Last year I saw 73 shows/readings/concerts, which was a huge drop from the previous year of 90. This year I saw 89… I’m on the upswing! I thought the number would be much lower because I never feel like I’m seeing as much theater as I could be (or as I used to), but I think not having a major writing project happening in the fall, when so much theater is opening, helped boost the number. I still do a lot of non-theater activities, so without those number might have been a little higher. I’m happy with the balance, though.
My third (out of four) time seeing Hedwig with John Cameron Mitchell
I saw a good number of these shows for free and paid a discount rate for most of the others (I actually only paid for 28 of them–10 more than last year. I guess paying for more shows also helped bring my number up, although I only paid a huge amount for the Hedwig tickets). Aside from performing the holiday concert at Carnegie Hall twice and seeing Hedwig with John Cameron Mitchell FOUR times, I did not see any show more than once. I sang in 5 of these concerts/shows. 16 performances were connected to articles I wrote for two websites (9 more than last year). 3 shows were autism-friendly performances or for people with autism (I volunteered at 1 and attended 2 with my brother)
I used to do a star rating system, but since I know people involved in many of these shows, I’ve done away with that and just highlighted my favorites. After the favorites is the HUGE list of everything I saw. Then, I have listed some fun panels, exhibits, and events I also attended this year.
Top 10 Favorites (in no order, I swear):
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (all four times, but if I had to rank them it would be 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 1st)
An Octorron (Theatre for a New Audience, from Soho Rep)
The Visit
Fun Home
Significant Other (Roundabout Theatre Company)
Hamlet in Bed (Rattlestick Theatre Company)
Whorl Inside a Loop (Second Stage Theatre)
John (Signature Theatre)
A Wilder Christmas (Peccadillo Theatre Company)
First Daughter Suite (Public Theater)
Hir (Playwrights Horizons)
Runners Up (Also in no order):
The Heidi Chronicles
Big Love (Signature Theatre)
Lea Salonga in Concert (Town Hall)
Les Contes D’Hoffman (Metropolitan Opera)
Be More Chill (Two River Theatre)
The Christians (Playwrights Horizons)
Empanada Loca (Labyrinth Theatre Company)
Spring Awakening
Before Your Very Eyes (Public Theater)
Aladdin (Autism TDF performance)
Preludes (Lincoln Center Theatre)
King Liz (Second Stage Theatre)
The Big List:
Kansas City Choir Boy (Prototype Festival)
Aging Magician (Prototype Festival)
The Merry Widow (Metropolitan Opera)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Matilda (TDF Autism Performance)
Lady, Be Good (Encores!)
The World of Extreme Happiness (MTC)
Western Society (Gob Squad/Skirball)
An Octoroon (Theatre for a New Audience/Soho Rep)
The Nomad (The Flea)
The Artist and the Scientist (CAP21)
The Events (New York Theatre Workshop)
Placebo (Playwrights Horizons)
The Heidi Chronicles
La Donna Del Lago (Metropolitan Opera)
Between Riverside and Crazy (Second Stage Theatre)
Long Story Short (Prospect Theater Company/59E59)
Aladdin (TDF Autism Performance)
Big Love (Signature Theatre)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch–2nd time
Lea Salonga in Concert (Town Hall)
What Would Crazy Horse Do? (Lilly Awards Play Reading)
Les Contes D’Hoffman (Metropolitan Opera)
On the 20th Century (Roundabout)
Lives of the Saints (Primary Stages/The Duke)
Iowa (Playwrights Horizons)
The Tall Girls (Lilly Awards Play Reading)
The Nether (MCC)
Beyond Broadway: Composers Go Choral (DiMenna Center)
The Visit
Airline Highway (MTC)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch–3rd time
Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (Metropolitan Opera)
4@15 Show
It Shoulda Been You
Aida (Metropolitan Opera)
Dr. Zhivago
Hedwig and the Angry Inch–4th time
Love Letters from Jersey (Don’t Tell Mama)
Fun Home
Cecilia Chorus NY & Orchestra: Beethoven Choral Fantasy, Mass (Carnegie Hall)
Forever (New York Theatre Workshop)
The King and I (Lincoln Center Theatre)
Merrily We Roll Along (Astoria Performing Arts Center)
The Other Thing (Second Stage)
The Way We Get By (Second Stage)
From Paris to Peretz: A Musical Tour (Symphony Space/Jewish People’s Philharmonic Chorus)
The Lilly Awards (Lilly Awards)
Preludes (Lincoln Center Theatre)
Be More Chill (Two River Theater)
A New Brain (Encores!)
The Qualms (Playwrights Horizons)
Of Good Stock (MTC)
Rain (Vassar/NY Stage and Film)
Significant Other (Roundabout)
Women of Note Cabaret (NYMF)
Amazing Grace
Manuel versus The Statue of Liberty (NYMF)
Three Days to See (Transport Group)
King Liz (Second Stage)
Whorl Inside a Loop (Second Stage)
John (Signature Theatre)
Hamlet in Bed (Rattlestick Theatre)
The Christians (Playwrights Horizons)
Up and Away (Trusty Sidekick/Lincon Center)
Dames at Sea
Antigone (BAM)
My Favorite Things: The Songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein (Carnegie Hall)
First Daughter Suite (The Public Theater)
Barbecue (The Public Theater)
The Humans (Roundabout)
Fondly, Collette Richland (New York Theatre Workshop)
The Alcoholic Movie Musical (Bushwick Starr)
Empanada Loca (Labyrinth Theater Company)
The Lilly Awards Cabaret (The Cutting Room)
Promising (Theater Row)
Eclipsed (The Public Theater)
Spring Awakening
Gigantic (Vineyard Theatre)
Before Your Very Eyes (Gob Squad/The Public Theater)
Songbird (59E59)
Hir (Playwrights Horizons)
Ripcord (MTC)
Invisible Thread (Second Stage)
Broad (Birdland)
The New York Pops: It’s Christmas Time in the City
The New York Pops: It’s Christmas Time in the City–2nd time
Carnegie Hall Familiy Holiday Concert: A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Wilder Christmas (Peccadillo Theatre Company)
Miscellaneous Panels, Exhibits, and Events:
Natural History Museum (3/29)
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (5/16)
New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors (5/16)
Summer Streets (8/1)
Summer Streets (8/8)
Yoko Ono: One Woman Show and One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and Other Visions of the Great Movement North (MoMA)