Last year I saw 90 shows/readings/concerts. This year I saw 73– 17 less than last year. Last year I was sad that the number was so low, but this year it is really low (yes, I’m aware that it’s still high compared to the general public). I get fewer ticket offers than I did when I worked in theater, but I’ve also had to skip more shows to work on writing projects, and I do a good amount of non-theater activities now. It’s nice live a more balanced life, I suppose.
Jasper in Deadland
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 18 of them–2 more than last year–and 2 were with family). Aside from performing the holiday concert at Carnegie Hall twice and seeing the 4@15 show all three times, I did not see any show more than once. I sang in 6 of these concerts/shows and my work was featured in 4 of them–the 4@15 shows and my reading. 9 performances were connected to blog posts I wrote for two websites (half of what that number was last year, although I didn’t see every show I wrote about this year). 2 shows were at high schools, and I attended 1 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):
Stop Hitting Yourself (Rude Mechs at LCT3)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
The Winter’s Tale (Public Theater Public Works)
Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons)
Berliner Philharmoniker (Carnegie Hall)
The Death of Klinghoffer (The Metropolitan Opera)
The Manhattan Transfer (The Blue Note)
Straight White Men (Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company at the Public Theater)
Runaways (Curtis High School)
The Invisible Hand (NYTW)
Runners Up (Also in no order):
Hand to God (MCC)
The Bridges of Madison County
Stage Kiss (Playwrights Horizons)
Violet (Roundabout)
Sex with Strangers (Second Stage)
Lips Together, Teeth Apart (Second Stage)
The Oldest Boy (Lincoln Center Theater)
Indian Ink (Roundabout)
The Underclassman (Prospect Theater Company)
Ghost Quartet (Bushwick Starr)
All Hail the Queen (54 Below)
The Big List:
Falstaff (The Metropolitan Opera)
Die Fledermaus (The Metropolitan Opera)
House of Dance (COIL Festival)
Disney’s Camp Rock (Upper Dublin High School Theater)
Have I No Mouth (Brokentalkers/Irish Arts Center/Barishnikov Arts Center)
Breathing Corpses
What’s It All About (NYTW)
Little Me (Encores!)
When We Met (CAP21)
Stop Hitting Yourself (LCT3)
Werther (The Metropolitan Opera)
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Hand to God (MCC)
Dinner with Friends (Roundabout)
The Bridges of Madison County
The Happiest Song Plays Last (Second Stage)
Roundabout Gala Show
Rocky
Fresh Produce’d
Stage Kiss (Playwrights Horizons)
The Most Happy Fella (Encores!)
King Lear (TFANA)
New York Pops Movie Music Concert (Carnegie Hall)
Violet (Roundabout)
Lyrics and Lyricists Rodgers and Hammerstein Concert (92nd Street Y)
Jasper in Deadland (Prospect Theater Company)
4@15 Show (1st show)
4@15 Show (2nd show)
4@15 Show (3rd show)
Casa Valentina (MTC)
Arabella (The Metropolitan Opera)
The Substance of Fire (Second Stage Theatre)
Cosi Fan Tutte (The Metropolitan Opera)
Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra (Playwrights Horizons)
Red-Eye to Havre de Grace (NYTW)
In the Park
American Hero (Second Stage)
Fly By Night (Playwrights Horizons)
Mothers and Sons
Tick, Tick… Boom! (Encores!)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Academia Nuts (NYMF)
Sex with Strangers (Second Stage)
Mala Hierba (Second Stage)
And I and Silence (Signature Theatre)
This is Our Youth
The Winter’s Tale (Public Theater Public Works)
Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons)
On the Town Event at Barnes and Noble
Berliner Philharmoniker (Carnegie Hall)
Lips Together, Teeth Apart (Second Stage)
On the Town
Ghost Quartet (Bushwick Starr)
All Hail the Queen (54 Below)
The Death of Klinghoffer (The Metropolitan Opera)
Days of Rage reading (NYU)
Grand Concourse (Playwrights Horizons)
Vanishing Point (54 Below)
The Oldest Boy (Lincoln Center Theater)
The Manhattan Transfer (The Blue Note)
The New York Pops By Special Request: An Evening with the Orchestra (Carnegie Hall)
Indian Ink (Roundabout)
Something Blue/Roboticus (NYTB Monthly New Works Series)
The Underclassman (Prospect Theater Company)
Tristan & Yseult (Kneehigh Theatre Company at St. Ann’s Warehouse)
Straight White Men (Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company at the Public Theater)
Runaways (Curtis High School)
Matthew and Kelli: Home for the Holidays (Carnegie Hall)
Matthew and Kelli: Home for the Holidays (Carnegie Hall–second time)
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Family Concert (Carnegie Hall)
Pocatello (Playwrights Horizons)
The Invisible Hand (NYTW)
La Traviata (The Metropolitan Opera)
Miscellaneous Panels, Exhibits, and Events:
Italian Futurism/Carrie Mae Weems
Whitney Biennial
Phillies/Mets Game at Citi Field
Audubon Butterfly Garden & Insectarium
Summer Streets (8/2)
Paley Center (9/7)
New York Comic Con
Nam June Paik: Becoming Robot
Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs/The Paris of Toulouse Lautrec: Prints and Posters/The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World/Cut to Swipe