My husband hates musicals. Okay, maybe “hate” is a strong word. My husband says that he strongly dislikes movie musicals. I think this is strange, primarily because he is a singer.

He’s not just a shower singer, or the guy everybody asks to lead “Happy Birthday.” He’s a real singer. He sang with a contemporary Christian group that toured the country. He sings in our church. He’s a wonderful singer.

On the other hand, I just love to sing. No, I’m not great. I can sing as well or as badly as the person standing next to me. My talents fall more into the category of a “joyful noise.”

I love musicals. I know that some find them unrealistic. Bursting forth with song while doing ordinary things—even unusual things—is alien to them. They’ve never lived in my house.

While I have never had a dance fight like the Sharks and the Jets from West Side Story, I often sing the “Get Out of Bed” song to my boys, or the “I’m Cleaning My House” song while I vacuum. The latter is especially good with upright accompaniment.

My point is that music makes everything better. The movie directors know this. Just about every film you see these days has a plug in the end credits directing the viewer to where they can purchase the soundtrack.

Even non-musical movies often incorporate a great song, whether performed by a main character or not. Monty Python and the Holy Grail includes “The Knights of the Round Table.” Rango incorporates the owl mariachis throughout. Monsters, Inc. has the unforgettable “Put That Thing Back Where It Came From.” I love them all, and so does my husband. (We’ll keep that our little secret.)

The songs from movie musicals weave through special moments of our lives. The lullabies from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Dumbo provided me with sweet moments with my babies. Adam Sandler’s airplane serenade, “Grow Old with You,” in The Wedding Singer makes me misty. And what girl, home from her first dance with a handsome boy, doesn’t want to sing out a tune like Audrey Hepburn’s “I Could Have Danced All Night,” from My Fair Lady?

Musicals give us permission to sing when our inner voice of self-doubt tells us that our urges are ridiculous and embarrassing. Maybe if we turned up the music, it would drown out those silly inner voices, and we’d all be happier!

That’s a wrap for this Toast to Cinema. Thanks for reading!