Your 2022 Broadway & Beyond Recaps

Saw 18 different Broadway shows this year (so far)! Hamilton, Come from Away, The Music Man, and Kimberly Akimbo were my favorites.

Updated On: 12/8/22 at 08:17 PM

Was so thankful for Broadway to reopen in Sept. 2021. I ended up seeing multiple shows beginning in February of 2022. Company(3x), Come From Away(4x), Hadestown, Tina, Beetlejuice, with tickets to see Some Like It Hot, A Beautiful Noise & Ohio State Murders. Might sneak in to see Mike Birgilia's show this weekend.

The most theatre I've watched in my life - 60+ times this year! (Lots of repeats, though.)

Favorite Musical: Into the Woods
Favorite Play: English

Broadway shows (times watched):

Six (5)
KPOP (4)
Company (3)
Funny Girl (3)
Into the Woods (3)
A Strange Loop (2)
Beetlejuice (2)
Leopoldstadt (2)
Paradise Square (2)
1776 (1)
Birthday Candles (1)
Clyde's (1)
Come From Away (1)
MJ (1)
Mr. Saturday Night (1)
Music Man (1)
Old Man and the Pool (1)
POTUS (1)
The Minutes (1)

Off Broadway/Regional:

1776 (ART) (1)
Black No More (1)
Beautiful Noise (ART) (1)
Chess (1) (upcoming)
Confederates (1)
Corsicana (1)
English (1)
Fat Ham (1)
Guys and Dolls (Kennedy Center) (1)
Into the Woods (NYCC) (1)
Into the Woods (Signature DC) (1)
Life After (1)
Mean Girls (Tour) (1)
Merrily We Roll Along (1) (upcoming)
Once Upon a (Korean) Time (1)
Only Gold (1)
Prayer for the French Republic (1)
Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1)
She Loves Me (Signature DC) (1)
Space Dogs (1)
The Notebook (1)

West End/Off-West End:

Cabaret (3)
&Juliet (1)
Glass Menagerie (1)
Heathers (1)
The Seagull (1)
Wicked (1)

Very thankful that this season exposed me to Sondheim. Between Into the Woods, Company and Merrily, I received an education and loved every minute.

Leopoldstadt was also a highlight.

Seeing Rent on tour after working on a production in high school was a complete highlight and one I will not forget.

The final performance of Come From Away-not an experience I will be forgetting either.

Paradise Square became a favorite and deserved so much better.

This year I traveled to NYC at the peak of the summer heat and survived, after going at X-mas or during the autumn in the past. Crossed Coney Island and the Bushwick Collective off the bucket list.

The best things in life are free, and during that trip that was certainly the case with the Classic Theatre of Harlem's production of Twelfth Nightt being the best show I saw. It definitely outshone the productions of Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, & the Tempest I saw locally & at the Utah Shakespeare Festival later in the summer.

After that, in NY I had the good fortune to be abe to see both Into The Woods & Company & also see each twice.

I saw two Andrew Lloyd Webber shows this year. I made the serendipitous decision to get tickets for Phantom in NY not realizing that it would be my last chance to see it. Later in the year I saw an over-the-top production of Joseph in Utah which can only be described as Mormons on Meth. It was worth every penny, as was seeing Katy Perry's psychedelic extravaganza at the huge new Resorts World casino in Las Vegas.

Closer to home, my first foray back into a theatre was seeing Hamilton on tour in the Spring. Later in the year I enjoyed a very good summer stock production of Something Rotten. And in late fall, the University of BC's Opera program overcame losing guest star Sondra Radvanovsky to illness and put on a very fine Tosca, flying in Rhoslyn Jones of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. I also took a quick weekend trip down to see Seattle Opera's excellent Tristan and Isolde.

Compared to NYC, both Seattle & Las Vegas look like cities that have barely survived, with endless camps of homeless. Walking down the Strip during the middle of the day you gave to step over comatose addicts laid out like corpses. While I was in Las Vegas a madman slaughtered two girls on the street in front of one of the most expensive resorts on the Strip with a butcher knife. I'm not in a hurry to go back there.

But, I do anticipate a March trip back to NYC, and later in June a trip down to San Francisco & Northern California for the first time since 1998.

While I wait for the new year, next week I will be seeing a well reviewed local production of The Sound of Music.

All in all, on travel to & shopping in the USA this year, I think I was able to keep my spending down to about $10,000.

I've seen 77 shows so far this year, and 4 more to go, which includes Merrily that could break into my top 10. But at the moment:

• 1. Oratorio for Living Things
• 2. Parade (Encores)
• 3. Between Riverside and Crazy
• 4. MJ
• 5. Into the Woods (Broadway, Sara was out sick)
• 6. Guys and Dolls (Washington DC)
• 7. The Music Man
• 8. Fat Ham
• 9. Dead Outlaw (54 Below)
• 10. The Hang

Honorary mentions:
You Will Get Sick, Downstate, Love the Struggle (Joe's Pub), The Hot Wing King (Washington DC), Suffs, Into the Woods (Arlington VA), How I Learned to Drive, A.D. 16 (Olney MD), Cyrano de Bergerac (BAM), Take Me Out, Anyone Can Whistle (Carnegie Hall), Lautrec at the Saint James (Olney MD), The Skin of Our Teeth, English, Our Town (Washington DC), Between the Lines, The Butcher Boy, Life After (Chicago), Grace (Washington DC), Ain't No Mo' (Washington DC), Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Washington DC), The Piano Lesson, 1776

I saw A Strange Loop (DC), Kimberly Akimbo (Off-Bway) last year, and they were on my list last year. I have not seen a few big shows this season yet, like Leopoldstadt, Some Like It Hot, Topdog/Underdog.

