Last year I saw 89 productions, which was a significant jump from the previous year’s 73. This year I saw… 69, the lowest it has ever been (yes, I’m aware I still see way more than the average person). I was hoping the number would be a little higher, but it’s understandable given how busy I was in other areas this year, especially during the fall when so much theater is opening. I’m also trying to balance life even more than in previous years to get my output to be equal to or to surpass my input. In other words, I think I’m at the point at which I should be producing more than I’m consuming, so while in previous years it was normal to have the number be in the 80s and 90s, I should accept that a lower number in the 60s and 70s (and maybe even lower) is going to be more typical.
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 27 of these–the same number as last year–and none was a huge purchase). Aside from performing in the Pops holiday concert twice, I did not see any show more than once, although this was my third time seeing Fun Home. I sang in 6 of these concerts/shows, and 4 of them were my own work or featured my own work. 7 shows were connected to articles I wrote or am writing for 3 websites/publications (9 fewer than last year but on par with the previous year). 1 show was an autism-friendly performance for people with autism, which I volunteered for, 1 was an opening night, and 1 was a gala.
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):
Marjorie Prime
Motherstruck
The Secret Garden
I’ll Never Love Again
She Loves Me
The New York Pops Gala: Do You Hear the People Sing
Runaways
The Crucible
Fun Home
Falsettos
Runners Up (Also in no order):
Red Speedo
Tuck Everlasting
Alice Ripley & Emily Skinner: Unattached
Shuffle Along
Small Mouth Sounds
Dog Days
Vietgone
Party People
Fiddler on the Roof
The Light in the Piazza concert
The Big List:
Lazarus (NYTW)
Better Gods (Washington National Opera American Opera Initiative)
Dog Days (Protype Festival/Skirball Center)
Angel’s Bone (Prototype Festival/HERE)
Marjorie Prime (Playwrights Horizons)
Motherstruck (Culture Project)
Smart People (2nd Stage Theatre)
Allegiance (Broadway)
Wicked (Broadway–Autism-Friendly Performance)
The Mystery of Love and Sex (Mark Taper Forum, LA)
The Secret Garden (Linclon Center/Manhattan Concert Productions)
Red Speedo (NYTW)
The Phantom of the Opera (Broadway)
Our Mother’s Brief Affair (MTC/Broadway)
Familiar (Playwrights Horizons)
Southern Comfort (The Public Theater)
I’ll Never Love Again (Bushwick Starr)
The Composer Speaks: Austrian Emigres (Di Menna Center)
The Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout)
The Light in the Piazza concert (Lincoln Center Theater)
LearningSpring School Talent Show
She Loves Me (Roundabout/Broadway)
Wall to Wall Stephen Schwartz (Symphony Space)
A Strange Loop (54Below)
The New York Pops Gala: Do You Hear the People Sing (Carnegie Hall)
Park and Bark: 12 Mini-Operas about Fort Greene Park #1 (NYU)
Tuck Everlasting (Broadway)
Park and Bark: 12 Mini-Operas about Fort Greene Park #2 (Fort Greene Park)
Do I Hear a Waltz? (Encores)
Dear Evan Hansen (2nd Stage Theatre)
Hadestown (NYTW)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of New York City (MCC/Lucille Lortel)
The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare in the Park/Public Theater)
Funked Up Fairy Tales (54Below)
Fiddler on the Roof (Broadway)
Lightning Man reading (Turtle Bay Music School)
Urgent Care (UCB)
Runaways (Encores off-Center)
Nix (Planet Connections Festival)
The Crucible (Broadway)
Cable Car Nymphomanic concert (54Below)
Alice Ripley & Emily Skinner: Unattached (54Below)
Columbia Summer Winds concert (Washington Square Park)
Shuffle Along (Broadway)
Ravel (Gene Frankel Theatre)
New York Theatre Barn New Works Series concert (The Cell)
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (Encores off-Center)
The Golden Bride (Museum of Jewish Heritage)
Small Mouth Sounds (Signature Theatre Center)
Fun Home (Broadway)
Marie and Rosetta (Atlantic Theater Company)
Aubergine (Playwrights Horizons)
The Layover (2nd Stage Theater)
New York Theatre Barn New Works Series concert (The Cell)
Romeo and Juliet (Dallas Symphony)
Bella: An American Tall Tale (Dallas Theater Center)
Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova)
All the Ways to Say I Love You (MCC/Lucille Lortel)
The New York Pops: The Musical World of Lerner and Loewe (Carnegie Hall)
Notes from the Field (2nd Stage Theatre)
Falsettos (Broadway–opening)
New York Theatre Barn New Works Series concert (The Cell)
Vietgone (MTC)
Party People (The Public Theater)
Days of Rage reading (The Cell)
The Encounter (Broadway)
4@15 (MTF)
The New York Pops Holiday Concert: Make the Season Bright Friday concert (Carnegie Hall)
The New York Pops Holiday Concert: Make the Season Bright Saturday concert (Carnegie Hall)
Miscellaneous Panels, Exhibits, and Events:
The Renwick Gallery: Wonder (DC–1/10)
The Getty (LA–2/16)
The Broad (LA–2/18)
Athena Film Festival Awards Ceremony (2/19)
The Intrepid (3/6)
UnREAL panel (Paley Center–5/23)
Summer Streets (8/6)
Summer Streets (8/13)
Summer Streets (8/20)
Roller Skating: 80s Prom (9/16)
Nasher Sculpture Ceneter (Dallas–9/29)
JFK Museum (Dallas–9/29)
2016 State Fair of Texas (Dallas–9/30)
Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art (Dallas–9/30)
Comic Con (10/6)
Comic Con (10/9)
MoMath Gala (10/25)
Rae Armantrout an Kaveh Akbar Poetry Reading (KGB Bar–10/31)
Writers House New York (11/17)