The last week of the year is, if not time of reckoning, at least summing up:
Top 10 Lists of Top 10 NY Theater in 2023: Merrily, Sweeney, Purlie
“Merrily We Roll Along” is the most acclaimed show among theater critics who compiled lists of top 10 New York theater for 2023, and in a poll I took of some 250 theatergoers. But there was little of the critical consensus of past years.
20 Favorite New York Stage Performances in 2023, + 6 puppets, 4 ensembles.
From the Ukrainian infant-actress breastfed on stage at the beginning of the year, to the four old bums who collapse on top of one another at the end, 2023 has been full of memorable moments on stage.
The Week in Reviews
“Appropriate,” the last play to open on Broadway in 2023 and one of the best-acted productions of the year, tells the story of a dysfunctional family who reunite after the death of their patriarch to auction off all his possessions, during which we learn little by little how messed up each and every one of the characters is. But Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ resonant play also in its own wry and sly way tells a dark story of race in America. If what’s going on beneath the mordant humor on the surface is not always clear, we’re given plenty of clues that encourage us to assume, and try to root out, a deeper meaning, Full Review
The Color Purple, a movie adaptation of the Broadway musical
If something is lost in the translation of “The Color Purple” from stage musical to movie musical, something is gained. The musical numbers often take place in the kind of expansive on-location settings that the theater can’t easily replicate. To someone who saw the Broadway musical, or someone who loves musicals, these numbers, more than any other element in the movie, justify yet another version of a story …that feels longer on screen. Both stage and screen tell the brutal story of Celie surviving abuse, neglect and betrayal over forty years leading to that life-affirming moment of “I’m Here.” Both stage and screen thread the grim goings-on with rousing, tuneful musical numbers. But while the story and the numbers merged into a seamless whole on stage, they sometimes seem awkwardly at odds in the new movie. Full review
10 Movies in Cinemas Today, Best to Worst
The Week in New York Theater News
The Off-Broadway production of “Little Shop of Horrors” will star Evan Rachel Wood and Darren Criss as Audrey and Seymour starting on January 30. Wood, a movie actress whose breakout role was in “Thirteen,” is making her New York stage debut. The musical, at the Westside Theater, is scheduled to run through January 4,2026.
Peter Marks, the longtime theater critic at the Washington Post, has taken a buyout and will leave his job on December 31st . (Looking back after 21 years.) There is no indication that the Post will replace him. This leads Jason Zinoman to write in American Theatre: One Reason Theatre Is in Crisis: The Slow Death of Criticism
Leslie Marcus to step down as managing director of Playwrights Horizons in summer 2024 after 30 years in the position.
A Christmas message from Stephen Fry: I am a proud Jew
“I am @stephenfry and I am a Jew.”
— Arsen Ostrovsky 🎗️ (@Ostrov_A) December 25, 2023
This is just incredible, must watch Ch.4 Christmas message by the amazing Stephen Fry, about his pride in being Jewish and the need to speak out to combat the surging antisemitism and Jew-hatred. pic.twitter.com/oOgXEa9fNc