Updated On: 12/10/22 at 12:07 AM

My top 3 for 2022 --

3) Andre DeShields final performance in Hadestown

2) the final performance of Company on July 31st particularly Patti's last "Ladies Who Lunch"

1) Into the Woods

I moved away from NYC to the other side of the country years ago for work. I used never to miss a show in a season. I finally got to return for a few days this summer and was deeply moved by A Strange Loop. Everything I missed about NYC theatre in a nutshell. It's some of the best ensemble work I've seen in a show.

Took a look at my notes and here's what I saw in order from least favorable personal experience to absolute favorites:



The Little Prince

Girl From The North Country

The Minutes

Harry Potter Cursed Child

Paradise Square

Funny Girl (with Julie Benko, pre-Lea Michele)

Chicago (Pamela Anderson debut)

Beetlejuice

Hadestown (Sayo Oni's Orpheus Debut)

Some Like It Hot (previews)

Topdog/Underdog

Phantom Of The Opera

Take Me Out (2ST)

Leopoldstat

A Strange Loop

SIX

POTUS

Into The Woods (Original Revival Cast, First Preview)

for colored girls

How I Learned To Drive

MJ

KPOP (2nd Preview, front row seats)



I had an absolute BLAST at KPOP with my friend jamming in the front row... sure the book needed work and probably an out of town, but I loved everything about the energy of the performers and the music itself. MJ is a show I will say was worth every penny of a full priced ticket. How I Learned To Drive was another highlight. I left at intermission during The Little Prince and went to Schnipper's with my friend to get chicken fingers instead. If I wasn't with a friend I would've left at Girl From The North Country too! I also lost about 3-4 shows I would've seen due to being sick.



Non-Broadway Highlights:

Parade at NYCC

Merrily We Roll Along at NYTW

Updated On: 12/10/22 at 03:57 PM

FINALLY saw &Juliet...

Most fun I have ever had at a theater-aside from the person who would not stop taking photos, recording, and would not stop even when told by the theater staff to stop. It was so incredibly obnoxious.

Aside from that...I love everything about it. No Notes. Amazing performances all around, especially Betsy Wolfe. She will at least snag a nomination.

Managed 2 trips to NYC, 1 night in London, shows in Pittsburgh, Atlanta and LA where I live. Here’s my top shows:

A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE

COMPANY

FUNNY GIRL w Julie Benko

FUNNY GIRL w Lea and especially Tovah

MY FAIR LADY (Nat Tour with Shereen in LA)

DROWSY CHAPERONE (Pittsburgh tour w Donna Machechnie)

GODSPELL (Pittsburgh)



Pretty good shows:

THE MUSIC MAN

INTO THE WOODS

LEOPOLDSTADT

AMERICAN BUFFALO

THE LIFE OF PI (West End)

JAGGED LUTTLE PILL (Nat tour in LA)

ANASTASIA (2nd Nat tour— sans turntable)



Bortom of the stack:

SIX

ALMOST FAMOUS

Updated On: 12/15/22 at 10:00 AM

I've seen 153 shows this year (with many duplicates, ha ha). So grateful for theatre's return after the pandemic! Some highlights were:

1. Downstate - one of the most thought-provoking plays I've seen in my life and a show that has been on my mind ever since I saw it. I'd love it if there was a pro-shot of this, because I have several friends I'd love to share it with/discuss it with. I'm hoping it gets produced again soon!

2. Guys and Dolls at the Kennedy Center

3. Into the Woods with Sara Bareilles and Philippa Soo - my first time seeing a professional production of this show live!

4. Chess in Concert

5. Merrily We Roll Along at NYTW

6. Fiddler in Yiddish

7. The Toronto production of Indecent - SUCH a powerful show and clearly the cast were very passionate about the material

8. Cost of Living - another incredibly thought-provoking show that challenges a lot of beliefs I had about disability and power

9. Frozen on tour in Pittsburgh - I had an absolutely perfect seat, and I didn't expect to like Frozen very much, because Disney, but I thought the production was absolutely incredible! I loved the new songs they've added that weren't in the movie (especially Monster and A Little Bit of You), and I love the focus on the sisters' past trauma and how that trauma has impacted them. I cried a LOT during the show, which I did not expect!

10. Fun Home at the Paramount Theatre near Chicago - I cried a lot at this one too. The cast was phenomenal and the show itself is sublime.

11. &Juliet in Toronto - saw this six times with rush tickets and had a blast every single time.

12. The last show of the OBC for Six - so much excitement and joy in that theatre!

13. The last show of Waitress in Cleveland with Stephanie Torns as Jenna

14. Sharon Catherine Brown's last show as Caroline in Caroline, or Change

15. Trouble in Mind - such a relevant play even though it was written in the 50s

Next year I'm most looking forward to seeing Angels in America for the first time live at Arena Stage in DC, Hercules at the Paper Mill Playhouse in NJ, The Wild Party at the Eagle Theatre in NJ, White Girl in Danger, the Fiddler on the Roof tour, RENT at Stratford next summer, and Gypsy at the Shaw Festival next summer.