1. Spring Awakening
There hasn't been a show like Spring Awakening on Broadway before. Sure, the style is in the vein of Rent, but Spring Awakening pushes the limits of what Broadway theatre should be, integrating classical acting styles with a uniquely contemporary score that highlights the timelessness of teen angst and confusion.
2. Journey's End 
I hadn't expected to like Journey's End at all, but it ended up being the most visceral theatrical experience of the season for me with a top-notch cast headed by Hugh Dancy and Boyd Gaines to boot. Nothing could quite beat the thrill of seeing Spring Awakening for the first time, but Journey's End hit me in the gut and really does a good job of recreating a wartime experience for its audience within the confines of the theatre space.
3. Grey Gardens
Christine Ebersole's performance as the Edies in Grey Gardens was the most talked about of the season, considered as a frontrunner for the Tony Award for Best Actress since her off-Broadway run in the show. It's a wonderful performance, but the rest of the production that supports her is equally solid, with a supporting cast that includes Mary Louise Wilson and John McMartin, as well as Erin Davie, who is stunning as Little Edie in the first act. The score is a lovely pastiche, and the book manages to be haunting and camp concurrently.
4. Blackbird
This play won the Olivier Award for Best Play in London last season, so I had high expectations. Needless to say, they were met. Jeff Daniels and Alison Pill act the hell out of this play, which was probably the most thought-provoking of the season to me. This play definitely deserves a Broadway transferin the hopes of its reaching a wider audience, though its immediacy might be lost in the fray.
5. 110 in the Shade
As was the case with The Apple Tree, the last Roundabout production at Studio 54, 110 in the Shade could be called dated. It also has its flaws. But Audra McDonald (who may have a chance against Christine Ebersole at the Tonys) and John Cullum, as well as Audra's leading men, Steve Kazee and Christopher Innvar, make a great case for this old-fashioned musical with a tuneful Western-influenced score. Its "old maid" themes may seem old hat, but McDonald's performance brings out the nuances of this show, which is also supported by a simple yet first-rate production at Studio 54.
6. Radio Golf
Bringing Wilson's ten-play cycle of plays to a close with its 1990s installment, Radio Golf has a cultural immediacy that some of his other plays lack because of their historical perspective. Radio Golf is the most contemporary of Wilson's plays, and the Broadway production it's being given, featuring Harry Lennix and Anthony Chisholm, is first rate. These actors are intimately familiar with Wilson's poetic dialogue, which they imbue with an absolutely appropriate air of heritage forgotten. It may seem that Wilson's window into African-American life has been cracked due to the death of Aunt Ester in King Hedley II, the 1980s Wilson play, but take a closer look and the blues are still there.
7. The Clean House
Along with Christopher Shinn, Sarah Ruhl seems to me among the most inventive of playwrights working today. She just won the MacArthur Grant, and I think she's absolutely deserving. With The Clean House, which circulated the country with regional productions before its New York City debut at Lincoln Center, uses a sort of magical realism in order to mix everyday mishaps with the extraordinary. Jill Clayburgh and Blair Brown headed this wonderfully talented cast. Even when Ruhl's dialogue is less than brilliant, her sense of theatricality and inventiveness are to be lauded.
8. Frost/Nixon
Though I thought that Frost/Nixon as a play was mostly a serviceable docudrama about a subject that may or may not deserve extra special attention, it's most certainly a showcase for two extraordinarily talented actors. Michael Sheen as David Frost, no stranger to the work of Peter Morgan, holds his own in opposition to Frank Langella, who elevates his portrayal of Richard Nixon above mere mimickry. Though the play wasn't my favorite, it was still tautly woven and definitely worth seeing.
9. Dying City
Since seeing Dying City, I've read all of Christopher Shinn's other published plays, and that experience has only made me think more fondly of my experience seeing Dying City. Shinn is able to take an ordinary convention (double casting an actor as identical twins) and make it work absolutely organically within the confines of the tiny rotating stage at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre. His dialogue almost always feels true to life, and there are some absolutely heartbreaking moments within Dying City. It's a play that will be worth reading for the intricacies of its text once it's published, and I'm looking forward to my next opportunity to see a Shinn play.
10. Legally Blonde
Considering how much I was anticipating LoveMusik because of all the talent involved in its production (Hal Prince, Michael Cerveris, Donna Murphy, Alfred Uhry), I had to say I'm unable to include it on my Top 10 list. Despite all its bubblegum kitsch, Legally Blonde absolutely won me over as the feel-good show of the season. It's not the best show by any means, but the production is very solidly constructed and feels genuinely intentioned. It was definitely the most flat-out fun I've had at the theatre this season, and I think that Laura Bell Bundy is a formidable successor to Reese Witherspoon, who played the role of Elle in the movie version.
