Favorite Things: Theater Productions
Happy birthday to me! Part 3!
It’s my birthday month! And while I didn’t have big plans (which is super strange for me) I am continuing to do fun, ridiculous posts of things that I have done, read, inspired me, longed for, and just make me happy.
Cheers to another trip around the sun!
Favorite Theater Productions … so far
I am a theater nerd. I studied at an acting conservatory in New York City and proceeded to spend the next decade-plus in that city working in, around, and on theater. I’ve seen a lot of theater, good and bad. I’ve been involved with a lot of theater, good and bad. But to honor my birthday, we’re going to celebrate my favorites of the former category. The later category will likely get their own post, but not this year.
Theater Productions I’ve Seen
Beauty and the Beast, 2002 - National Tour
This was the production when I realized I wanted to make people feel the way I felt sitting in the audience of that magical production. The original movie is and has been my favorite film for YEARS. Having this performance cement my aspirations of theater was just kismet.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 2014 - Broadway
I had the great opportunity to see this production twice. Once with Andrew Rannells, and once with Michael C. Hall. Both were the same blocking, music, costumes… but Hall embodied the role in a way that revealed so much more to the character than I thought could be revealed. I won the ticket lottery to see it, and man, it was worth it!
Fun Home, 2015 - Broadway
My friend Matt managed to win the ticket lottery to see this show and I am so glad that I got the chance to go. Sobbing through the last 40 minutes of this show was not on my bucket list, but the grief-filled yearning expressed through all the characters in this emotional rollercoaster was amazing. Having it staged in Circle in the Square (theater in the round) made it so much more powerful.
The Crucible, 2016 - Broadway
This show had a phenomenal cast. I went with a person who was a friend at the time, and we have since, fallen out. It was one of his favorite plays, and I had won the ticket lottery. While I could sing the praises of the cast, the stage magic in this show was excellent and phenomenal. And there was a wolf on stage at one point. A live wolf.
Shuffle Along, 2016 - Broadway
My best friend’s sister was in town and had gotten tickets to see this show and Hamilton on the same day! She obviously couldn’t be in the two places at the same time, so she gave me her ticket to this show while she went to see Hamilton. And yes, Hamilton is and was an amazing opus and benchmark of musical theater, but this show had a pregnant Audra McDonald tapdancing. It was during this show that I realized, the likelihood of me actually being able to star in a Broadway show, while a dream and aspiration, would require such an immense amount of focus and work.
Bright Star, 2016 - Broadway
This musical co-written by Steve Martin opened the same year as Hamilton and didn’t stand a chance of making a dent in the marking or hype that the juggernaut created (not that Hamilton is overrated). This beautiful love story of simple people in a small town was haunting. And like an old folk song, beautiful, bittersweet and has the power to echo through you in the most unusual times. I still gravitate towards the music and probably pull up this cast album more often than any other cast album on this list.
Something Rotten, 2016, 2017 - Broadway
The people who brought us Spamalot and The Book of Mormon were the geniuses that brought us this amazing musical about the “birth” of musical theater as well as the origins of Shakespeare’s greatest work. Peppered with amazing side characters, every Shakespeare and musical troupe as well as some amazing side characters (I’m looking at you Nostradamus and Bea Bottom) it’s one of the best most complete musical comedies in past decade. It delightfully pokes fun equally at musical theater and Shakespeare in the best of ways. And the word play is a DELIGHT!
Hamlet, 2017 - Public Theater
I got out of this 4 hour production of Shakespeare’s touchstone work, called my mother and proceeded to tell her that I saw one of the greatest productions of a Shakespeare play ever, and the likelihood of me seeing a better production of Shakespeare, ever, in my lifetime would unlikely. Oscar Issacs as the title character and Keegan Michael Key as his best friend Horatio was a flooring powerhouse one-two punch I didn’t see coming and delighted in for every single moment.
Desperate Measures, 2018 - New World Stages
This six person adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s more difficult plays was written entirely in rhyming couplets. Yes, even the curtain speech, and the Red Bucket speech after the show (done off the cuff that night!) were performed entirely in rhyming couplets. An old west setting with a shotgun wielding nun, corrupt judge and white hat sheriff was a delightful breath of fresh air for this Montana girl in the middle of Manhattan.
Much Ado About Nothing, 2019 - Public Theater
You can watch this production (or at least, last I checked) on PBS Great Performances, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU WATCH IT! The Public Theater managed to make the dated play current and modern. Danielle Brooks’ Beatrice was something I will cherish, and the way she unified the entirety of the women in the audience with a single line was superhuman and powerful.
Hamilton, 2019 - Broadway
I wanted the hype to be too much. I wanted to be slightly disappointed. It delivered. It delivered tenfold. I got to see this with my mother and one of my dear friends and it was an amazing evening.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, 2019 - Broadway
I got to see this show before it was cut down to a single night of performance. Two nights of 3 hour performances to encapsulate this story was too much and while I am tempted to see the revised version that is only one night, I am ok with having seen the version I saw. While I was not a huge fan of the story - the execution was excellent. Some basic stage magic was used, and some very complex stage magic, that I still cannot figure out to this day, and I’m ok with it.
Sweeny Todd, 2023 - Broadway
When it was announced that Sweeny Todd would be revived on Broadway with Josh Groban as the title role, I didn’t care what it cost, I decided that I was seeing it. With or without friends, regardless of whether or not I was living in New York at the time. It was delicious! And then two weeks later, another friend won the lottery to see the show and took me with her and I saw it again. So freaking good!
Gypsy, 2024 - Broadway
When this was announced I was determined to see this before I left the east coast. My dear friend Liz came with me and we sobbed through the last 30 minutes of the show. Getting to see the greatest actress of American Musical Theater perform the greatest role for an actress in American Musical Theater in a theater that had not had another show in it since prior to my birth was such a moving moment, I doubt I will be able to top this.
Suffs, 2024
On of my friends from a couple of previous musical productions made her Broadway debut in this show! I was so freaking proud and grateful that I had the opportunity to see her on the Music Box stage with one of my high school theater friends. Girl Power all the way!!
