Your Top 10 Shows This Decade

[BentleyB]

The Ferryman

The Prom

Hello Dolly! W Bette

Come From Away

Hamilton

Something Rotten!

Sweeney - Barrow Street

Dear Evan Hanson

The Great Comet

To Kill A Mockingbird

Honorable mention: Moulin Rouge!, Once On This Island, Harry Potter-Cursed Child, A Christmas Story. 

[52889j]

In no particular order:

• Angels in America (National Theatre)
• Death of a Salesman (Theatre Mitu)
• Antigone (Shizuoka Performing Arts Center/Park Avenue Armory)
• Hamilton
• Sleep No More
• The Damned
• Othello (NYTW)
• Hadestown
• Hello, Dolly! (Bette)
• Oklahoma! (St Ann's)

Honorable Mentions:

• A Doll's House, Part 2
• The Color Purple
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
• The Waverly Gallery
• Vietgone

[magictodo123]

Top Musicals (and in no particular order):

Waitress

the Once On This Island revival 

Hair at Shakespeare in the Park 

the revival of Fiddler on The Roof

Come From Away 

Hamilton 

Bright Star 

Something Rotten!

My Fair Lady most recent revival 

Wicked 

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Fun Home, Hadestown, Great Comet, Cabaret revival, The Prom, Hello Dolly! Bernadette, Dear Evan Hansen, Pippin, Amelie, Sweeney Todd downtown  

Plays

Our Dear Dead Drug Lord 

Privacy at The Public Theater

The Play That Goes Wrong 

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child 

Animal (this was a play downtown at the Lucille Lortel about a woman who was going through Post Partum Depression. I think this was the title) 

The Mousetrap (saw this in London, I could not have predicted that twist) 

It's Only a Play 

The Ferryman 

Significant Other

A Parallelogram (Second Stage) 

 

[bwayphreak234]

In no particular order...

-Cabaret (2014 revival with Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams)

-Hello, Dolly! (2017 revival)

-Hamilton

-King Charles III

-My Fair Lady (2018 revival)

-The King and I (2015 revival)

-Matilda

-Hadestown

-Little Shop of Horrors (2019 Off-Broadway revival)

-The Ferryman

Honorable Mentions

-The Cher Show

-What the Constitution Means to Me

-American Psycho

-The Boys in the Band

[KnewItWhenIWasInFron]

The Book of Mormon

Clybourne Park

Fun Home

Hamilton

Indecent

The Little Foxes

An Octoroon

"Oklahoma" revival

Cromer "Our Town" (opened in 2009 but I saw it in 2010)

Shuffle Along

[BroadwayAndSports]

This was tough.

1. HAMILTON

2. COME FROM AWAY

3. DEAR EVAN HANSEN

4. THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG

5. HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD

6. SWEENEY TODD (Immersive)

7. THE BAND'S VISIT

8. BANDSTAND

9. THE WRONG MAN (off broadway) 

10. PIPPIN (revival)

[broadwaysfguy]

Absolutely Epic Decade of musical theatre that will stand the test of time

1) Hamilton

2)Book of Mormon

3) Dear Evan Hansen

4) Come from Away

5) Kinky Boots

6) Beautiful

7) Waitress

8) Fun Home

9) Hadestown

10) A Gentlemans Guide

 

Fantastic Honorable Mentions include:

Tootsie

Aint Too Proud

Mathilda

Once

Memphis

Newsies

Alladin

School of Rock

Something Rotten

Sister Act

 

[VintageSnarker]

Has it been an epic decade? It feels like a mediocre decade of theater with some fantastic revivals and a few big original musicals that stand out. 

[n2nbaby]

Hair was 2009, no?

[RWPrincess]

Anastasia

Aladdin

My Fair Lady revival

The Waverly Gallery 

SIX (Chicago Shakespeare)

Come From Away

Dear Evan Hansen

The Sound of Music LIVE (NBC production)

Beautiful

Tootsie

 

[David10086]

Hello Dolly (Donna Murphy)

Hello Dolly (Bernadette Peters)

Sunset Blvd

Great Comet

A Little Night Music (Peters)

Waitress

Beautiful

Phantom (hadn't seen it in 20+ years - still my favorite)

 

Really, the only musical I didn't like this past decade had to be "Summer"

[broadwaysfguy]

hi vintagesnarker

been a while since we have chatted. I knew epic would draw a response so we can have a dialogue vs another dreary list posting

Epic is certainly a subjective opinion, and it will take the advantage of time to see where the class of 2010-2019 stacks up against golden age decades in the 1950s and 1960s or the BIG musical 1980s or 1990s. 

my nomination for 2010s as EPIC is based on

1) Hamilton as a true gamechanger in making music in musicals contemporary as well as being in many critics opinion one of the greatest musicals of all time

2) Book of Mormon setting a new standard for musical comedy in terms of number of laughs, pushing boundaries, and having amazingly hooky songs

3) Dear Evan Hanson and  Come From Away as two extraordinary musicals dealing with very difficult subjects in amazing deft ways and launching Pasek & Paul as true creators at the top of their craft

4) Kinky Boots, Matilda, The Bands Visit, Waitress, Once and others for bringing the niche movie to musical adaptation to very high standards of execution and entertainment value

5) Beautiful, Aint Too Proud and Rock of Ages for demonstrating "jukebox" can deliver an entertaining  story and  fun and involved musical experience

 

five of the musicals from this class are in my top ten all time, so that is pretty EPIC for me personally (Ham, BOM, DEH, CFA, Kinky) and there is something about the contemporary feel that i like more than even watching a great revival of MFL, Fiddler, King & I, Dolly, How To Succeed, or other much loved classics.

