What/who is on everyone's TOP 10 list for theater in 2008?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 8:04pm

With yet another year coming to a close and with multiple shows (some long-running, some short-lived) closing up shop in the coming weeks, it may seem like there is little to celebrate on Broadway but there were some great productions, some stunning performances, and some brilliant material produced both on and off-Broadway this past year.

I'm still compiling my list but what were your top ten productions of 2008? And the top five performances?


The new productions that opened on Broadway in the year 2008:

The Little Mermaid
The 39 Steps
November
Come Back, Little Sheba
Sunday in the Park with George
Passing Strange
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
In The Heights
Gypsy
You May Now Worship Me
South Pacific
Macbeth
A Catered Affair
Cry-Baby
The Country Girl
Thurgood
Les Liasons Dangereuses
Boeing-Boeing
Glory Days
Top Girls
Mandy Patinkin on Broadway
Cirque Dreams
[title of show]
A Tale of Two Cities
Equus
The Seagull
Thirteen
A Man For All Seasons
To Be Or Not To Be
All My Sons
Speed-the-Plow
Billy Elliot: the Musical
American Buffalo
Dividing the Estate
Irving Berlin's White Christmas
Liza's At The Palace...!
Slava's Snowshow
Shrek The Musical
Pal Joey

The new productions that opened off-Broadway in 2008:
A Body of Water
A Dangerous Personality
Adding Machine
Aliens with Extraordinary Skills
Almost an Evening
Animals Out of Paper
Antony and Cleopatra
Around the World in 80 Days
Back Back Back
Ballerina Who Loves B-boy
Bash'd!
Basic Training
Beast
Beebo Brinker Chronicles
Betrayed
Boys' Life
Break Out
Buffalo Gal
Catch-22
Chair
Clay
Conversations in Tusculum
Crimes of the Heart
Crooked
Dead Man's Cell Phone
Drunk Enough To Say I Love You?
Dust
East 14th
Eddie Izzard
Edward Albee's Occupant
Edward Albee's The American Dream and The Sandbox
Enter Laughing
Fabulous Divas of Broadway
Farragut North
Fault Lines
Fela!
Feminazi
Fifty Words
Flamingo Court
Forbidden Broadway Dances With the Stars!
From Up Here
God's Ear
Good Boys and True
Grace
Hamlet
Home
How Theater Failed America
Hunting and Gathering
If You See Something Say Something
Improbable Frequency
In Conflict
Irena's Vow
Jackie Mason - The Ultimate Jew
Jamaica, Farewell
Judy and Me
Junie B. Jones
Kicking a Dead Horse
Kindness
Len, Asleep in Vinyl
Liberty City
Life in a Marital Institution (20 Years of Monogamy in One Terrifying Hour)
Little Flower of East Orange
Madwoman: A Contemporary Opera
Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh
Mindgame
Mouth to Mouth
New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656
Next to Normal
Old Comedy After Aristophane's Frogs
Oroonoko
Palace of the End
Paradise Park
Parlour Song
Pinkalicious, The Musical
Port Authority
Prayer for My Enemy
Prisoner of the Crown
Rafta, Rafta...
reasons to be pretty
Road Show
Rock of Ages
Romantic Poetry
Sand
Saturn Returns
Saved
Secrets of a Soccer Mom
Shogun Macbeth
Sleepwalk With Me
Some Americans Abroad
Something You Did
Straight Up with a Twist
Streamers
Substitution
Take Me Along
Taking Over
The Atheist
The Castle
The Cat Who Went to Heaven
The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Drunken City
The Fifth Column
The First Breeze of Summer
The Four of Us
The Garden of Earthly Delights
The Grand Inquisitor
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Jesus Factor
The Marriage of Bette and Boo
The Marvelous Wonderettes
The New Century
The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks
The Seagull
The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island (or the Friends of Dr. Rushower)
The Sound and the Fury -April Seventh, 1928-
The Strangerer
The Tempest
The Third Story
Three Changes
Three Travelers
Tim Minchin
Trojan Women
Two Thousand Years
Unconditional
Urban Death
Wanda's World
What's That Smell
Wig Out!

plus shows like Blasted, Damn Yankees, Hair at the Delacorte, and On The Town...




