66Stage: films of the stage

The house lights go down

Cinema has always loved the stage. A theatre gives a story its own clock, counting down to the moment the curtain rises; a circus ring gives it danger and wonder; a concert gives it a crowd that can lift a performer up or let them fall. Films about performers can show the rehearsal and the panic in the wings, the stage fright and the standing ovation, the band that breaks up on tour and the dancer who finally lands the step. 66Stage is a guide to those films. It gathers 189 of them, from The Circus by Charlie Chaplin, of 1928, to Wicked, of 2024, each with its English synopsis, its cast, its director and a Watch now button that opens it on JustWatch.

The 189 films are sorted into sixteen acts, in four families. The theatre holds backstage dramas, Shakespeare on screen, Broadway musicals, and puppets and masks. The big top holds the circus, magicians, comedians, and cabaret and drag. The concert hall holds orchestras and opera, bands on tour, singers and concert films. Dance and screen holds ballet, dance floors, contests and auditions, and films about the film set itself.

Every act is printed on a ticket on the marquee at the top of the home page, and every card carries the name of its act, from Backstage to Film set, so you always know why a film is in the guide.

How the acts were cast

Every film in 66Stage was chosen by hand. The list started from films in which a performance is at the heart of the story: a play in rehearsal, a magic act, a tour, a talent show, a film shoot. Each title was then matched to its record on TMDB, the open film database, which gives the synopsis, the year, the running time, the cast and the rating shown on every card.

Each film sits in exactly one act. A few could have gone in two places: Cabaret is a Broadway musical and a cabaret film, and Black Swan is a ballet film and a backstage drama. In those cases the film sits where its story spends most of its time, so Cabaret is with the Broadway musicals and Black Swan with the ballet.

Each act keeps its twelve most voted films rated 6.0 or more on TMDB. Two acts are a little shorter: Magicians keeps ten films and Comedians eleven, because a few of the hand-picked titles fell below the rating line. In every act the cards run from the most voted film to the least voted, so the best-known titles come first.

The look of 66Stage

The only page the Wayback Machine holds at 66stage.net is a parked advertising page, so the design starts from scratch. The design of 66Stage is original, built from the name: a stage, and the number 66 printed on a ticket.

The page is a dark velvet house, almost black with a hint of wine. The header is a curtain-red band with vertical folds and a gold fringe along its lower edge. The logo is a small proscenium arch, red curtains drawn back, with 66 on a cream ticket in the middle. Headings are set in a high-contrast serif, like an old playbill, and the text is cream on dark.

The sixteen acts sit on a marquee board lined with two rows of bulbs, one along the top and one along the bottom. Each act is a cream ticket stub with notched sides and a red perforated edge, the family name printed small above the act. Each shelf of posters is a dark stage with a gold footlight line along its lower edge, and every poster sits in a thin gold frame.

1. Backstage

The first act is set behind the curtain: actors, directors and producers in the hours before a play opens. Twelve films from 1933 to 2014, average rating 7.03. The most voted is Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 13,941 votes, about a film star staging a Broadway play to save his career. The best rated is All About Eve of 1950, 8.1, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's story of an ambitious young fan who takes over a star's life.

The oldest film is 42nd Street, of 1933, the musical in which a chorus girl goes on in place of the injured star. Comedy runs through the act: The Producers by Mel Brooks, 1968, about two men who plan a Broadway flop; Bullets Over Broadway by Woody Allen; and Noises Off, Peter Bogdanovich's farce of a touring company falling apart, 7.2.

John Cassavetes' Opening Night, 1977, rated 7.6, is the darkest film here, about an actress losing her nerve before a premiere. Around it stand Shakespeare in Love, Topsy-Turvy by Mike Leigh, the longest film of the act at 160 minutes, Me and Orson Welles by Richard Linklater, Stage Beauty and Kiss Me Kate, the 1953 musical of a company putting on The Taming of the Shrew.

