Poll: Best and Worst Broadway Show of 2023?

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 4:11pm

Poll: Best and Worst Broadway Show of 2023?

 

Which of the 35 opened in 2023 do you consider the best? Which the worst?



 

[quizking101]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 4:22pm

My Top 3:

1) Here Lies Love

2) Purlie Victiorious

3) Fat Ham

My Bottom 3:

1) New York, New York

2) Harmony

3) The Thanksgiving Play

Updated On: 12/10/23 at 04:22 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 4:42pm

Favorite Play: Grey House

Favorite Musical: Shucked

Least favorite overall has to be Sweeney Todd for me.They sang the heck out of it but overall I was disappointed. (And yes, the absence of the factory whistle played a part in that!) Just my opinion 

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 5:38pm

Favorite Play: Prima Facie

Favorite Play Revival: A Doll's House

Least Favorite Play: Grey House

Least Favorite Play Revival: The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window

 

Favorite Musical: Shucked

Favorite Musical Revival: Sweeney Todd

Least Favorite Musical: Bad Cinderella

Least Favorite Musical Revival: Dancin'

 

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 6:07pm

 Best of 2023: (for me)

1) Harmony

2) Back to the Future

3) Merrily (could have been much better with a stronger cast and production)

Worst of 2023:

1) Kimberly Akimbo (2022)


2) Some Like it Tepid (2022)

3) Parade

4) Bad Cinderella

5) Here Lies Love

6) How to Dance in Ohio

7) Shucked  (2022)

Updated On: 12/10/23 at 06:07 PM

[Melissa25]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 7:21pm

Best: Purlie

Worst: It twirled.

[simplecactus]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 8:21pm

Best Play: Prima Facie 

Worst Play: The Shark is Broken

Best Musical: Gutenberg

Worst Musical: tie between New York New York & Spamalot 

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 8:22pm

Favorite Play: Prima Facie

Favorite musical(s): The Sondheim trifecta (Merrily, Sweeney, Here We Are)

Worst: Let's just say it was a turkey

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 9:11pm

Worst : it’s actually one of the worst I’ve ever seen : Back to The Future. Everything about that show is a crime. 
 

 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 9:41pm

PICTURES FROM HOME has gotta be one of the worst things I've seen in any medium over the past year. What a boring waste of artists who I usually love.

BACK TO THE FUTURE is almost offensive to the artform of musical theatre. It had even less charm than things like ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME (which at least had a few standout performances).

[spicemonkey]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 9:52pm

Worst: Bad Cinderella 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 10:01pm

Sweeney Todd, Here Lies Love, and Purlie Victorious were all very, very good in my book.

[akhoya87]

Posted: 12/9/23 at 11:31pm

Favorite Play:  Prima Facie

Favorite Musical:  Merrily We Roll Along

Least Favorite Play:  The Thanksgiving Play

Least Favorite Musical:  Bad Cinderella

Most Pleasant Surprise (Play):  Peter Pan Goes Wrong.  I normally hate slapstick comedies, and did not really like the Play That Goes Wrong.  But I found something about this play delightful, for some inexplicable reason.

Most Pleasant Surprise (Musical):  Spamalot, for largely the same reasons.

Biggest Disappointment (Play):  A Doll's House.  Loved Jessica Chastain.  Hated the gimmicks.  (But I actually liked the minimalism for Sunset Boulevard, so I don't know what to tell you.)

Biggest Disappointment (Musical):  Kimberly Akimbo and Here Lies Love.  Based on the rave reviews, I was expecting more out of both shows.  KA had all the emotional nuance of a '90s Friday night ABC TGIF episode; Here Lies Love was woefully underdeveloped book-wise.  

[merrilyrollingalong]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 1:39am

best: merrily 

worst: harmony. gosh the first act was painful

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 7:29am

BEST

New Musical: Kimberly Akimbo

Musical Revival: Merrily We Roll Along and Parade

New Play: Leopoldstadt

Play Revival: Didn't love any of the play revivals I saw this year

WORST

New Musical: Bad Cinderella and Shucked

Musical Revival: Spamalot

New Play: Grey House

Play Revival: A Doll's House and Purlie Victorious

[Theatrefanboy1]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 9:09am

Worst three:

Purlie

Fat Ham

Here Lies Love

 

Best Three:

Merrily 

Parade

Sweeny 

[gibsons2]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 10:57am

Best musicals:

Parade, Sweeney Todd, Merrily 

Worst musicals:

Once Upon A One More Time (offensively bad), Here Lies Love. Can't think of a 3rd one, but I've been so disappointed in new musicals that I deliberately try to avoid seeing Shucked and How to dance in Ohio because I suspect I'll strongly dislike those too.

