Favorite Shows of 2020

Sure, 2020 was a pretty terrible year for fans of live theatre. But in reflecting on the performances that I got to experience this year - both in person in January and February, and virtually for the remainder of the year - I realized that, even in a global pandemic, the year wasn't a total loss.

Shows I Enjoyed In Person:

Paris (Atlantic Theatre Company)

The Thin Place (Playwrights Horizons)

Anatomy of a Suicide (Atlantic Theatre Company)

Moulin Rouge!

Shows I Enjoyed Virtually:

Significant Other (Broadway's Best Shows Virtual Reading)

What the Constitution Means to Me (Amazon Prime)

Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration (Broadway.com)

Hamilton (Disney+)

What were some of your favorite shows and/or performances of 2020?

Best live show that premiered in 2020: "Company"
Best virtual show: "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" - One of the first "zoom" type readings, done in April and I still hope when shows reopen, they'll get this cast (Celia Keenan-Bolger, Zachary Quinto, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ari Graynor) to perform a revival of it. Celia was spectacular and deserves a Tony just for this reading.

Company, Girl From the North Country, and The Minutes were my favorites I saw that opened in 2020.

Updated On: 12/22/20 at 07:02 AM

In those 2.5 months before theatres shut down, I was actually experiencing a really great batting average: I was really enjoying a lot of the show I was seeing. The ratio was much higher than I would have expected - and similarly, there were a lot of individual shows that were exceeding my expectations based on popular opinion. These were some of my favorite shows I saw in January, February, and the 1st half of March:

--Moby Dick (ART)

--Timon of Athens (TFANA)

--Jacqueline Novak: Get on Your Knees

--Anatomy of a Suicide (Altnatic)

--Frankenstein (CSC)

--Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (New Group)

--Cambodian Rock Band (Signature)

--Unknown Soldier (Playwrights Horizons)

--Tumacho (Clubbed Thumb)

--The Headlands (LCT3)

--Endlings (NYTW)

--Uncle Vanya (West End)

--Stranger Things (Secret Cinema - London)

--The Revenger's Tragedy (Cheek by Jowl)

--Endgame & Rough For Theatre II (Old Vic)

--The Minutes

--Gnit (TFANA)

--Dana H (Vineyard)



And plenty of other shows that I enjoyed, but not quite enough to make the abridged list above.

SouthernCakes said: "Company! Loved the production! And design! Didn’t love the central performance from a singing perspective, but loved her acting! "



COMPLETELY agree -- Loved the production -- it was thrilling and fresh, the central performance was, oddly, the weak link. But I also thinks that's a problem with the show. Bobbie/Bobby is an observer and the supporting characters are where all the meat of the show is.