OFF-BROADWAY SHOWS DOMINATE MY 2016 TOP 10 THEATER

This year's list is dominated by off-Broadway shows, with two marathon shows (one lasting 24 hours, the other a relatively tame 5.5 hrs.) at the top of this year's list.  I saw the 24 hour marathon performance of Taylor Mac's show and was stunned by how many times and in many different ways that show took my breath away, in the process achieving a theatrical coup of astounding proportions.  Sleep was not an option at any time during the show.  I saw the Gabriel's on 3 different nights over 8 months, and those shows made an otherwise unbearable election year a bit more bearable.  The next 4 years look to be very dark ones on a political level, and theater will need to be a refuge of sanity over this time period.  Hopefully, the quality of theater in these years to come will be able to match that achieved in the past year as evidenced by this fine list of works below.

My 10 favorite theatrical productions of 2016 are:

1. TAYLOR MAC'S 24 DECADE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC [St. Ann's Warehouse]

2. THE GABRIEL'S: ELECTION YEAR IN THE LIFE OF ONE FAMILY [Public]

3. SKELETON CREW [Atlantic Theater]

4. OTHELLO [NYTW]

5. FAMILIAR [Playwrights Horizons]

6. THE WOLVES [Playwrights Realm]

7. HADESTOWN [NYTW]

8. THE BAND'S VISIT [Atlantic Theater]

9. NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 [Broadway]

10. CLARKSTON [Dallas Theater Center]; THE HARVEST [LCT3]; THE HEALING [Theater Breaking Through Barriers]- all three new plays by Samuel D. Hunter

Honorable Mentions: BYHALIA, MS [Steppenwolf]; SENSE & SENSIBILITY [Bedlam]; STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE [Young Vic @ St. Ann's Warehouse]

Best Performance of the Year:  Four standout performances that all qualify as the year's best- Taylor Mac's super-human endurance testing 24 hour performance in his 24 DECADE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC; David Oyelowo in OTHELLO; Leon Addison Brown in Signature's MASTER HAROLD & THE BOYS; and Amber Gray in HADESTOWN.