2. Shakespeare on screen

The second act turns Shakespeare's plays into films, from faithful stagings to teen comedies. Twelve films from 1957 to 2021, average rating 7.12. The most voted is 10 Things I Hate About You, 1999, 9,263 votes and 7.6, a high-school version of The Taming of the Shrew. Close behind is Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, 1996, with guns, beaches and a Miami-style city.

Two of the twelve are Japanese, both by Akira Kurosawa. Throne of Blood, 1957, moves Macbeth to feudal Japan and is the oldest film of the act, 7.9. Ran, 1985, does the same with King Lear and has the best rating of the act, 8.0. Macbeth appears twice more: Macbeth by Justin Kurzel, 2015, and The Tragedy of Macbeth by Joel Coen, 2021, the newest film here.

Kenneth Branagh directed two films of the act: Henry V, 1989, and Hamlet, 1996, which runs 242 minutes, the longest film in the whole guide. Around them stand Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, 1968, 7.4, West Side Story, 1961, the musical that sets Romeo and Juliet in New York, Titus by Julie Taymor and Othello of 1995.

3. Broadway musicals

The third act brings stage musicals to the screen. Twelve films from 1964 to 2024, average rating 7.12. The most voted is Grease, 1978, 7,885 votes, followed by Mamma Mia! and Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the only horror musical here. Les Misérables, 2012, by Tom Hooper, has 5,731 votes and a rating of 7.3.

The best rated is My Fair Lady, 1964, 7.5, George Cukor's film of the musical about a flower seller and a professor of phonetics. It is also the oldest film of the act and the longest, 173 minutes. Bob Fosse's Cabaret, 1972, set in a Berlin nightclub, and Rob Marshall's Chicago, 2002, both have a nightclub stage at their heart.

Jon M. Chu directed two films of the act: In the Heights, 2021, and Wicked, 2024, the newest film of the guide. Around them stand Hairspray, Dreamgirls by Bill Condon and Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera, 2004, set in the Paris opera house.

4. Puppets and masks

The fourth act is for puppets, masks and the people who pull the strings. Twelve films from 1940 to 2022, average rating 7.24. The most voted is Disney's Pinocchio, 1940, 6,412 votes, the oldest film of the act. Its newest is Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, 2022, rated 8.0, a stop-motion version that turns the wooden boy's story into a tale of fascist Italy.

Jim Henson's puppets fill much of the act. He directed Labyrinth, 1986, and The Dark Crystal, 1982, and his son Brian Henson directed The Muppet Christmas Carol, 1992, 7.5, and Muppet Treasure Island. With The Muppet Movie, 1979, and The Muppets, 2011, the Muppets have four films in the act.

The strangest films here are Being John Malkovich by Spike Jonze, about a puppeteer who finds a door into an actor's head, and Anomalisa, a stop-motion film by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson. Team America: World Police uses marionettes for a parody of action films. Children of Paradise, 1945, Marcel Carné's film of mime and theatre in old Paris, rated 8.0, runs 190 minutes.

5. Under the big top

The fifth act opens the family of the big top with the circus itself. Twelve films from 1928 to 2019, average rating 7.28. The most voted is The Greatest Showman, 2017, 10,303 votes and a rating of 7.9, the musical about P. T. Barnum. Next is Tim Burton's Big Fish, 2003, 7.7, whose hero joins a circus to find the woman he loves.

The oldest film of the guide is here: The Circus, 1928, in which Charlie Chaplin's tramp becomes the star of a ring by accident. It shares the best rating of the act, 7.9, with The Greatest Showman and Federico Fellini's La Strada, 1954, about a travelling strongman and his assistant. Close behind, at 7.8, are Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, 1987, in which an angel falls for a trapeze artist, and Tod Browning's Freaks, 1932, a film of a circus sideshow.

Dumbo appears twice: the Disney cartoon of 1941, 64 minutes, the shortest film of the guide together with Freaks, and Tim Burton's live-action film of 2019. With Big Fish, Burton has two films in the act. Around them stand Water for Elephants, Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth, 1952, Max Ophüls' Lola Montès and the animated Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.

