Summer Film Series: "The Greatest Showman" at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum

Join us on Friday, August 22, for our third movie of our 2025 Summer Film Series will be the musical: “The Greatest Showman."

This classic animated movie was released by 20th Century Fox in 2017. To commemorate the latest exhibit at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum, Music America, we looked at some of the best family-friendly musical movies and selected our favorites that we were sure you would enjoy!

Orphaned, penniless, but ambitious and with a mind crammed with imagination and fresh ideas, the American entertainer, Phineas Taylor Barnum, will always be remembered as the man with the gift to blur the line between reality and fiction. Introducing the world to the first circus stage with live acts and even venturing into supporting opera, this musical follows the aspiring dreams of P.T. Barnum.

Bring your blankets and lawn chairs as we enjoy this film under the stars. Games and free refreshments (while supplies last) will begin at 7 p.m., and the movie will start just after sundown. You may bring your coolers, but please no pets or glass containers.

This movie is being shown in conjunction with Music America, an exhibit that tells the story of how music has informed, interpreted, and inspired our national identity since it was founded nearly two-and-a-half centuries ago. This exhibit—curated by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music (BSACAM) at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey—features artifacts from the permanent collection of the BSACAM alongside treasures from other institutions across the country such as the New Orleans Jazz Museum, Hard Rock International, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, as well as dozens of prominent collectors of American music ephemera. This exhibit will be on display in the Ansary Gallery of American History from May 5, 2025 - January 5, 2026.