The Best Theater of 2023: Shows that Ruled the Year

As 2023 comes to a close, New York City's top theatre critics have been taking stock of this theatre season- deciding on their personal choices for their favorite productions of the year. The season has been full of so many stellar plays, musicals, revivals and new works, both on Broadway and off.

Be sure to check back later for new additions as they're released!

NOTE: Some selections included in the lists below were presented regionally.

New York Times

Jesse Green

Love
A Doll’s House
How to Defend Yourself
Primary Trust
The Comeuppance
Just for Us
Infinite Life
Purlie Victorious 
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Stereophonic
Sondheim: Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Here We Are

Read the full list.

Vulture

Sara Holdren

School Pictures
Infinite Life
Stereophonic
Merrily We Roll Along
Snatch Adams & Tainty McCracken Present It’s That Time of the Month
Waiting for Godot
Translations
Purlie Victorious
Prometheus Firebringer
DruidO’Casey

Jackson McHenry

Stereophonic
Merrily We Roll Along
The Comeuppance
Infinite Life
The Light in the Piazza
Wet Brain
Primary Trust
Fagtasia: Wicked
How to Defend Yourself
The Trees

Read the full lists.

Wall Street Journal

Charles Isherwood

Infinite Life
Uncle Vanya
The Seagull/Woodstock NY
Endgame
Swing State
Prima Facie
Purlie Victorious
Days of Wine and Roses
Here Lies Love
Merrily We Roll Along
Spamalot

Read the full list.

Town & Country

A Doll's House
A Little Life
A Streetcar Named Desire
Downstate
Guys & Dolls
Here Lies Love
Here We Are
Just For Us
Merrily We Roll Along
Oliver!
Parade
Phaedra
Purlie Victorious
Stereophonic
Sunset Boulevard
Sweeney Todd
The Doctor
The Effect
Vanya

Read the full list.

Washington Post

Peter Marks

King Lear
Stereophonic
Merrily We Roll Along
Guys and Dolls
Sunset Boulevard
Monty Python’s Spamalot
English
Operation Mincemeat
Ragtime
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding

Read the full list.

Entertainment Weekly

Maureen Lee Lenker, Christian Holub, and  Emlyn Travis

Sweeney Todd
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
Parade
Jaja's African Hair Braiding
Here Lies Love
A Dolls House
Merrily We Roll Along
Purlie Victorious
Shucked
The Cottage

Read the full list.

Huffington Post

Candice Frederick

Good Night, Oscar
Prima Facie
Once Upon a One More Time
Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
Pictures from Home
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Summer, 1976
New York, New York
Spamalot

Read the full list.

The New Yorker

Vinson Cunningham and Helen Shaw

Des Moines
The Appointment
Endgame
Public Obscenities
The Good John Proctor
Sweeney Todd
The Comeuppance
Infinite Life
Purlie Victorious
Stereophonic

Read the full list.

New York Theatre Guide

Gillian Russo

All the Devils Are Here
Alex Edelman: Just For Us
The Girl You Talk To
The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
Parade
Fat Ham
Appropriate
The Comeuppance
Covenant
Dark Disabled Stories
Seven Sins
Cocktail Magique
School Pictures
Bob Fosse’s Dancin’
Letters from Max
Prima Facie

Read the full list.

USA Today

Patrick Ryan

Merrily We Roll Along
Parade
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Alex Edelman: Just For Us
Fat Ham
A Doll's House
Here Lies Love
Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Shucked

Read the full list.

Deadline

Greg Evans

Appropriate
Sweeney Todd
Purlie Victorious
Parade
Merrily We Roll Along
Fat Ham
A Doll's House
Prima Facie
Shucked
Spamalot

Read the full list.