6. Magicians

The sixth act belongs to magicians, illusionists and mind readers. Ten films from 1953 to 2021, average rating 6.96. The most voted and best rated is The Prestige by Christopher Nolan, 2006, 18,348 votes and 8.2, about two rival magicians in Victorian London. Close behind is Now You See Me, 2013, 17,273 votes, about a team of stage magicians who rob banks during their shows, and its sequel Now You See Me 2 by Jon M. Chu.

The Illusionist appears twice. The first is Neil Burger's film of 2006, rated 7.3, about a magician in Vienna who loves a duchess. The second is Sylvain Chomet's French animated film of 2010, also 7.3, about an old magician touring Scotland, the shortest film of the act at 80 minutes.

Woody Allen directed two films of the act: Magic in the Moonlight, 2014, about a magician sent to expose a medium, and Scoop, 2006, in which Allen himself plays a stage magician. Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley, 2021, follows a carnival mentalist, and Houdini, 1953, the oldest film here, tells the life of the escape artist. The Great Buck Howard closes the act.

7. Comedians

The seventh act is for comedians: stand-up performers, clowns and double acts. Eleven films from 1974 to 2019, average rating 7.22. The most voted is Annie Hall, 1977, Woody Allen's story of a stand-up comedian in love, 4,382 votes and 7.7. Next comes Patch Adams, 1998, about a doctor who uses clowning to treat his patients.

The best rated film of the act is Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy, 1982, 7.8, about a would-be comedian who kidnaps a talk-show host. Two films are portraits of real comedians: Miloš Forman's Man on the Moon, 1999, with Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman, and Bob Fosse's Lenny, 1974, the oldest film of the act, about Lenny Bruce. Chaplin, 1992, by Richard Attenborough, follows the life of the greatest clown of the silent screen.

The double act of Laurel and Hardy gets its own film in Stan and Ollie, 2018. Dolemite Is My Name, 2019, the newest film here, follows the comedian Rudy Ray Moore. The Big Sick, 2017, is based on the life of the comedian Kumail Nanjiani, Obvious Child follows a young stand-up comic, and Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose follows a small-time talent agent.

8. Cabaret and drag

The eighth act closes the big top with the cabaret stage and the art of drag. Twelve films from 1959 to 2018, average rating 7.22. The most voted is Moulin Rouge!, Baz Luhrmann's 2001 musical set in a Paris nightclub, 4,983 votes and 7.5. The best rated is Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, 1959, 8.1, the oldest film of the act, in which two musicians hide from gangsters in a women's band.

Drag runs through the act. Tootsie, 1982, follows an actor who wins a soap-opera role as a woman. The Birdcage, 1996, is set in a drag club in Miami. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, 1994, sends three performers across the Australian outback, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, 1995, sends three drag queens across America. Victor/Victoria, 1982, by Blake Edwards, turns the idea round: a woman performs as a man who performs as a woman.

The rest of the act is about cabaret and burlesque. Burlesque, 2010, stars Cher and Christina Aguilera, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 2001, is a rock musical, Kinky Boots tells of a shoe factory saved by a drag queen, Dumplin' follows a beauty pageant, and Stephen Frears' Mrs. Henderson Presents tells of a London theatre in wartime.

9. Orchestras and opera

The ninth act opens the concert hall with orchestras, conductors, composers and opera. Twelve films from 1935 to 2023, average rating 7.33. The most voted and best rated is Whiplash by Damien Chazelle, 2014, 17,297 votes and 8.4, about a young jazz drummer and a ruthless band leader. Next comes Miloš Forman's Amadeus, 1984, 8.0, the story of Mozart as told by his rival Salieri, 160 minutes long.

Two films follow conductors: Todd Field's TÁR, 2022, about a famous conductor whose career falls apart, and Bradley Cooper's Maestro, 2023, the newest film of the act, about Leonard Bernstein. Two follow composers: Amadeus and Immortal Beloved, 1994, about Beethoven. Two follow pianists: Jane Campion's The Piano, 1993, 7.4, and Shine, 1996, about the Australian pianist David Helfgott.

