Best Plays of 2022

As the end of the year approaches, I am once again making my list of the best productions I saw in New York City that opened this year.

If I were being just, I would include My Fellow Americans due to the amazing performance of Rebecca Ana Peña, but as the play's author, I'm probably a bit too close to it, so I'm disqualifying it.

Also disqualified is the virtual production of Kew Gardens as well as the live and virtual versions of A Christmas Carol at Passage Theatre Company. They weren't in New York City, anyway, nor were the productions of King Lear and Only Fools and Horses I saw in London.

Last year was rather lackluster in New York, though a couple good shows rose to the top of my list, including The Alchemist and The Streets of New York. It seems 2022 wasn't quite the year that theatre in this city got back into full swing, but at least there were a lot more good shows opening than there were in 2021.

So without further ado, here is my top-ten list in reverse order:

10. Cymbeline - New York Classical Theatre's outdoor production of Cymbeline was a blast, in large part due to Aziza Gharib, who played the show's heroine, Imogine.

9. Richard II - Another enjoyable outdoor production of Shakespeare was Hudson Classical Theater Company's Richard II at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Riverside Park. Nathan Mattingly played the title role.

8. Made By God - Ciara Ni Chuirc's new play that opened at Irish Rep at the beginning of this year has stayed with me. This meditation on the changing law regarding abortion in Ireland doesn't run away from tough issues of faith and society's shared responsibility for all of its members.

7. As You Like It - Generally, this is one of my least favorite Shakespeare plays, but Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery's musical adaptation was a delight this summer in Central Park. The songs perfectly captured the goofy, conflicted nature of the play's characters. I'd like to see regional theatres pick this one up for the future.

6. Ohio State Murders - Adrienne Kennedy finally made her Broadway debut this year, with help from the star power of Audra McDonald. Playing Suzanne Alexander, a fictionalized version of the playwright herself, McDonald takes us on a harrowing journey where small things take on terrifying aspects by pointing toward much darker ends. (Still playing!)

5. Candida - Gingold Theatrical Group's magnificent production of one of Bernard Shaw's most delightful comedies did not disappoint. Avanthika Srinivasan starred in the title role, while R.J. Foster and Avery Whitted played the two very different men who are in love with her. The production also featured the best set I saw in New York all year, wonderfully crafted by Lindsay Genevieve Fuori.

4. A Touch of the Poet - Irish Rep scored another hit with their revival of Eugene O'Neill's powerful exploration of one moment in American history. Robert Cuccioli was brilliant as Con Melody, but the real discovery was Belle Aykroyd, who played Con's daughter Sara. I'll have a full analysis of the production coming out next year in The Eugene O'Neill Review. The author never saw the play performed in his lifetime, but I think he would have appreciated this staging of it.

3. Downstate - In the past, I've not been a fan of the work of Bruce Norris, but Downstate, still playing through January 7th at Playwrights Horizons, deserves to be seen. The cast, including Glenn Davis, K. Todd Freeman, and Francis Guinan as convicted sex offenders living together in a group home in downstate Illinois while overseen by a parole officer (portrayed brilliantly by Susanna Guzman), is absolutely excellent. Even more important, though, is the way Norris interrogates a culture of victimhood and portrays what it might look like for people to truly take responsibility for their actions.

2. Leopoldstadt - Tom Stoppard's latest play is more conventional than most of his work, but it packs an emotional wallop, especially in these times of rising ethnic nationalism. I spoke about the production on CUNY TV, sharing my long-time love of Stoppard's plays. Though the storytelling is mostly straightforward, its enormous cast of characters would be impossible to follow were it not for the deft direction of Patrick Marber, who makes sure we understand the steady march of time through the most terrifying decades of the 20th century. Tickets are currently on sale until the beginning of July, so if you haven't seen it yet, go.

1. Paradise Square - My top choice will no doubt be controversial, but in spite of its many problems, Larry Kirwan's reimagining of Five Points during the infamous Civil War draft riots captured what contemporary theatre can be if it has the courage to try. Choreographer Bill T. Jones did an exceptional job, and Joaquina Kalukango brought down the house singing the brilliant number "Let It Burn." The music, which is inspired by the work of Stephen Foster, deserves the cast recording we've been promised, but alas, the financial mismanagement of producers could mean this show never again sees the light of day. That would be a shame, as it deserves a much larger audience than it received during its abbreviated run on Broadway.

Here's to an even better year in 2023!

Ohio State Murders

Adrienne Kennedy is currently making her Broadway debut with Ohio State Murders, thanks to the star power of Audra McDonald, who plays the lead in this not-quite-one-person play.

McDonald also helped another great American playwright, Lanie Robertson, make it to Broadway when she starred in another not-quite-one-person play, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. It's a reminder of how consequential stars can be, and how McDonald has used her influence to bring deserving plays to the boards.

Ohio State Murders also benefits from the direction of Kenny Leon, who has scored hits recently with his productions of Much Ado About Nothing and A Soldier's Play. Leon thrives when given quirky characters who behave in odd ways. He gives us just enough to have a glimpse at a character's hidden turmoil without having his performers rant and rail.

