~24 Performances that really did it for me in 2024 (and why)

For those keeping track… most of these shows aren’t from Broadway. 20 of the 24 weren’t on Broadway, and I saw one of the four off-Broadway, too, and liked it better there! It doesn’t mean Broadway is BAD; it just means I’m personally becoming excited about a broader range of shows. I’ll be talking more about current and upcoming shows over on the Theatr app, and saving Medium for more long-form introspection in the coming year.

Instead of doing a straight-through of the top 24, I’m categorizing them to share why I liked them. A-E are my top 5 favorite KINDS of shows from the year, plus Maybe Happy Ending, which was harder to categorize. Of those that are still running, I recommend them if they’re on this list. Of those that are not, I hope they return to a theater near you or in a recording or new production! Looking forward to 2025!

A. Straight-up Musical Theatre

Classic, conventional musicals… or so you thought. All four of these shows are deeply political and referential to the musical theater canon, directly or, in Here We Are’s case, by nature of being the last incomplete work by Stephen Sondheim. Each of these shows feels current and dated and classic and new.

1. Soft Power. DHH and Jeanine Tesori continue to rework this piece. In some ways, it’s a period piece already. In others, it’s one of the most relevant shows right now. And in either case, it’s one of the best original musicals of the last decade, full stop. I both do and don’t understand how it hasn’t gone to Broadway. But as this list will indicate, Broadway IS NOT THE ONLY PLACE DOING GOOD WORK. In fact, Broadway could learn a lot from these other places, including Signature. The future of the American Musical, connecting to the legacy of R&H, Sondheim, and beyond, is in very good hands with shows like Soft Power.
2. We Live in Cairo. I expected to like this one for many reasons, but I didn’t know just how special it would be. I’ve seen shows “about” activists… Rent, Newsies, Hair, but none of them felt this real and genuinely curious about the people behind the movement and what the sacrifices made have actually looked like. It also helps that the Lazours are brothers writing brothers writing and are Egyptian telling an Egyptian story. Also, cast album, please?
3. La Cage Aux Folles. I’m sure that the one in Pasadena was great, but I only got to see Barrington’s from the summer. Let it be known I have now gone up to the Berkshires to see a show for people twice. Both times, Noah Wolfe was one of the people, and both times, I left thoroughly entertained by them. The star of the show was the vision of this production being SO UNDENIABLY QUEER. Alexis Michelle as Zaza? Some fully realized Cagelles? More queer artists in the whole production, including a gay Georges and collared soft masc stage manager? I am positive Mr. Herman would’ve been excited that his show no longer feels as earth-shattering and still reflects a very happily gay world. Costumes, dancing, divas, yes! More on that all later, though…
4. Here We Are. Winter break was complicated this past year, and in a prolonged state of grief, it was nice to get to see Sondheim’s swan song, and hear new lyrics that were good. For more on Sondheim’s legacy… see D2.

B. NEW MUSIC-FORWARD

Not a single one of these was created without a trans or nonbinary person, and I want each of them to have a full album or another healthy run somewhere or something, my goodness.

1. Third Sex. I insist you go listen to the EP and learn about Transcestors who felt the same things we feel today almost 100 years ago.
2. Bleak! (bonus points for Nocturnal Omissions, two shows from the cab duo). The world may be ending, but I wouldn’t want to be burning in hell without a nice tune to send us off.
3. Doll/Girl. Lisa Friday. Her mind. I didn’t know her until a couple years ago. Now I can’t imagine New York theatre without her. She and Murphy and Adam and many of my friends and colleagues… are crushing it consistently. and selling out venues. Please please let them get longer residencies and opportunities, they do good work.

C. COMEDY FORWARD

Honey, we all need to laugh. The comedies on this list range from high to lowbrow, but the common thing uniting all three is that we mustn’t take ourselves too seriously.

1. Oh, Mary. Nothing I have to say will be new. It’s funny. It’s disturbing. If you haven’t heard about it by this point, where have you even been?
2. Graveyard Shift. What an HONOR it is to watch a show bloom and grow. I have done TWO summers at Celebration Barn Theater with Emma McGill, and, dare I say, she was one of my favorite people. I have no doubt that the Fringe run was just as good as, if not better than, the invited dress.
3. Forbidden Broadway is the basis of a lot of my sense of humor. This production, while short-lived, was the best it’s been in a long time. I must say, the Cabaret send-up was my favorite bit, but there were many spot-on spoofs. I know the audience for this show is aging because of the brand of humor, but I personally love it.

