Favorite Shows of 2019

[BroadwayGuy12]

We have a thread discussing the best Broadway cast recording of 2019, as well as threads discussing the best and worst of the past decade, but I didn't see a thread devoted simply to what everyone saw this year (apologies if this already exists; I did a search and nothing turned up!).

So, what were your favorite theatrical experiences of 2019? Feel free to list as many or as few as you'd like.

Here's mine:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Hadestown

What the Constitution Means to Me

Mrs. Murray's Menagerie

Octet

A Strange Loop

Six (A.R.T.)

The Wrong Man

Little Shop of Horrors 

[Ben_Platt_Out]

Oklahoma

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

More specifically, my favorite theatrical experiences of this year were getting a job in the industry (FINALLY) and performing my one-woman show in NYC again (which you, BroadwayGuy, so graciously support). The Across a Crowded Room writers' workshop at Lincoln Center was also great fun.

Broadwaywise, I only saw The Prom, Kiss Me Kate, Merrily We Roll Along, BCEFA's Red Bucket Follies, and Jagged Little Pill. Long story as to why I don't see more stuff. But I really enjoyed all five of them!

[Jarethan]

Musicals:

Oklahoma

Moulin Rouge

Did not like anything else I saw enough

Plays:

To Kill a Mockingbird (assuming it actually opened in 2019)

The Sound Inside

Slave Play

The Lehman Trilogy

King Lear Revival

Hated:

Hadestown (my wife loved it)

Gary

 

 

 

[RWPrincess]

SIX (Chicago)

Rock of Ages (NWS)

Yiddish Fiddler

Tootsie

Burn This

The Waverly Gallery

BCEFA Disney on Broadway 25th Anniversary Concert

[gibsons2]

Favorite musicals:

Hadestown (Really loved the score, still listen to the songs. The chemistry between Eva and Reeve was electrifying)

Oklahoma! (I was lucky enough to see the full original cast, although I saw it recently for the first time. Was blown away by the actor who played Jud)

Favorite plays:

Slave play

The Sound Inside (was my first play with Mary Louise Parker who I can't wait to see again).

Biggest disappointments of 2019: Moulin Rouge and Betrayal. Too much hype and high expectations that didn't deliver for me personally.

[bwayphreak234]

West Side Story
Little Shop of Horrors (Off- Broadway)
Evita (New York City Center)
The Sound Inside
What the Constitution Means to Me
Oklahoma!
Moulin Rouge!
Hadestown

[Robbie2]

Hadestown

To Kill a Mockingbird

[dmwnc1959]

BroadwayGuy12 said: "So, what were your favorite theatrical experiences of 2019?"
 

My favorite theatrical experience of 2019 wasn’t a show that opened this year, but closed - KINKY BOOTS. Saw it back-to-back the same day with my other favorite theatrical experience or 2019, again not a show that opened this year but is the longest running - PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. With both shows it was my first time seeing them on Broadway, and was blown away by both of them. 

 

[UncleCharlie]

Will have ended up seeing 23 Broadway shows during calendar 2019 and given I live at the other end of the country, I'm pretty pleased with that total. Many of them were very good, a few real clinkers but the 8 best I saw regardless of what year in which they opened were:

The Sound Inside

Moulin Rouge

The Ferryman

Network

The Band's Visit (repeat visit)

Waverly Gallery

Come From Away (repeat visit)

Choir Boy

 

Honorable mention to Fiddler in Yiddish even though it was off Broadway. Just wonderful.

[BWAY Baby2]

Best musical- Moulin Rouge

Best drama- The Inheritance

[Synecdoche2]

Best New Play: Nantucket Sleigh Ride by John Guare

Best New Musical: In the Green by Grace McLean

Best Revival: Juno and the Paycock at the Irish Rep

Best Performance: Monette McGrath in The Rainmaker at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

Best Ensemble: Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie by the Mad Ones

Director of the Year: Robert O’Hara

Playwright of the Year: Jackie Sibblies Drury (Fairview, Marys Seacole)

Company of the Year: Signature Theatre (By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, Curse of the Starving Class, Young Man from Atlanta)

Other great theatre: Choir Boy, Hurricane Diane, Eat the Devil, The B-Side, Dying City, Shadow of a Gunman, Promenade, The Sound Inside, London Assurance, The Thin Place

[Ledaero]

My top 10:

1. Choir Boy - Manhattan Theatre Club
2. Octet - Signature Theatre
3. Heroes of the Fourth Turning - Playwrights Horizons
4. Daddy - The New Group and Vineyard Theatre
5. White Noise - Public Theater
6. The Flick - Shotgun Players
7. Hurricane Diane - New York Theatre Workshop
8. Our Dear Dead Druglord - Women’s Project Theatre
9. Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie - Ars Nova
10. The Lehman Trilogy - Park Avenue Armory

[AlexxGee]

Hadestown, The Prom (deserved better), and Oklahoma!

