Another year has come to pass, and with it, another outstanding year on the stage. From Hello Dolly! to Oh, Mary! these were the best plays and musicals of 2023.
Cabaret
Great theater—especially revivals—should inspire debate. Rebecca Frecknall’s Cabaret, starring Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin, did exactly that. It was not Liza’s Cabaret but to its fans it felt like the Cabaret for our times.
Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats ran for 18 years on Broadway and for 21 on the West End, trapping the musical about, well, cats in a kind of theatrical amber. Earlier this year at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York, a reimagining of the story inspired by the city’s drag balls shook off any dust from the show and turned it into glitter. Directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, this performance—which is rumored to be moving to Broadway, paws crossed—found a new look for what must be at this point the property’s ninth life, but also gave it a thumping joy and urgency that proves not only do cats always land on their feet, but they can do so in heels.
Dead Outlaw
Elmer McCurdy died in 1911 in a shootout with police after robbing a train in Oklahoma, but he hasn’t had much peace since. For more than 60 years, his remains were an attraction in carnivals and sideshows and, eventually, an amusement park in California where they were noticed by a TV crew and finally laid to rest. The wild story of McCurdy’s life and afterlife is the basis for this funny, enthralling piece that opened earlier this year at the Minetta Lane Theater and just announced a Broadway run next spring. The News of the Weird subject matter (especially as written by Itamar Moses) would be exciting enough, but when you add songs by David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna and direction by David Cromer, the result is an offbeat, exciting, and truly new musical the likes of which we see too rarely these days.
Death Becomes Her
The only thing that dismayed us about this musical version of the brilliant 1992 film Death Becomes Her is the way reviews referred to that source material. But no matter, because the show on stage is so funny and endearing that the lacking taste of some critics is as easy to forget as the mortal troubles of frenemies Madeline Ashton (Megan Hilty) and Helen Sharp (Jennifer Simard) once they take a mysterious potion that promises them eternal life—and then, unfortunately, delivers. The musical takes a somewhat screwball approach to the story and gives Hilty and Simard the chance to dial things up to 11 in the roles made famous on-screen by Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn; there are gags, special effects, and a lot of excellent songs (the book is by Marco Pennette, the music and lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey). Do we want to live forever? Maybe not. But eternity with this production doesn’t sound like an entirely rotten proposal.
Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard in Death Becomes Her.
An Enemy of the People
Henrik Ibsen’s play might date back to 1883, but this revival—adapted by Amy Herzog and starring Jeremy Strong—felt especially timely this year. That could be because the story, about a doctor attempting to warn his town about an impending disaster, hit close to home in an age of disinformation and division—just ask the activists who disrupted a performance with a protest from the audience. A play with impact is one thing, however, and a good play is another; this was both. Strong and the rest of the cast (including an excellent Michael Imperioli) delivered powerful performances, and the production made the most of Circle in the Square’s layout, inviting audience members on stage to take part in a mid-show activation and a town hall, democracy in action.
Illinoise
When Sufjan Stevens released his fifth album Illinois back in 2005—the second in what was then said jokingly to be a plan to release a record for each of the 50 states—it was a hit with critics and fans alike and the single “Chicago” became an early aughts anthem. None of that momentum was lost in the nearly 20-year span between when the record was released and when Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury adapted the work for the stage, first at the Park Avenue Armory and then on Broadway. The performance featured an original story and new arrangements of the songs as well as dance and live music and vocals. It was a lovesick fever dream of a show that thrilled longtime fans and minted plenty of new ones and set the standard for what it means to adapt an existing piece of art for a new medium.
GATZ
Can you sit down for a word-for-word, eight-hour (including dinner break!) reading of The Great Gatsby? Why, of course you can. We all did, when the Elevator Repair Service theater company brought its thrillingly ambitious GATZ back to The Public Theater for a sold-out run.
Elevator Repair Service’s Gatz at the Public Theater.
Hello Dolly!
Any time Imelda Staunton is willing to appear on the West End, it’s a cause for celebration. But in her layered, grounded performance as the matchmaker Dolly Levi in this revival of the Jerry Herman musical, she managed to dull memories of Carol Channing, Barbra Streisand, and Bette Midler. And, for the first time, this paper thin musical actually made emotional sense.
The Hills of California
Blackpool’s Seaview Luxury Guesthouse might not be where we want to stay, but for a few hours there was no place better to be. That’s where the Webb family reunites as their mother, Veronica, busies herself upstairs dying. Three of four sisters have come home to the ramshackle inn and the long-gone fourth, Joan, is on her way from California—maybe. A trip from the U.S. to England isn’t the only travel this play, written by Jez Butterworth and directed by Sam Mendes, explores; it also goes back in time, to a period 20 years earlier when the Webb girls were being prepped by their mother for a type of musical stardom that had already gone out of style, and damaged in ways that would stick with them forever. It’s a complicated, funny, dark play that creates a world both suffocating and irresistible. Considering the way a matinee haunted us, is it any wonder Joan ran like she did?
The Importance of Being Earnest
Another example of what the Brits do best. Because even if you know this Oscar Wilde farce backwards and forwards, this new production, starring Ncuti Gatwa (the current Doctor Who) feels as fresh and fun as they come. Sharon D Clarke is a divine Lady Bracknell.
