10. Sweet Charity, 1969
Charity Hope Valentine (Shirley MacLaine) always tries to look on the bright side of life, despite working in a rundown dance hall and contending with a seemingly endless run of bad dates. Determined to find love, Charity falls for suave actor Vittorio Vidal (Ricardo Montalban), but their romance is all too brief. However, when Charity finds herself stuck in an elevator with the reserved Oscar Lindquist (John McMartin), it turns out that she may have finally met her match.
9. Cabaret, 1972
In Berlin in 1931, American cabaret singer Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) meets British academic Brian Roberts (Michael York), who is finishing his university studies. Despite Brian's confusion over his sexuality, the pair become lovers, but the arrival of the wealthy and decadent playboy Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem) complicates matters for them both. This love triangle plays out against the rise of the Nazi party and the collapse of the Weimar Republic.
8. Victor Victoria, 1982
Victoria Grant (Julie Andrews), a down-and-out British soprano, struggles to find work in the nightclubs of 1930s Paris. While trying to scam a free meal, Grant meets cabaret performer Toddy (Robert Preston), who comes up with an idea that will change everything. Acting as her manager, Toddy bills Grant as a male female impersonator. When the nightclubs eat it up, the duo makes it big -- even a Chicago mobster (James Garner) is enamored with Grant. But keeping the truth a secret is no easy task.
7. Mrs Henderson Presents, 2005
With some money in her pocket after the death of her husband, Mrs. Laura Henderson (Judi Dench) buys a theater and hires the irascible theater manager Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins) to run the business, despite bad blood between the two. Henderson has a hit on her hands when she decides to add beautiful nude women to the stage shows at her Windmill Theatre. Though they are touched by tragedy, Henderson and her company bravely keep the theater active during the 1940-'41 Blitz of London.
6. Lady of Burlesque, 1943
In 1941, legendary burlesque artist Gypsy Rose Lee wrote a pulp mystery novel called "The G-String Murders." This somewhat censored film adaptation follows Broadway striptease artist Dixie Daisy (Barbara Stanwyck) as she becomes an amateur gumshoe after two of her fellow burlesque dancers are found dead, strangled with their own stage costumes. With the help of infatuated stand-up comic Biff Brannigan (Michael O'Shea), Dixie aims to find the killer before she
5. Chicago, 2002
Nightclub sensation Velma (Catherine Zeta-Jones) murders her philandering husband, and Chicago's slickest lawyer, Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), is set to defend her. But when Roxie (Renée Zellweger) also winds up in prison, Billy takes on her case as well -- turning her into a media circus of headlines. Neither woman will be outdone in their fight against each other and the public for fame and celebrity.
4. The Night They Raided Minsky's, 1968
To distance herself from her strict Amish family, naïve Rachel Schpitendavel (Britt Ekland) escapes to New York City to become a dancer. While Rachel's dances based on Biblical stories are too innocent for Minsky's Burlesque House, club-owner Billy Minsky (Elliott Gould) plans on using Rachel's routine to humiliate critics of his business. But trouble arises when partners in a comedy duo (Jason Robards, Norman Wisdom) compete for Rachel's affections.
3. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, 1994
When drag queen Anthony (Hugo Weaving) agrees to take his act on the road, he invites fellow cross-dresser Adam (Guy Pearce) and transsexual Bernadette (Terence Stamp) to come along. In their colorful bus, named Priscilla, the three performers travel across the Australian desert performing for enthusiastic crowds and homophobic locals. But when the other two performers learn the truth about why Anthony took the job, it threatens their act and their friendship.
2. Moulin Rouge! 2001
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 (Ewan McGregor), who is plunged into the heady world of Moulin Rouge, begins a passionate affair with the club's most notorious and beautiful star (Nicole Kidman).
1. Burlesque, 2010
Ali (Christina Aguilera), a small-town gal with a great voice, leaves a troubled life behind and follows her dreams to Los Angeles. She lands a job as a cocktail waitress at the Burlesque Lounge, a once-majestic theater that houses an inspired musical revue led by Tess (Cher), the proprietor. Ali vows to perform there and, with the help of a savvy stage manager and a gender-bending host, she makes the leap from bar to stage, helping restore the club's former glory.
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