Countdown to 2020: 2019 Theater
Last year I saw 65 shows, my lowest yet. This year I saw 89. I don't know whether to congratulate myself for increasing my number by more than 20 and getting back to where I'd been in previous years or chastise myself for spending too much time at the theater and not enough on my own writing and other things. Last year I'd accepted the fact that I was now only going to be seeing 60-70 shows a year. However, last fall I was incredibly busy with my own shows, so I did miss a lot that I'd wanted to see. Would I rather see less and do my own writing and shows more? I don't have an answer.
I saw a good number of these shows for free or paid a discount rate. I saw Is This a Room 3 times and A Strange Loop and Slava's Snowshow 2 times. I also performed in 4 of them: The Pops holiday concert twice, one of the Free Dirt/Bootleg Comedy shows, and my own cabaret at the Duplex. 5 shows were concerts/workshops of my own work: The 4 performances of the Stonewall Operas and Days of Rage in Concert. 1 show (as opposed to last year's 3) were connected to articles I wrote, this one for American Theater Magazine. 1 was in New Orleans. 15 were comedy (standup or improv) shows, 6 were operas, 1 was an album release concert.
I have highlighted my favorites, and 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):
Is This a Room (The Kitchen and The Vineyard)
Significant Other Reading (JCC)
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
A Strange Loop (Playwrights Horizons)
The Origin of Love: The Songs and Stories of Hedwig (Town Hall)
What the Constitution Means to Me
Salty Brine: My Life Has Been Extraordinary (Pangea)
Oklahoma
Slava's Snowshow
The Stonewall Operas (all performances but especially the Sunday night at The Stonewall Inn)
Runners Up (Also in no order):
Choir Boy (MTC)
Lyrics and Lyricists: Rodgers and Hart (92nd Street Y)
Anne of Green Gables (Royal Family)
The Prom
Hillary and Clinton
Caroline, or Change (APAC)
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Live (Radio City)
Octet (Signature Theatre)
My Fair Lady (Lincoln Center Theater)
In the Green (LCT3)
Be More Chill
Evita (City Center Encores!)
One in Two (The New Group)
The Big List:
Choir Boy (MTC)
The Jungle (St. Ann's Warehouse)
Fabulation (Signature Theatre)
Is This a Room (The Kitchen)
Slave Play (New York Theatre Workshop)
ICB Comedy Show (VSpot)
Lyrics and Lyricists: Rodgers and Hart (92nd Street Y)
Significant Other Reading (JCC)
Call Me Madam (City Center Encores!)
Anne of Green Gables (Royal Family)
Luna Park Reading (NYFA)
Superhero (Second Stage)
The Prom
If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka (Playwrights Horizons)
Hurricane Diane (New York Theatre Workshop)
Merrily We Roll Along (Fiasco/Roundabout)
The Valkyrie (Metropolitan Opera)
Opera Now: Three to See (Provincetown Playhouse)
Learning Spring Talent Show
Alice by Heart (MCC)
Elevator Heart (Access Theater)
New Zealand Mosque Fundraiser Comedy Show (Caveat)
Hillary and Clinton
Accidentally Brave (Daryl Roth Theater)
Tootsie
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Caroline, or Change (APAC)
Kiss Me, Kate (Roundabout)
Free Dirt Comedy (Karma)
American Morning (Prospect Theater Company)
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Live (Radio City)
Stonewall Operas (NYU- Saturday afternoon)
Stonewall Operas (NYU- Saturday night)
Stonewall Operas (The Stonewall Inn-Sunday night)
Stonewall Operas (The Stonewall Inn- Monday night)
Octet (Signature Theatre)
Free Dirt Comedy (Karma)
Summon the GOATs Comedy Show (Lantern)
Free Dirt Comedy (Karma)
Yiddish Flavors of Love: A Musical Celebration (Merkin Concert Hall)
A Strange Loop (Playwrights Horizons)
The El Salomon's: Too Proud (The Duplex)
Office Comedy Reading (Robert Moss Theater)
My Fair Lady (Lincoln Center Theater)
Working (City Center Encores Off-Center)
The Origin of Love: The Songs and Stories of Hedwig (Town Hall)
Dying City (Second Stage)
Improvised Buffy (Kraine Theater)
Yes Gabriel Album Release Show (Rockwood)
King Kong
We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time (Public Theater)
In the Green (LCT3)
Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrow Street Theater)
Black Hole Wedding (NYMF)
Fairview (TFANA)
What the Constitution Means to Me
A Strange Loop (Playwrights Horizons--2nd Time)
Reborning (Soho Playhouse)
Toni Stone (Roundabout Theatre Company)
Be More Chill
Raw Pasta (Ohio Theater)
Salty Brine: My Life Has Been Extraordinary (Pangea)
Beetlejuice
Make Believe (Second Stage)
Not Coming Back (Duplex Cabaret Theater)
Get On Your Knees (Lucille Lortel)
You Don't Know the Half of It (Petite Theater New Orleans)
Comedy On Edge (Espresso 77)
Oklahoma
Free Dirt/Bootleg Comedy Show (Karma)
Craig Furguson (Playstation Theater)
Days of Rage Concert (Green Room 42)
Soft Power (The Public Theater)
The Sceance Machine (The Tank)
Free Dirt/Bootleg Comedy Show (Karma)
Is This a Room (Vineyard Theater--2nd Time)
The Wrong Man (MCC)
Arab-American Comedy Festival (Gotham Comedy Club)
Evita (City Center Encores!)
Is This a Room (Vineyard Theater--3rd Time)
Scotland, PA (Roundabout Theatre Company)
Marguerite (APAC)
Slava's Snowshow
Free Dirt/Bootleg Comedy Show (Karma)
Einstein's Dreams (Prospect Theater Company/59E59)
New York Pops Holiday Concert (Carnegie Hall--Friday)
New York Pops Holiday Concert (Carnegie Hall--Saturday)
One in Two (The New Group)
Slava's Snowshow
Miscellaneous Panels, Exhibits, and Events:
The New Orleans Insectarium, 1/21
Perez Art Museum Miami, 2/18
Athena Film Festival Awards Ceremy, 3/1
Thornton Wilder: Wilder on Women, 4/1
Musical Theater Today Launch Party, 4/29
Art After Stonewall 1969-1989, Grey Gallery, NYU, 4/23
ModPo Poetry Meetup, 4/27
Frida Kahlo and more at the Brooklyn Museum, 5/5
Barnard Reunion and Moth Storytelling Event, 6/1
THE WALK! 19!, 6/8
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, 8/11
Hatch Show Print Shop, 8/11
Ryman Auditorium Tour, 8/12
The Biltmore House and Gardens, 8/14
Southern Highland Folk Art Center, 8/15
Longwood Gardens, 9/1
Photoville, 9/15
New Orleans Street Art Tour, 9/23
New Orleans City Park Sculture Garden, 9/24
New York Comic Con, 10/3
New York Comic Con, 10/4
New York Comic Con, 10/6
ModPo Poetry Meetup, 10/19
ModPo Poetry Meetup, 11/16