OUR best of 2013 lists

[Sauja]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 12:16pm

I posted my faves in a different thread, and macnyc was kind enough to suggest I start a thread just about Best Of lists from other users here.

So kicking it off again is my list!

Mine would be: 1. Fun Home; 2. Ganesh Versus the Third Reich (Under the Radar); 3. Matilda; 4. Violet at Encores; 5. Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play; 6. The Good Person of Szechwan; 7. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; 8. Belleville; 9. Buyer and Cellar; 10. Hands on a Hardbody

With The Flick, Twelfth Night, Marie Antoinette, Pippin, The Testament of Mary, Old Hats, Encores' It's a Bird...It's a Plane, Rantoul and Die, The Castle, and the 200 person Tempest running VERY close behind. It was a really good year, and I saw A LOT. As much as I could go back and forth on these a lot. But Fun Home would absolutely stay in the top slot. I was floored by it. Completely.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 12:37pm

Even though the year isn't quite over, I don't know that I'm looking forward to much else. I'll try and put my list in some kind of order although it might not be exact.

1. Fun Home; 2. Love's Labour's Lost; 3. Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play; 4. Hands on a Hardbody; 5. The Other Place; 6. The Glass Menagerie; 7. Twelfth Night; 8. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; 9. The Jacksonian; 10. Pippin

Good Television, Domesticated and The Two-Character Play get an honorable mention.

Updated On: 12/6/13 at 12:37 PM

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 12:48pm

Seeing Twelfth Night, After Midnight and perhaps Godot or No Man's Land next week so I'm refraining from posting at the moment but am excited to see what everyone else thought!

[MKunkel]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:00pm

1. Matilda 2. Fun Home 3. The Glass Menagerie 4. Much Ado About Nothing (Public Mobile Unit) 5. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 6. The Other Place 7. Pippin 8. Twelfth Night 9. The Comedy of Errors 10. The Good Person of Szechwan

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:14pm

I've still got a few scheduled shows left to go in 2013, so I'll hold off until I see them. :)

[macnyc]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:33pm

My favorite shows of 2013, in rough order:

1. Fun Home
2. Twelfth Night
3. The Piano Lesson
4. All in the Timing
5. Lucky Guy (with Tom Hanks)
6. It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman (City Center Encores)
7. Pippin
8. Kinky Boots
9. Choir Boy
10. The four Apple family plays (yes, I'm cheating!)

Honorable mentions: Here Lies Love, Great Comet, Beautiful

I might add more honorable mentions later! Thanks for starting the thread, Sauja!







Updated On: 12/8/13 at 01:33 PM

[dreaming]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:42pm

At the risk of the Post picking up my post, I'll provide a list of my favorite shows of the year:

1. Fun Home
2. The Glass Menagerie
3. Pippin
4. The Good Person of Szechuan (Public Theater)
5. Kinky Boots
6. Love's Labors Lost (Shakespeare in the Park)
7. Marie Antoinette (Soho Rep.)
8. Vanya and Sasha and Masha and Spike
9. The Tempest (in Central Park)
10. Bad Jews

To be fair, I have stuff lined up for Jan. (the two plays at the Cort and the Shakespeare plays at the Belasco).

Updated On: 12/6/13 at 01:42 PM

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:50pm

1.) Fun Home
2.) Glass Menagerie
3.) Pippin
4.) Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
5.) Great Comet
6.) Twelfth Night
7.) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
8.) Here Lies Love
9.) Matilda
10.) The Trip to Bountiful

Updated On: 12/6/13 at 01:50 PM

[newintown]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:54pm

Matilda
The Other Place
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Small Engine Repair
It's a Bird It's a Plane It’s Superman
A Gentleman’s Guide To Love And Murder

There were some other good things, but I thought these were the best. There's no point in listing everything you liked and calling them all "best," is there?

[AC126748]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:56pm

Listing my top ten (out of approx. 150), alphabetically:

The Assembled Parties
Choir Boy
Fun Home
The Good Person of Szechwan
I'll Eat You Last
Mr. Burns
The Other Place
Pippin
The Two-Character Play
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Updated On: 12/6/13 at 02:56 PM

[theatregoer3]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 3:18pm

1. Donmar Warehouse's Julius Caesar
2. Mr. Burns
3. Twelfth Night
4. Glass Menagerie
5. Julie Taymor's Midsummer Night's Dream
6. Pippin
7. Anna Nicole
8. Two Boys
9. Waiting for Godot
10. 700 Sundays

[Kad]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 3:46pm

Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812
Twelfth Night
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
The Good Person of Szechwan
The Glass Menagerie
Gertrude Stein Saints! (At the Fringe)
Matilda

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 4:25pm

I haven't been to NYC this year, but I do hope the Steppenwolf production of The Wheel finds its way to Broadway (Lincoln Center would be ideal) as it was the most impressive production I've seen in Chicago this year.

