New York theatergoing 2023.

I know we see a lot of theater, but I’ve never actually counted before. We saw 20 plays this year! I don’t think that’s more than usual, in fact maybe less since it was a very busy year otherwise, too. There were lots of truly great nights at the theater, a lot of fine but unmemorable ones, and a handful of best forgotten. Pretty good record. If you want to catch the great stuff, you have to risk seeing some not so great. And a few this year were not just highlights of this year but plays and performances and productions for the ages.

My favorites were Eddie Izzard’s Great Expectations (she’s absolutely sui generis, riveting), the Lincoln Center revival of Camelot (everything I want in a musical, and the score sounded glorious), Fat Ham, Wicked (took our niece, she was thrilled, I’d never seen it before and I loved it), the revival of Sweeney Todd (wow), I Can Get It For You Wholesale at CSC, Stereophonic (one of the best plays I’ve ever seen, for real), Appropriate (so exciting to see an honest-to-god great new American play in its Broadway premiere—if there’s any way, don’t miss this one).

Here’s the whole list:

Great Expectations (Eddie Izzard)
Between Riverside and Crazy
Pictures from Home
The Wanderers
Cornelia Street (new musical)
Camelot
Fat Ham
Wicked
Sweeney Todd
Primary Trust
A Simulacrum
Some Like It Hot
Harry Potter and the rest of it whatever it’s called
I Can Get It For You Wholesale
The Refuge Plays
Stereophonic
Witness for the Prosecution (in London)
Spain
Appropriate
I Need That