Lions and tigers and bears

I’m not a big movie musical fan. I’m certainly open to being charmed. But as an adult, none have deeply touched me. Though cinematographically brilliant, I mostly yawned through Madonna’s Evita (1996). Perhaps the only two film musicals I’ve ever loved ruined me for life. West Side Story (1961) is the first. With a screenplay by Ernest Lehman, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, choreography by Jerome Robbins and a storyline based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, how could it be anything less than brilliant?

The other is “The Wizard of Oz (1939).” This timeless gem, based on the 1900 novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum, captured me as a child and never let go. Like a fine wine, it aged wonderfully as I came to truly appreciate the score’s playful lyrics and wit.

I mean, on the underlying theme of bravery, how do you top this?

Cowardly Lion: Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?
Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman [together]: Courage!
Cowardly Lion: You can say that again! [a beat] Huh?

And this:

Dorothy: Your Majesty, if you were king, you wouldn't be afraid of anything?
Cowardly Lion: Not nobody! Not nohow!
Tin Woodsman: Not even a rhinoceros?
Cowardly Lion: Imposerous!
Dorothy: How about a hippopotamus?
Cowardly Lion: Why, I'd thrash him from top to bottomus!
Dorothy: Supposing you met an elephant?
Cowardly Lion: I'd wrap him up in cellophane!
Scarecrow: What if it were a brontosaurus?
Cowardly Lion: I'd show him who was king of the forest!

And this:

Dorothy: My goodness, what a fuss you're making! Well naturally, when you go around picking on things weaker than you are. Why, you're nothing but a great big coward!
Cowardly Lion: [crying] You're right, I am a coward! I haven't any courage at all. I even scare myself. [sobs]
Cowardly Lion: Look at the circles under my eyes. I haven't slept in weeks!
Tin Woodsman: Why don't you try counting sheep?
Cowardly Lion: That doesn't do any good, I'm afraid of 'em.

Playful. Silly. Charming. And effortlessly brilliant.