Pure Fun Runner-Up (11.) Deuce 
Last year, my pure fun choice was Lennon. It wasn't the best show, but I had a blast seeing it. This year, my pick is Deuce. No, it's not the best play, but I never felt the play was less than enjoyable. Mostly, it was quite brisk. But the real reason this gets my pick is that I finally got to see Angela Lansbury on a Broadway stage. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I think that her performance will be up against Eve Best's (a standout in A Moon For the Misbegotten) as a leading contender for the Best Actress Tony. Surely, this play had more emotional resonance to me than the chilly The Year of Magical Thinking. It was a fun play in a season that, headed by Lincoln Center's bloated The Coast of Utopia, could have used some much-needed lightening-up (provided in part by Douglas Carter Beane's The Little Dog Laughed).
My final Broadway/off-Broadway/off-off-Broadway Report is as follows:
1. Mother Courage and Her Children
2. Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
3. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
4. Seven Guitars
5. Seven Guitars
6. The Guys
7. Jay Johnson: The Two and Only
8. Heartbreak House
9. Nixon's Nixon
10. The Times They Are A-Changin'
11. Grey Gardens
12. Wrecks
13. My Name Is Rachel Corrie
14. Suddenly Last Summer
15. subUrbia
16. The Voyage of the Carcass
17. Mary Poppins
18. The Little Dog Laughed
19. Suddenly Last Summer
20. Company
21. The Flood
22. The Clean House
23. Spring Awakening
24. Durango
25. Spring Awakening
26. Two Trains Running
27. High Fidelity
28. The Vertical Hour
29. The Apple Tree
30. The Apple Tree
31. Spring Awakening
32. The Fever
33. Howard Katz
34. The Coast of Utopia -Voyage
35. Follies (Encores)
36. The Coast of Utopia - Shipwreck
37. Spring Awakening
38. King Hedley II
39. The Coast of Utopia - Salvage
40. Prelude to a Kiss
41. Dying City
42. Grey Gardens
43. Jack Goes Boating
44. A Moon for the Misbegotten
45. Blackbird
46. Curtains
47. Frost/Nixon
48. Exits and Entrances
49. All the Wrong Reasons
50. LoveMusik
51. Journey's End
52. Deuce
53. Entrances and Exits
54. In the Heights
55. The Year of Magical Thinking
56. Legally Blonde
57. Radio Golf
58. 110 in the Shade
59. 110 in the Shade
In addition, I saw a performance of La Boheme at New York City Opera and readings of the musical Zorro at 37 Arts and The Marriage of Bette and Boo for Roundabout Theatre Company at the Laura Pels Theatre. I attended or volunteered for the opening nights of Heartbreak House, The Apple Tree, and 110 in the Shade, as well as the 2007 Roundabout Gala at Roseland Ballroom, Beyond the Velvet Rope, featuring disco performances from Broadway favorites in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the opening of Studio 54.
I've seen 33 Broadway and 25 off-Broadway performances this year in addition to one off-off-Broadway performance.
Those in blue are on Broadway.
Those in red are off-Broadway.
Those in black are off-off-Broadway
Plays are in bold.
All others are musicals.
Statistics/Facts:
- The average price paid per show was $18.26.
- 21 performances were free or complimentary.
- The highest prices paid were $69 for The Year of Magical Thinking and $53 for Deuce.
- Celebrities seen who are notable from film and TV include Meryl Streep (Mother Courage), Martin Short (Fame Becomes Me), Ed Harris (Wrecks), Blythe Danner (Suddenly Last Summer), Bill Nighy (The Vertical Hour), Julianne Moore (The Vertical Hour), Kristin Chenoweth (The Apple Tree), Wallace Shawn (The Fever), Alfred Molina (Howard Katz), Ethan Hawke (The Coast of Utopia), Jennifer Ehle (The Coast of Utopia), Billy Crudup (The Coast of Utopia), John Mahoney (Prelude to a Kiss), Philip Semour Hoffman (Jack Goes Boating), Kevin Spacey (A Moon for the Misbegotten), Jeff Daniels (Blackbird), David Hyde Pierce (Curtains), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon), Angela Lansbury (Deuce), Marian Seldes (Deuce), and Vanessa Redgrave (The Year of Magical Thinking).
No comments:
Post a Comment