Review: BWW's Shari Barrett Selects Her Favorite Plays in 2018

The month marks the start of my 7th year as a reviewer for Broadway World Los Angeles. With awards season in full bloom each January, many people ask me what my favorite shows were for the previous year. Since I see 3-5 shows per week, that is a difficult and time-consuming task for me to accomplish. But for 2018, I decided to go back through all the 188 reviews/articles I wrote for every show I saw and selected my top shows month-by-month. And what fun it was to go back and select one photo from each of the top 39 shows I selected, a few of which will appear in this post.

I posted all the reviews/articles for listed shows on either Broadway World Los Angeles or as my Stage Page column in the Culver City News, then shared links to them on each show's Better Lemons page.

Here is the list of My Favorite Plays in 2018

January

Into the Woods - Cupcake Studios

The Manor by Theatre 40 - Greystone Mansion

Billie Holiday Live - Hologram USA Theater

February

A Walk in the Woods - Actors Co-op

The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk - The Wallis

Six Characters in Search of a Play - Celebration

Dessa Rose - Chromolume Theatre

March

The New Colossus - Actor's Gang

A Man for All Seasons - Actors Co-op

Quartet - Little Fish

April

The Immigrant - Sierra Madre Playhouse

Dear John, Why Yoko by Anzu Lawson - Cal State LA

Lost in the Light - The Blue Door

May

Violet - Actors Co-op

Blues in the Night - The Wallis

Boing, Boing - Morgan Wixson Theatre

June

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - After Hours Theatre Company at Six01 Studios

Cabaret - Celebration Theatre

Sex and the Musical - 3 Clubs

July

Hershey Felder as Beethoven - The Wallis

The Rocky Horror Show - Maverick Theater

Bucket List Cabaret: Dark and Dirty - 3 Clubs

Mutt House - Kirk Douglas Theatre

August

Ain't Too Proud - Ahmanson

Arrival and Departure - Fountain Theatre

Paradise - A Divine Bluegrass Musical Comedy - Ruskin Group

September

Famous - 11:11 Experience

Silence! The Musical - Bucket List Theatre

26 Pebbles - Theatre 40

The Cake - Geffen Playhouse

October

Dear Evan Hansen - Ahmanson

Murder on the Orient Express - La Mirada Center for the Performing Arts

Return to the Forbidden Planet - Rubicon Theatre

November

A Christmas Carol - Geffen Playhouse

The Color Purple - Greenway Court

The Woman Who Went Into Space as a Man - Son of Semele Theater

December

Love Actually Live - The Wallis

Dixie's Tupperware Party - Kirk Douglas Theatre

Wink - Zephyr Theatre