Earlier I gave you the list of performers I want to see at least once in my lifetime. Here is my list of shows I want to see, sooner rather than later. (I'm sure I'm overlooking many important works, of course, so this list is a work in progress. Feel free to make suggestions!)
Shows and playwrights I've never seen but really need to:
Amadeus
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (love Carson McCullers--no idea if this is any good as a play, but I want to see it)
The Rocky Horror Show
Shows I've already seen (NYC or regional) but want to see again:
Altar Boyz
American Idiot (but probably only with the original choreography--YAY FOR THE TOUR!)
Assassins
Black Watch (heartbreaking, but I could watch it over and over)
Billy Elliot (though preferably in London with decent accents)
A Chorus Line (my first Broadway show, and still one of my all-time favorites)
Company
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (with John Cameron Mitchell, if possible)
NOT on my list:
(Click below for a list of people whose work I love and want to see more from.)
Creators I want to see more from:
Edward Albee (classic)
Jez Butterworth (weird stuff but great characters)
Jeff Daniels (no joke, I loved the production of Apartment 3A that Clockwork did a couple years ago)
Leslye Headland's seven-deadly-sins series (I really liked Bachelorette)
Damn Yankees
Thoroughly Modern Millie
NOT on my list:
Bertolt Brecht
Anton Chekhov done well [I have high hopes for the Lyric Theatre production in Belfast]
Eugene O'Neill (It doesn't count that I've spent a lot of time at his theater.)
August Wilson
August Wilson
Cats
Chicago
Les Misérables
The Phantom of the Opera
Andrew Lloyd Webber's entire oeuvre (but I AM going to see Ricky Martin in Evita--SHUT UP. I have a soft spot for Menudo and for that show.)
Shows I've already seen (NYC or regional) but want to see again:
Altar Boyz
American Idiot (but probably only with the original choreography--YAY FOR THE TOUR!)
Assassins
Black Watch (heartbreaking, but I could watch it over and over)
Billy Elliot (though preferably in London with decent accents)
A Chorus Line (my first Broadway show, and still one of my all-time favorites)
Company
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (with John Cameron Mitchell, if possible)
Inherit the Wind
Man of La Mancha
The Music Man
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Sweeney ToddWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
NOT on my list:
Gypsy
HairAct II of Sunday in the Park with George
(Click below for a list of people whose work I love and want to see more from.)
Creators I want to see more from:
Edward Albee (classic)
Jez Butterworth (weird stuff but great characters)
Jeff Daniels (no joke, I loved the production of Apartment 3A that Clockwork did a couple years ago)
Leslye Headland's seven-deadly-sins series (I really liked Bachelorette)
Ed Hime (I loved the reading of The Public at Powerhouse that I just saw)
Steven Hoggett (choreography/movement--words are inadequate to express how much the movement in Black Watch, American Idiot, and Once awes me--still, I'll be avoiding Peter and the Starcatcher once it transfers)
William Inge (apparently he's a really important playwright, but based on Bus Stop I have no idea why)
Christine Jones (set design--Spring Awakening and American Idiot would have been greatly diminished without her work.)
Rajiv Joseph (Animals Out of Paper was great, and I loved Gruesome Playground Injuries so much--and it's also the best play title I've ever heard)
Stephen Karam (loved Sons of the Prophet and really liked Speech & Debate)
Tony Kushner (only his original stuff, not adaptations)
Neil LaBute (I guess I'm a glutton for punishment)
David Lindsay-Abaire (Good People is one of my favorite new plays, and I can't wait for additional Southie works)
John Logan (Red. HOLY CRAP.)
