Here’s my top shows/performances in New York City in 2024.
An Enemy of The People. This production with Jeremy Strong was well-directed, well-acted, and had an excellent adaptation.
Once Upon a Mattress. No one would call this a great musical. But it is great fun, and this production that began at NY City Center Encores! with Sutton Foster and an all-star cast was a delight.
Kelli O’Hara was robbed of a Tony Award. Her performance in The Days of Wine and Roses, as well as the performance of Brian D’Arcy James, were outstanding. It’s a tough subject but the cast and the music by Adam Guettel made it heartbreaking.
Our Town. This revival, headed by Jim Parsons, made me realize that this is one of the great plays of American theater.
Suffs. A musical about the ratification of the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote struck an emotional chord for many women. Just as in 1776, we know the outcome, but we are still on pins and needles about whether it will actually happen.
Patriots. This British import raised interesting questions about patriotism as we looked at a Russian oligarch who helped raise Putin to power, but then broke with him.
Also on my list are two brief special events. The NY City Center Encores! production of Ragtime with Joshua Henry was excellent. The December reunion concert of the Lincoln Center production of. South Pacific with the original cast intact, including Kelli O’Hara. Paolo Szot, Danny Bursting, and others was one of my greatest theater-going memories. And then there was Here We Are, the last Sondheim musical. It was unfinished, the plot is surreal at times, and yet the genius of Sondheim shone through.
Two plays on many best of the 2024 lists that I was lukewarm about were Stereophonic and Hills of California.
In Connecticut, I saw many, many more plays.
Tops on my list are two productions of Arthur Miller plays. Hartford Stage did a thoughtful and emotional production of All My Sons. The Long Wharf production of A View from the Bridge equaled it. Each of these plays written 70 years ago showed how relevant they are to our times.
Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Hartford Stage featured inventive staging and direction by Melia Benssusan.
The Yale reproduction of Far Country filled gaps in my knowledge of Chinese immigration to the United States while also moving me emotionally.
Hot Wing King at Hartford Stage was a touching. look at an unconventional family.
Ivoryton’s production of Alabama Story was a surprise. It was a play set in the 60s. that reflected so much of what is occurring today.
Sandra at TheaterWorks was a gripping one-woman show that totally engaged me. I left the theater wanting to know more about the story and the characters. What would happen next.
The best musical I saw this year in Connecticut was the national tour of Funny Girl. I had seen the Broadway revival and was disappointed. Not so with the national tour which was outstanding.
Connecticut saw two productions of The Prom this year. But the one that makes my list is the production at Sharon’s Playhouse. Kate Baldwin and the cast were a marvel.
These productions didn’t quite make it to the top of my list but were very good.
South Pacific at Goodspeed was an excellent production, though it had one or two directorial missteps.
The same could be said for the Long Wharf production of She Loves Me. Very good but some things that just weren’t right.
In Ridgefield ACT–CT produced Kinky Boots. It was very good.
At the tiny Legacy Theater in Branford, Julie Andrews directed. The Great American. Mousical based on the book she wrote with her daughter. It was great fun.
Maggie at Goodspeed. I knew nothing about this show before seeing it but was fully engaged in the story.