The French film The Chorus, 2004, 7.7, follows a teacher who starts a boys' choir, and Mr. Holland's Opus, 1995, follows a music teacher who spends his life in a high school. Opera has three films: Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, 1982, about a man who drags a steamship over a mountain to build an opera house in the jungle, Florence Foster Jenkins, about a famous bad singer, and the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera, 1935, the oldest film of the act.

10. Bands on tour

The tenth act follows bands: on the road, in the studio and on stage. Twelve films from 1980 to 2019, average rating 7.36. The most voted is Bohemian Rhapsody, 2018, 18,173 votes and 7.9, about Queen and Freddie Mercury. The other rock biographies are Rocketman, 2019, about Elton John, the newest film of the act, Oliver Stone's The Doors, 1991, Anton Corbijn's Control, 2007, about Joy Division, and Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boys, 2014, about the Four Seasons.

Sharing the best rating of the act, 7.9, with Bohemian Rhapsody is John Carney's Sing Street, 2016, about a Dublin schoolboy who starts a band to impress a girl. The Blues Brothers, 1980, the oldest film of the act, 7.7, sends two musicians on a mission to put their old band back together.

The rest of the act is about fictional bands. Almost Famous, 2000, follows a teenage journalist on tour with a rock band. This Is Spinal Tap, 1984, is a mock documentary about a British heavy-metal band, the shortest film here at 82 minutes. That Thing You Do!, directed by Tom Hanks, follows a band with one hit song, The Commitments puts together a soul band in Dublin, and The School of Rock, 2003, turns a class of pupils into a rock band.

11. Singers

The eleventh act follows singers, most of them real. Twelve films from 1992 to 2022, average rating 7.17. The most voted is A Star Is Born, 2018, by Bradley Cooper, 12,464 votes and 7.5, about a country star who falls for an unknown singer. Next is Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, 2022, the newest film of the act.

The biographies make up most of the act. Walk the Line, 2005, follows Johnny Cash, Ray, 2004, follows Ray Charles, La Vie en Rose, 2007, follows Édith Piaf, Judy, 2019, follows Judy Garland in her last concerts in London, Respect, 2021, follows Aretha Franklin, and What's Love Got to Do with It, 1993, follows Tina Turner. Walk the Line, Ray and A Star Is Born share the best rating of the act, 7.5.

Two films follow fictional singers. Joel Coen's Inside Llewyn Davis, 2013, follows a folk singer in New York in 1961, and Crazy Heart, 2009, an old country singer. John Carney's Once, 2007, the shortest film here at 85 minutes, is about two musicians who meet in Dublin. The Bodyguard, 1992, the oldest film of the act, pairs a singer with the man paid to protect her.

12. Concert films

The twelfth act puts the camera in front of the stage. Twelve concert films from 1968 to 2019, average rating 7.62, the highest of the sixteen acts, with four films rated 8.0 or more. The most voted is Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense, 1984, the Talking Heads film, 401 votes and 8.4, the best rating of the act.

The oldest film is D. A. Pennebaker's Monterey Pop, 1968, filmed at the first big rock festival in California. Woodstock, 1970, is the longest film of the act at 224 minutes. Gimme Shelter, of the same year, follows the Rolling Stones on the tour that ended at Altamont. Martin Scorsese filmed two concerts here: The Last Waltz, 1978, the farewell show of the Band, and Shine a Light, 2008, the Rolling Stones in New York.

Pink Floyd appears twice: Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, 1972, 8.1, played in an empty Roman amphitheatre, and Roger Waters: The Wall, 2014, 8.0. The newest film is Beyoncé's HOMECOMING, 2019, filmed at the Coachella festival, also 8.0. Amazing Grace, 2018, shows Aretha Franklin recording a gospel album in a Los Angeles church in 1972, and the act ends with films of Led Zeppelin and U2.