Martin McDonagh (but no more set in the U.S., please! I both want and fear to ever see The Pillowman, which made me physically ill while I was reading it)
Conor McPherson (the supernatural stuff is weird, but I just love his sense of humor and finely drawn, flawed characters)
Arthur Miller (especially WITHOUT Katie Holmes)
Lin-Manuel Miranda (any play, musical, improv, Electric Company guest spot, tweet, or discarded post-it note)
Anais Mitchell (I will LIVE at the theater when Hadestown finally gets staged fully)
The National Theatre (London)
Harold Pinter (not always sure I get it, but I like it anyway and it engages me)
Punchdrunk (the company that created Sleep No More)
Adam Rapp (I usually love about 90% of each of his twisted plays, but they do go a bit wonky)
David West Read (loved The Dream of the Burning Boy)
Any collaboration between Duncan Sheik and someone other than Steven Sater (loved Whisper House)
Second Stage Uptown (whoever picks the shows is doing excellent work--better than their mainstage)
SpeakEasy Stage Company (Boston--their season looks amazing)
Steven Hoggett (choreography/movement--words are inadequate to express how much the movement in Black Watch, American Idiot, and Once awes me--still, I'll be avoiding Peter and the Starcatcher once it transfers)
William Inge (apparently he's a really important playwright, but based on Bus Stop I have no idea why)
Christine Jones (set design--Spring Awakening and American Idiot would have been greatly diminished without her work.)
Rajiv Joseph (Animals Out of Paper was great, and I loved Gruesome Playground Injuries so much--and it's also the best play title I've ever heard)
Stephen Karam (loved Sons of the Prophet and really liked Speech & Debate)
Tony Kushner (only his original stuff, not adaptations)
Neil LaBute (I guess I'm a glutton for punishment)
David Lindsay-Abaire (Good People is one of my favorite new plays, and I can't wait for additional Southie works)
John Logan (Red. HOLY CRAP.)
Martin McDonagh (but no more set in the U.S., please! I both want and fear to ever see The Pillowman, which made me physically ill while I was reading it)
Conor McPherson (the supernatural stuff is weird, but I just love his sense of humor and finely drawn, flawed characters)
Arthur Miller (especially WITHOUT Katie Holmes)
Lin-Manuel Miranda (any play, musical, improv, Electric Company guest spot, tweet, or discarded post-it note)
Anais Mitchell (I will LIVE at the theater when Hadestown finally gets staged fully)
The National Theatre (London)
Harold Pinter (not always sure I get it, but I like it anyway and it engages me)
Punchdrunk (the company that created Sleep No More)
Adam Rapp (I usually love about 90% of each of his twisted plays, but they do go a bit wonky)
David West Read (loved The Dream of the Burning Boy)
Any collaboration between Duncan Sheik and someone other than Steven Sater (loved Whisper House)
Second Stage Uptown (whoever picks the shows is doing excellent work--better than their mainstage)
SpeakEasy Stage Company (Boston--their season looks amazing)
Stephen Sondheim (THE MAN. ALWAYS.)
Michael Weller (loved Fifty Words and Side Effects)
Tennessee Williams (fell in love with him early and never really got over it)
NOT on my list:
Michael Weller (loved Fifty Words and Side Effects)
Tennessee Williams (fell in love with him early and never really got over it)
NOT on my list:
Kevin Adams (lighting design--but he's perpetually employed, so he'll have plenty of opportunities to change my mind)
David Mamet (seriously, 5 and 2 halves is enough productions for a lifetime; possible exception for finally seeing Glengarry Glen Ross, but not as read by naked chicks in Williamsburg)Neil Simon (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)
Diane Paulus (well, she gets one last shot because there's no way I'm missing Porgy and Bess with Audra Freaking McDonald and Joshua Henry)
Diane Paulus (well, she gets one last shot because there's no way I'm missing Porgy and Bess with Audra Freaking McDonald and Joshua Henry)
John Waters movies adapted into musicals (Hairspray was disappointingly tame and Cry-Baby was just embarrassingly bland, so let's please just stop trying)
Chicago in '96 is still one of the greatest productions of anything I've ever seen. It's just been so sadly denigrated by wear, tear, and stunt casting since then. Plus, man, was that movie terrible.
ReplyDeleteBut but but but...Les Miz? Of all the overblown, bombastic, melodramatic musicals, it's the good one! It's one of those shows that no matter what, I will always love. Phantom stinks. Miss Saigon had embarrassingly terrible lyrics which were still only a quarter of its problem. But Les Miz gets so, so much right. I swear. And this is from someone who loves the novel and hates 80s mega-musicals.