Updated On: 12/10/08 at 08:04 PM

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 8:13pm

I'll break the rules a little and do the top 10 performances I saw in 2008:

1. Sarah Steele in Speech and Debate
2. Alice Ripley in Next to Normal
3. Patti LuPone in Gypsy
4. Brian d'Arcy James in Next to Normal
5. Laura Benanti in Gypsy
6. Boyd Gaines in Gypsy
7. Deanna Dunagan in August: Osage County
8. Amy Morton in August: Osage County
9. Jennifer Damiano in Next to Normal
10. Aaron Tveit in Next to Normal

[bundy5000]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 8:21pm

Cheyenne Jackson , XANADU is definitively on my list.

[jv92]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 8:48pm

Top 10 Shows-
1. Gypsy
2. South Pacific
3. Sunday in the Park with George
4. Road Show
5. Liza's at the Palace...! (Go ahead, shoot!)
6. The Visit (Regional)
7. A Catered Affair
8. On the Town (Encores!)
9. Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab
10. Billy Elliot

Top 5 Performances-
1. Patti LuPone- Gypsy
2. Laura Benanti- Gypsy
3. Boyd Gaines- Gypsy
4. Michael Cerveris- Road Show
5. Paulo Szot- South Pacific
6. Tom Wopat- A Catered Affair
7. Liza Minnelli- Liza's at the Palace...!
8. Kelli O'Hara- South Pacific
9. Chita Rivera- The Visit
10. Jenna Russell- Sunday in the Park with George

Special Citations-
Most Promising Newcomer (Male)- Paulo Szot
Most Promising Newcomer (Female)- Jenna Russell
Surprises of the Year- Liza's stunning return to Broadway,
Road Show is nearly perfect
Disapointment of the Year- The lack of good new musicals on Broadway
Most Promising New Composer- John Bucchino

You know, it's really been a long year. I'm forgetting about so much wonderful stuff going through some Playbills from this year. I'll proably update this about ten times between now and New Year's Eve!


Updated On: 12/9/08 at 08:48 PM

[bwayboy976]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 9:01pm

Is there a list somewhere of all of the productions that opened in 2008?

It's hard for me to compile one without a list in front of me...

[hubee]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 9:39pm

I still have Next to Normal, Les Mis at the Signature and West Side Story at National to see this year but it'll probably look something like this:

1. Black Watch (Toronto and St. Anns, NY)
2. Hair (Public in the Park, NY)
3. Kiss of the Spider Woman (Signature Washington DC)
4. Passing Strange (Broadway)
5. Gypsy (Broadway)
6. On the Town (Encores, NY)
7. The Sound of Music (Toronto)
8. The Visit (Signature DC)
9. 13 (Goodspeed and Broadway)
10. Streamers (Off-Broadway)

I'm not counting Billy Elliot mainly because I've seen it before in London already.

(update: oops. I forgot to add in A Catered Affair to this list:)
In the Heights, Sunday in the Park with George, [title of show], 6 Characters in Search of an Author (London), She Loves Me (Boston Huntington), Wig Out (Off-Broadway) came close behind.

This is the first year I went crazy with theatre (89 shows so far, last year I think I hit 65, previous to that was usually like 10 at most) so I finally HAVE a bunch to actually choose from! ha!

And yes. I really did like 13. A lot. (And I'm actually over 30).

Though the list above is still in progress and not my final for the year.

Updated On: 12/10/08 at 09:39 PM

[Gary Indiana]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 9:51pm

My list is:

1. Kiss of the Spider Woman (Signature)
2. Gypsy
3. The Visit (Signature)
4. A Man for All Seasons
5. Tale of Two Cities
6. Equus
7. Sunday in the Park with George
8. Billy Elliot
9. The Occupant
10. [title of show]

And my top 5 performances were:
1. Patti LuPone (Gypsy)
2. James Barbour (TOTC)
3. Frank Langella (Man for All Seasons)
4. Mark Rylance (Boeing Boeing)
5. George Hearn (The Visit)

