Your Year In Theatre - 2010 — Page 2

Finian's Rainbow - January 2, 2010
Wishful Drinking - January 17, 2010
A Little Night Music - January 27, 2010
Present Laughter - January 29, 2010
Clybourne Park - February 27, 2010
A Behanding in Spokane - March 6, 2010
LOOPED - March 13, 2010
Time Stands STill - March 27, 2010
Lend Me A Tenor - March 31, 2010
La Cage aux Folles - April 14, 2010
The Addams Family - April 21, 2010
ENRON - April 24, 2020
Sondheim on Sondheim - April 28, 2010
White's Lies - May 3, 2010
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson - June 28, 2010
Everyday Rapture - July 6, 2010
Promises, Promises - July 14, 2010
The Ptimen Painters - October 3, 2010
A Life in the Theatre - October 10, 2010
Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson - October 16, 2010
The Scottsboro Boys - November 5, 2010
Women on teh Verge... - November 13, 2010
Brief Encounter - November 22, 2010
The Pee-Wee Herman Show - November 28, 2010
La Bete - December 23, 2010

Actually, this was my first year to actually make it to New York City. I've been several times, however, and we've managed to cram in as many shows as possible each time!

March - Time Stands Still, The Addams Family, Next to Normal, & Hair.

April - Wicked (tour stop in New Orleans)

May - Young Frankenstein (tour stop in Houston)

June - Next to Normal (with Brian d'Arcy James)

August - A Little Night Music, La Cage aux Folles, Promises Promises, In the Heights, Memphis, Next to Normal

December - Elf, In the Heights, Next to Normal, Time Stands Still, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

I've enjoyed all of them, really. 'Next to Normal' is obviously a favourite of mine (and I'll be there on the 16th of January as well). BBAJ was amazing, as was 'A Little Night Music'. Also, I'm very glad I was able to see 'In the Heights' those two times, as I absolutely love that show and am very sad it's closing.

1/10 - Ragtime
1/22 - Night Music
1/29 - Jersey Boys
1/30 - Next to Normal
2/21 - God of Carnage
3/7 - Hair
4/3 - Next to Normal
5/2 - Next to Normal
6/13 - Sondheim on Sondheim
6/30 - American Idiot
7/18 - Next to Normal
8/13 - Night Music
9/4 - American Idiot
9/4 - La Cage
11/26 - Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

I'm probably forgetting some.

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I saw near 80 shows this year, the most as of yet. My top pics:

Ragtime (Final Perofmrance w/ Christiane Noll)
American Idiot (Third Preview, still my favorite performance of that show)
The Scottsboro Boys (Vineyard & Broadway, both equally incredible)
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (All 5 times Off Broadway and all 3 on Broadway; easily my favorite new musical of the year)
Fela (Night before Tony Awards, absolutely incredible)
Hair (Saw the two final matinees, absolutely incredible both times)
A Little Night Music (Opening night with Bernadette & Elaine... this year in theatre reached a new pinacle with that performance)
Next to Normal (With Marin... God I love her...)
The Pee Wee Herman Show (Favorite play this year, without question)
Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark (Half because I actually enjoyed it and found Taymor's vision incredible, half because i was there the first preview, and that needs to count for something...)

Greatest Disappointments:

West Side Story (I love the show, and Natalie Cortez as Anita... hate this production)
Promises, Promises (Though it gave us Katie Finneran in easily the best featured performance of the year, it lacked... luster... I still love the actual piece though)

Dreamgirls (national tour)
The Comedy of Errors (Chicago Shakespeare Theater)
Ragtime (Drury Lane--Oakbrook)
Into the Woods (high school production)
Chicago (high school production)
Avenue Q (national tour)
Ragtime (Drury Lane again)
Sondheim: 80 (Ravinia Concert)
Annie Get Your Gun (Ravinia Concert with Patti Lupone)
A Chorus Line (Marriot Theater in Lincolnshire)
Rock of Ages (national tour)
Candide (Goodman Theater)

A smaller list compared to most. May top three were: Ragtime, A Chorus Line, and Candide. I was also in a production of Seussical this summer.

Planned for next year:
Les Miserables (national tour)
Aida (Drury Lane Oakbrook)
Next to Normal (national tour)
Working (Broadway Playhouse)
Sweeney Todd (Drury Lane Oakbrook)

I will also be in The Drowsy Chaperone and The Wizard of Oz (and hopefully some other shows, too)

Shows I've seen this year, by rank:

1. Ragtime(B'way)
2. La Cage aux Folles(2x)(B'way)
3. A Chorus Line(tour, Wilmington, DE)
4. Memphis(B'way)
5. The Addams Family(B'way)
6. White Christmas(Walnut Street, Philadelphia)
7. Peter Pan(Papermill)
8. West Side Story(B'way)

sadly that's all I've been able to see this year.

