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Post by alessia on Dec 15, 2022 15:28:52 GMT
Can I do best 10?
1 Jerusalem
2 Cyrano De Bergerac
3 Pride and Prejudice (sort of)
4 The P word
5 Folk
6 Sing yer heart out for the lads
7 Iphigenia in Splott
8 Blues for an Alabama Sky
9 Blackout Songs
10 A Christmas Carol (Old Vic)
Worse 3
1 The boy with two hearts
2 Marvellous
3 Chasing Hares
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Post by bonnotonno on Dec 15, 2022 15:59:06 GMT
1. Blues for an Alabama Sky
2. Best of Enemies
3. Da Vinci Code
4. My Sons a Queer
5. The Play That Goes Wrong
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Post by orchidman on Dec 15, 2022 19:47:03 GMT
Jerusalem was the only 5 star play in London this year which is depressing.
Cabaret is now better without Eddie Redmayne.
The Piano Lesson on Broadway the best new production of the year even if it's still a revival.
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Post by edi on Dec 15, 2022 19:47:49 GMT
I didn't have a particularly good year with the theatre, and going through my shortish list I realized that most of the time I was happy when it made me laugh.
The first was the best but after that, in no particular order:
1 Blues of Alabama sky
Jack Absolute Flies again
All of Us
Upstart Crow
The doctor
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Post by vickyg on Dec 15, 2022 23:43:14 GMT
Not a great theatre year for me at all and struggled to get to 5. But, in order, they are:- My absolute top, untouchable favourite was Tammy Faye, Almeida
- Hilary Hahn: Beethoven's sonatas 9 and 10 for Violin and Piano with Andreas Haefliger at Wigmore Hall
(Huge gap between 1&2 and the rest)
3. Sister Act
4. The Drifters Girl
5. Operation Mincemeat
Looks like in theatre terms nothing non musical made the cut! |
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Post by westendrebecca on Dec 16, 2022 2:38:24 GMT
18th and final show of the year coming up tomorrow (Wicked, which I have somehow never seen!), so here's my top 5 before I see that:
1. Closing night of Dear Evan Hansen - I will never forget it, the atmosphere in the theatre was incredible and I'm so grateful I got to be there. The energy and emotions in that theatre was something I had never experienced before.
(In order to not repeat a musical in my top 5, I'm skipping the other two times I saw DEH...can you tell what one of my favourite shows is!)
2. Come From Away - saw it twice this year and it blew me away, I knew I would love it but didn't realise just how much I would love it!
3. Frozen - saw it twice as well after having seen it on Broadway in 2018 and it was amazing to re-experience my first Broadway show again, it was just as magical as the first time, especially as the second time I saw it in the West End I had incredible seats and got to experience all the special effects fully.
4. SIX (at Hampton Court Palace) - this makes the top 5 based on the atmosphere and the location, (I had seen the show once before in 2021) but seeing it in a relevant historical location was an amazing experience and the audience was great too!
5. This could quite easily be a multiple way tie, but I think I'll give it to Heathers as I was front row and it was a TOTALLY different experience to having seen it the first two times (Haymarket 2021, Tour 2021). I felt much more immersed in the show and absolutely loved Ailsa and Ben as Veronica and JD.
Honourable mentions - Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World, the choreography in Grease, Waitress.
As you can see my top 5 shows aren't necessarily based on how good the show is/how good I thought it was, I find it really hard to be critical of shows, but it's more based on the experience I had at them! It's also the most shows I have ever seen in a year, and I will probably never achieve that many again! I'll also update this after Wicked if I remember!
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Post by intoanewlife on Dec 16, 2022 15:39:40 GMT
I've spent most of the year doing all the traveling I didn't do the past 2 years, so haven't caught much this year.
1. The Bands Visit
A truly sublime production of one of the best musicals of the past 10 years.
2. Tammy Faye
Currently a 3 star production, but here's hoping one day it will become the 5 star production that's hiding in there somewhere.
3. Who Killed My Father
The first hour was fantastic, unfortunately it then turned to sh*t.
4. Abba - Voyage
2/3rds genius. 1/3 diabolical overuse of pointless video clips. Highly enjoyable non the less, but I'd have preferred to just watch the 'Abbatars' for 90 mins.
5. Billie Eilish - The O2
This would actually be my number 1, but as no one else will likely vote for it there's no point stealing points from Bands Visit.
A brilliant show with innovative lighting and very clever use of screens. A fantastic setlist of brilliant songs and an amazing performer who knows how to work an audience. Concert perfection.
