Your Theatre Year In Review 2018 — Page 3

How many shows have you seen this year?

8 (Broadway), 4 (Natl Tours), 7 (Regional)

Show you liked/loved the most?

2 from Maury Yeston that I had unfairly dismissed in previous incarnations:

Serenbe Playhouse's TITANIC was a jaw-dropper down in Atlanta; Encores' GRAND HOTEL was just wonderful

Show you liked least/hated most?
Finally saw a production of NEWSIES (regional) and deeply, deeply disliked it (despite a game cast of first-rate dancers and singers).

Found HADESTOWN boring (I know I'm in the minority) and was underwhelmed by Broadway's MY FAIR LADY.

And I felt that the revival of BOYS IN THE BAND was underwhelming in the extreme. Casting celebrities was a huge mistake-- everyone was over the top and the audience just encouraged it. I like all those performers but didn't think any of them were doing good work. And I like the show a lot. And why didn't they ground it in a specific time and place?


Show that surprised you the most (good or bad)?
Best Surprise: THE PROM, while a pretty flawed show, is absolutely hilarious.

Worst Surprise: THE PROM, while hilarious, is a pretty flawed show.


Favorite male/female performances?
Brooks Ashmanskas and Beth Leavel are flat out brilliant in THE PROM.



Favorite New Song
Nothing new that I would highlight but the revivals of HELLO DOLLY and GRAND HOTEL made me appreciate PUT ON YOUR SUNDAY CLOTHES and LET'S TAKE A GLASS TOGETHER, respectively, as brilliant theatre songs.


What announced show are you most looking forward to next year?

Was no fan of HADESTOWN downtown so it's not that! Looking forward to MOULIN ROUGE! and TOOTSIE....and will be headed to OKLAHOMA and the Yiddish FIDDLER as soon as I can.

How many shows have you seen this year?
28

Show you liked/loved the most?
Angels in America, The Prom, Three Tall Women, The Band's Visit, The Ferryman, and the NBC Jesus Christ Superstar, if that counts

Show you liked least/hated most?
Carousel, Harry Potter, Girl From the North Country (Harry Potter and GFTNC both from an expectations vs. reality perspective. Loved most of the stage magic of Harry Potter, did not love the book. LOVED the music and performances of GFTNC, did not love the book.)

Show that surprised you the most (good or bad)?
Angels in America. I know it's a beloved show, but I'm much more of a musical person than a play person, and the running time really made me nervous going in. But it turned out to be one of the best things I've seen in my life. And Three Tall Women... I expected great acting performances, which they were, but did not expect to be absolutely sobbing and reflecting on my life at the end. I was so moved by that play.

Favorite male performance?
Andrew Garfield & James McArdle in Angels in America, Brooks Ashmanskas & Michael Potts in The Prom, Justin Edwards in The Ferryman, Michael Urie & Ward Horton in Torch Song, Brian Tyree Henry in Lobby Hero, Etai Benson in The Band's Visit, Brandon Victor Dixon in JCS

Favorite female performance?
Katrina Lenk in The Band's Visit, Luba Mason in Girl From the North Country, Abena Mensah-Bonsu in School Girls, Beth Leavel in The Prom, Denise Gough in Angels in America, Laura Benanti in Meteor Shower, Kerry Washington in American Son, Kerry Butler in Mean Girls (I have admittedly never been a huge fan, and she totally won me over in this)

Favorite New Song
Welcome to Nowhere, Omar Sharif, Haled's Song About Love (...all of Band's Visit really)
And most of Girl From the North Country, if those count as new songs

What announced show are you most looking forward to next year?
Choir Boy (my ticket is in early January), Hadestown, Tootsie, and Gary

Updated On: 12/26/18 at 12:36 PM

How many shows have you seen this year?

11, 5 broadway (Cursed Child, Mean Girls, Come From Away, Spongebob, OOTI), 3 tours (Hamilton, Something Rotten!, Waitress), 2 regional (Billy Elliot and Passion @ Signature Theatre) and Little Shop of Horrors @ The Kennedy Center

Show you liked/loved the most?

Hands down, Cursed Child. Everything about it was stunning and the acting was superb. (BTW, Hamilton was a repeat visit and I enjoyed it more when I saw it on Broadway, hence it not being this year's favorite.)

Show you liked least/hated most?

Mean Girls. Nothing about the show impressed me and after seeing it in D.C., I don't think it improved. The score is awful, the book is funny at parts but also just not good at others. The acting was fine but very few people stood out to me.

Show that surprised you the most (good or bad)?

Come From Away. This was the one show I went to see on my trip that I was unfamiliar with the score. And, Man was I blown away. The book and the score are incredibly moving and filled with so much heart. The show is truly an ensemble piece and the cast worked so well together.

Favorite male performance?

Tie between Anthony Boyle in Cursed Child and Ethan Slater in Spongebob. They both sold their individual characters so well. Anthony was hilarious, yet nuanced and touching as Scorpius. Ethan brought everything he had to his role and really brought the house down in an only ok show.

Favorite female performance?

Natacia Diaz in Passion. She became Fosca on that stage and made the show her own. She gave everything possible and put so much detail into her work.

Favorite New Song

"Why We Build the Wall" from Hadestown and (technically last year) The entire score of "The Band's Visit"

What announced show are you most looking forward to next year?

Hadestown and Be More Chill (Have tickets for Be More Chill and hoping to get tickets to Hadestown soon)

How many shows have you seen this year? 30

Show you liked/loved the most?

Angels In America, Once On This Island, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of The Future, The Band's Visit

Show you liked least/hated most?