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Bye Bye Birdie
Memphis
The Phantom of The Opera
God of Carnage
American Idiot
La Cage aux Folles
Wicked
The Lion King
A Little Night Music (Catherine/Angela)
Everyday Rapture
Promises, Promises
Shrek (tour)
Les Mis (tour)

I feel like I'm forgetting some, but I'll be damned if I can remember what...

Top Five (only doing this for shows I saw for the very first time this year.)
Les Mis
La Cage
Memphis
A Little Night Music
Bye Bye Birdie

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bye bye birdie
billy elliot
south pacific (with lauara osnes as nellie)
avenue q
phantom of the opera (2nd time)
promises promises

I haven't counted the exact number, but I've probably seen over 100 shows this year.

The best of these were the revivals of "A View from the Bridge," "The Boys in the Band," "Another Part of the Forest," and "The Merchant of Venice."

Of the new shows, there was little that I found out of this world. The best was "The Aliens," by a playwright whose previous efforts I throughly disliked, and two older plays previously not seen here, "Alphabetical Order," and a reading of "The Men from the Boys." I had a good time, too, at "Women on the Verge."

The duds/horrors were many, most notably: "Mr. & Mrs. Fitch (a lollapalooza still hard to believe); "The Kid"; "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety" (a Pulitzer finalist, alas); "Mistakes Were Made" (the biggest being my seeing it); "The Language Archive;" "The Break of Noon;" "All About Me;" "The Addams Family;" and last, but not least, the biggest one of all: "Spider-man."

Updated On: 12/23/10 at 09:47 PM

I should start keeping a journal so I can remember the dates like you guys. My year pretty much went like this: Started off with Ragtime- final performance.
Then a few visits (2-3) to the Booth to visit with the Goodmans of Next to Normal fame. Next, I discovered a little show off broadway called YANK! which I became totally enamored with and saw twice. After that I checked out South Pacific with my best friend, partner and husband of 13 years. In the Spring, I saw a preview of Promises Promises and then caught American Idiot and La Cage prior to the Tony Awards, and one of the last performances of The Scottsboro Boys at the Vineyard.Around the same time as this, we also saw Next Fall, and were blown away, and I took several of the younger doctors from work to see HAIR before it closed. I went back to the Booth for Alice's last time as diana, then back on Monday for Marin's firsts outing. I took my husband back to Next to Normal to see the new cast a few weeks later with friends from work. He liked Marin better than Alice. As the summer ended, I went back to see American Idiot again and the checked out Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson- I welcomed the opportunity to see it with a friend a week later, since i was not able to pay attention during my first visit at the end due to needing to get to the restroom so badly. I enjoyed the second viewing much more than the first. Next I took a friend to see In the Heights for his birthday, and found that I was was so much more a fan after this time than I was after my first viewing in Summer 2008. Most recently, I've gone back with more friends from work to see Next to Normal. I'm planning to play TKTS surprise on Sunday, and go and just surprise myself with a show. I also enjoyed:
The Miscast Gala
Betty at Feinsteins
Linda Eder at Feinsteins
Alice at Dopo Teatro
and the You are Not Alone Concert with Aaron Lazar, Tony Yazbeck, Mark Kuddish, and who ever the fierce gay girl was who sang" I Got Love" from PURLIE. She was awesome.

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I didn't make it to New York at all this year. So no Broadway shows. Excluding all the bootlegs. lol But I've seen productions of the following:

Crimes of the Heart
Ragtime
The Producers (Jefferson Performing Arts Soceity, New Orleans)
Scream Queens (Jefferson Performing Arts Soceity, New Orleans)
Marat/Sade
The Yellow Boat
Once On This Island

And then at Disney World (it counts)
Finding Nemo: The Musical (Twice in one day, two different casts)
Festival of The Lion King
Voyage of The Little Mermaid

Jeeeez. I saw less than I thought. This sucks. lol I've just been so busy being IN shows. 2011 will be better.

Saw too many to count! My favorites were:

A Little Night Music with Bernadette and Elaine
Fences
The Aliens
A Lie of the Mind
American Idiot
Clybourne Park
In the Wake
Gatz
Angels in America
Bells Are Ringing
Merchant of Venice in the park
Dusk Rings a Bell
The Pride
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity
Bachelorette
The Normal Heart (reading with Mantello, Close, et al.)
This Wide Night
Middletown
Zero Hour
Mistakes Were Made
Memphis
Love, Loss and What I Wore
Lend Me a Tenor
Promises, Promises

Had already seen and enjoyed Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Time Stands Still, West Side Story, Fela!, Next to Normal, Brief Encounter, and Everyday Rapture.

Biggest disappointments:
Trust at Second Stage
The Miracle Worker
Mr. and Mrs. Fitch
Mrs. Warren's Profession

Thanks for the tip, raised - saw it last December. I would like to see the new gals, but just haven't... no particular reason. Some things get away from you. I've seen a lot of Night Musics, and this one was neither the best nor worst.