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Post by artea on Dec 18, 2022 18:12:07 GMT
1. Yuja Wang piano recital at the Barbican. I don't mean to be contrary by putting classical music at the very top, but this was simply the most powerful, most dramatic, most uplifting, most brilliant performance I went to this year. And to "prove" it: 9 encores. 2 1/2 hour recitals are rare too. Yuja Wang is extraordinary.
2. Jack Absolute Flies Again, NT. So funny, so well-written and acted (esp Caroline Quentin), and for once, a director who not only didn't drown in the Olivier, but filled it (inc the walls) with production.
3. John Gabriel Borkman, Bridge. Because SRB. Because it got King Lear-intense at the end. I luckily saw it straight-on from the stalls. From the left side looking at the stage, you'd have missed an awful lot. Probably Nicholas Hytner's first venture into non-Shakespeare classical theatre at the Bridge and by far his best work so far. The stress on new plays isn't working out as hoped but sadly, Ibsen didn't get the audience it deserved either.
4. Don Pasquale, ROH. The director, Damiano Michieletto, is one of quite a few now who direct opera but seem to avoid theatre. Others include Stefan Herheim and the great Barrie Kosky. They tend towards the "wacky" end of opera production rather than the dead, old-fashioned stand-and-deliver approach which is best watched on radio. The thing is: they're visually very imaginative and demand decent acting. They're always interesting.
5. Tammy Faye, Almeida. Because, and not for the first time on this board, Katie Brayben.
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2,761 posts
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Post by n1david on Dec 18, 2022 18:45:43 GMT
A week in and we're already at more than half the votes that we got in total last year. There is one clear early favourite, which won't surprise anyone if you've been reading the posts, but beyond that it's all very tight with a clear possibility that a play could be in the no.2 spot this year. Also interesting to see some revivals and long-runners score well where if we added together last year's score and this year's score they would be up in the Top 5. The arbitrariness of the year-end means that shows that run, for example from November 15 - February 15 would get their votes split across two years compared to a show that runs May-July.
A couple of people have said they may come back to their votes after seeing some more shows, and that's fine, but if you do that please flag that you've done it so that I don't double-count your entry.
And I do appreciate it if you can stick to five, but I'm finding that difficult too this year and I've still got a couple of shows to see. I do weight the votes so if you mention ten shows then I only give them 0.5 each so that your votes don't have twice the weight of someone who only names five.
Looking forward to hearing more opinions...
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Post by sophia on Dec 18, 2022 20:23:01 GMT
1. Cabaret
2. The Band’s Visit
3. Oklahoma
4. My Neighbour Totoro
5. Newsies
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148 posts
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Post by FJ on Dec 19, 2022 10:17:13 GMT
1. Moulin Rouge
2. Tammy Faye
3. My Neighbour Totoro
4. 101 Dalmatians
5. Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch
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5,183 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Dec 19, 2022 12:31:09 GMT
Having now seen Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas you can add this into my list of 'worst shows' 🙄
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Post by yokollama on Dec 19, 2022 19:15:16 GMT
43 shows this year and I hope to get it back up to pre-pandemic levels in 2023. Experience has generally been good but I'm struggling to put things into my top 5. Still thinking of popping by for the London Palladium panto before the year wraps up.
Favourites:
1) My Son's a Queer (but What Can You Do?)
2) Bob Dylan at Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham. He was much chattier in Notts than in London, called the crowd baby lovers, and even performed a rare encore dedicated to Jerry Lee Lewis who had passed that day. I know his voice and music is very divisive (as evidenced by some of the people I spoke to at the venues), but I'm glad to catch him live (and it almost made being stranded in Notts worth it).
3) Austentatious. Have revisited over the years, but one of my favourites thus far is the performance of Look Who's Porkin' (if I remember correctly) this December. Jacob Crackers descends from a long line of vegetarians, but falls in love with a pig shiner and has to vie for her affection with Lord Featherbottom. A casual bit of cannibalism tossed in also.
Worst:
Moulin Rouge. Even Jamie Muscato couldn't save Christian from being a wet lettuce.
