makes works, and it really hits hard when this version of Jackson, Maine, meets his demise. It's powerful work by Cooper, whose singing is also quite good.

Rent on Apple TV

5 Ewan McGregor - Moulin Rouge (2001)

Ewan McGregor was already a rising star when he did Moulin Rouge, but this film solidified his place in Hollywood as his Christian, a poet who falls in love with Satine (Nicole Kidman, also great in the role), shows all his versatility. McGregor can dance and sing, and he’s also able to show all the different emotional stages his character goes through, from discovering her and getting a crush to falling in love together, and also the tragedy at the end.

As with any Baz Luhrmann film, the set design, colors and wardrobe are great, and he also uses a great selection of songs for the musical numbers. This is a divisive movie, as most people either love it or hate it, but what’s for sure is that musical numbers like “This is Your Song” or “Silly Songs” show as much great singing as acting, as the actor perfectly expresses what his character is feeling and can’t keep to himself anymore. The movie also has one of the greatest and most-sold movie soundtracks from the start of the 21st Century.

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4 Emma Stone - La La Land (2016)

La La Land tells the story of an aspiring musician named Sebastian, played by Ryan Gosling, and an aspiring actress named Mia, played by Emma Stone, who fall in love while trying to make their dreams come true in Los Angeles. Both Gosling and Stone are wonderful, but Stone gets a few more highlights and stands out in all of them. Her biggest non-singing highlight comes when she and Sebastian discuss his plans to go on tour with a band that plays music he doesn't care about.

Stone is great here (and so is Gosling) as she can tell pretty quickly that this is not the dream of her partner and that he'll be unhappy doing it. As far as the musical numbers go, Stone excels there, too. She perfectly captures the physical comedic moments during the "A Lovely Night" number and gets to display some great emotion during the "Audition" number. No challenge in this role is too great for Emma Stone. It's a great performance.

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3 Mike Faist - West Side Story (2021)

It's rare for a remake of any film, let alone a Best Picture-winning one, to equal the original, but that's exactly what Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of West Side Story does. Of the differences between the two films, one of the more notable ones is the character of Riff, the leader of the Jets gang. Played by Russ Tamblyn in the 1961 film, Riff is alright but doesn't really stand out. In Spielberg's version, it's the complete opposite. Riff is one of the major standouts, thanks to Mike Faist's incredible performance.

Faist's Riff is honestly a tragic figure. Just watch the scene where he's begging Tony (Ansel Elgort) to be there when the fight between the Sharks and Jets is supposed to go down. Faist truly makes you feel how strong the friendship between the two of them is. Faist is a true scene-stealer, it is impossible to take your eye off any time he's onscreen.

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2 Andrew Garfield - Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021)

This 2021 film, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is based on Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical of the same name. Larson is played by Andrew Garfield, in his first ever musical role, and to say Garfield nails it is an understatement. The plot of the movie revolves around Larson struggling to make it in the theater industry as he works tirelessly on his newest play. Garfield is giving 200 percent to the performance, firing on all cylinders at all times. Larson runs through a large gamut of emotions, from feelings of failure, tired desperation, and even a little humor during some of the musical numbers.

Whatever the role needs, Garfield delivers. His performance of the song "Why" is heartbreakingly wonderful. He even gets a wonderful moment in the "Come To Your Senses" number, a song he doesn't even sing. That comes when Vanessa Hudgens sings the song, but all Garfield can see is Alexandra Shipp singing it, since her character was the inspiration for the song in the first place. His reaction the first time he sees her says so much. It's not an exaggeration to claim this might be Garfield's best performance so far.

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1 Catherine Zeta-Jones - Chicago (2002)

Catherine Zeta-Jones was originally offered the role of Roxy Hart (which eventually went to Renee Zellweger), but she insisted on playing Velma Kelly solely so she could sing "All That Jazz." One Best Supporting Actress trophy later leaves no doubt that Zeta-Jones made the right call. Every choice Zeta-Jones makes, no matter how big or small, is perfect. Sultry, fearless, ice-cold, all elements that Zeta-Jones brings memorably to life. Her singing is beyond incredible. Listening to it would make anyone think Zeta-Jones has been doing musicals all her life.

So how does she do in the one song she so desperately wanted to do? She performs it with enough energy to power an entire country for the next century, even the little smile she gives at the end when the police come to arrest her says, "come and get me if you can." There's literally no flaws to this performance, and it very deservingly earns its placement as the best performance in a 21st century movie musical.

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