[yay_gerb]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 10:38pm

Top 5 Shows-
1. Gypsy
2. In The Heights
3. Fifty Words
4. Streamers
5. Clay

Honorable Mention
[title of show]
13
___________________

Top 5 Performances-
1. Patti LuPone- Gypsy
2. Laura Benanti- Gypsy
3. Will Chase-Rent
4. Susuan Blackwell-[tos]
5. Norbert Leo Butz-Fifty Words

Honorable Mention-
Boyd Gaines- Gypsy
Leigh Ann Larkin- Gypsy


gypsy was on top of its game as you can see lol.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 11:16pm

I'm in Seattle and didn't make it to NYC this year but I'll give it a go as I feel this was a fantastic year for theatre in Seattle:

1. A Streetcar Named Desire (Intiman)
2. Spring Awakening (Tour at The Paramount)
3. A Chorus Line (Tour at The Paramount)
4. The Diary of Anne Frank (Intiman)
5. Mame (5th Avenue Theatre)
6. Eurydice (ACT Theatre)
7. The Night Watcher (Seattle Rep)
8. Big River (Taproot)
9. My Fair Lady (Tour at The Paramount)
10. Cabaret ( 5th Avenue Theatre)

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 11:51pm

Top 10 Productions
01. Passing Strange
02. Sunday in the Park with George
03. The 39 Steps
04. Adding Machine (Off-B'way)
05. ROCK 'n' ROLL
06. Macbeth
07. Boeing-Boeing
08. What's That Smell?
09. Speed-the-Plow
10. A Catered Affair

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 11:58pm

In terms of Broadway, I'm still intending on seeing DIVIND THE ESTATE, ALL MY SONS and SPEED-THE-PLOW, as well as HOME, CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY, BACK BACK BACK, and IMPROBABLE FREQUENCY before I can compile my list.

[larry64]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 12:13am

SPEED THE PLOW

SOUTH PACIFIC

BLACK WATCH

13

WILLIAM FINN 'INFINITE JOY'

[AdamBritten]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 12:19am

I'm just going to list five, and I've got to give it to...

1) Gypsy
2) Equus
3) Shrek
4) [title of show]
5) Speed-the-Plow

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 1:02am

1. Sunday In The Park With George (Favorite show, and the production met and exceeded all expectations I had. Such a tasteful show and such beautiful performances)

2. Gypsy (I mean, I've seen it twice and each time I was captivated)

3. South Pacific (Beautiful production and I just loved the whole venue)

4. Xanadu (Too hilarious for words. Cheyenne Jackson was marvelous as was Kerry Butler)

5. Next to Normal (I still can't decide if I LIKE it that much, but I really enjoyed it. I don't care for Alice Ripley's voice, but luckily the other actor's voices were great, and so that made up for it. And I thought the story was nice, and the music great. I mostly appreciated the underscoring, but after awhile all the ballads got to be too much)

6. All My Sons (I had never read the play before, so I thought the story was so interesting and intriguing, and the direction only added to my interest in the show. I loved the use of technology, and I know it has its nay-sayers, but I really liked the choices he made. They were bold, but I thought they worked - for the most part. I still don't get why the actors needed to be on stage the whole time. That seemed....stupid. I don't understand the whole "disengaging" the audience, doesn't make sense.)

7. [Title of Show] (Such a witty show, and it was just a joy to watch. I would have gone back had it not closed so soon. Also the Lyceum is my favorite theater on Broadway - as of yet. I haven't been in them all, but I'm working on it.)

8. Hair [What a stellar production. I had never seen the show before and I was just captivated and in awe. It was such a great evening out, especially because the Clintons were in attendance)

9. Tale of Two Cities (I know, again, it has its nay-sayers, but I enjoyed it. I saw it twice and I was inspired enough to read the book. I thought the show was great, but I could see it's faults. Like N2N it was a little too ballad heavy, but the ending made up for any faults in the show.)

10. The Fantasticks (What a nice, little show. I loved the simple orchestrations and all the actors were great. I still need to get this cast recording, unless someone wants to drop it in my stocking? And by stocking I mean inbox).