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2,262 posts
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Post by richey on Dec 19, 2022 20:20:29 GMT
This has been an outstanding year of theatregoing for me, seeing the most shows in one year than ever before including several with multiple visits. In no particular order my favourites were:
South Pacific (3 visits in a week)
Cabaret
Choir of Man (5 visits)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2 visits)
Cruise the Play
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3,316 posts
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Post by david on Dec 19, 2022 20:55:12 GMT
Having a look through my Excel spreadsheet, there have definitely been more hits than misses for me, so my top 5 -
1. ABBA Voyage
2. Jerusalem
3. Cabaret
4. Blues For An Alabama Sky
5. Jack Absolute Flies Again
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2,409 posts
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Post by theatreian on Dec 19, 2022 21:58:50 GMT
1 Abba Voyage
2. Sondheim Gala
3. Taboo at The Palladium
4.My Fair Lady Colosseum
5. Frozen
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181 posts
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Post by eatbigsea on Dec 20, 2022 2:05:59 GMT
Best (of new to me, otherwise Jerusalem would have made an appearance):
Prima Facie
Tammy Faye
Operation Mincemeat
Blues for an Alabama Sky
The Band’s Visit
Honourable mention (please don’t give half points for these though, all five should go to those above):
The choir of man
Othello
Jack absolute flies again
Best of enemies
Cabaret
Oklahoma
Cock
Six @ Hampton court palace was v cool
Worst:
Hex (again)
To kill a mockingbird (sorry, the accents did it in for me)
ETA the just boring: The Crucible, The Father and the Assassin, Who Killed My Father
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901 posts
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Post by bordeaux on Dec 20, 2022 11:21:23 GMT
It's not been a great year in my opinion. Good things, but only one show that stood out for me - see list.
1. Into the Woods, Bath
2. Cabaret, London
3. The Corn is Green, NT
4. Dr Semmelweis, Bristol Old Vic
5. Straight Line Crazy, Hare, Bridge
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2,018 posts
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Post by distantcousin on Dec 20, 2022 11:26:42 GMT
I don't think I even saw 5 things, to HAVE a top 5! Theatre has been so resolutely pedestrian and safe since the pandemic, there's very little getting me out there. I used to go to at least 1 thing a month, pre pandemic.
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11 posts
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Post by jacklondon on Dec 20, 2022 19:41:25 GMT
I managed to see 34 plays this year, which is roughly half what I would have seen pre-pandemic. It was surprisingly hard to pick a top five, but I ended up with:
1. Blackout Songs - Hampstead
2. Dead Poets Live: Marie, Marie! - Wilton's Music Hall
3. James IV: Queen of the Fight - National Theatre of Scotland at Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling
4. The Southbury Child - The Bridge
5. The Glow - Royal Court
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83 posts
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Post by G on Dec 21, 2022 12:42:49 GMT
1. A Streetcar Named Desire
2. The Band’s Visit
3. Come from Away
4. Tammy Faye
5. Best of Enemies
Possibly I am being influenced by what I most recently saw. Honourable mentions outside the top 5 were Spring Awakening, Kontakhof, Small Island, Oklahoma, Cabaret, My Neighbour Totoro, Matilda, Trouble in Mind.
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4,984 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Dec 22, 2022 9:04:14 GMT
1.The Doctor
And then I have the usual Sondheim subjective rule.
2. Candide - Scottish opera
3. Merrily - Royal Accedemy
4. Sondheim Concert - it would be higher up if Michael Ball wasn't so overused and naff
5. ABBA
If I had seen The Hours (Met Opera) in the flesh, then that would be number 2.
Honourable nods to oklahoma! Crucible (Scottish Ballet), Christmas Carol (Old Vic) Bands visit and Anyone can Whistle.
I won't be rushing back to South Pacific, Yeoman of the guard, and Charlie and the Chocolate factory anytime soon.
My only turkey was Hex.
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4,804 posts
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Post by Mark on Dec 22, 2022 10:34:36 GMT
Very hard to whittle down this year. I think my final figure for the year will be 196 shows, with just a handful more to see. 45 musicals and 75 plays I hadn't seen before, along with returns or revivals of 42 musicals and 8 plays.
Top 5 new Musicals:
Kimberly Akimbo
Some Like it Hot
Great British Bake Off
Between the Lines
Tammy Faye
Top 5 new Plays
Prima Facie
The Doctor
All of Us
Which Way to the Stage
To Kill a Mockingbird
Honorable mentions to return visits to Jerusalem and Leopoldstadt, and five of the best musical revivals I have seen in Oklahoma, Crazy For You, Billy Elliot, Merrily We Roll Along and Into the Woods (Broadway).
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395 posts
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Post by lichtie on Dec 22, 2022 15:39:28 GMT
If I take out the reruns that I saw for the first time this year (Cyrano, Jerusalem) and ones with honourable mentions for performances, but where I felt the structure of the play was weak (Prima Facie being the best example) I actually only ended up with five clear favourites.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Jack Absolute
The Book of Dust
Blues for an Alabama Sky
Folk
Honourable mentions for Totoro, Say Yes to Tess, Jitney, Orlando. Brickbats saved for Force Majeure, The Seagull and Kerry Jackson. The rest I'm afraid proved to be sadly middling for various reasons.
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Post by theoracle on Dec 22, 2022 18:06:45 GMT
In no particular order here,
All Of Us
Jerusalem
Dr Semmelweis
Sondheim’s Old Friends in Concert
Cabaret (Amy Lennox & Fra Fee)
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