Best stage shows of 2017

2017's best stage shows

best-theater — Julieta Cervantes; Matthew Murphy (2); Joan Marcus

This year’s theatrical offerings came in all sizes — from Broadway showstoppers with one-name-needed stars (Bette! Bruce!) to more intimate fare like The Band’s Visit and Come From Away. These were our 10 favorites that opened in 2017, starting with…

10. The Wolves (Off-Broadway)

Sarah DeLappe’s gripping debut play, a 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist first staged last season before making a return this fall, focuses on the interactions between the members of a teenage girls’ indoor soccer team, as they talk to (and about) one another during their pre-game warm-ups. The play zeroes in on — and takes seriously — the girls’ fears, friendships, insecurities, and how they evolve week by week. —Jessica Derschowitz

9. Oslo

Why go to the theater to watch a political drama, you might wonder, when many of us go to the theater to escape it? Because J.T. Rogers’ Tony winner for best play is a captivating peek behind the international-relations curtain, dramatizing the secret back-channel communications that led to the pivotal Oslo Peace Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s. —JD

8. Sweeney Todd (Off-Broadway)

One of the best revivals of the year was also one of the most immersive. Stephen Sondheim’s tale of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street felt more unsettling than ever in the transformed Barrow Street Theatre, where patrons could sit (and dine!) in a replica of an English pie shop. The excellent cast and intimate setting gave this killer show new life. —JD

7. Come From Away

This uplifting musical takes the true story of a small town in Canada that welcomed in thousands of stranded travelers when planes were grounded on Sept. 11, 2001 and tells it sensitively, with a nimble ensemble (Jenn Colella a highlight among them) playing to the rafters and your heartstrings. A reminder — when we all really needed it — that good people can be a light in the darkest of times. —JD

6. Sunday in the Park With George

Annaleigh Ashford and Jake Gyllenhaal in Sunday in the Park with George — Matthew Murphy

Jake Gyllenhaal’s decision to tackle Sondheim’s tricky art meditation was as bold as the piece itself, which miraculously achieved new levels of color thanks to the movie star’s sensitive anchoring performance and a gem of an assist from the dependable Annaleigh Ashford. —Marc Snetiker

5. The Band's Visit

0251_Tony Shalhoub, Katrina Lenk in THE BAND'S VISIT, Photo by Matthew Murphy, 2017 — Matthew Murphy

Composer David Yazbek’s moody, melancholy musical, about an Egyptian band that injects life into a small Israeli town for one night only, is neither showy nor splashy. Still, director David Cromer’s measured, impactful direction, along with a knock-out lead turn by Katrina Lenk, awakens the audience in a way that sometimes only the most thoughtful little musicals can. —MS

4. Indecent

Playwright Paula Vogel, an Off-Broadway vet, finally came to the Great White Way with this fascinating and heartfelt chronology about the controversial early-20th-century Yiddish play God of Vengeance, and the visually beautiful play-about-a-play (sleeves filled with ash, a stage swallowed up by rain) won director Rebecca Taichman a well-deserved Tony Award. Though it takes place nearly a century ago, its themes of bigotry, censorship and love felt more relevant than ever. —JD

3. A Doll's House, Part 2

This play gifted Broadway’s Golden Theatre with the most superior acting ensemble on the block, with tantalizing turns from Jayne Houdyshell, Condola Rashad, and Chris Cooper. Their inimitable leader? Laurie Metcalf, who scooped up a long-deserved Tony for her searing display of high comedy in Lucas Hnath’s inventive, ingenious Ibsen riff. —MS

2. Groundhog Day

Groundhog DayAugust Wilson Theatre — Joan Marcus

The classic Bill Murray comedy sprung to life onstage with surprising musicality — a credit to the wickedly funny lyrics of composer Tim Minchin, an ebullient ensemble of Punxsutawney players, and a stellar leading turn by Andy Karl. How many more times must he prove himself a comic musical force? At least once more, as this holiday treat closed far too soon. —MS

1. Hello, Dolly!

Before the curtain even went up on opening night, Hello, Dolly! was an event. Bette Midler’s first appearance in a Broadway musical in decades? The tickets practically sold themselves. And the Divine Miss M delivered. A bawdy riot in a bright-red ballgown, Midler was the perfect lead for this vibrant revival about a widowed matchmaker meddling in matters of love for others and, of course, herself. It’d be easy to get swept up in the excitement just of seeing Bette on Broadway, but the scale of the show also rises to meet her: the lush, good-old-fashioned revival won us over with its standout cast (David Hyde Pierce, Gavin Creel, and Beanie Feldstein among them), impressive choreography, and visual feast of colorful costumes. Heck, there’s even a train! While Dear Evan Hansen (which opened in 2016, if you’re wondering why it’s not on this list) was wrenching hearts, Dolly! and her crew were filling them. And with Bernadette Peters entering in the new year, Dolly isn’t going away anytime soon. Like those galloping waiters, we’re just glad to have her back where she belongs. —JD