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 1:05am

Oh, yankee, Cripple! I forgot that was opening. Man, I wish it would end up on the Student Discount site so I can see it for $15! Farragut North was def. worth $15!

[joe5]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 9:06am

Top Ten Shows ;

1. Passing Strange
2. Billy Elliot
3. Hair (Central Park)
4. August Osage County
5. title of show
6. In the Heights
7. Xanadu
8. Rock of Ages (off Broadway)
9. A Chorus Line (Tour)
10. Wig Out (off Broadway)

My favorite performances ; James Barbour "Tale of Two Cities", Will Swenson "Hair" "Rock of Ages", Amy Morton "August", Daniel Beaker "Passing Strange", Kiril Kulish "Billy Elliot"

It was a great year on Broadway!

Updated On: 12/11/08 at 09:06 AM

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 9:23am

1. In the Heights
2. Billy Elliot
3. Gypsy
4. Sunday in the Park with George
5. South Pacific
6. Xanadu
7. Legally Blonde (I didn't see that many shows this year)
8. Young Frankenstein (same)

Performances:

1. Patti LuPone, Gypsy
2. Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights
3. Laura Benanti, Gypsy
4. David Alvarez, Billy Elliot
5. Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park with George
6. Andrea Burns, In the Heights
7. Boyd Gaines, Gypsy
8. Paulo Szot, South Pacific
9. Daniel Evans, Sunday in the Park with George
10. Christopher Fitzgerald, Young Frankenstein.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 9:49am

Shows, not in full order since I don't have the energy to think that hard:

Equus
Sunday in the Park With George
South Pacific
Speed-the-Plow
Road Show
Hair
August: Osage County
Rock 'N' Roll (Broadway)
Next to Normal
In The Heights

Performances, in no particular order because I really can't think that hard:

Amy Morton and Deanna Dunagan in August
Daniel Radcliffe in Equus
Michael Cerveris in Road Show
Hunter Parrish in Spring Awakening
Raúl Esparza in Speed-the-Plow
Norbert Leo Butz in Is He Dead?
Will Chase in Rent
Mary Louise Parker in Dead Man's Cell Phone
Manoel Felciano in Rock 'N' Roll (Boston)
Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell in Sunday in the Park With George

Okay, that's 12. Whatever.

Updated On: 12/10/08 at 09:49 AM

[AbbyNormal13]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 9:51am

Top 5 performances:

1.) Christopher Fitzgerald - Young Frankenstein
2.) Christopher Sieber - Shrek
3.) Andrea Martin - Young Frankenstein
4.) Patti LuPone - Gypsy
5.) Lin-Manuel Miranda - In the Heights


Updated On: 2/18/09 at 09:51 AM

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 9:57am

Shows
1. Liza's at the Palace
2. Equus
3. Billy Elliot
4. South Pacific
5. Gypsy
6. Sunday in the Park with George
7. The Visit
8. In the Heights
9. A Tale of Two Cities
10. Boeing-Boeing

Performances
1. Liza Minnelli, Liza's at the Palace
2. Patti LuPone, Gypsy
3. Kiril Kulish, David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, Billy Elliot
4. Kristin Scott Thomas, The Seagull
5. Paulo Szot, South Pacific
6. Daniel Radcliffe, Equus
7. Kelli O'Hara, South Pacific
8. Haydn Gwynn, Billy Elliot
9. Laura Benanti, Gypsy
10. Greg Jbara, Billy Elliot
Updated On: 12/10/08 at 09:57 AM

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 10:30am

Shows:

1. Tie between South Pacific and Billy Elliot
2. August: Osage County
3. Xanadu
4. Gypsy

(4 because there was a tie)

Performances: In no order:
Hadyn Gwynne (I smell a Tony!)
Trent Kowalik (He's the only Billy I've seen but I really loved his performance.)
Greogry Jbara (Another Tony possibility)
Kelly O'Hara
Paolo Szot (can't wait for him to come back)
Liza-special mention because I really can't believe how great she sounded

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 10:31am

(According to IBDB) the new productions that opened on Broadway in 2008:

