Top 5 Favorite Theatrical Moments of the 2016-2017 Season

Why not. :)

(In no particular order)

1. Henry Lewis (I think it was him) running across the stage smack into the column holding up the second floor in the Play That Goes Wrong, and seeing the whole second story of the set take a dive. I simultaneously gasped and chortled.

2. Put on Your Sunday Clothes, from start to finish. Eargasm, eyegasm, everything.

3. The chromolume in SITPWG. I really don't care for that show (wanted to see it for the cast), but that moment was worth the price of admission. I have been secretly hoping they take it to an actual museum, because it deserves to be seen as a piece of art.

4. Struggling to pick a moment of DEH, because I am one of the people who cannot get enough of that show, but it's a toss-up between the powerful vocal arranging in You Will Be Found, and Rachel Bay Jones making me ugly-sob through So Big/So Small.

5. The Great Comet set & lighting. I still can't get into the score, but credit where credit is due. Exceptional.

Honorable mentions: the Miss Saigon helicopter (still thrilling), Rodney Hicks' character arc in Come From Away, the czarina's white gown & crown in Anastasia (literally took my breath away for a second), Bette's Act II eating scene

Nicole 10 said: "Gideon Glick's email sending scene from Significant Other. That show truly got robbed! As did Mr. Glick..."

Ooh, yes!!! Great one!

5. Sweeney Todd with the US cast. (The Brits just didn't do it for me)

4. Nicole Rodenburg's ever changing outfits in The Antipodes. (Plus her straight out of The Brothers Grimm "story"

3. Randy Graff, Frank Wood, Liz Reaser & co in The Babylon Line.

2. Andy Karl popping up in bed over & over in GHD

1. Sara Barielles in Waitress.

Updated On: 5/26/17 at 12:11 PM

In no order....

1. The opening number of The Bodyguard tour at Paper Mill. Deborah Cox's grand entrance and performance of Queen of the Night was incredible.

2. The train coming onstage during Put On Your Sunday Clothes in Hello, Dolly!

3. Sara Bareilles singing What Baking Can Do in Waitress.

4. The entirety of The Great Comet

5. You Will Be Found

1. Tie, but both from DEAR EVAN HANSEN. Ben Platt singing "Words Fail", and the company singing "You Will Be Found". Never have I been brought to tears so quickly by such raw emotion.

2. The one-two-punch of Christine Ebersole singing "Pink" and Patti LuPone singing "Forever Beautiful" in WAR PAINT.

3. The Chromolume from SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. I was in awe watching it from the balcony. It also helped make the second act just as resonate as the first.

4. Stephanie J. Block's rendition of "I'm Breaking Down" from FALSETTOS.

5. Sutton Foster eating the sandwich in SWEET CHARITY. Comedy gold.

Honorable Mention: Amber Gray strutting around the magnificent GREAT COMET set singing "Charming".

5. War Paint - Patti's performance of "Back on Top" and Christine's performance of "Pink." War Paint was the show that I was most excited for this season, which also made me nervous I was hyping it up a lil too much in my head before seeing it. I was relieved when I went to the Nederlander Theatre to see something that was entirely what I envisioned and hoped it would be. I loved the score (it was my favorite of the season), it was beautiful to look at, and Patti and Christine absolutely gave me my money's worth. It was hard to narrow down a moment so I chose two. I think these are both of the dames' best numbers and give Patti and Christine fan's EXACTLY what they want. Both these numbers felt like your favorite comedian telling your favorite joke. They are what you want to hear from both ladies. Pure perfection.

4. Sweet Charity - Sutton Foster in the coat rack during "Too Many Tomorrows." This moment was just pure musical comedy perfection. I had never seen Sweet Charity live and only had the movie (which we all know is a dud) and the cast albums to go off of. I never liked this song (I still don't). But Sutton Foster's performance during had me cracking up. She didn't say anything during this song, but her movements and gestures were just so masterfully hilarious and really reminded me why she is so beloved. I really hope this transfers to Broadway cuz I would love to see it again.

3. Miss Saigon - Eva Noblezada's performance of "I'd Give My Life For You." I bought my ticket for Miss Saigon without knowing anything about the show and really didn't have any expectations. This one number in particular had me shook to my core. Eva's voice alone was extraordinary, but her performance acting-wise also had me captivated. Her performance took me to Saigon and I was one with Kim in almost a Being John Malkovich kind of way.

2. Hello, Dolly! - The title song. Enough said. It was just so joyous and filled my body with absolutely glee. Watching Bette do laps around that stage reminded me why I love musical theatre and reminded me that I am not a jaded theatre rat who can't be impressed anymore.

1. Dear Evan Hansen - Ben Platt giving the speech right before "You Will Be Found" and all of "Words Fail" through "So Big/So Small." I have never been more moved by a performance in my entire life. I felt utterly changed by these moments and cried for the first time in a theatre.

I'm doing this quite literally as "moments." After all, it only takes a...you know the rest. Anyway...in no particular order:

1. Great Comet: Hard to choose just one but the one that got me the most when I first saw it is the moment when the chorus comes in during "The Great Comet of 1812" with "it was clear and cold..." and it's all dark in the theater but those (998 according to the recent video on Playbill) exposed bulbs come on faintly all through the theater. Such chills.

2. Significant Other: The final scene. Love the brilliant use of the Celine. It goes from cheesy-ironic sentimental at the beginning of the play to cheesy-but-heartfelt-and-still-ironic-but-still-meaningful sentimental. Sobbing.

3. Hello, Dolly! - Final recap of the chorus of the title number. I was literally weeping for joy.

4. Dear Evan Hansen - During You Will Be Found, when the ensemble comes in tutti after the build up during the virtual community comments. That "beat drop" if you will, with the light flash and the crescendo of the music, made me have serious chills. And it just keeps building from there.

5. Come From Away - So hard to choose just one. Have to go with "Me and the Sky," specifically that moment when Jenn sings the hell out of that second chorus.

Oh gosh, this is hard because it was a fantastic season, but:

1. Bette falling over on the stage after the first preview. An image I won't soon forget and the feeling of being in that room...electricity.

2. Each and every time Jayne Houdyshell was on stage in A Doll's House.

3. Jenn Colella's "No I'm fine Tom, I'm fine," line. The acting she does in that short moment surpasses a single moment from any other actor this season. I'm not sure if she does it every night or it was just that particular performance, but I'm still gutted from the expression on her face.

4. Patti LuPone picking the jewels off of the ground with the weird grabber thing. That comedy was stunning.

5. From Indecent:

Runner ups: Glenn Close coming out to the stage 4 or 5 times; Rachael Bay Jones singing "Good For You", and the last lines of Sweat discussing our duties as humans to take care of each other.

Updated On: 5/26/17 at 01:27 PM

In no particular order:

1. Gideon Glick in Significant Other. I just came out this year to my parents, but the situations out of Jordan's life were so personal and I just wanted to love him. Gideon's performance was brilliant and his arc and journey in the show were beautiful and heartwrenching. I also now want a pair of forest green Converse.

2. You Will Be Found. I have never sobbed in the theatre until seeing this on stage. I still get goosebumps listening to the cast recording. It's become a personal mantra and I even ended up putting it on my graduation cap!

3. Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere. Come From Away was my absolute favorite musical of this season, but there's something about this song and the triumph and celebration and the dread and fear in the individual characters leading into the the collective power behind the chorus that really gets me. It's the climax of the show (at least in my perspective) and it makes me want to cheer.

4. The Chromolume. GUYS. We were in the balcony and I'm so glad that we were because wow. Also, Jake Gyllenhaal sprinting from stage right to stage left was one of the funniest and most adorable things ever.

5. Balaga. Great Comet was stunning to begin with, but Balaga was everything musical theatre should be. It was a fresh take on the ensemble number and it was stunning.

Honorable Mention: As If We Never Said Goodbye. Watching Glenn Close sing this song was a masterclass and was absolutely beautiful. I couldn't keep myself from getting emotional.

Bear in mind I only saw three new shows this season (two musicals and a play) so I can't stick to the one-per-show trend. That said:

5. The Actor's Fund performance of A Doll's House Part 2 - probably the most responsive audience I've ever seen - with the most powerful scene for me being the one between Nora and Emmy - two stunning actresses at their finest

4. The blue opera gown in Anastasia. It's a lovely little character moment, but my five-year-old self was squealing in delight at seeing an iconic costume from my childhood in up-close, gorgeous detail. I know there are more intricate costumes in the show, but that one was just a special little moment.

3. "Balaga" in Great Comet. I was lucky enough to get a shaker, but even the people who weren't right in the action felt like they were, I think. It was just this incredible wild energy and the perfect encapsulation of what makes that show unique.

2. "Journey to the Past" from Anastasia. It seems so simple on paper, a stand-and-belt Act 1 finale, but Christy Altomare put so much emotion into it, and the orchestra just swelled up and carried us all along for the ride.

1. "The Great Comet of 1812". It's hard to describe, exactly, what it feels like when the chorus comes in a cappella, and the lights come on like stars, and by the end, every single person in the theatre is watching the Comet fill the theater with light and hearing the words "blossoming into a new life" as it got brighter and brighter. It was this powerful moment of connection and purity that I don't think I've ever felt in a theater before. Magic.

Impossible not to mirror others as there were some momentous highlights but for me..

5. The helicopter scene in Miss Saigon. I've never seen it live before and I thought it was so well done with the wind and lights. People were looking back thinking there was something coming in from the lobby.

4 Sweeney Todd - The whole cast and entire production. What a night that was.

3. Glenn singing As if We Never Said Goodbye. Gave me chills and thrills to witness.

2. The Balaga and Abduction in The Great Comet. We were fortunate to sit right in the centre with the band and Pierre. Everyone was all around us. It was madness - had so much fun with the shakers!

1. Everything about DEH had me in tears but when Rachel Bay Jones hugged onto Ben singing "your Mom isn't going anywhere... you're Mom is staying right here.".. I completely lost it. As a single mother who basically had the same conversation with her daughter 17 years ago (sans song) I am still astounded how two reasonably young men managed to nail it on the head when they wrote this song. Haters can hate but I have all love for Pasek and Paul and truly hope they win the Tony for this work.



It was hard to limit to 5 - what a stellar year it has been in theatre!

Everything about Gideon Glick's performance in Significant Other. A outstanding performance in such a funny, heartwrenching play!



Rachel Bay Jones singing So Big/So Small, I can't get enough of her brilliant performance!!!



Ben Platt in Dear Evan Hansen. Everything about his performance is so powerful and emotionally wrenching. He easily is giving one of the best performances of the decade (as is RBJ). So real, true and meaningfull. I cant even comprehend the thought of doing it 8 times a week. Bravo to both Ben and Rachel.



Betsy Wolfe and Tracy Thoms in Falsettos......everything about that couple was just perfect!!



Set/Lighting in Comet....breathtaking....