The NYTimes List of the Top 25 Plays since Angels

[Kad]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 10:23am

The 25 Best American Plays Since ‘Angels in America’

Kind of shocked this hasn't been posted. But then again, it's not about the ice castle in Frozen.

Their number one is Topdog/Underdog, and an overall fairly surprising and diverse list of work.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 10:33am

Naturally these wouldn't all be my personal picks, but overall it's not a bad list at all. I think some of the more recent choices (from the last 3-4 years) are a little bit silly. They were popular, sure, but I doubt they will stand the test of time. 

I'm surprised Arcadia didn't make the list. 

[bandit964]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 10:50am

I tried posting this earlier this morning, but I am unable to begin a new thread. Perhaps it has something to do with our work computers. (Also I can't access the spoiler box, or underline/italicize options, etc)

Anyway. This list is so great, yet makes me so angry at the same time. So many of these plays were on my radar, but I ended up going with others on my list at the time. Does anyone else have those productions that they forever kick themselves for not seeing? Updated On: 6/1/18 at 10:50 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 12:54pm

imho most surprising omission is WIT; hon. non-mentions: DOUBT, SWEAT.

Updated On: 6/1/18 at 12:54 PM

[amaklo]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 1:09pm

I can count the ones I've seen on this list on one hand, so I can't really comment on the quality of the list.  I am surprised at the omissions of Wit, Doubt and anything by Martin McDonagh.  Also, I've seen all of August Wilson's Pittsburgh cycle plays and wouldn't choose Seven Guitars as the best.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 1:14pm

makes me sad how many I've missed.  Well, at least I've got a great summer reading list!

[bandit964]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 1:23pm

My thoughts, exactly, dramamama! A great reading list.

Doubt was the only play to come to mind that was omitted here.

Re: August Wilson, I think only 3 of his Century Cycle plays were eligible as 1993 is the beginning of the period they're looking at. (Seven Guitars, King Headley II, & Radio Golf.)

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 2:02pm

I would have placed August: Osage County higher on the list (I found it to be a much better play than Clybourne Park, which is ranked rather high).

Also surprised to see that Doubt didn’t make the cut.

[amaklo]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 2:05pm

bandit964 said: 
Re: August Wilson, I think only 3 of his Century Cycle plays were eligible as 1993 is the beginning of the period they're looking at. (Seven Guitars, King Headley II, & Radio Golf.)"

Good point bandit964.  Of those three, Seven Guitars is by far the best.  Though to be fair, I saw King Headley II when it was still a work in progress (I think).  It was a tough one to sit through, very long with multiple long monologues by each main character. After a while, I groaned inwardly each time an actor geared up to launch into another one!

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 2:10pm

adamgreer said: "I would have placed August: Osage County higher on the list (I found it to be a much better play than Clybourne Park, which is ranked rather high).

Also surprised to see that Doubt didn’t make the cut. "

 

I’ve noticed that as the years have gone on, more and more August: Osage County gets written off as soapy melodrama. I think this is a shame because the original production was so utterly gripping, entertaining, shocking and quite moving. I’m still a bit obsessed with it, especially Amy Morton’s jaw-dropping performance. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an audience that engaged at a new play.

It’s a shame the film was so disappointingly lackluster.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 2:27pm

Posters have mentioned Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the plays of Martin McDonagh.

The list, however, is meant to include only American plays.  Neither Stoppard nor McDonagh is American.

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 2:48pm

This follow-up article is also interesting: The Ones We Left Behind

Someone online commented that they were shocked PROOF didn't make the top 25 list or even the "left behind" list. I'm also surprised about Doubt and Wit (though not about Sweat –– they were just including one play per playwright, and Lynn Nottage was already represented with Ruined.)

THE REALISTIC JONESES might be the most surprising play on the list.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 3:05pm

I agree the list is fairly diverse (although I think the one play per playwright rule is frankly dumb - if it were up to me, Parks would have all her plays represented since she is such a singular talent - I also would have included Nelson’s The Gabriel’s, especially since I think of Women of a Certain Age as one of the great plays of the 21st century so far). Of course, tastes are not going to be the same across be board, though I am shocked by The Realistic Joneses and I abhor Bruce Norris and find Clybourne Park monstrously overrated.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 4:41pm

Surprised not to see OSLO on the list. Is the playwright not an American?