So im good with "epic" as a descriptor for this decade. certainly a lot of not very good musicals to get through (spongebob and head over heels come to mind immediately). all in all 20 excellent to brilliant shows in 10 years is a very good output for broadway 

 

 

 

[Big Apple2]

[ACL2006]

1. Come From Away

2. The Book of Mormon

3. Hello, Dolly! (w/Bette)

4. The Color Purple

5. Curious Incident...

6. Kinky Boots

7. Pippin

8. The Cher Show

9. The Play That Goes Wrong

10. Once

Honorable Mention: Hunchback of Notre Dame at Papermill

 

 

[VintageSnarker]

Hi broadwaysfguy :)

Epic certainly makes more sense when you explain it like that. We differ on our opinions about the quality of the original musicals. I can see how you'd have a more positive view of the decade when you compare your list of great shows to mine. 

I'm not just hating on recent shows. I think 2000-2009 Broadway was similar. Meh overall but with some standout original shows. 

[A Canadian in NYC]

I was just figuring this out for myself a while back. In no particular order:

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hamilton

Dear Evan Hansen

She Loves Me

Sunday in the park With George

The Great Comet

The Ferryman

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 1 & 2

What the Constitution Means to Me

Hadestown

That all being said I’m coming to town next week and thinking Moulin Rouge might knock one of these off the list!

[uncageg]

Sorry, could not narrow it down to 10. I tried!

Musicals:

Follies

Shuffle Along

Pippin

Matilda

The Prom

The Visit

Caroline or Change (PPAS Production)

Heathers

Nevermore (The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe)

Leap of Faith

Bright Star

Hello Dolly (with Donna Murphy)

 

Plays:

The Children

Miles For Mary

Significant Other

Harry Clarke

The Humans

A Doll's House Pt. II

The Normal Heart

The Other Place

Bobbie Clearly

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Choir Boy

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Gary

School Girls or the African Mean Girls Play

Our Dear Dead Drug Lord

[tombomb31]

1. The Prom
2. Hello, Dolly
3. Follies
4. Addams Family
5. All My Sons
6. Glass Menagerie
7. Significant Other
8. On the Twentieth Century
9. War Paint
10. Sunset Boulevard
11. (bc I couldn’t narrow it down) Falsettos

[Robbie2]

MUSICALS

Hamilton

Hello Dolly-Bette Midler

Book of Mormon

Matilda

King and I

Hadestown

Anything Goes

Fun Home

The Band's Visit

Sunday in the Park with George

*Honorable Mentions*

Shuffle Along

Once

On the 20th Century

Pippin

On the Town

 

 

 

[forgetmenotnyc]

Matilda
Natasha,Pierre & the Great Comet
War Paint

Follies rev.
Cabaret rev.
Color purple rev.
On the 20th Century rev

Harry Potter
Humans
Inheritance

[magictodo123]

n2nbaby said: "Hair was 2009, no?"

Ah shoot you're right. um. Another musical...hmm....I'll take one of my honorable mentions and promote them. I'm going to go with Hello Dolly! with Bernadette and Victor Garber. Seeing them together onstage after seeing them on screen in various things was very special. 

[Skip23]

VintageSnarker said: "Has it been an epic decade? It feels like a mediocre decade of theater with some fantastic revivals and a few big original musicals that stand out."

 

“Like”

[magictodo123]

Skip23 said: "VintageSnarker said: "Has it been an epic decade? It feels like a mediocre decade of theater with some fantastic revivals and a few big original musicals that stand out."



“Like”"

I think that truly depends on the individual and is not up for a general consensus. Each show means something to someone else, people connect with shows in different ways. So I don't think you can't make that sort of general statement. 

[bandit964]

The Hollywood Reporter's List:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/best-new-york-theater-decade-1258955

[gibsons2]

Since my theater obsession started fairly recently (2014 to be exact), here's my list:

Hadestown

Matilda

Waitress

Harry Potter

Slave Play

The Great Comet of 1812

Something Rotten!

Band's Visit

King Kong (a flop, but nevertheless epic)

Oklahoma! revival

I'm sure Hamilton would be on this list if I saw it. But I keep applying for the lottery and hoping to see it one day. After so many cast changes, I'm not ready to pay over $200 for a ticket. I love seeing the original cast of every show I see, that's why previews are my favorite way to see theater.