THE LITTLE MERMAID
THE 39 STEPS
NOVEMBER
COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
PASSING STRANGE
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
IN THE HEIGHTS
GYPSY
YOU MAY NOW WORSHIP ME
SOUTH PACIFIC
MACBETH
A CATERED AFFAIR
CRY-BABY
THE COUNTRY GIRL
THURGOOD
LES LIASONS DANGEREUSES
BOEING-BOEING
GLORY DAYS
TOP GIRLS
MANDY PATINKIN ON BROADWAY
CIRQUE DREAMS
[TITLE OF SHOW]
A TALE OF TWO CITIES
EQUUS
THE SEAGULL
THIRTEEN
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
ALL MY SONS
SPEED-THE-PLOW
BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL
AMERICAN BUFFALO
DIVIDING THE ESTATE
IRVING BERLIN'S WHITE CHRISTMAS
LIZA'S AT THE PALACE...!
SLAVA'S SNOWSHOW
SHREK THE MUSICAL
PAL JOEY


I can't seem to find a list of the off-Broadway productions though...

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 10:33am

Off-Broadway, according to the Lortel Archive

A Body of Water
A Dangerous Personality
Adding Machine
Aliens with Extraordinary Skills
Almost an Evening
Animals Out of Paper
Antony and Cleopatra
Around the World in 80 Days
Back Back Back
Ballerina Who Loves B-boy
Bash'd!
Basic Training
Beast
Beebo Brinker Chronicles
Betrayed
Boys' Life
Break Out
Buffalo Gal
Catch-22
Chair
Clay
Conversations in Tusculum
Crimes of the Heart
Crooked
Dead Man's Cell Phone
Drunk Enough To Say I Love You?
Dust
East 14th
Eddie Izzard
Edward Albee's Occupant
Edward Albee's The American Dream and The Sandbox
Enter Laughing
Fabulous Divas of Broadway
Farragut North
Fault Lines
Fela!
Feminazi
Fifty Words
Flamingo Court
Forbidden Broadway Dances With the Stars!
From Up Here
God's Ear
Good Boys and True
Grace
Hamlet
Home
How Theater Failed America
Hunting and Gathering
If You See Something Say Something
Improbable Frequency
In Conflict
Irena's Vow
Jackie Mason - The Ultimate Jew
Jamaica, Farewell
Judy and Me
Junie B. Jones
Kicking a Dead Horse
Kindness
Len, Asleep in Vinyl
Liberty City
Life in a Marital Institution (20 Years of Monogamy in One Terrifying Hour)
Little Flower of East Orange
Madwoman: A Contemporary Opera
Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh
Mindgame
Mouth to Mouth
New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656
Next to Normal
Old Comedy After Aristophane's Frogs
Oroonoko
Palace of the End
Paradise Park
Parlour Song
Pinkalicious, The Musical
Pinkalicious, The Musical
Port Authority
Prayer for My Enemy
Prisoner of the Crown
Rafta, Rafta...
reasons to be pretty
Road Show
Rock of Ages
Romantic Poetry
Sand
Saturn Returns
Saved
Secrets of a Soccer Mom
Shogun Macbeth
Sleepwalk With Me
Some Americans Abroad
Something You Did
Straight Up with a Twist
Streamers
Substitution
Take Me Along
Taking Over
The Atheist
The Castle
The Cat Who Went to Heaven
The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Drunken City
The Fifth Column
The First Breeze of Summer
The Four of Us
The Garden of Earthly Delights
The Grand Inquisitor
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Jesus Factor
The Marriage of Bette and Boo
The Marvelous Wonderettes
The New Century
The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks
The Seagull
The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island (or the Friends of Dr. Rushower)
The Sound and the Fury (April Seventh, 192
The Strangerer
The Tempest
The Third Story
Three Changes
Three Travelers
Tim Minchin
Trojan Women
Two Thousand Years
Unconditional
Urban Death
Wanda's World
What's That Smell
Wig Out!

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 10:38am

Thanks yankee...it is a lot easier with a list in front of you.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 11:35am

Sunday in the Park with George
In The Heights
Gypsy
South Pacific
Thurgood
Next to Normal
Top Girls
[title of show]
Equus
The Seagull