[Kitsune]

After I see Pride and Prejudice at Theatreworks tomorrow, I will have seen 60 shows this year. 49 of them are unique. 12 were Broadway, 4 were off-Broadway, 8 were touring productions, and 25 were Bay Area regional/local shows. I saw 38 musicals and 11 plays, plus 8 concerts/cabaret shows (not included in the totals above).

The show I saw the most was SF Playhouse's production of Groundhog Day (5 times so far), followed by Come From Away (4 times between the tour and Broadway). I also saw Octet, Hello Dolly!, Hamilton San Francisco, and Hadestown each twice.

 

My top picks:

Come From Away (saw both the tour and Broadway productions)

The Scarlet Pimpernel (concert at Lincoln Center)

Metamorphoses (Berkeley Rep)

Hello Dolly! (tour)

The Jungle (Curran Theater in San Francisco)

Weightless (ACT in San Francisco)

Hadestown

The Ferryman

Octet

Once (42nd Street Moon in San Francisco)

The Cake (New Conservatory Theater in San Francisco)

Groundhog Day (SF Playhouse in San Francisco)

 

Honorable mentions:

-What the Constitution Means to Me

-The Prom

-Bull in a China Shop (Aurora Theater Company in Berkeley, CA)

-The Daughters (SF Playhouse in San Francisco, CA)

-Cabaret (SF Playhouse in San Francisco, CA)

-The Play That Goes Wrong (tour)

-Hamilton (And Peggy) tour

 

Notable concert/cabaret: 

-Faith Prince

-Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp 

-Beth Leavel

[stoptheworld38]

My favorite shows that I saw were The Band’s Visit (Broadway) and Come From Away (tour, second time after Toronto 2018) but my favorite show that came out this year is Hadestown, which I’m seeing sometime in the spring.

[fitzdavid2]

In no particular order:

Heroes of the Fourth Turning

The Prom

The Sound Inside

Betrayal

Hilary and Clinton

Greater Clements

Choirboy

Height of the Storm

Scotland, Pa.

Beetlejuice

 

 

[fitzdavid2]

In no particular order:

Heroes of the Fourth Turning

The Prom

The Sound Inside

Betrayal

Hilary and Clinton

Greater Clements

Choirboy

Height of the Storm

Scotland, Pa.

Beetlejuice

 

 

[Miles2Go2]

Listed Alphabetically:

* The Band’s Visit (Broadway - second visit) 
* Falsettos (on tour/Sacramento)
* Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish
* Frost/Nixon (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma)
* Hadestown
* Hamilton (once in Chicago, twice on The Philip Tour in OKC)
* Hello, Dolly! (on tour/OKC)
* Little Shop of Horrors
* Moulin Rouge
* Waitress (on tour/Oklahoma City)
* The Waverly Gallery

Honorable Mention:

Torch Song

To Kill a Mockingbird

[jbird5]

TKAM

Oklahoma!

Hadestown

Linda Vista

Dance Nation (Wilma Theatre)

[ACL2006]

The closing performances of THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG & KINKY BOOTS. 

COME FROM AWAY(4x in 2019)

HADESTOWN

 

[bandit964]

The Jungle

Fairview

Octet

Slave Play

[hak5]

 

[hak5]

i did not see much in 2019.

 

HADESTOWN best theatre i've seen in a long time.  love the music and the staging is fantastic.

Beetlejuice such a fun time in the theatre, lex Brightman was robbed

Oklahoma! a fresh take on a classic show

Moulin Rogue! another fun time.  Danny Burstein for the Tony

in chicago i finally saw HAMILTON after years of avoiding it, liked it a ton

 

[hork]

Musical: Oklahoma!

Play: The Inheritance and The Sound Inside

Immersive: The Blood Comedies and The Winter Machine (both in L.A.). The Blood Comedies is my favorite theatrical experience of any kind. It was just me and one actor in a room for 30 minutes and it was one of the best things I've ever experienced. By the end of it, I was sobbing, the actor was crying, we were hugging, it was extraordinary.