Posted: 12/20/17 at 6:00pm
These are mine:
Favorite New York Stage Performances of 2017
What are yours?
Posted: 12/20/17 at 6:20pm
I did not see as many shows in NY as in some years, so some obvious ones may be missing.
1. Glenn Close
2. Donna Murphy (I did see Bette...I can only assume she was having a low energy night)
3. Laura Linney
4. Ben Platt
5. Patti Lupone
6. Michael Aranov
7. Nathan Lane
8. Corey Cott
9. Laurie Metcalf
10. Johanna Day
Posted: 12/20/17 at 6:51pm
This is such a lame list, but I didn't see HELLO DOLLY or DEAR EVAN HANSEN. So this is more of a "my favorite performances in the shows I caught."
Corbin Bleu in HOLIDAY INN
Brandon Uranowitz in FALSETTOS
Tony Yazbeck in PRINCE OF BROADWAY
Jake Gyllenhaal in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
Katrina Lenk in THE BAND'S VISIT
The Ensemble in AMELIE (Seriously, they worked so hard during the entire show.)
Posted: 12/20/17 at 7:35pm
Posted: 12/20/17 at 7:49pm
My favorite is probably Carolee Carmello as Mrs. Lovett in the Barrow St. Sweeney Todd.
I thought Patti Lupone was great in War Paint but the show just...wasn't.
Posted: 12/20/17 at 8:07pm
Special runners-up: Glenn Close (Sunset Boulevard) and Christy Altomare (Anastasia)
10. Gideon Glick (Significant Other)
9. Laurie Metcalf (A Doll's House, Part 2)
8. Carolee Carmello (Sweeney Todd)
7. Laura Linney AND Cynthia Nixon (The Little Foxes)
6. The cast of Come from Away
5. Donna Murphy (Hello, Dolly!)
4. Bette Midler (Hello, Dolly!)
3. Eva Noblezada (Miss Saigon)
2. Andy Karl (Groundhog Day)
1. Katrina Lenk (The Band's Visit)
Posted: 12/20/17 at 8:18pm
I only saw 6 shows on my annual NYC trip this year so here’s my list.
Posted: 12/20/17 at 8:25pm
This is quite the year where the performances, at times, blast through and embolden, dramatize and empower the source material of the book and score...
- Christine Ebersole and Patti LuPone - no two other women/actors/singers could have made "War Paint" soar as dramatically and musically, as much as they did; the fireworks they created still amaze me and I just hope it was filmed for a future release. (We went 3 times!)
- Annaleigh Ashford was positively transformational in "Sunday In The Park With George". Even though I did not see Bernadette Peters on stage, I honestly think Annaleigh's "Dot" was a stunning and emotional character study with positively soaring, wonderful vocals. (We saw her 4 times!)
- Tony Yazbeck, Laura Osnes and LCT cast of "Crazy For You" deserve a lot of love; that cast and ensemble were so dedicated and influenced by the work and director...well, they blew the roof off of Geffen Hall
- and more recently, Ethan Slater of "SpongeBob..." I've already seen him once and I'm going back with my husband next week. Ethan and this cast are so committed to this show and its' loving absurdity...It's almost uncanny to believe all these songs from so many different "authors' meld together so well. This is a serious contender come awards time.
- and also, I can't deny that Glenn Close and Bette Midler deserve acknowledging. They are stars in their own orbit that happily visited Broadway.
Posted: 12/20/17 at 8:37pm
In no particular order:
- Ben Platt in DEH. There really isn't much more to say about him. He was simply phenomenal.
- Michael Urie in Government Inspector. Hilarious, fearless, outrageous, fabulous ... everything we've come to expect from Michael Urie.
- Sara Bareilles in Waitress. A Jenna so full of life, humor, spunk (and amazing pipes) that you wanted her to succeed and get all the things in life that she didn't have.
- Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon trading off roles in The Little Foxes. Both are such different actresses that they brought different facets of both Regina and Birdie so it was almost like seeing two different plays. I preferred Nixon's sad, plaintive Birdie and Linney's strong, firecracker Regina but I also loved Nixon's cool, businesslike Regina and Linney's loud, tipsy, mentally deteriorated Birdie.
- Lucas Steele as Anatole in The Great Comet. Simply because he was responsible for the most emotional moment I experienced this year in theater. During the final performance when he sang "Goodbye my gypsy lovers" and his voice cracked with emotion and the audience sang back, I looked behind me. The ushers and workers at the Imperial Theatre were singing their hearts out and wiping away tears.