King Kong and Getting The Band Back Together

Show that surprised you the most (good or bad)?

Was surprised by how much I loved Cursed Child, given that I hated the script when I read it. I ended up finding the staging/performances/special effects enough to make up/support the somewhat lackluster script. Was also surprised by how much fun I had at Spongebob!

Favorite male performance?

Andrew Garfield in Angels In America

Favorite female performance?

Bonnie Milligan in Head Over Heels

Katrina Lenk in The Band's Visit

Nicolette Robinson in Waitress

Favorite New Song:

Answer Me from The Band's Visit

What announced show are you most looking forward to next year?

Hadestown! I have my tickets for first preview.

Updated On: 1/1/19 at 06:00 PM

AC126748 said: "How many shows have you seen this year? 223 (in NYC, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Delaware, Washington, Boston, Williamstown and Chicago)

Show you liked/loved the most? Lewiston/Clarkston, Girl from the North Country, Three Tall Women

Show you liked least/hated most? Carousel, The Waverly Gallery, Long Day's Journey into Night (BAM)

Show that surprised you the most (good or bad)? The Ferryman (not a fan of Jez Butterworth's previous plays, but I loved it)

Favorite male performance? Bryan Cranston, Network

Favorite female performance? Glenda Jackson, Three Tall Women

Favorite New Song? "Stillness" from Lempicka

What announced show are you most looking forward to next year? King Lear"




Seriously!? How much was the average ticket? You must have spent over $15k just on shows???

WOW we saw many shows (12?) and purchased great seats but only spent around $3000.

So, how do some of you afford to see over 50 shows? What's your budget...how much did you spend on tickets??? Living and owning a place in NYC is more than expensive enough even when you make great $$$!!!



What announced show are you most looking forward to this year?

Tootsie, Kiss Me Kate, Hadestown, Oklahoma, All My Sons, Moulin Rouge, Secret Life of Bees, Tina, The Inheritance,

Updated On: 1/1/19 at 07:28 PM

How many shows have you seen this year?
Six, plus one national tour
Show you liked/loved the most?
Carousel, very unpopular opinion on here, but I attended the final performance and was mesmerized by Jessie Mueller and Lindsay Mendez. The emotion was real and raw and made up for the problems that have already been addressed on here
Show you liked least/hated most?
Spongebob Squarepants, heard many good things about it initially, but I left the theater very bored, cast was talented, it just was not for me
Show that surprised you the most (good or bad)?
Summer, went in expecting to be absolutely horrible, but it was great fun. It was just a night of joy. Theater doesn't always have to strike powerful emotions in me. Plus I go to see the amazingly talented Kimberly Dodson go on as Duckling, she is definitely somebody to watch out for.
Favorite male performance?
Joshua Henry in Carousel - went into intermission, an emotional wreck, simply stunning
Favorite female performance?
Bernadette Peters in Hello Dolly! - that woman is a STAR, loved her performance in every way
Favorite New Song
Though the soundtrack has gotten a lot of hate, I loved Someone Gets Hurt from Mean Girls
What announced show are you most looking forward to next year?
Moulin Rouge!!! - I have my front row mezzanine seats already booked! So excited!

Copied and pasted from my blog (link in signature)...

I hadn’t planned to recap all my experiences in film, musical theatre, and art this past year- mainly because the 2nd half of this year was a total mess. But, as with everything in life, there were highlights…and 2019 is already shaping up to be a better one. (More on that later.)

We kicked things off with BroadwayCon in January. This was very special because I got to perform an abridged Invisible Ties (called “Herself and Steve&rdquo to an audience of about 50 people at the Javits Center. My entire admission to the event was comped, and the feedback on my presentation was phenomenal. To anybody out there who attended and spoke to me afterward- thank you!

A few months later, I was lucky enough to get pit access to Jesus Christ Superstar Live! I went with the wife of my former professor, who happens to love Alice Cooper. Being able to see John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and the rest of the cast perform this piece up close was truly electric…and very moving, for multiple reasons I won’t disclose!

In May, I attended the Lilly Awards, which was another beautiful experience. I got to network with theatre professionals from all walks (Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Amanda Green, Sarah Ruhl, Celia Keenan-Bolger&hellip and go to the after-party at Carroll Place. Bottomless hors d’oeuvres and champagne? Just the cherries on top of a marvelous night out with like-minded people.

My infiltration of Brooklyn continued with the #DavidBowieIs exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in a museum, as the wireless headphones made it borderline immersive. I also dove into Japan with Sakura Matsuri at the Botanical Garden and toured Green-Wood Cemetery.

My Broadway outings in 2018 were woefully minimal. I saw John Lithgow’s solo show, Stories by Heart, in January…and then my next trip to the theatre didn’t occur until the fall! First, I attended Marin Mazzie’s tribute; it was an incredibly touching afternoon of music and speeches. Terrence McNally- who I had already met at the Lilly Awards- left the entire room in a sea of tears. Two months later, I saw Pretty Woman, which was quite a 180. That show was a great deal of fun with knockout performances.

Last, but certainly not least…I was paid for playwriting for the very first time! I earned $100 for a 10-minute skit I wrote for the Little Victory Theatre’s Playwright Festival. I also read the female role, which I guess puts me in the ranks of Lin-Manuel Miranda…

This year, I’m hoping to see a lot more Broadway productions as well as productions of my own work. It’s leading up to the day when both intertwine! Happy New Year, readers.

P.S. A Star is Born and Crazy Rich Asians were the two best movies I saw.