On and Off Broadway, the 2024 productions offered quite a number of surprises, from the terrific to the terrible (Tammy Faye, first show I ever walked out on) as well as many dynamic stage performances. Whittling the best to 13 was no easy feat. I look forward to what 2025 brings.
1. Sunset Blvd
Sunset Boulevard, the 1993 Andrew Lloyd Webber/Don Black/ Christopher Hampton musical version of Billy Wilder’s iconic film has been staggeringly reimagined by the ridiculously talented Brit director Jamie Lloyd. This new incarnation is a dazzling, exhilarating, deliberately stylized, minimalist, meta-blend tribute to Hollywood–old and new. And at the heart of the show, onstage for almost all of the run-time, is Nicole Scherzinger delivering a bold, ferocious performance—one for the ages.
Certain loud social media watchdogs have tried to sully Scherzinger’s rep and her chances of justly winning the Tony, simply because they may not agree with her religion and/or politics. It would be beyond pathetic if Tony voters allowed any of that takedown blather to matter. It’s an unforgettable portrayal. Even Patti LuPone recently raved about the show and Scherzinger. And there’s no love lost between herself and the composer.
https://sunsetblvdbroadway.com
2. Prayer for the French Republic
The most outstanding new play of the 2023-24 season, Joshua Harmon’s epic Prayer for the French Republic was a scarily timely look at antisemitism, daring to speculate on why people hate in a very thought-provoking and incisive manner. Set in Paris in 1944 and over 70 years later, this extraordinary production, deftly directed by Joshua Harmon, followed five generations of a French Jewish family. The performances of Betsy Aidem, Ari Shahghasemi and, especially, Francis Benhamou, were among the best of the year.
https://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/shows/2023-24-season/prayer-for-the-french-republic/
3. Cult of Love
Leslye Headland’s engrossing ensemble piece, Cult of Love, wrecked me–in the best ways. The 10-actor production examines the emotional and spiritual reckoning on a quartet of siblings when hidden secrets are unearthed and disregarded truisms are finally discussed. Cult of Love is the best new play of the season so far, and features a stellar cast led by Mare Winningham, Zachary Quinto, Molly Bernard, Shailene Woodley, Christopher Lowell and Christopher Sears. It’s also the perfect holiday show…for catharsis.
https://2st.com/shows/cult-of-love
4. Swept Away
How does a play garner mostly rave reviews and close a few weeks later? It probably didn’t help that Swept Away was being touted as a musical about cannibalism, which it is not. But it might be too dark for tourists who need their shows light and empty (dig). Or too complex for certain audience members. For me it remains the best original musical of this season to date, one that is truly enthralling, with an original non-linear book that actually speaks to dark and terrifying themes, an extraordinary score and gut-wrenching performances–newcomer Adrian Blake Enscoe has a bright career ahead of him). What a sad state of affairs that this show closes December 29, 2024.
5. Stereophonic
One of the most celebrated plays of this millennium, Stereophonic, is David Adjmi’s ambitious look at a ’70 rock band on the verge of a meltdown—as they record an album that will make them all superstars. Not-so-loosely based on the messy travails of the legendary Fleetwood Mac, the 3-hour play is searing, gripping and emotionally raw. I originally saw it at Playwrights Horizons and worried it would lose its needed intimacy moving to Broadway. It did not. Closing January 12, 2025.
6. Dead Outlaw
Last year’s OB musical sensation, Dead Outlaw, opens on Broadway this coming April. The production I saw at the Minetta Lane Theatre was fantastic, buoyed by a truly electrifying lead performance by Shucked star Andrew Durand. Based on a true story, the truly bizarre, inventive plot centers on an outlaw whose oddly preserved remains are discovered decades after his demise, during the shooting of an episode of the 70’s TV series, The Six Million Dollar Man. The book is by Itamar Moses with music and lyrics by David Yazbek ( both from The Band’s Visit) and Erik Della Penna.
7. Suffs
My favorite new musical of last year’s Broadway season is closing on January 5, 2025, and I cannot recommend it enough. Suffs, Shaina Taub’s rousing and exuberant look at the Suffragist movement, with a kick-ass all-female ensemble led by Taub, great songs you actually want to hear again and spectacular staging by the wonderful Leigh Silverman, is a treat on all levels and should have won the Tony for Best Musical.
8. Teeth
Michael R. Jackson and Anna K. Jacobs improve immensely on the 2007 cult horror movie by Mitchell Lichtenstein with the campy, dark comedy-musical celebration of female empowerment, Teeth, about a young woman whose vaginal incisors bite back when her body is violated, which leads to many a castration. It’s not for the squeamish, especially if you have a penis! Also closing January 5, 2025.
9. Oh, Mary!
The gayest Broadway show in years had a smash sold-out run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street before moving uptown to the Lyceum where every celebrity alive has attended and been Insta’d with the cast. Cole Escola’s hysterically funny, play Oh, Mary!, centers on the wacky antics of cabaret-star-wannabe Mary Todd Lincoln. And it’s 90 minutes of sheer, delightful lunacy.
10. The Hills of California
Jez Butterworth, the playwright who gifted us Jerusalem and The Ferryman, this year introduced us to the Webb sisters, a 1950s singing quartet who reunite two decades later after their steely, manager mother had died. The demons that are unearth have to be experienced to be believed. The Hills of California boasted a towering turn by Laura Donnelly, who is the current Tony front-runner for Lead Actress in a Play. Sadly, this haunting play just closed.
https://thehillsofcalifornia.com
11. Maybe Happy Ending
Small in scope but loaded with heart and soul (but can robots have souls?), the delightful new musical, Maybe Happy Ending has won over audience members craving something sweet and rom-com-y that won’t leave them too disturbed or rattled. And I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Will Aronson and Hue Park’s book and songs ask some real questions about the finite and ephemeral nature of our lives. But the production’s true star is Darren Criss who embodies his robot role so fully, he makes you believe a robot can have a soul.
https://www.maybehappyending.com
12. Death Becomes Her
If you can’t improve on the (filmic) pairing of Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, what you should do, instead, is create your own wonderful, ghoulish, campy and fabulous set of frenemies which is exactly what Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard do so magnificently in the splendidly divine Death Becomes Her. Go for the swift staging, fab costumes and wildly effective visuals. Go for the witty book and satiric songs. But mostly go to see the best duo on the New York stage (sorry Patti & Mia, you were both terrific in Roommates but…) kill each other with the kind of nasty kindness we have come to expect from our Broadway divas.
13. Illinoise
A dance musical with no dialogue based on a 2005 concept album? On Broadway? Just stop. But Illinoise sensationally conceived by Justin Peck (direction, choreography, book) and Jackie Sibblies Drury (book) completely captivated me for 90 minutes. Sufjan Stevens’s penetrating songs perfectly captured the love and heartbreak of the production’s queer protagonist. and And Ricky Ubeda and Ben Cook are stars.
Runners up:
Paula Vogel’s Mother Play on Broadway starring the incomparable Jessica Lange
The Connector, an original musical at MCC Theater
The Lonely Few, another amazing new musical from MCC Theater
Note: I haven’t seen the Gypsy revival yet, but I am looking forward to it.