13. Ballet

The thirteenth act opens the last family, dance and screen, with ballet. Twelve films from 1948 to 2018, average rating 7.04. The most voted is Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, 2010, 16,009 votes and 7.7, about a dancer who wins the lead in Swan Lake and starts to lose her mind. Next is Billy Elliot, 2000, 7.6, the story of a miner's son in the north of England who wants to dance.

The best rated is Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Red Shoes, 1948, 8.0, the oldest film of the act, about a young ballerina torn between love and her art. Two films follow Soviet dancers who left for the West: The White Crow, 2018, by Ralph Fiennes, about Rudolf Nureyev, and White Nights, 1985, with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Mao’s Last Dancer does the same for a Chinese dancer.

Two documentaries stand in the act: Wim Wenders' Pina, 2011, in German, a tribute to the choreographer Pina Bausch, and Dancer, 2016, about the dancer Sergei Polunin. For younger viewers there is the animated Ballerina, 2016, and Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, 2018. Center Stage and The Turning Point complete the act.

14. Dance floors

The fourteenth act leaves the ballet stage for dance halls, discos and studios. Twelve films from 1977 to 2016, average rating 6.87. The most voted is Damien Chazelle's La La Land, 2016, 18,659 votes, the most voted film of the whole guide and the best rated of the act, 7.9. Next is Silver Linings Playbook, 2012, whose two heroes train for a dance contest.

The classics of the dance floor are all here. Saturday Night Fever, 1977, the oldest film of the act, made John Travolta a disco king. Dirty Dancing, 1987, 7.3, is set at a summer resort. Footloose, 1984, follows a teenager in a town that has banned dancing. Flashdance, 1983, follows a welder who dreams of dance school, and Fame, 1980, follows the pupils of a New York school of the arts.

Bob Fosse's All That Jazz, 1979, 7.5, is a portrait of a choreographer much like Fosse himself. Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom, 1992, is set at ballroom championships. Step Up, 2006, and Save the Last Dance, 2001, mix ballet and street dance, and Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike, 2012, follows a male dance troupe in Florida.

15. Contests and auditions

The fifteenth act is about the moment a performer is judged: talent shows, pageants, choir contests and auditions. Twelve films from 1992 to 2021, average rating 6.82. The most voted is the animated Sing, 2016, 8,643 votes, about a koala who stages a singing contest to save his theatre. Its sequel Sing 2, 2021, the newest film of the act, has the best rating here, 7.8.

Little Miss Sunshine, 2006, 7.7, sends a family across America so a little girl can enter a beauty pageant. Pitch Perfect, 2012, and Pitch Perfect 2, 2015, follow a college a cappella group through its championships. Miss Congeniality, 2000, puts an FBI agent undercover in a beauty contest, and Drop Dead Gorgeous, 1999, is a mock documentary of a small-town pageant.

Sister Act, 1992, the oldest film of the act, hides a lounge singer in a convent, where she turns the nuns' choir into a hit. Its sequel follows her to a school choir contest. Bring It On is set at cheerleading championships, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga follows two Icelandic singers to the famous song contest, and Rock of Ages follows two young singers on the Sunset Strip.

16. The film set

The last act turns the camera on cinema itself: directors, stars, stuntmen and the people who run the projector. Twelve films from 1950 to 2022, average rating 7.59, with four films rated 8.0 or more. The most voted is Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 2019, 15,465 votes, about a fading television actor and his stunt double in the Los Angeles of 1969.

The best rated is Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso, 1988, 8.4, about a boy and the projectionist of a village cinema in Sicily. Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, 1950, the oldest film of the act, 8.3, follows a forgotten star of the silent screen. Singin' in the Rain, 1952, 8.1, tells of the arrival of sound in Hollywood, and so does Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist, 2011, a French silent film in black and white. Federico Fellini's 8½, 1963, also 8.1, follows a director stuck on his next film.

Martin Scorsese's Hugo, 2011, is a tribute to the film pioneer Georges Méliès. Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans, 2022, is based on his own childhood, and Damien Chazelle's Babylon, 2022, at 189 minutes the longest film of the act, follows Hollywood in the 1920s. Ed Wood by Tim Burton and The Disaster Artist by James Franco are portraits of famously bad directors, and Tropic Thunder is a comedy about actors shooting a war film.