The run, until late January, at London’s National Theatre, is mostly sold out, but beg, borrow or steal a ticket if you can.
Helen J Shen and Darren Criss in Maybe Happy Ending.
London Tide
Critics and audiences were unfairly lukewarm on this riveting stage adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend at the National Theatre earlier this year, featuring new, evocative and eminently hummable songs by Ben Power and PJ Harvey. Part soap opera, part morality tale, it’s the kind of moody, big swing, not-quite-musical that’s really stuck with us. And thankfully there’s a soundtrack available on Spotify.
Maybe Happy Ending
In The Wizard of Oz, the Tin Man is looking for a heart. In this new musical—written by Will Aronson and Hue Park and directed by Michael Arden—two obsolete robots (Darren Criss and Helen J Shen in her Broadway debut) prove theirs are working just fine as they form an unlikely friendship and go on an adventure that leads to more. Not only is the production visually stunning (with sets by Dane Laffrey), but thanks to the magnetism of its leads it becomes a thrilling, sometimes gutting story about finding connections, embracing vulnerability, and the importance of a fully charged battery.
Oedipus
This West End reimagining of Sophocles’ most famous tragedy in real time was as electric as anything writer-director Robert Icke, an international treasure, has ever done. Here Mark Strong played a politician waiting for his election night results, surrounded by his long supportive wife (Lesley Manville) and three kids. We know what’s coming, but how Icke gets us there is sexy, surprising, and still shocking. It’s running until January 4 at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre, This is a flat-out stunner.
Cole Escola as Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary!
Oh, Mary!
What’s left to say about Oh, Mary!, the much-talked-about play that began its life in January at the Lucille Lortel downtown and is ending the year with a many-times-extended Broadway run, an armful of awards, and a life after star-writer Cole Escola, with Betty Gilpin taking over the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in January? It’s a sharp, silly, crass, and completely delightful take on the life of Mrs. Lincoln, depicted here as a frustrated showgirl who never misses an opportunity to explore the bottom of a bottle; as we wrote around its Off-Broadway opening, “Oh, Mary! is as smart as it is stupid. It’s as funny as it is serious. And, most importantly, it’s only 80 minutes with no intermission.”
Portrait of Dorian Gray
Having seen her as Shiv on Succession, we all knew the Australian actress Sarah Snook could be conniving, but who knew she could play dozens of dozens of characters out of Oscar Wilde’s most famous gothic horror novel. The costume, wig, and camera work in this one-woman stage adaptation is gloriously wacky too, and thankfully you’ll be able to catch this wild ride on Broadway this spring.
Ragtime
At the New York City Center revival of the 1998 musical—which was adapted by Terrence McNally from E.L. Doctorow’s novel—there was little in the way of distraction. Productions at the Midtown Manhattan cultural temple tend to be light on the bells and whistle, but nothing felt missing in Ragtime, which starred a mighty cast including Joshua Henry, Nichelle Lewis, Caissie Levy, and Brandon Uranowitz, among others. It might not be surprising that another story about attempting to live the American Dream packed a wallop this year, but it was more than just the book that made this a must-see (and fueled rumors about a transfer to Broadway); the vocal talent performing the songs by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens was second to none, and reminded us that having talent and something to say with it is a combination that can never be beat.
Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Boulevard.
South Pacific
It was one night only, but Lincoln Center Theater’s special benefit reunion concert of Bartlett Sher’s award-winning revival reminded all in the audience of this classic’s incredible roster of songs and also of its vision and heart. Not to mention Kelli O’ Hara’s cartwheels.
A Streetcar Named Desire
In unexpected spaces around the country—a church, a store, a college campus—and without costumes or props, an affecting production of the Tennessee Williams classic bewitched audiences this year—priming us, perhaps, for the upcoming Brooklyn run of the West End production starring hunk du jour Paul Mescal. The Streetcar Project managed to hammer home the timeless power of Blanche, Stanley, and Stella, however, without a Gladiator in sight: directed by Nick Westrate and starring Lucy Owen, Brad Koed, Mallory Portnoy, and Will Rogers, it stripped the well-tread story of any artifice and delivered the steaminess, struggle, and sex appeal of the play in its most raw form.
Sunset Boulevard
It’s been a while since a show really took over New York—like when every dinner conversation includes mention of it, and in the cast of Jamie Lloyd’s Sunset Boulevard, when people camp out on 44th Street to catch the opening of Act Two. It’s the kind of musical that regularly receives mid-show standing ovations and that will be referenced in years to come: “I saw Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset.”
Waiting for Godot
Hilariously moving and, more importantly, always enthralling, the Irish director James McDonald brought a contemporary vitality to this play we all read in high school. With jaw-dropping, pitch perfect turns by all four actors—Lucian Msamati, Ben Whishaw, Tom Eden, and Jonathan Slinger—this West End production might have been the best version of Beckett’s comic tragedy we’ll see in our lifetimes. Jamie Lloyd plans to stage the show next year in New York with the original Bill and Ted, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. They have a lot to live up to.
