There’s cause for joy for lovers of movie musicals on Blu-ray this week as Sony releases the 4K- Mastered Director’s Cut of 1972’s 1776 featuring restored musical cuts from previous releases. While I contemplate the “Cool, Cool, Considerate Men” who “Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve”, I can’t help but think of the fifteen greatest musicals already on Blu-ray and five others that aren’t, but should be.

The talkies began with a musical in 1927, but by 1930 there were so many static musicals being produced that the genre lost favor. It bounced back spectacularly three years later with 42nd Street which introduced the world to the eye-popping imagery of Busby Berkeley’s choreography. The musical, which made stars of Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler, became an equally successful stage musical nearly fifty years later and all over again in a revival twenty years after that. Usually when a stage musical is made into a film, the filmmakers have to open it up for film audiences. In the case of 42nd Street they had to expand the ability of the stage to show just a fraction of all that Berkeley’s fake stage encompassed. “Naughty, Gaudy 42nd Street” indeed!

Thirty years before 1776 became the definitive 4th of July musical, there was Michael Curtiz’s Yankee Doodle Dandy, the grand old musical based on the life of George M. Cohan as interpreted by James Cagney at the height of his unparalleled career. Like 42nd Street, Yankee Doodle Dandy has been released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive which is now in its seventh year.

Set in the year before the fabled St. Louis State Fair of 1904, Vincente Minnelli’s 1944 film of Meet Me in St. Louis proved to be sweet and nostalgic without being cloying. Judy Garland and Margaret O’Brien headed the cast of the musical which gave us Ralph Blane’s and Hugh Martin’s “The Boy Next Door,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “The Trolley Song” among others. It’s on Blu-ray from the Warner Bros. main label.

The best of several musicals featuring Irving Berlin’s prolific catalogue of songs, Charles Walters’ 1948 film Easter Parade gave us the only on-screen pairing of Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. Astaire had to be coaxed out of retirement to play the nightclub performer who makes a star of newcomer Garland when Gene Kelly had to drop out because of a foot injury. Happily for us, Astaire’s screen career, then in its sixteenth year, extended another thirty-three. This one’s also on Blu-ray from Warner Bros. main label.

1951’s surprise Oscar winner, Vincente Minnelli’s An American in Paris, was comprised of songs previously written by George and Ira Gershwin, George having died fourteen years earlier. Like Irving Berlin, films and latterly stage musicals adapted from Gershwin’s rich catalogue of material never go out of fashion as the current Broadway adaptation of this one attests. Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant and Georges Guetary shine on yet another terrific Warner Bros. Blu-ray.

Often cited as the best original screen musical, 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain, co-directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, utilizes both new songs (“Make ‘em Laugh”) and evergreens (including the title song) in telling a story about the dawn of sound in movies. Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Oscar-nominated Jean Hagen are pure joy in still another Warner Bros. Blu-ray release.

A rare recent musical release from Warner Bros. main label, Vincente Minnelli’s 1953 film The Band Wagon is yet another musical employing songs both old (“I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan”) and new (“That’s Entertainment”) marvelously interpreted by Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan and Oscar Levant.

An enduring favorite, Walter Lang’s 1956 film of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I remains the standard against which all subsequent stage versions are judged including the current Broadway revival. Yul Brynner who recreated his Tony Award-winning role in the original Broadway production to Oscar-winning glory on film remains the definitive King of Siam and Deborah Kerr (with a little help from Marni Nixon) remains the definitive Anna. Fox’s Blu-ray is included in Fox’s Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection and has just been released as a solo title.

Despite its garish color filters spoiling key scenes, Joshua Logan’s 1958 film version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific is about as visually perfect as one would expect. The performances of Mitzi Gaynor, Rossano Brazzi, John Kerr, France Nuyen, Ray Walston and Juanita Hall are all memorable. The Blu-ray is part of Fox’s Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection and is available as a single.

More than fifty years have passed, but Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ multi-Oscar-winning West Side Story remains the definitive example of the rarely done totally dramatic musical. Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, George Chakiris, Rita Moreno and Russ Tamblyn star in the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim musical available on Blu-ray from Fox.

A 4K restoration of Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady was promised for the film’s fiftieth anniversary last year, but has been delayed until later this year. In the meantime the less-than-stunning Paramount Blu-ray release of George Cukor’s Oscar-winning film starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Gladys Cooper will have to do. Made by Warner Bros., home video rights later fell to Fox and finally Paramount.

One of the most popular films of all time, Robert Wise’s 1965 film of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music has had multiple DVD and Blu-ray releases. Perfected for Blu-ray at least two renditions ago, the latest release differs only in the amount of extras. Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker and Peggy Wood head the cast of the beloved musical based on the romance of would-be nun Maria and Captain Von Trapp in late ‘30s Austria.

Carol Reed’s Oscar-winning 1968 film of Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, the musical version of Charles Dickens’ oft-filmed Oliver Twist, was not only a superb musical in its own right but one of the best versions of the beloved novel, period. Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, Shani Wallis, Mark Lester and Jack Wild brought it vividly to life. There are several Blu-ray versions available but the best is the Twilight Time limited edition.

With a screenplay based on John Van Druton’s I Am a Camera rather than the libretto for the Tony-winning musical, Cabaret, Bob Fosse’s 1972 film, gains in dramatic power but loses some of the great Kander-Ebb score by jettisoning songs sung by several characters who are not in the film version. With one exception, all songs are sung on the cabaret stage. Nevertheless it all works thanks to Fosse’s taut direction and the performances of Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem and Joel Grey. Warner Bros. released the flawless Blu-ray.

Thirty years after Cabaret proved to be the last great film musical, Rob Marshall directed another film musical based on a Kander and Ebb Broadway show. This one faithfully retained the score but introduced vivid new ways of presenting the songs. Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah and John C. Reilly sizzle in the Oscar-winning film which is currently available on Blu-ray from Lionsgate.

Unlike other genres, Blu-ray releases of Hollywood musicals have been quite generous. Still, there are a number of major films not yet released in the format.

Any of the Astaire-Rogers films of the ‘30s would be most welcome, especially Irving Berlin’s Top Hat, generally regarded as the best of the lot especially when we’re out dancing “Cheek to Cheek”.

Warner Bros. has been promising a Blu-ray release of all three versions of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Show Boat for years now, but instead of waiting for all three versions to get up to snuff, they ought to release the definitive 1936 version which was re-mastered for standard DVD by Warner Archive over a year ago.

While Warner Bros. and Warner Archive have released a number of early ‘50s musicals on Blu-ray, they have yet to release the most successful original Hollywood musical of the period, Stanley Donen’s one-of-a-kind Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

The last film personally supervised by Walter Disney was 1967’s The Happiest Millionaire featuring one of the Sherman Brothers’ best scores. It really ought to be on Blu-ray.

A filmed presentation of the 1995 stage adaptation of Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse’s Victor/Victoria was released on Blu-ray, but where-oh-where is the original 1982 film version?

This week’s new releases include the Blu-ray releases of She-Devil and The Pillow Book.