Before 1960

The collection Before 1960 gathers the eighteen oldest films of the guide, oldest first, with an average rating of 7.50. It opens with Chaplin's The Circus of 1928 and Tod Browning's Freaks of 1932, two films of the ring, and with 42nd Street of 1933, the backstage musical that set the pattern for dozens of others.

The 1940s bring two Disney cartoons, Pinocchio and Dumbo, and two European masterpieces of the stage: Marcel Carné's Children of Paradise, 1945, and Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes, 1948, both rated 8.0. The year 1950 brought two of the best films about performers ever made, Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve, rated 8.3 and 8.1, and 1952 brought Singin' in the Rain, 8.1.

The decade ends with La Strada, 1954, Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, 1957, both 7.9, and Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, 1959, 8.1. Nine of the eighteen films are rated 7.9 or more, so this collection is one of the strongest corners of the guide.

World stage

The collection World stage gathers the fourteen films of the guide in languages other than English, with an average rating of 7.70, higher than any act or family. Six are French, three Italian, three German and two Japanese.

The Italian films are among the best of the guide. Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso, 1988, rated 8.4, is the best rated film of the whole guide together with Whiplash and Stop Making Sense. Federico Fellini has two films: 8½, 1963, 8.1, about a director, and La Strada, 1954, 7.9, about a travelling strongman.

The French films are The Artist, The Chorus, La Vie en Rose, Children of Paradise, Lola Montès and the animated The Illusionist. The German films are Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire and Pina and Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. The Japanese films are Kurosawa's two Shakespeare adaptations, Throne of Blood and Ran.

The figures

66Stage holds 189 films, from The Circus of 1928 to Wicked of 2024, with an average rating of 7.19 and 574,425 votes on TMDB in all. 175 are in English. By decade there is one film from the 1920s, three from the 1930s, four from the 1940s, ten from the 1950s, six from the 1960s, fourteen from the 1970s, 21 from the 1980s, 32 from the 1990s, 37 from the 2000s, 48 from the 2010s and thirteen from the 2020s.

The most voted films are La La Land, 18,659 votes, The Prestige, 18,348, Bohemian Rhapsody, 18,173, Whiplash, 17,297, and Now You See Me, 17,273. The best rated are Cinema Paradiso, Whiplash and Stop Making Sense, at 8.4, followed by Sunset Boulevard, 8.3, and The Prestige, 8.2. Seventeen films are rated 8.0 or more.

The average film runs 118 minutes, and the whole guide runs 22,266 minutes, a little over fifteen days. The longest films are Hamlet, 242 minutes, Woodstock, 224, Children of Paradise, 190, Babylon, 189, and My Fair Lady, 173. The shortest are Dumbo and Freaks, 64 minutes each, and The Circus, 72.

The directors and stars

Woody Allen appears more often than any other director: five films, spread over three acts. Annie Hall and Broadway Danny Rose are with the comedians, Bullets Over Broadway is backstage, and Magic in the Moonlight and Scoop are with the magicians. Tim Burton, Martin Scorsese and Baz Luhrmann have four films each. Burton's are Sweeney Todd, Big Fish, the 2019 Dumbo and Ed Wood. Scorsese's are The King of Comedy, The Last Waltz, Shine a Light and Hugo. Luhrmann's are Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, Strictly Ballroom and Elvis.

Damien Chazelle, Jon M. Chu and Bob Fosse have three films each. Chazelle's Whiplash, La La Land and Babylon are in three different acts. Chu directed Now You See Me 2, In the Heights and Wicked, and Fosse directed Cabaret, Lenny and All That Jazz, a film drawn from his own life.

Among the actors, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Bradley Cooper, Reese Witherspoon and Jessica Lange each lead four films. Jackman is a magician in The Prestige, a showman in The Greatest Showman, a convict in Les Misérables and a suspect in Scoop. Bradley Cooper directed and starred in A Star Is Born and Maestro, and also stars in Silver Linings Playbook and Nightmare Alley.

