Steve On Broadway (SOB)

My Year On Broadway: Most To Least

My Year On Broadway: Most To Least - 2009-2010 Theatrical Season

During Broadway’s 2009-10 Theatrical Season, 38 new and revived musicals and plays opened on the Great White Way. I was fortunate to see every single one of them, which is up from last year when ultimately I caught 32 out of last year's 44 new shows.

While I'll write soon about the best and worst shows I've seen over the past year -- with some topping my lists from venues other than Broadway -- I'm once again pleased to rank all this past season's Main Stem shows beginning with those I liked the most to the least (you may click on each to see my full SOB Review).

As regular readers know, in addition to my SOB Reviews for each show, I also employ a star system, awarding up to four stars for the best productions all the way down to zero stars for absolute bottom-of-the barrel rubbish (fortunately, in my decades of theatregoing, I've only seen shows that come within a half-star of rock bottom, and none of this year's Broadway shows are ranked any lower than a single star).

While the system is imperfect, it does offer readers seeking a quick reading as to whether I thought the show was excellent, poor or somewhere in between. Even though there were some exceptional offerings this season, I’ve long believed that this has been a rather mediocre year overall, and the star system average of 2.5 seems to bear that out.

So here's my most to least favorite list of the Broadway shows I've seen over the past year:

1. Red ****
2. Superior Donuts ****
3. Brighton Beach Memoirs ****
4. Fences ***1/2
5. Enron ***1/2
6. Time Stands Still ***1/2
7. Lend Me A Tenor ***1/2
8. La Cage Aux Folles ***1/2
9. Fela! ***1/2
10. Oleanna ***1/2
11. The Royal Family ***
12. Memphis ***
13. A Little Night Music ***
14. Hamlet ***
15. Everyday Rapture ***
16. Ragtime **1/2
17. Sondheim On Sondheim **1/2
18. A View From The Bridge **1/2
19. Finian's Rainbow **1/2
20. Wishful Drinking **1/2
21. The Addams Family **1/2
22. A Steady Rain **1/2
23. Burn The Floor **1/2
24. Million Dollar Quartet **
25. In The Next Room or the vibrator play **
26. Promises, Promises **
27. Collected Stories **
28. A Behanding In Spokane **
29. All About Me **
30. American Idiot *1/2
31. The Miracle Worker *1/2
32. Present Laughter *1/2
33. Looped *1/2
34. Next Fall *1/2
35. After Miss Julie *1/2
36. Race *1/2
37. Bye Bye Birdie *
38. Come Fly Away *

What were your most and least favorite Broadway shows of the past year?

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

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Labels: Broadway, Favorite Shows, Musical, Play, Red, Revival, The SOB Review

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Monday, June 07, 2010