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It's December, which means it's time for the scads of Top 10 lists to magically appear in the mouths of pundits and editors everywhere. Top 10 sports moments, Top 10 albums, Top 10 whatever - well, it starts to get old.
We know it gets old, but it is a bit fun to contemplate the year in New York theater and think about what we liked, maybe even loved. But we're rebels at heart, so we present, in no real order, our NINE favorite theater experiences of the year, in hopes that you'll tell us yours. Who says it has to be ten, anyway? So get that thinking cap on and here goes:
Assassins - Sondheim's reality check, coming just in time for the election. Powerful and provocative.
Sarah Jones: Bridge & Tunnel - Brilliant, and if you missed this off-Broadway at the Culture Project, you can catch it next year on Broadway.
Laugh Whore - Mario Cantone channels all his angst into some of the greatest stand-up we've seen in a long time.
Intimate Apparel - Lynn Nottage's play about a lonely turn-of-the-century spinster/seamstress looking for something more really captured our imagination and hearts.
700 Sundays - Billy Crystal takes Broadway and runs with it. Take your parents. You'll love it too.
A Number - We're still trembling thinking about this one and wondering, what if there were 20 of us roaming the earth? Would we be me or would they?
A Second Hand Memory - Woody Allen hasn't made a movie in years that comes remotely close to the melancholy and bitterness experienced by his proxy family here. Michael McKean steals as the smarmy Hollywood agent uncle.
The Rivals - Lincoln Center Theater's Christmas gift to us all. A wonderful restoration era farce, with Dana Ivey as the hillarious Mrs. Malaprop.
The Downtown Plays - The Tribeca Theater Festival gave us this fun surprise, all short plays about Gotham. We especially dug the works by Jon Robin Baitz, Kenneth Lonnergan, and Paul Rudnick.
What did you dig this year?
And for the record, here are a few of our least favorite, drecky shows:
Brooklyn - The Musical
Embedded
The Frogs
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Most of my theatergoing was early in 2004, so it all seems so long ago.
Judging from my little stack of Playbills here, I saw a lot of "worthy" off-B'way type stuff that I didn't think was all that great, for the most part.
* Gallery Players "Lobby Hero" by K. Lonergan was fantastic (Brooklyn).
* I didn't like Tracy Letts's "Bug" very much, but it was pretty intense.
* I liked Will Eno's "Flu Season" a lot.
* Paul Weitz's "Roulette" was silly fun but not really very good.
* Melissa James Gibson's "Suitcase" was okay, not as good as "[sic]."
* "Road House" was awesome!
* Stephen Belber's "Match" was ... a bit much.
* Howard Korder's "Sea of Tranquility" was also a bit much.
* "Charlie Victor Romeo" was incredible.
* A lot of people were impatient with the revival of Stoppard's "Jumpers." I was not among them.
* Dylan Moran's "Monster" was very funny. More of a monologue thing.
* Roland Schimmelfennig's "Push Up 1-3" was quite good.
* Bryony Lavery's "Frozen" was quite good, but I think people overpraised it.
* LaBute's "Distance from Here" was ... okay I guess. I much preferred "Mercy Seat."
* off-Bway revival of Stoppard's "Arcadia" was fantastic.
* Dave Gorman's "Googlewhack Adventure" was a hoot.
Usually I see tons of great stuff and I'm very enthusiastic about most of it. This year I experimented more, I stayed low-budget and hence away from big Bway productions, and apparently didn't choose all that well, overall. Still a fine year of theater by my lights. Oh, and a lot of the things that weren't that great had compensating virtues, mainly acting. When I say I didn't like it or whatever, I'm usually talking about the writing.