Our favorites from the 2016-2017 season.
By Tulis McCall Casey Curtis, Sarah Downs, Stanford Friedman, Holli Harms, Michael Hillyer, Elise Marenson, Massimo Iacoboni
![]() Photo: Carole Rosegg | Best ridiculous, lurid, pulpy show that doesn’t involve watching news about Trump: The Artificial Jungle | ![]() Photo: Joan Marcus | Best actress to return to a role after a gap of 20 or more years: Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard |
![]() Photo: Joan Marcus | Best Pulitzer Prize winning play to be named for a bodily secretion: Sweat. | ![]() Photo: Joan Marcus | Best Ensemble work: If I Forget |
![]() Photo: Jeremy Daniels | Best play adapted from Kid’s book that is not about a boy named Harry: The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson Musical | ![]() Keith A. Wallace | Best Play by an actorvist: The Bitter Game |
![]() Photo: Joan Marcus | Best play with a matinee idol leading man and pratfalls: Present Laughter | ![]() Photo: Shashwat Gupta | Best play of the Bible “behind the scenes:” The Last Days of Judas Iscariot |
![]() Nastrovya! | Best combination of fear, loathing and vodka: Drunkle Vanya | ![]() Photo: Davidawa Photography | Best ‘buddy’ play about two men who are definitely not buddies: Jonah and Otto |
Nathan The Wise, at the Classic Stage Company. What if the three great religions of the world actually respected and tolerated each other? This classic play is an impassioned plea for religious tolerance, and its relevance to modern life couldn’t be clearer. F. Murray Abraham’s deeply felt characterization in the title role was fun to watch, as well as quite moving. | Indecent. Paula Vogel’s beautiful and emotionally shattering new play at the Cort Theatre is a rare example of playwright and director working in perfect symbiosis. Vogel and Rebecca Taichman work their transporting magic in plain sight and without any apparent help from a big Broadway budget, relying instead upon an excellent company of actors, a devastating story, and their own imaginative sense of stagecraft. | ||
Herb Alpert and Lani Hall at the Café Carlyle. Truly, you can only do this in New York. I mean, step out of your cab and take your table at a café and there’s Herb Alpert performing. He is now in his early eighties and performs effortlessly, with the bearing and demeanor of a man thirty years younger. His wife of forty some years, Lani Hall, the lead vocalist on classic hits like “Fool On The Hill,” “Going Out Of My Head” and “Never Say Never Again,” joined him at the microphone. Only in New York, kids, and only at the Carlyle. | Sunday In The Park With George. Featuring Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford, a stellar supporting cast composed of veterans like Robert Sean Leonard and Ruthie Ann Miles, as well as Sondheim’s achingly beautiful musical score, in a pared-down concert version staged with rigorous simplicity by Sarna Lapine in front of an onstage orchestra. As good as it gets, a production so exceptional, so overwhelming, you might be lucky enough to see something like it once, maybe twice in a lifetime. |

A Doll’s House Part 2; Lauri Metcalfe; Photo by Brigitte Lacombe
“you are here—that life exists and identity,
… the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”
This is the sort of play that makes us remember we are alive.

Photo by Monique Carboni.

Church and State; Photo by Russ Rowland
Venus –

Photo by Joan Marcus
Cagney –The reason you want to see Cagney, before it closes in May, comes in a compact package busting with a sparkle that nearly knocks you over. Fortunately you are sitting down when Robert Creighton arrives on the stage as James Cagney. The unfortunate part is that you will want to be leaping out of your seat before the performance concludes, because Creighton is such a smooth dancer that he makes it look easy. This makes you think you could probably do it just as well. This probably not true.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson
Everything about Oslo is improbable — not least, the notion of an entertaining tale of Mideast peace negotiations.
We were honored and fascinated by the creative thinking and process of Andy Walmsley, top theater and TV scenic designer. Here is Elise Marenson’s interview with Mr. Walmsley.