Top 10 of 2009 Lists

[MrJNLong]

Posted: 1/2/10 at 4:33pm

So, now that I am done seeing theatre in 2009, I thought I'd share my highlights of the year. I saw 25 shows in New York this year (over 3 week-long vacations...I live out west). 18 Broadway, 7 Off. There are 2 shows I saw that are technically not 2009 shows, but since I saw them in 2009, I'm making them elligible for my lists (Billy Elliot-2008 & A View From the Bridge-2010). OK, here they are (all in alphabetical order):

TOP 10 SHOWS OF THE YEAR:
"Billy Elliot"
"Circle Mirror Transformation"
"The Emperor Jones"
"Finian's Rainbow"
"Mary Stuart"
"Next to Normal"
"The Norman Conquests"
"Our Town"
"Ragtime"
"A View From the Bridge"

TOP 10 PERFORMANCES IN A MUSICAL:
David Alvarez as Billy in "Billy Elliot"
Christopher Fitzgerald as Og in "Finian's Rainbow"
Gregory Jbara as Dad in "Billy Elliot"
Angela Lansbury as Madame Armfeldt in "A Little Night Music"
Christiane Noll as Mother in "Ragtime"
Jim Norton as Finian in "Finian's Rainbow"
Alice Riplay as Diana in "Next to Normal"
J. Robert Spencer as Dan in "Next to Normal"
Bobby Steggert as Little Brother in "Ragtime"
Aaron Tveit as Gabe in "Next to Normal"

TOP 10 PERFORMANCES IN A PLAY:
Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati in "Blithe Spirit"
Jude Law as Hamlet in "Hamlet"
Hamish Linklater as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in "Twelfth Night"
Janet McTeer as Mary Stuart in "Mary Stuart"
Geoffrey Rush as King Berenger in "Exit the King"
Liev Schrieber as Eddie Carbone in "A View From the Bridge"
John Douglas Thompson as Emperor Jones in "The Emperor Jones"
Harriett Walter as Queen Elizabeth in "Mary Stuart"
The entire cast of "Circle Mirror Transformation"
The entire cast of "The Norman Conquests"

TOP 10 DIRECTORS:
Warren Carlyle for "Finian's Rainbow"
David Cromer for "Our Town"
Stephen Daldry for "Billy Elliot"
Marcia Millgrom Dodge for "Ragtime"
Bill T. Jones for "Fela!"
Phyllida Lloyd for "Mary Stuart"
Gregory Mosher for "A View From the Bridge"
Cieran O'Reilly for "The Emperor Jones"
Peter Sellars for "Othello"
Matthew Warchus for "The Norman Conquests"

TOP 5 CHOREOGRAPHERS:
Warren Carlyle for "Finian's Rainbow"
Peter Darling for "Billy Elliot"
The Groovaloos for "Groovaloo Freestyle"
Bill T. Jones for "Fela!"
Sergio Trujillo for "Memphis"

TOP 10 DESIGNS:
John Lee Beatty for set in "A View From the Bridge"
Howell Binkley for lighting in "West Side Story"
Peter J. Davison for set in "Blithe Spirit"
Marina Draghici for set in "Fela!"
Marina Draghici for costumes in "Fela!"
Russell Goldsmith for sound in "Exit the King"
Peter Hylenski for sound in "Rock of Ages"
Ian MacNeil for set in "Billy Elliot"
Hugh Vanstone for lighting in "Mary Stuart"
Anthony Ward for costumes in "Mary Stuart"

TOP 5 WRITERS:
Annie Baker for "Circle Mirror Transformation"
David Bryan & Joe DiPietro for music in "Memphis"
Lee Hall for book in "Billy Elliot"
Bill T. Jones & Bill Lewis for book in "Fela!"
Tom Kitt & Brian Yorkey for music in "Next to Normal"

TOP 10 BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS:
*Trevor Nunn and much of the cast of "A Little Night Music" for making characters more like charicatures instead of real people.
*Stephanie J. Block for trying way too hard and not being a good actress in "9 to 5."
*The entire supporting cast of "Hamlet" for just being boring and not making any interesting character choices.
*The entire production of "Rock of Ages" for taking awesome music and making incredibly irresponsible and thoughtless theatre out of it.
*The sound design in "Hair" for being absolutely horrible the night I saw this...unless it was the performers' fault for making it so I couldn't understand a word of what they were saying or why they were so crazy passionate with no character arcs from beginning to end...which could very well be so.
*Set design in "Finian's Rainbow" for looking like a cheap university production.
*Matt Cavanaugh in "West Side Story" for making me think he has never taken an acting class in his life (except his scenes with Josefina Scaglione which did have some nice chemistry...)
*The entire production of "9 to 5" for just the quality of their art being incredibly uninteresting and amateurish. Maybe this is just Joe Mantello's fault, though...
*The 1st act of "Fela!" for not enthralling me even a little bit. Also, for making me stand up and tell time with my butt. Good thing the 2nd Act was a lot more interesting and artistic.
*Karen Olivo and at least 40% of the "West Side Story" cast for not showing up the night I had tickets to their show. And then not showing up a week later after I switched my tickets to another night.

So, there you go. The year in theatre as I saw it. (PS---the only shows I saw that didn't make it anywhere on the above lists: "Happiness" and "Oleanna")

[StephanieJBlockFan]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 1:21am

How was Stephenie J Block trying too hard?

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 2:10am

LOL, she's the queen of overacting. I do like her though.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 2:33am

I think I didn't even notice the difference of the 1st and 2nd act of Fela! It bored me.

TOP 5 SHOWS OF THE YEAR:
-west side story
-finian's rainbow
-memphis
-bye bye birdie
-rock of ages

[Will O'Donnell]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 10:06am

Fela was boring in the sense that there was just not a single memorable song. The second act did have some bright spots though. I didn't really love A Little Night Music either...although I can;t tell if it's because of the production or just my feelings towards the musical itself.

[Fanb]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 12:18pm

Your top 10's are pretty impressive lists.
I agree with you on:
TOP 10 SHOWS OF THE YEAR:
"Billy Elliot"
"Finian's Rainbow"
"Mary Stuart"
"Next to Normal"
"The Norman Conquests"
"Our Town"
"Ragtime"
I did not see some of your other choices. I also loved "Exit The King" - I think it opened in 2009. Geoffrey Rush was amazing and I loved how it started out as a comedy and then, while staying funny throughout, also became a deeper and darker play as it went on.