Real lives on stage

Many films of 66Stage tell the true story of a performer. The concert hall is full of them. Bands on tour has Queen in Bohemian Rhapsody, Elton John in Rocketman, Jim Morrison in The Doors, Ian Curtis of Joy Division in Control and Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys. Singers has Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Édith Piaf, Judy Garland, Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner.

Orchestras and opera has Mozart in Amadeus, Beethoven in Immortal Beloved, Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, the pianist David Helfgott in Shine and the singer Florence Foster Jenkins. Comedians has Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon, Lenny Bruce in Lenny, Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy in Stan and Ollie and Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name.

Elsewhere, The Greatest Showman tells of P. T. Barnum, Houdini of the escape artist Harry Houdini, The White Crow of Rudolf Nureyev and Ed Wood of the director of the same name. The Disaster Artist tells how Tommy Wiseau made his film The Room, and The Fabelmans tells Steven Spielberg's own story as a boy with a camera.

Films for the whole family

Nine films of the guide are animated, and they are spread across the acts. The theatre has Disney's Pinocchio, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio and the stop-motion Anomalisa, which is for adults. The big top has Dumbo of 1941, Madagascar 3 and the French The Illusionist. Ballet has Ballerina, and contests has Sing and Sing 2, the second rated 7.8.

For a family evening with live action, the Muppets have four films in the act of puppets and masks, from The Muppet Movie of 1979 to The Muppets of 2011. Billy Elliot, The School of Rock, The Greatest Showman, Hugo and Sister Act are good choices for older children.

Musicals work for every age: Singin' in the Rain, My Fair Lady, Grease, Mamma Mia!, Hairspray and Wicked are all in the guide. If the evening is short, the shortest films are Dumbo at 64 minutes, The Circus at 72 and The Illusionist at 80.

Double bills

The acts of 66Stage make it easy to plan a double bill, two films that talk to each other. Start with Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve, both of 1950: one about a forgotten film star, the other about a stage star and her ambitious young fan. Or pair Singin' in the Rain with The Artist, two films about the end of silent cinema, made nearly sixty years apart.

For magic, pair The Prestige with The Illusionist of 2006, two films of rival magicians released in the same year. For Shakespeare, pair Kurosawa's Throne of Blood with Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth, the same play in feudal Japan and in black-and-white Scotland. For music, pair Whiplash with La La Land, Damien Chazelle's two films about jazz.

For a night of concerts, pair Stop Making Sense with The Last Waltz: Talking Heads at their peak and the farewell show of the Band. For the circus, pair Fellini's La Strada with Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire. And for a long night of the film set, pair Cinema Paradiso with The Fabelmans, two films about a boy who falls in love with cinema.

How to use the marquee

The marquee at the top of the home page is the heart of 66Stage. It holds sixteen tickets, in the same order as the shelves below it: four acts of the theatre, four of the big top, four of the concert hall and four of dance and screen. Each ticket shows the family in small capitals, the short name of the act, such as Backstage, Magic or Film set, and the number of films it holds.

Press a ticket to open the whole act. The act page lists its films from the most voted to the least voted, and every card shows the name of the act, the year, the rating on TMDB and the running time. Press a poster to open the film page, with its synopsis, cast, director and the Watch now button.

The menu at the top leads to the four families, each a list of 45 to 48 films. The footer leads to Before 1960, World stage, Rated 7.5 or more, the A to Z list of all 189 films and the About page. On a phone the marquee folds into one column of tickets, and the menu opens from the gold button in the corner.

The guide pages

66Stage has sixteen help pages. Start with Start with 66Stage, which suggests one film from each family, and read The running order for the idea behind the guide. How the acts work explains how the films were chosen, and The look of 66Stage describes the design.

One page covers each family: The theatre, The big top, The concert hall and Dance and screen. Shorter pages cover Shakespeare on screen, the music biopics, concert films, the directors and the world stage.