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 5:49pm

No way should The Humans be ranked over August: Osage County. I do agree that its legacy has been somewhat discounted, which is absolutely unfair. I remember in the days of the original production someone on here calling it "TV on stage," so I guess that interpretation is as old as the play itself.

And I saw both Johanna Day and Amy Morton in it - Day was first, and then I saw Morton when she returned for the final performance. I found Day's performance to be superior, actually. Her smashing the plate, tilting her head to the flies and screaming "YOU DON'T WANNA BREAK SH*T WITH ME, MOTHAF*CKAAAAAA!" is something I'll remember forever.

[Melissa25]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 11:19pm

I am so ready for a revival of Topdog/Underdog.  

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 11:30pm

August: Osage County - behind the current Angels in America - is one of my favorite productions to date. I was just mesmerized. I went and got a TKTS ticket on a Wednesday matinee and was just captivated. I was blown away. I was wrapped up in the family drama. I just loved it. The movie just failed because it relied to heavily on "start casting" and that over shadowed the whole movie. It's a brilliant, brilliant play, and much better than The Humans, imo. 

I'm surprised The Realistic Joneses is up there. And surprised "The Whale" is not, as I thought that was quite good. But I am waiting for Parks to have her big breakthrough in a mainstream way. She's brilliant. 

And I thought "Clybourne Park" as an utter bore. 

Updated On: 6/1/18 at 11:30 PM

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 11:42pm

Ripped, I agree with you, except for the comment re: The Humans compared to August: Osage County. However, I've never seen Osage onstage, so maybe some of the magic was lost on me.

The list is confounding to me mostly because there are several contemporary playwrights who are firing on all cylinders 100% of the time. Parks' 3-page Pickling is far superior to The Realistic Jones (of course, being written in 1988, it wouldn't be eligible, but my point is made). It's odd that certain playwrights are rewarded by this "one play a writer" rule. Mediocre men somehow always make the best-of lists, don't they? (Although thank God they had the tact to exclude LaBute.)

Updated On: 6/1/18 at 11:42 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 11:48pm

August: Osage County remains one of my favorite theatrical experiences to date. Each time the lights came up for one of the intermissions, I wanted them to immediately dim again so we could get back to the action. That dinner scene was theatrical brilliance. I will never, ever, forget how brilliant Amy Morton was. When she yelled, “I’m running things now!”, I had chills. Even now typing it, I get goosebumps. What a performance.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/1/18 at 11:55pm

I've been seeing theatre since the 70's and August: Osage County is really one of the best things that I have ever seen. I actually quite liked the film as well and was probably the only person on this planet that loved Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in those roles. Honestly, I think we could get a revival. It's been long enough. Laurie Metcalf would be great for it in a couple of years.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 12:06am

I blame my issues with the film entirely on the director.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 12:07am

I saw the play at Oregon Shakespeare Festival a few years after the Broadway run. I was a teenager and I had never seen a 3.5 hour play before, but I was riveted the whole time. I too have that "I'm running things now" moment burned into my memory. I can only imagine what it must have been like with the original cast, but even in a tent in Oregon, it was a phenomenal experience.

Unfortunately, I have to acknowledge that I'm guilty of dismissing it a bit in the years since I've seen it. I've just seen so many family dramas since, that AOC has sort of been drowned out in my memory. It took reading this thread to remind myself how much I enjoyed it at OSF. I should really revisit it. 

(also, regarding my earlier comment about Arcadia: sorry! I didn't catch that the plays on the list were all supposed to be American) 

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 3:35am

Like many others, surprised at the omission of Proof and Doubt as well as Ayad Akhtar's brilliant Disgraced. Also surprised at the complete omission of anything by Rajiv Joseph, one of, in my mind, the most talented playwrights working today. Will give them credit for picking Jesus Hopped the "A" Train, a superior work to the better known Between Riverside and Crazy to represent Stephen Adly Guirgis.

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 7:03am

I prefer The Gabriel's to The Apple Family, but it might have to do with the fact that the former feels way more relevant.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/2/18 at 3:34pm

Now that I've read the whole section rather than just surveying the list of top 25 plays, I understand they were really out to pick the top 25 American playwrights of the last quarter century and chose a single favorite play for each one. That certainly explains some omissions, though overlooking OSLO is still inexplicable to me.