Movies like Claude Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande (2012)

Battle of the Year (2013)

A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

Honey: Rise Up and Dance (2018)

Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

Clika (2026)

Aspiring small-town musician Chito is determined to make it big. When a clip of him performing one of his songs goes viral, he seizes the opportunity and pushes to carve out a place for himself in the new wave of Mexican-American music... and ultimately gets caught in a game more dangerous than anticipated.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

Coda (2020)

A famous pianist at the twilight of his career meets a free-spirited music critic who soon becomes his rock as his mental state deteriorates.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

Teen Spirit (2019)

A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

Taurus (2022)

A rising but troubled musician searches for the inspiration to record one last song, pushing himself deep into the void.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music

Mo' Better Blues (1990)

Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music

XOXO (2016)

XOXO follows six strangers whose lives collide in one frenetic, dream-chasing, hopelessly romantic night.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

Grace Unplugged (2013)

A talented young singer and aspiring songwriter’s Christian faith and family ties are tested when she defies her worship-pastor father and pursues pop-music stardom in GRACE UNPLUGGED, a moving and inspiring new film that explores the true meaning of success.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music

Too Late Blues (1961)

Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music

You Got Served (2004)

At Mr. Rad's Warehouse, the best hip-hop crews in Los Angeles compete for money and respect. But when a suburban crew crashes the party, stealing their dancers — and their moves — two warring friends have to pull together to represent the street.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

The Mambo Kings (1992)

The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music

Suburbia (1984)

When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music

A Late Quartet (2012)

When the beloved cellist of a world-renowned string quartet is diagnosed with a life threatening illness, the group's future suddenly hangs in the balance as suppressed emotions, competing egos and uncontrollable passions threaten to derail years of friendship and collaboration. As they are about to play their 25th anniversary concert — quite possibly their last — only their intimate bond and the power of music can preserve their legacy.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

Good Vibrations (2012)

The story of music legend Terri Hooley, a key figure in Belfast's punk rock scene. Hooley founded the Good Vibrations store from which a record label sprung, representing bands such as The Undertones, Rudi and The Outcasts.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

Salomé (2013)

After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Hounddog (2008)

A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Make Your Move (2013)

A pair of star-crossed dancers in New York find themselves at the center of a bitter rivalry between their brothers' underground dance clubs.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music

All Day and a Night (2020)

While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Beast (2026)

MMA legend Patton James, now a commercial fisherman, is pulled back into the cage when his brother is in danger. Reuniting with his old coach Sammy, he commits to one final fight in one championship against the brutal champion Xavier Grau.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Lili Elbe (2023)

The painter Lili Elbe was the first person to have gender confirmation surgery in the 1930s. The homonymous opera is a glimpse into the life of Lili Elbe and her wife Gerda Wegener (also a famous painter) through Lili's transition at a time when such surgery was still completely uncharted territory.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music

Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi) - Arena di Verona (2014)

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama

Lucia di Lammermoor (2009)

Star soprano Anna Netrebko adds Donizetti’s hapless heroine to her growing list of Met triumphs in this production by Mary Zimmerman that updates the events to the 19th century. Rising young tenor sensation Piotr Beczała is Edgardo and Mariusz Kwiecien plays Lucia’s brother Enrico whose brutal authority forces her to deny her heart and marry for the sake of her family. The famous mad scene brilliantly depicts the cascading fragments of Lucia’s disintegrating mind.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music

Tosca (2019)

To open its 2019-2020 season, La Scala in Milan has chosen Tosca, in a new production directed by Davide Livermore. The production is part of the rediscovery of Italian opera led by Riccardo Chailly, the conductor of the production and music director of La Scala. He has chosen the original version of Tosca, as created by Puccini in Rome in January 1900, which included eight "additional musical inserts" that were removed from the work after its second performance in Turin in February 1900 and will now be rediscovered for the first time on December 7 at La Scala.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama

Dennis Cleveland (2004)

A 2002 live performance of Mikel Rouse's Dennis Cleveland, a multimedia opera set entirely on a television talk show in the late 20th century.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama

Freydís and Gudrid (2024)

A group of merchants and vikings navigate dramatic events both within and without in this epic musical based on the Icelandic Vinland sagas. As secrets are exposed, two women (Freydís and Gudrid) have a reckoning.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music

Orpheus and Eurydice (2008)

The Ballet de l'Opera National de Paris mounted this production of the late Pina Bausch's dance-opera Orpheus und Eurydike, which Bausch had adapted from composer Christoph Willibald-Gluck and Ranieri de' Calzabigi's 1762 opera Orfeo ed Euridice. As the title suggests, it takes its basic narrative from the myth of Orpheus, and his courageous but ill-fated attempt to rescue his lover Eurydice (also known as Eurydike) from the jaws of the underworld. This particular production finds Yann Bridard dancing as Orpheus and Marie-Agnès Gillot dancing as Eurydike , with mezzo-soprano Maria-Riccarda Wesseling accompanying Bridard and soprano Julia Kleiter accompanying Wesseling. Pina Bausch did the choreography and stage direction, while Rolf Borzik designed the sets, costumes and lighting. The Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble & Choir, under the direction of Thomas Hengelbrock, lend musical accompaniment.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music

Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel (2008)

Johannes Felsenstein’s production of HANSEL AND GRETEL presents it with every sinister element removed. The children remain in a home setting with their own bed central to the scene and the barest hint of a forest behind, while their father plays the witch as an amiable, totally benevolent figure, not sinister at all, even joining them in the final joyful ensemble. When they sing that the witch is dead, you find that the production contradicts that completely. Taking that unsinister stance means that the opera loses much of its bite. No doubt Felsenstein felt that it would make the piece more accessible for very young children, though many of them relish the sinister element. That said, it is a strong and capable performance, very well conducted and with a cast of good if not outstanding singers. One wonders what Felsenstein meant to convey, just as it is not clear why the central characters should regularly be carrying dolls. A highly individual version of a much-loved opera.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music

Donizetti La Favorite (2015)

One of the composer's most beguiling scores, La Favorite is Gaetano Donizetti's La favorita in it's original French form; a tale of love and war that represents a glorious mix of Italian bel canto and 19th c. grand opera. Vincent Boussard's arresting Toulouse production does full justice to this newly renewed masterpiece. Three international principals take on the work's demanding roles: Chinese tenor Yijie Shi is a 'revelation' as Fernand, the rich-toned, authoritative French baritone Ludovic Tezier as King Alphonse XI and lauded American mezzo Kate Aldrich - 'the Carmen of this generation' - plumbing the emotional depths of Leonor's music. Conductor and bel canto specialist Antonello Allemandi adds to the passionate proceedings onstage. Maestro Allemandi demonstrated full authority over the stage for the musically complex scenes, and in the arias and duets demonstrated his confidence in the singers by establishing ample tempos to support their soaring vocal lines.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music

The Climax (1944)

Dr. Hohner, theatre physician at the Vienna Royal Theatre, murders his mistress, the star soprano when his jealousy drives him to the point of mad obsession. Ten years later, another young singer reminds Hohner of the late diva and his old mania kicks in. Hohner wants to prevent her from singing for anyone but him, even if it means silencing her forever.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music