Countdown to 2019: 2018 Theater
Last year I saw 75 shows, not a bad showing. This year I saw 65. Sadly, 69 had been the lowest count thus far, so now I've hit a new low. I'm accepting that my show count should be in the 60s and 70s, so 64 is still in keeping with what I expect, especially when I missed a ton of shows I'd wanted to see this past fall.
I saw a good number of these shows for free and paid a discount rate for most of the others. Last year I saw multiple shows multiple times, but this year the only show I saw for a second time was the Hello, Dolly revival, this time with Bernadette Peters (the first time was with Donna Murphy the previous year). I also performed in 6 of them: The Pops holiday concert twice, the Pops Broadway program "Song and Dance," Everybody's Theater Company's New Works Spring Forth, Russell's piano concert, and then my own cabaret at the Duplex. 3 shows were concerts/workshops of my own work: A Story No One Knows at NYTB and the two workshops of Days of Rage. 3 shows (as opposed to last year's 9) were connected to articles I wrote for Culturadar.com and Musical Theater Today. 1 show was an autism-friendly performance for people with autism. 2 were in Philly, 1 was in San Diego, 1 was in Peterborough, NH, and 2 were in New Jersey.
I used to do a star rating system, but since I know people involved in many of these shows, I've done away with that and just highlighted my favorites. After the favorites is the HUGE list of everything I saw. Then, I have listed some fun panels, exhibits, and events I also attended this year.
Top 10 Favorites (in no order, I swear):
Angels in America Parts 1 and 2
Spongebob Square Pants
Dance Nation
Salty Brine: I'm a lot Like You
Hello, Dolly!
The Skin of Our Teeth
Don't Bother Me I Can't Cope
Fiddler on the Roof
Scum
What the Constituion Means to Me
Runners Up (Also in no order):
Passing Strange
Once on this Island
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
One Thousand and One Nights and One Day
The El Salomons at Union Hall
School Girls, Or The African Mean Girls Play
The Band's Visit
Straight White Men
Head Over Heels
The Big List:
The Band's Visit
Passing Strange (Wilma Theater)
Mankind (Playwrights Horizons)
The Children (MTC)
Next to Normal Concert Reading (JCC)
Cardinal (2nd Stage)
Wicked (Autism Friendly Performance)
Once on this Island
Hey, Look Me Over (City Center Encores!)
Miles for Mary (Playwrights Horizons)
The Cake (La Jolla Playhouse)
Angels in America Part 1
Angels in America Part 2
Razorhurst (Luna Stage)
Folk Wandering (Pipeline Theater Company)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Two River Theater)
Cosi Fan Tutte (Metropolitan Opera)
Queens (LCT3)
Learning Spring Talent Show
Love Trade (La Mama)
One Thousand Nights and One Day (Prospect Theater)
A Story No One Knows Concert (NYTB)
This Flat Earth (Playwrights Horizons)
Daryl's Opera Concert (Shetler Studios)
Follies (APAC)
Spongebob Square Pants
Lobby Hero (2nd Stage- Broadway)
New Works Spring Forth (Everybody's Theater Company)
Dance Nation (Playwrights Horizons)
To Everything There Is a Season: The Year in Yiddish Song (Merkin Concert Hall)
Salty Brine: I'm a lot Like You (Pangea)
Carmen Jones (Classic Stage)
Hello, Dolly! (2nd time)
Sugar in Our Wounds (MTC)
The Skin of Our Teeth (Peterborough Players)
Mary Paige Marlow (2nd Stage)
Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (City Center Encores Off-Center)
My Fair Lady (LCT)
Fiddler on the Roof (National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene)
Straight White Men (2nd Stage-Broadway)
It Came From Beyond (St. Luke's Theater)
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park)
Scum (Producer's Club)
Worse Than Tigers (New Ohio Theater)
Arizona Justice (Theatre for a New City)
Michael Jackson: Real Talk (Ars Nova)
QED Show (QED)
The No Fly List (Magnet Theater)
Collective Rage (MCC)
Days of Rage Workshop 1 (Town Stages)
Days of Rage Workshop 2 (Town Stages)
What the Constitution Means to Me (NYTW)
The El Solomans (Union Hall)
Days of Rage (2nd Stage)
Not Coming Back (Duplex)
Russell's Concert (Centerpoint Gallery)
School Girls or The African Mean Girls Play second time (MCC)
The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons)
Song and Dance: The Best of Broadway with the New York Pops (Carnegie Hall)
Luna Park reading (APAC)
Noura (Playwrights Horizons)
It's a Wonderful Life Radio Play (The Triad)
Under the Mistletoe with Ashley Brown and the New York Pops 1 (Carnegie Hall)
Under the Mistletoe with Ashley Brown and the New York Pops 2 (Carnegie Hall)
Head Over Heels
Miscellaneous Panels, Exhibits, and Events:
Poetry Reading at Zinc Bar (1/6)
The Getty Villa (2/19)
LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) (2/20)
Athena Film Festival Awards (2/23)
ModPo Meetup (4/28)
Paley Center (4/28)
Musical Theater Today Launch Party (7/16)
Emily Dickinson House and Museum (11/24)