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The key, of course, is the music; from the splashy upbeat production number to the show-stopping heartfelt ballad. To anyone ready to help a loved one cure the sad affliction of “musical denial,” we offer this list of smart, buoyant and very sophisticated musicals.

It’s striking just how alike they were: both petite women with big personalities and talent who achieved overnight success in iconic movies at age 19; both immensely driven professionals who, in the face of personal challenges and misfortune, channeled their prodigious energies into their work.

It always irked Gene Kelly that dancing was considered an effeminate activity for men. When his mother first enrolled him and his brother in dance classes when Gene was still a boy, he had to endure taunts from his classmates which he promptly settled with his fists.

George Gershwin, born on this day in 1898, miraculously created a vast body of popular music in a very short time. His work ranged from pop songs, to orchestral pieces, to more than 30 musicals written for the Broadway stage, usually with his older brother Ira as lyricist.