Some of My Favorite Things in 2023 & Reader Survey!
An unranked list of shows I saw and loved in 2023, plus a short (three question) survey for you!
Hi theater lovers!
It’s been a while, and I’m sorry about that. I had some travel at the end of the year that made it difficult for me to see and write about as many shows as usual, but I wanted to start 2024 out with two things: a very brief (will likely take less than two minutes) survey about you, the reader, and a look back at the things I saw and enjoyed the most last year!
First off, the survey! I personally have been known to put off taking surveys, but I promise this one is extremely brief! It is only two questions and a comment box!
You also absolutely do not have to fill it out! I am sending it out because this Substack has transformed in amazing and unexpected ways from what it was when I created it. It used to be a way for me to tell people I know in the film & TV industry what shows are worth seeing, but the readership has grown exponentially to include readers from all over the country and world, from a variety of different backgrounds. I also started writing this before the Covid pandemic radically altered society in a number of ways, including deeply impacting the live performing arts, and I have been questioning how best to serve my readers and the theater community. So please, if you want to take one to two minutes to give me feedback, fill out the survey!
Ok, now on to the fun stuff! My favorite things I saw in 2024, presented in alphabetical order!
Alex Edelman’s Just for Us at the Mark Taper Forum in LA (previously in New York and London)
I regret that I didn’t write my review of this before it closed, because it was really amazing. Edelman is a fantastic storyteller, and I am so glad I got to see him tell this story. He recounts (with some relevant tangents) the time he, a Jewish man, attended a white supremacist meeting. He’s astonishingly funny, rattling jokes off a mile a minute, but he can stop on a dime to say something astonishingly profound.
Every Brilliant Thing at the Geffen Playhouse in LA.
This is a brief piece, clocking in at 65 minutes, but it’s concise because it doesn’t waste a moment. A solo performance executed flawlessly by Daniel K. Isaac, it’s about a young man’s nearly unshakable belief that there are so many beautiful things worth living for. He’s adamant about sharing those “brilliant things” because his mother attempted suicide. Suicide is a difficult and heavy topic, which the text, written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe, addresses skillfully, and director Colm Summers and Isaac thread that needle with incredible care. The result is a beautiful, heartfelt, moving evening that will inspire you to go home, put a record on, and think about all the wonderful things in your own life. It is a show with audience participation; every person in the audience participates a little bit, and a few audience members have roles to play in the story.
Fetch Clay, Make Man at the Kirk Douglas Theater in LA.
What a phenomenally performed play! The play (written by Will Power), which outlines the relationship between boxer Muhammad Ali (Ray Fisher) and vaudeville and movie star Stepin Fetchit (Edwin Lee Gibson), can be dense and dry at times, and requires more contextual knowledge of 1960s U.S. history than I have. But under Debbie Allen’s deft direction, it’s engrossing to watch. Fisher, who is best known for playing Cyborg in Zack Snyder’s DC Comics movies, relishes the opportunity to flex both his physical and acting muscles, drawing an intricate portrait of one of the most famous men of the 20th century. Gibson, whom viewers of The Bear might recognize (he plays Ebraheim), turns in an astonishing performance, modulating his delivery on a dime to show us how Fetchit (a stage name for Lincoln Perry) knew exactly which version of himself, which persona, his audience wanted to see.
Heroes of the Fourth Turning at Rogue Machine in Los Angeles.
I first saw this play on Zoom in October 2020, when Trump was still president, and before Roe v. Wade was overturned. Though the world is quite different on those two fronts now, it still packs a tremendous punch, and I’m even more impressed by Will Arbery’s writing about young Catholic conservatives on a second viewing. The cast and direction (by Guillermo Cienfuegos) in this Rogue Machine production are top-notch.
My full review for Stage Raw here.
Into the Woods at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles (previously in New York).