That approach is necessary for Ohio State Murders, which portrays a writer names Suzanne Alexander returning to her alma mater of Ohio State to give a speech about why there is so much violent imagery in her work. The reason, it turns out, has to do with certain events that happened on campus decades ago when she was a student. McDonald plays Alexander both as the idealistic young student and as the wary older author, but in both the past and present scenes, she holds everything together, and doesn't give way to waves of pain, grief, or vengeance.

Leon's directing approach also works for Bryce Pinkham, famous for his comic role in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, but playing a much more somber part in Kennedy's play. As Robert Hampshire, a lecturer at Ohio State who barely speaks when he's not lecturing, he is a constant enigma. Never at ease, either with others or with himself, he keeps both Alexander and the audience guessing as to his true intentions.

The production also boasts a magnificent set designed by Beowulf Boritt, showing suspended library bookcases, a deep chasm, and whirls of snow that all contribute to the play's effect. This is a production you won't want to miss, so go see it now!

Best Plays of 2014

It's that time of year again, and I'm compiling a list of the best new shows I saw in New York in 2014.

Last year the big hits included Saint Joan, Unlock'd, Tamar of the River, and Dialogues des Carmelites.

This year, the same rules apply. This list is only shows that opened in New York City in 2014. (Sorry, Matilda!) However, given my recent post on the top 12 plays of the late 18th century, I'm increasing my picks to a round dozen. Here they are in reverse order:

12. El Año en que nací  This documentary theater piece played at La Mama in January as part of the Under the Radar Festival. Performed in Spanish, with English supertitles, it featured young people imagining what life had been like in Chile for their parents around the years when they had been born. Playwright and director Lola Arias beautifully wove together narratives by each of the cast members, creating a haunting portrait of Chile under Pinochet.

11. Billy & Ray  This production at the Vineyard Theatre could hardly have been more different from the avant-garde style of Lola Arias, yet it also attempted to recreate true events. In this case, the action surrounded the writing of the screenplay for Double Indemnity, one of the most influential noir films of all time. Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, both brilliant writers in very different ways, collaborated to pen the screenplay, and the experience knocked poor Chandler off the wagon. Comic playwright Mike Bencivenga turned that story into a delightful, frequently farcical play that provided a platform for actors Vincent Kartheiser (Wilder) and Larry Pine (Chandler) to show their stuff. The result was an evening of pure magic.

10. Tamburlaine the Great  Christopher Marlowe might have been basing his megalomaniacal hero-villain on a real person, but facts in this play scarcely matter, and Theatre for a New Audience's production directed by Michael Boyd deftly set the production in a timeless era with geographical differences only hinted at from time to time. War, bloodshed, and pointless slaughter remain constant, no matter where or when they might occur. It's still playing until January 4, so get your tickets here.

9. pool (no water)  Mark Ravenhill's play received an excellent production at the Barrow Street Theatre in November, thanks to the One Year Lease Theater Company. Director Ianthe Demos broke up the famous in-your-face playwright's block text into five voices, performed by a superb cast of actors. The ingenious set consisted of only a handful of long, white benches, which the cast rearranged in astonishing ways. The story, which follows a group of artists invited out to visit the California home of one of their former associates, might not seem terribly moving (in part because the characters themselves are such terrible people), but innovative staging and exceptional acting made this piece a pleasure to watch, even as increasingly horrible things began to happen.

8. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill  This play by Lanie Robertson is sensational even without a star like Audra McDonald. However, with McDonald giving the performance of a lifetime, how could you not love it? James Noone provided a set design that transformed the Circle in the Square into a jazz club for legends fallen upon hard times. Instead of just a single piano player accompanying Billie Holiday, the audience was treated to a three-piece band that created a haunting and memorable sound. If you missed it, fortunately there's a cast album available.

7. Tristan & Yseult  Esteemed British company Kneehigh brought this fresh take on an old legend to St. Ann's Warehouse. Though the production contained less dance than I anticipated, I was not disappointed. Writers Anna Maria Murphy and Carl Grose kept a contemporary feel for the piece, with occasional nods to the medieval source material and the famous opera by Wagner. Most moving for me me was the portrayal of Whitehands, played by Kristy Woodward, who commented on the action with the aid of the Lovespotters, a chorus of crooners who observe love at arm's length but never engage in passion themselves. The audience, however, has no choice but to engage emotionally, whether flying with elated lovers or burning with despair in this production so skillfully directed by Emma Rice.

6. Red Velvet  Kudos to St. Ann's Warehouse for making the list twice with a second British import. Tricycle Theatre brought the 19th-century Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge to life in this wonderful new play by Lolita Chakrabarti. Adrian Lester, known for his own Shakespearean acting, played Aldridge with both easy grace and simmering anger. As a bonus for theatre history nerds, both Charles Kean and Ellen Tree made appearances in the play.

5. Machinal  In January, Roundabout officially opened this stunning revival of Sophie Treadwell's classic play. I saw it in previews and was quite moved by Rebecca Hall's magnificent performance as a doomed murderess. Treadwell's expressionist drama gives the audience nine scenes of descent into an increasingly mechanized life. This production also featured transitional scenes, as Es Devlin's set rotated to reveal new rooms, like fresh cages for urban rats. Director Lyndsey Turner skillfully helmed the play, steering us toward the inevitable conclusion, where the true horror of the machine, literal as well as metaphorical, becomes apparent. This was the kind of production that makes me regret not getting a chance to see more of Roundabout's plays.

4. That Poor Dream  The Assembly's modern-day adaptation of Great Expectations had me on two fronts, adapting a work by my favorite novelist and setting it aboard a familiar Metro North train headed from Grand Central to Connecticut. Though the piece skillfully uses much of the dialogue by Dickens, it branches out to explore how the issues in the novel apply to the United States in the 21st century. I'm writing in the present tense now because while That Poor Dream closed in October, it is reopening in January for six performances at The Tank. It's playing only from the 9th through the 11th, so get our tickets here.

3. King Lear  The Public Theater doesn't always do Shakespeare to my liking, but they nailed it this year with this magnificent outdoor production starring John Lithgow. Though excessively long (combining Shakespeare's two texts of Lear to create an extended version lasting well over three hours), this production gave a moving portrayal of a once-great man slipping into madness and struggling to regain his senses (and his dignity) again. Chuckwudi Iwuji, who also played Bajazeth in Tamburlaine, was a memorable Edgar, feigning madness with compelling vigor. His father Gloucester, played by Clarke Peters, was also quite effective. Though the set (designed by John Lee Beatty) might not have been as creative as the one for That Poor Dream, it worked incredibly well in Central Park's Delacorte, especially with lighting designed by Jeff Croiter and projections by Tal Yarden. Thankfully, director Daniel Sullivan brought it all together this time.

2. All the Way  Amazingly, I never blogged about this show, but perhaps I just wanted to keep the memory of it pure in my mind. The last time playwright Robert Schenkkan had a play on Broadway was The Kentucky Cycle in 1993. I saw that play as a freshman in college, and it left quite an impression on me. Now, more than two decades later, Schenkkan was back again with another play exploring America's history. This one focused on L.B.J.'s efforts to get the Civil Rights Act passed and then win re-election so the Republicans wouldn't smash it all to pieces. Bryan Cranston played President Johnson impeccably, virtually disappearing into his character. The rest of the cast was exceptional as well

1. Macbeth  Hands down, this was the theatrical event of the year. Kenneth Branagh starred in and co-directed this production at the Park Avenue Armory. Doctor Who's Alex Kingston played Lady Macbeth, and Jimmy Yuill (Captain Jamy from Branagh's Henry V) was Banquo. Though originally performed in a deconsecrated church, this production re-imagined itself for its new home in the Armory. It used the historic building for great effect, and when the doors opened into the massive drill hall, it was impossible not to be in awe of the Scottish heath that had been built inside the building. Open flames, clanging broadswords, and blood, blood, blood abounded. Even better, however, was watching Branagh illuminate Shakespeare's words in ways only he can do. The "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech seemed fresh and new, as if we were hearing it for the first time, even though many of us had been forced to memorize it in high school. Thank you, Mr. Branagh! And please come back to New York soon!

Honorable mentions include Red-Eye to Havre de Grace, Row After Row, and Hellman v. McCarthy. Here's to an even better theatre year in 2015!

Lady Day

What a pleasure it was to watch Audra McDonald and a three-piece jazz band last night in Lanie Robertson's play Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill. This is a wonderful play, beautifully acted, at Circle in the Square, one of the most intimate spaces you can have and still be on Broadway. If you haven't seen it yet, go.

McDonald gets Billie Holiday's voice right, and not only when she's singing, but when she's recounting stories from her life as well. I've seen her twice before on stage, but never like this. The celebrity is lost, completely subsumed by the character, who wanders through the audience members seated at tables in the "club" at the center of Circle in the Square. James Noone's set design echoes the decor of the theatre, helping the audience to feel that they are right there in the club with a jazz legend fallen on hard times.

The core of the play is the relationship between Billie and her pianist, Jimmy, played by veteran musician Shelton Becton. McDonald and Becton work wonderfully together, especially when creating the illusion that they don't work well together at all. As the play goes on, and Billie slips further toward oblivion, Jimmy does more and more to try and cover for her, proving Becton to be a skilled actor as well as a fine musician.

The sequence leading up to the song "Strange Fruit" is the emotional heart of the play. The racism spoken of--directly and indirectly--earlier becomes the focus. It is after this that Billie leaves the stage, completely distraught. After a brief instrumental number, she re-appears, having been "medicated" and now ready to finish the act.

Of course, things get worse, not better, and the final image of the show is one of tragedy, of silence, of death. The play takes the audience on a difficult emotional journey, but it is a journey well worth having.