1. Memphis (LA/ La Jolla Playhouse ) ****
2. South Pacific (NY/ Lincoln Center) ****
3. Wig Out (NY/ Vineyard Thater) ***1/2
4. Next To Normal (NY/ Second Stage) ***1/2
5. 33 Variations (LA/ LaJolla Playhouse) ***1/2
6. 1001 (LA/ Boston Court) ***1/2
7. Shipwrecked (LA/ Geffen) ***1/2
8. American Tales (LA/ Antaeus) ***1/2
9. Road Show (NY/ Public)***1/2
10. Ragtime (LA/ MTLA) ***1/2
Honorable Mention: Lost Plays of Tennessee Williams (LA)
Remarkable Returns to Shows First Viewed In Prior Years: August: Osage County (NY); Passing Strange (NY); Spring Awakening (LA/ Natl Tour)
Number of shows attended: 83
Top 10 breakdown: 4 new musicals, 4 new plays, 2 musical revivals
2008's Top 10 Acting Performances
1. Chad Kimball (Memphis)
2. Kelli O'Hara (South Pacific)
3. Clifton Oliver (Wig Out)
4. Aaron Tveit (Next To Normal)
5. Paulo Szot(South Pacific)
6. Tonya Pinkins (And Her Hair Went With Her)
7. Gregory Itzin (Shipwrecked)
8. Montego Glover (Memphis)
9. Daniel Blinkoff (American Tales)
10. Jayne Atkinson (33 Variations)
The Worst in Theater:2008
"Joan Rivers Project" - this Geffen Playhouse show needed more reconstructive surgery than Joan herself
"Gypsy" with Patti Lupone on Broadway, which seemed more like a one (irritating) woman show than an integrated production; the largely rave reviews were completely at odds with what I experienced suffering through this limp revival that paled in comparison to the Sam Mendes revival a few years back
"Sunday In The Park with George," the London import on Broadway - loved the computer graphics, everything else in the show left me cold
"Vanities" the new musical based on the play that played Pasadena Playhouse...it should have stayed in play form; as a musical it was a painful mess
"House of Blue Leaves" - the only thing good I can say about this revival that opened the refurbished Taper, was that I liked the new theater restrooms I visited prior to curtain; it was downhill from there
"Dividing the Estate" on Broadway was an acting and directorial nightmare; the largely good reviews it received stunned me
"Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson" was, to put it mildly, bloody, bloody awful