Best plays:

August Wilson's A Piano Lesson

Sidney Brustein

Appropriate 

Good night, Oscar

Purlie

 

Worst plays:

Fat Ham

Jaja's African hair braiding 

The collaboration 

Summer, 1976

 

 

Updated On: 12/10/23 at 10:57 AM

[ElephantLoveMedley]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 11:54am

I all-out loved Leopoldstadt, Merrily We Roll Along, Parade, and Sweeney Todd.

I liked/appreciated A Doll's House (loved Chastain's performance; hated everything else around her), Life of Pi (gorgeous production design that was criminally under-discussed this season), Fat Ham (a fantastic production thwarted by all-time awful marketing), Harmony (a beautiful and important story with some storytelling issues in its current iteration), and Here Lies Love (major props for its inventiveness and willingness to push the boundaries of Broadway). 

I disliked but didn't all-out hate Grey House, How to Dance in Ohio, and Spamalot.

I actively disliked Pictures From Home, Bob Fosse's Dancin', Bad Cinderella, and Back to the Future.

Best Broadway show of 2023: Merrily We Roll Along

Worst Broadway show of 2023: Back to the Future

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 12:18pm

Best:

Merrily

Fat Ham

Sidney Brustein

Just for Us

Worse:

Goodnight, Oscar

[LuckyDipster]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 2:16pm

Even if I had actually been to Broadway, I wouldn't have voted for a worst show because I don't like that kind of negativity.  Just let people like what they like.  Live and let live.

[BETTY22]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 2:25pm

Best musicals: Parade, Merrily, Harmony, Sweeney Todd

Worst musicals: Once Upon A One More Time, Shucked, Dance in Ohio 

[Robbie2]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 2:43pm

Best Musicals 

• Parade
• Merrily
• Here We Are (not Broadway obviously)

Best Plays

• Prima Facie
• Leopoldstadt
• Appropriate

Worst Musicals

• New York, New York
• Bad Cinderella
• Once Upon A More Time
• Shucked
• Here Lies Love
• Back to the Future

Worst Plays

• Purlie
• A Doll's House
• Fat Ham
• The Shark is Broken
• I Need That

Updated On: 12/10/23 at 02:43 PM

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 6:57pm

Gonna steal akhoya87's categories!

Best Musical: Merrily

Best Play: Prima Facie or Just For Us (if that counts)

Worst Musical: Bad Cindy

Most Pleasant Surprise (Musical): Once Upon a One More Time - ok, this musical wasn't good, but I had a TON of fun. It's definitely not one I regret seeing. 

Most Pleasant Surprise (Play): A Doll's House - I really didn't think I'd like this one, but I loved it!

Most Disappointing (Musical): Harmony - I wanted to like it so much and there was a lot of good there, but also a lot of meh

Most Disappointing (Play): Purlie Victorious - I did enjoy this one, but not at all to the level that many other seem to. I've seen it on several "Best of 2023" lists, but it falls way short of mine. 

[BentleyB]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 9:31pm

 Best Musicals:  Sweeney (after opening with Groban), Merrily, Shucked, Kimberly Akimbo 

Worst Musicals:  Sweeney (in previews without Groban - god that’s bad!), Back to the Future

[MrJNLong]

Posted: 12/10/23 at 9:49pm

BEST: Merrily We Roll Along. I've always loved this show and felt that it worked in many previous iterations as well. But in this production, it worked the best.  Glad to see others finally feeling the Merrily love :-)

WORST: The Shark is Broken. I can't fully explain it, but sitting through this play made me angry. Maybe I was having a bad day, but I found this so dull and pointless and inept all at the same time. As a theatre-maker, I usually find a lot I can learn even in shows I don't particularly like, but this one felt like just a complete waste of my time. Would have left at intermission if there was one, and I have literally never done that in all my years of seeing Broadway shows.

I should mention though, that one of the only shows to open on Broadway in 2023 that I missed was Bad Cinderella.  After watching the livestream of the second act opener that one time, and all of their television appearances, I have a feeling that if I had seen the whole thing, it may have given Shark a run for its money for last place.