D. DANCE-FORWARD

Theater is an art form where we say if an emotion is too big to speak, we sing, and if it is too big to sing, we dance. Well, I would say that grappling with gender and bodies and pregnancy is huge. That grappling with the art of making art and perfection over connection is huge. That grappling with grief and love is huge. So these dance shows landed rather well on me.

1. Surrogate (this was also number 1 overall). So, Ash essentially created this piece that speaks to his experience, but I felt like I hadn’t seen something so personally resonant before. I also want more dance theater, and certainly more from trans perspectives, from every perspective, because everybody and every body has a story to tell.
2. Sunday in the Park with George. I sometimes wonder if Eamon tires of my support. If he’s not done giving us good art, and I’m still alive, he’s not done getting my praise for it, sorry. Before I saw this production, I barely even liked Sunday in the Park… and I’m a Sondheim lover. This production, specifically the surround sound placement of the pit and the staging and choreo and lighting and performances… I finally saw and understood the love letter to art.
3. Illinoise. This is the Broadway show from 2024. The one I will point to for years to come and say they did the thing because they did. The program insert helped a bit, but the show told a whole story primarily through dance, with the underscoring of a beloved album. It made me

E. EXPERIENTIAL/INTERDISCIPLINARY

I do not like a spectacle that has nothing to say. Cats: The Jellicle Ball is about community and the creative expression built by and for that community. Sunset puts a real close-up on beauty, how expendable artists are and how mechanical the industry is, and the logical progression and descent into madness that could cause. This Curious Incident was about giving the neurodiverse company of artists the tools to move through the story as a collective. And See What I Wanna See was about perspective and layering storytelling methods in a creative fashion, with stewards honoring different cultural traditions from the East Asian diaspora.

1. Cats: The Jellicle Ball- OF COURSE.
2. Sunset Blvd. Mandy is mother. I got to see Jimin Moon go on as Joe Gillis as well, and if you know me, I haven’t shut up about either of them since October. I don’t know if or when I will. The show is not my favorite on this list. This production of the show takes big swings, many of which pay off. Every single person on that stage is giving 100% at all times, on camera, on the stage, in the street. This was the year I said ok, ALW did do more good than half of JCS, half of Joseph, and most of Evita if these productions can do all that. Also, way to have some of the best sound design of all time.
3. See What I Wanna See. I came for Emilio, Adam, and Paul. Because they’re all very special to me. Then I appreciated the all-AAPI cast, the score, the PERCUSSION RIG, the puppetry, the scenic artistry, and so much more. And I went to the first preview and liked it so.
4. Curious Incident at BoCo. I was treated to a veritable feast of student theater while attending one of the top arts schools in the nation, and one of the highlights for me was the Senior Directing Thesis of one Eli Douglas… who had won me over with the trans-inclusive Vagina Monologues in the school year prior. Curious Incident, with neurodivergent cast members, with a streamlined script, with lighting that was effective without being inaccessible? I was thrilled.

I didn’t know where to put Maybe Happy Ending, but it’s the little show that could. Finally arriving on Broadway after its acclaim in Korea, I adore this score and these characters. I identify with the straight, Jazz-loving robot that Darren Criss plays more than anything else on this list besides Surrogate (that show is a niche level of relatable content that I couldn’t have ever imagined would get made). Oliver and Claire both feel pretty real and human to me. Please go see it!

I also had the benefit of seeing concerts of Follies, Ragtime, Our Lady J, Amber Martin and John Cameron Mitchell, Bernadette Peters, è Boylan, and more. Bringing us to 24 ish.

I did a bit of theater this year (less than I would have liked), and I saw plenty of other stuff with people and things I love. These were merely the highlights of what I saw.

In future years, I hope for more trans art to be noticed by broader audiences. I want more big risks to be taken on new art. I hope for more accessible theater, both in the sense of affordability and accommodating to disability.