- Denise Gough in People, Places, and Things. I actually find most addict/recovery stories quite tedious but Gough's ambiguity made the play worth seeing.
- Andy Karl in GHD. Perfectly balanced being an asshole and still being likable as Phil. This was a show that should have run much longer than it did.
Posted: 12/20/17 at 8:43pm
Posted: 12/20/17 at 8:44pm
* Ben Platt - I hate to pander to this hype train because the PR/marketing around his performance this year was insanely over the top and I will be shocked if he could ever pull it off in another role again. But I thought he really gave one of those truly remarkable performances like Alice Ripley in N2N, Ebersole in Grey Gardens, Bernadette in Sunday etc.. that will go down in history as one of the greats. I enjoyed Andy Karl in Groundhog Day but didn't think he stood a chance again Ben for the Tony. I actually think Ben might have one-upped Alice Ripley in N2N.
* LuPone and Ebersole in War Paint - these performances were overshadowed by Bette's star power and personality. However, if we are speaking about acting or singing in any kind of technical detail they absolutely dominated Bette in every way possible. If Bette Midler weren't Bette Midler, it would almost be embarrassingly so.
Updated On: 12/20/17 at 08:44 PM
Posted: 12/20/17 at 8:52pm
Call_me_jorge said: "Aren’t performances from Ben Platt, Lucas Steele, Corbin Bleu, Brandon Uranowitz and Nathan Lane from 2016?
"
I considered that, but since I only got to NYC last month since Feb. 2016, I considered anything I saw on this trip to be fair game.
Posted: 12/20/17 at 10:29pm
Posted: 12/20/17 at 10:31pm
1. Jake Gyllenhaal- Sunday in the Park with George
2. Denise Gough - People Places and Things
3. Glenn Close - Sunset Boulevard
4. Michael Urie - Torch Song
5. Annaleigh Ashford- Sunday in the Park with George
6. Harvey Fierstein- Gently Down The Stream
7. Bette Midler - Hello, Dolly!
8. Laurie Metcalf and the cast of A Doll’s House, Part 2
9. Cynthia Nixon - The Little Foxes (as Birdie)
10. Carolee Carmelo - Sweeney Todd
I will add a Special mention to Marcy Richardson for her breathtaking aerial performance of Coldplay’s “Yellow” in French in an operatic style on The Nutcracker Rouge. I would have add her to the list but her performance was elevated by the atmosphere, the lighting, the glitters, the act, a perfect marriage of all these elements that made for such a truly perfect performance in New York Theater.
Updated On: 12/20/17 at 10:31 PM
Posted: 12/20/17 at 11:46pm
Posted: 12/20/17 at 11:51pm
Seriously dude: stop fishing for hits on this site. You're not a contributor of this site, all you do is add new links to your blog.
Posted: 12/21/17 at 5:50pm
There's so much acting talent in New York that I couldn't resist coming up with a second Top 10 list:
“Mizz June” Brown in And She Would Stand Like This, Billy Crudup in Harry Clarke, Jonno Davies in A Clockwork Orange, Peter Friedman in The Treasurer, Oscar Isaac in Hamlet, John Leguizamo in Latin History for Morons, Patti LuPone in War Paint, Ashley Park in K-Pop, Karen Pittman in Pipeline, Ari’el Stachel in The Band’s Visit
Posted: 12/21/17 at 9:20pm
qolbinau said: "* Ben Platt - I hate to pander to this hype train because the PR/marketing around his performance this year was insanely over the top and I will be shocked if he could ever pull it off in another role again. But I thought he really gave one of those truly remarkable performances like Alice Ripley in N2N, Ebersole in Grey Gardens, Bernadette in Sunday etc.. that will go down in history as one of the greats. I enjoyed Andy Karl in Groundhog Day but didn't think he stood a chance again Ben for the Tony. I actually think Ben might have one-upped Alice Ripley in N2N.
* LuPone and Ebersole in War Paint - these performances were overshadowed by Bette's star power and personality. However, if we are speaking about acting or singing in any kind of technical detail they absolutely dominated Bette in every way possible. If Bette Midler weren't Bette Midler, it would almost be embarrassingly so."
I disagree re Bernadette in Sunday; despite the Tony (it was a mediocre year), she just couldn't compare to Marti Webb in the original London production. She was very good, but not a performance for the books IMO.
I agree with your second bullet almost. When the two were rarely on stage together, I didn't even know that Ebersole was there, Patti so dominated her (in a good way). Totally agree re the Midler reference; I only saw her once, but she either was having a bad day or all of the adoration is because of the last 40+ years, not this performance.