The numbers of the guide are on The figures. Search tips explains how to find a film, and The Watch now button explains where each film can be seen.

The Watch now button and My list

Every film page of 66Stage has a Watch now button. It opens the film on JustWatch for the country you choose, where you can see which services offer it to stream, to rent or to buy. 66Stage is a guide: it points you to the places where each film is available legally.

A film page also shows the English synopsis, the year, the country, the genres, the running time, the TMDB rating and the number of votes, the director and the leading cast. It shows the act the film belongs to, so you can go back to its shelf and find the films around it.

The My list button keeps a film for later. The list lives in your browser, so it needs only one click and stays on your device. It is a good way to plan a season of your own: one film from each act, or every film of a family, watched in order over a few weeks.

Search and the A to Z list

The search box sits in the header on every page. Type the start of a title, such as Amadeus, Chicago or Whiplash, and the results appear as you type. Capital letters and accents make little difference: miserables finds Les Misérables, and tar finds TÁR.

Search also knows the directors and the leading cast of every film. Type Fosse to find the three films of Bob Fosse, Jackman for the four films led by Hugh Jackman, or Muppet for the Muppet films of the puppet act.

To see the whole guide at once, open the A to Z list from the footer. It lists all 189 films in alphabetical order, each with its year and its act, and it is the quickest way to check whether a film you have in mind is part of the guide.

Questions and answers

An act for every evening

The acts of 66Stage also work as a menu of moods. For a big, bright evening, open Broadway musicals or Dance floors: Grease, Mamma Mia!, Hairspray, Dirty Dancing and La La Land are films to sing along to. For laughter, open Comedians or Cabaret and drag: Some Like It Hot, Tootsie, The Birdcage and Annie Hall are four classic comedies.

For suspense, open Magicians, where The Prestige, Now You See Me and Nightmare Alley all hide a trick until the last scene, or Ballet, where Black Swan turns the rehearsal room into a nightmare. For tears, open Singers or Under the big top: A Star Is Born, Judy, La Strada and Big Fish are among the most moving films of the guide.

For a quiet evening with a great film, open The film set or Shakespeare on screen: Cinema Paradiso, 8½, Sunset Boulevard, Ran and Throne of Blood are classics that reward a long night. And for an evening that feels like a night out, open Concert films and choose Stop Making Sense, Woodstock or Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii.

A century of performers

The guide can also be read decade by decade. The silent and early sound years give The Circus, Freaks, 42nd Street and A Night at the Opera. The 1940s and 1950s are the golden age of the backstage film: The Red Shoes, Children of Paradise, All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard, Singin' in the Rain and Some Like It Hot.

The 1960s and 1970s bring the great musicals and the first concert films: West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Cabaret, Monterey Pop, Woodstock and The Last Waltz, along with Fellini's 8½ and Bob Fosse's Lenny and All That Jazz. The 1980s are the decade of dance and of Amadeus: Fame, Flashdance, Footloose, Dirty Dancing and Stop Making Sense.

The 1990s and 2000s fill the guide with biographies and comedies, from Chaplin and Shine to Ray, Walk the Line and La Vie en Rose. The 2010s are its biggest decade, with 48 films, led by La La Land, Whiplash, Birdman and Bohemian Rhapsody. The 2020s bring thirteen films so far, from Sing 2 and In the Heights to Elvis, Babylon, The Fabelmans and Wicked.

The four families side by side

The four families of 66Stage are almost the same size. The theatre, the concert hall and dance and screen hold 48 films each, and the big top holds 45, because the acts of magicians and comedians are a little shorter. The concert hall has the highest average rating of the four, 7.37, thanks to its concert films and to Whiplash and Amadeus. The big top follows at 7.18, the theatre at 7.13 and dance and screen at 7.08.

Dance and screen has the most votes in all, 193,260, because it holds La La Land, Black Swan, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Silver Linings Playbook. The big top follows with 145,261, led by The Prestige and the two Now You See Me films. If you want the best-known films first, start there; if you want the best rated, start with the concert hall.

Questions