Musicals are films that tend to have songs interlaced with the rest of the narrative. These songs often take place during key narrative events and can frequently include foreshadowing. Musicals vary in the number of songs present during the course of the film as there is no standard requirement for it to be considered a musical. While all musicals follow the same basic pattern, the way that they are structured and constructed can vary greatly.
Some musicals insert all of their focus on the music and have little to no dialogue, instead advancing the narrative purely through song. A notable example of this type of musical is Jesus Christ Superstar (1973). The more common type of musical, however, is one that has dialogue but breaks off from the story as the characters are "in the moment" and feel the need to express themselves. However, in most cases, the two styles are combined, as seen in The Sound of Music (1965).
