Movies Like It's Only a Play

If you liked It's Only a Play (2021), a movie directed by Kevin Cahoon, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Oscar (1991)
★ 6.4/10
Angelo "Snaps" Provolone made his dying father a promise on his deathbed: he would leave the world of crime and become an honest businessman. Despite having no experience in making money in a legal fashion, Snaps sets…
2
All About Eve (1950)
★ 8.1/10
From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington is determined to take the reins of power away from the great actress Margo Channing. Eve maneuvers her way into Margo's Broadway role, becomes a…
3
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
★ 7.4/10
A fading actor best known for his portrayal of a popular superhero attempts to mount a comeback by appearing in a Broadway play. As opening night approaches, his attempts to become more altruistic, rebuild his career…
4
Feel the Beat (2020)
★ 7.5/10
After failing to make it on Broadway, April returns to her hometown and reluctantly begins training a misfit group of young dancers for a competition.
5
Marvellous (2014)
★ 7.1/10
Dramatisation of the true story of the life of Neil "Nello" Baldwin. Born with a mild learning disability but without the burden of social embarrassment & how his inexhaustible ability to see the good in any…
6
Kiss Me Kate (1953)
★ 6.6/10
A pair of divorced actors are brought together to participate in a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. Of course, the couple seem to act a great deal like the characters they play, and they must work together…
7
Better Nate Than Ever (2022)
★ 6.5/10
13-year-old Nate Foster has big Broadway dreams but there’s only one problem — he can’t even land a part in the school play. When his parents leave town, Nate and his best friend Libby sneak off to the Big Apple for a…
8
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
★ 7.2/10
When all Broadway shows are shut down during the Depression, a trio of desperate showgirls scheme to bilk a repugnant high society man of his money to keep their show going.
9
tick, tick... BOOM! (2021)
★ 7.6/10
On the brink of turning 30, a promising theater composer navigates love, friendship and the pressure to create something great before time runs out.
10
Noises Off... (1992)
★ 7.2/10
Hired to helm an Americanized take on a British play, director Lloyd Fellowes does his best to control an eccentric group of stage actors. With a star actress quickly passing her prime, a male lead with no confidence…
11
Stage Door (1937)
★ 7.1/10
A spirited heiress wishing to break into theatre on her own merit arrives at a boardinghouse where aspiring young actresses and showgirls are brought together through their cynicism and disappointments.
12
Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway (2008)
★ 7.9/10
Set in New York City's gritty East Village, the revolutionary rock opera RENT tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love," these starving artists…
13
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
★ 6.7/10
A young but bright former window cleaner rises to the top of his company by following the advice of a book about ruthless advancement in business.
14
Think Like a Man (2012)
★ 6.8/10
The balance of power in four couples’ relationships is upset when the women start using the advice in Steve Harvey’s book, Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man, to get more of what they want from their men. When the men…
15
Staying Alive (1983)
★ 5.8/10
Five years later, Tony Manero's Saturday Night Fever still burns. Now he's struts toward his biggest challenger yet - making it as a dancer on the Broadway stage.
16
Sidelined: The QB and Me (2025)
★ 6.4/10
Dallas, a burdened but headstrong dancer, is determined to get into the best dance school in the country—her late mother’s alma mater. However, that dream is suddenly derailed when the cheeky yet secretly grieving…
17
Christmas Encore (2017)
★ 5.9/10
A struggling actress is cast in her last off (off) Broadway show - a modern take on “A Christmas Carol” - before giving up her dream and moving home. Instead, she finds romance with her director and a renewed passion…
18
Let's Make Love (1960)
★ 6.4/10
When billionaire Jean-Marc Clement learns that he is to be satirized in an off-Broadway revue, he passes himself off as an actor playing him in order to get closer to the beautiful star of the show, Amanda Dell.
19
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
★ 7.1/10
After young playwright, David Shayne obtains funding for his play from gangster Nick Valenti, Nick's girlfriend Olive miraculously lands the role of a psychiatrist—but not only is she a bimbo who could never pass for a…
20
Kinky Boots (2005)
★ 6.7/10
Charles Price may have grown up with his father in the family shoe business in Northampton, central England, but he never thought that he would take his father's place. Charles has a chance encounter with the…