[get-it-right]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 4:27pm

This is is no particular order, but: Twelfth Night, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, The Glass Menagerie, and Love's Labour's Lost.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 12/7/13 at 12:32am

In no particular order: Fun Home, Matilda, Pippin, Macbeth (the Alan Cumming production), The Glass Menagerie, and Twelfth Night.

I've been lucky this year and I've only seen a couple of things I really disliked. Everything else I've found at least a couple of things to appreciate.

[The Other One]

Posted: 12/8/13 at 8:24am

Twelfth Night.

[charliebrown5]

Posted: 12/8/13 at 6:34pm

(1) Merrily We Roll Along (London)
(2) Once (London)
(3) Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (National Tour)

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 12/8/13 at 9:17pm

Broadway musicals - my own categories:

Most underrated supporting actress:Rachel Bay Jones (Pippin)

Most energetic lead actress :Leslie Margherita (Matilda)

Most class (and great performance). : Stark Sands

Nicest celebs : Krysta Rodriguez and Zac Levi

Revelatory performance : Billy Porter

Most energetic lead actor : Norbert Leo Butz

Most fun evening : First Date

It sounds bad on paper so Why did I love this show?? : Beautiful

Hope she wins a Tony : Jessie Mueller

Best replacements of unreplacables : Chris Hoch and Jill Paice (Matilda)

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 12:42am

1. The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable
2. Fun Home
3. Pippin
4. Matilda
5. Peter and the Star Catcher (didn't get to see it in NYC, saw it in SF)

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 6:38pm

"I haven't been to NYC this year, but I do hope the Steppenwolf production of The Wheel finds its way to Broadway (Lincoln Center would be ideal) as it was the most impressive production I've seen in Chicago this year."

I definitely agree about the fine quality of this production. I haven't heard any talk of a Broadway run, but I could imagine this being successful if Joan Allen stayed with the show.

Here's my list:

1. The Normal Heart (Timeline Theatre, Chicago--this production featured David Cromer as Ned Weeks and was, in my opinion, better than the recent Broadway revival)
2. The Wheel (Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago--some of the most beautiful stagecraft I've ever seen, and a very provocative story)
3. Pippin (Broadway--a simply dazzling production)
4. Next to Normal (Drury Lane, Oakbrook--fine performances in a production that equaled, if not bettered, the Broadway production)
5. Great Expectations (Strawdog Theatre Company, Chicago--an unexpectedly delightful adaptation with six extremely talented actors doubling as many roles in a fast-paced telling of the story. Highly recommended to this in Chicago sometime before the end of the year)
6. The Glass Menagerie (Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company, Chicago--this moving production had Tom played as a schizophrenic homeless man living in an alley with a huge collection of glass bottles, remembering the story of what got him here. It sounds crazy, I know, but it was beautiful)

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 9:48pm

In no particular order:
Pippin, Twelfth Night, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, The Glass Menagerie, Matilda, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Kinky Boots, Buyer and Cellar.

Looking forward to what kind of theatre we will be seeing next year!

[TheaterBoy7777]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 10:55pm

In no order..
Passion
Murder Ballad
Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812
Here Lies Love
Fun Home
Merrily We Roll Along(west end screening at Ziegfeld)
Violet
Pippin

[Orangesaretuesdays]

Posted: 12/10/13 at 11:10am

1. The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable (London)
2. The Cripple of Inishmann (London w/Daniel Radcliffe)
3. Merrily We Roll Along (London)
4. Once (London)
5. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (B-way)
6. Measure for Measure (Shakespeare Theatre DC)
7. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (London)

Best Value: One Man Two Governors (in London) Ten pounds for a great seat and a really fun show. Dinner before the show cost more than the ticket!

Okay show but incredible performance: Nathan Lane in The Nance.

Most Pleasant Surprise: Cinderella



Updated On: 12/10/13 at 11:10 AM

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 12/10/13 at 11:25am

Still have a few more shows to see before the end of the year, but for now…

1. Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
2. Fun Home
3. Matilda
4. Here Lies Love
5. Big Fish
6. Volleygirls
7. Othello: The Remix (at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre)
8. Pippin
9. In the Heights (at Paramount Theatre in Aurora, IL)
10. Burning Bluebeard (Chicago, IL)

[mpd4165]

Posted: 12/10/13 at 11:35am

Mister Matt - Really? I strongly disliked The Wheel. I appreciated the ambitious quality of the staging, but thought overall, it was a mess. I much preferred Noah Haidle's Smokefall at Goodman.

I still have more to see (hopefully, by some miracle, Great Expectations), but so far in no particular order:

Pippin
The Old Man and the Old Moon
Smokefall
The Normal Heart
Appropriate
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
The Glass Menagarie at Mary-Arrchie
Belleville at Steppenwolf
Raisin in the Sun at TimeLine
columbinus