I have to admit, as the curtain rose on the national tour of the City Center Encores production of Into the Woods, I wondered if I needed to see the show again—I think I’ve seen more productions of Into the Woods than I have of any other show, aside from possibly Cabaret or Macbeth. But this production, skillfully directed by Lear de Bessonet, is a delight whether you’ve never seen Into the Woods, or if it’s your hundredth journey. It’s a genuine treat to watch very talented performers do a very well-written show, a show which the cast and crew clearly loves. The entire cast is top-notch, but Stephanie J. Block and her real-life husband Sebastian Arcelus are a delight as the Baker’s Wife and the Baker, and Gavin Creel savors every prance and prowl as the Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince. Milky White, as performed by Kennedy Kanagawa, has never been more endearing. The blessing and the curse of Sondheim’s music is that even his more accessible scores, like this one, are still musically and lyrically complex and intricate, making them hard to perform on three fronts: notes, rhythm, and acting. But this ensemble (and 16-piece orchestra, music directed and conducted by John Bell) makes it look easy!
Sunday in the Park with George at the Pasadena Playhouse.
I had never seen this Sondheim classic before, but I’m glad I got to see it now. Some Sondheim shows are, I think, like Brussels sprouts; you might not like or appreciate them when you’re younger, and they have to be impeccably prepared to be palatable when you’re older. I don’t know that I’ll ever love this show, but I think this production, which I liked plenty, is as close as I’ll get (I’m more of a Company and Merrily We Roll Along gal). I thought Krystina Alabado absolutely stole the show as Dot/Marie when I saw it on opening night, but a friend mentioned she gave a weaker performance at an earlier preview. Sarna Lapine (niece of the show’s book writer, and original director, James Lapine) directs. She also directed the NY revival with Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford, which I didn’t see, but I did notice one uncanny similarity—both Gyllenhaal there and Graham Phillips here sing an awful lot like Mandy Patinkin, who originated the role of George. I’d be curious to know if that’s a coincidence, or something Lapine encourages in the performers she casts as George. From looking at the stills of that production, this does seem to be a near-identical staging, just with a different cast. Even when I don’t love a Sondheim show, it’s always a relief to be wrapped in the cozy embrace of his genius lyrics, which are all the more poignant since his death. In the second act, Marie attributes this quote to her mother: “There are only two worthwhile things to leave behind when you depart this world of ours: children and art.” Stephen Sondheim may not have left this world any biological children, but boy, did he give us a trove of incredible art.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
I honestly don’t know what I can say on behalf of this play by Anna Deavere Smith, because it speaks so eloquently for itself. Originally commissioned by the Taper, the play, then a solo performance by Smith, made its world premiere there in May of 1993, just over two years after Rodney King was beaten by LAPD officers, 13 months after the civil unrest following the officers’ acquittal on criminal charges, and five weeks after the federal civil rights trial of the officers ended. 30 years after its premiere, the Taper has staged it again, this time expanding to a cast of five, and with some revisions by Smith. The production, directed by Gregg T. Daniel, is well done, and unnervingly timely. I can’t imagine a better production of this show.
Special mentions:
I saw the Aragon tour of Six again when it came to the Pantages, and loved it. That cast is now in the Broadway production of the show, so you can see them if you’re in New York!
When I was in London, I saw Wicked for the first time since I was 13 and saw the national tour in Baltimore. I got day seats (London’s version of rush tickets) for a random seat in the balcony, and I loved it! As much as I appreciate that shows come to many cities on a national tour, I feel like with shows like Wicked, you can really appreciate the scope of the set and orchestra more in a resident production. Also, Alexia Khadime was amazing as Elphaba!
Also in London, I got day seats for Mamma Mia, and that show is always a treat. What a genuine crowd-pleaser! There’s a reason it’s been running for over 24 years on the West End. Mazz Murray was also a delight as Donna.
Ok, that’s all for now! I’ll be seeing more shows later this month, so expect to have a brand new edition in your inbox… at some point! Signing off with one last link to the survey, in case you haven’t filled it out yet: