Although the West End import The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was featured on most end-of-the-year lists, editors and critics favored Off-Broadway in 2014. The Public Theater productions of Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) and Straight White Men as well as Playwrights Horizons' Bootycandy were among top picks.
Playbill.com will continue to update as more Best of 2014 lists come in. Check back to Playbill in the coming weeks for our staff's favorite theatrical experiences of the year.
Here are several top 10 lists of 2014:
Ben Brantley of The New York Times (in alphabetical order):
1. Appropriate (Signature Theatre) and An Octoroon (Soho Rep)
2. Saint Joan, Hamlet and Sense and Sensibility (Bedlam)
3. Between Riverside and Crazy (Atlantic Theater Company)
4. The Cripple of Inishmaan
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
6. A Doll's House (Brooklyn Academy of Music)
7. I Remember Mama (Transport Group)
8. Measure for Measure (New Victory Theater, Fiasco)
9. On the Town
10. Scenes From a Marriage (New York Theatre Workshop) and Angels in America (Brooklyn Academy of Music) Charles Isherwood of The New York Times:
1. Basetrack Live (Brooklyn Academy of Music)
2. Straight White Men (The Public Theater)
3. Violet
4. Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons)
5. Generations (Soho Rep)
6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
7. Disgraced
8. Side Show
9. The Realistic Joneses'
10. Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (The Public Theater)
Richard Zoglin of TIME:
. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
2. Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (The Public Theater)
3. Sticks and Bones (The New Group)
4. Machinal
5. Arrivals and Departures (59E59 Theaters)
6. The Cripple of Inishmaan
7. Rocky
8. The Open House (Signature Theatre)
9. John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey
10. The Is Our Youth
Jesse Green of Vulture:
. Audra McDonald in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill
2. Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (The Public Theater)
3. Love and Information (New York Theatre Workshop)
4. Dinner With Friends (Roundabout Theatre Company)
5. Machinal
6. Stage Kiss (Playwrights Horizons)
7. The Killer (Theatre for a New Audience)
8. Scenes From a Marriage (New York Theatre Workshop)
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
10. If/Then
David Cote of Time Out New York:
. Machinal
2. You Can't Take It With You
3. Straight White Men (The Public Theater)
4. The Killer (Theatre for a New Audience)
5. Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons)
6. Stop Hitting Yourself (LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater)
7. The Open House (Signature Theatre)
8. Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (The Public Theater)
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
10. The Fortress of Solitude (The Public Theater)
Adam Feldman of Time Out New York:
. Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (The Public Theater)
2. Hand to God (MCC Theater)
3. An Octoroon (Soho Rep)
4. Cabaret
5. Jacuzzi (Ars Nova)
6. Love and Information (New York Theatre Workshop)
7. You Got Older (Page 73)
8. The Heir Apparent (Classic Stage Company)
9. Our Lady of Kibeho (Signature Theatre)
10. Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons)
Jason Clark and Marc Snetiker of Entertainment Weekly:
. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2. Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (The Public Theater)
3. You Can't Take It With You
4. Between Riverside and Crazy (Atlantic Theater Company)
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
6. Sticks and Bones (The New Group)
7. The Cripple of Inishmaan
8. Red-Eye to Havre de Grace (New York Theatre Workshop)
9. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill
10. Violet
Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune:
1. The Human (American Theater Company)
2. Hedda Gabler (Writers Theatre)
3. Exit Strategy (Jackalope Theatre Company)
4. Men Should Weep (Griffin Theatre)
5. Luna Gale (Goodman Theatre)
6. Native Son (Court Theatre)
7. Road Show (Chicago Shakespeare Theater)
8. All Our Tragic (The Hypocrites)
9. Our Class (Remy Bumppo Theatre)
10. This Is Our Youth
Henry Hitchings of the London Evening Standard:
1. A View From the Bridge (Young Vic)
2. The Crucible (Old Vic)
3. Visitors (Arcola)
4. The Wild Duck (Barbican)
5. Sweeney Todd (Harrington's Pie and Mash Shop)
6. King Charles III (Almeida)
7. The Key Will Keep The Lock (Part one of The James Plays) (National Theatre)
8. A Streetcar Named Desire (Young Vic)
9. Wolf Hall (Aldwych Theatre)
10. Assassins (Menier Chocolate Factory)
Elysa Gardiner of USA Today:
Best play: The Realistic Joneses
Best musical: The Last Ship
Best revivals of a play: A Raisin in the Sun, The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Elephant Man
Best revival of a musical: On the Town
Best revival of a performance in a musical: Alan Cumming in Cabaret
Best triple play: Tony Shalhoub in Act One
Person of the year: Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Breakout stars: Lena Hall in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Alessandro Nivola in The Elephant Man
Jukebox heroines: Audra McDonald in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Jessie Mueller in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Mr. Genie-ality: James Monroe Iglehart in Aladdin
Beautiful "girls": Cast of Casa Valentina
Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press:
1. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
3. The Elephant Man
4. A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
5. Aladdin
6. A Raisin in the Sun
7. Norm Lewis becoming the first black actor to take on the title role in Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera
8. On the Town
9. Bryan Cranston in All The Way
10. Cabaret
Brandon Voss of The Advocate:
1. Mothers and Sons
2. Casa Valentina
3. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
4. Family Play (1979 to Present) (New Ohio Theater)
5. Found (Atlantic Theater Company)
6. The City of Conversation (Lincoln Center Theater)
7. Side Show
8. Almost, Maine (The Transport Group)
9. The Few (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater)
10. Mala Hierba (Second Stage Theatre)
Michael Billington of The Guardian:
1. King Charles III (Almeida, London)
2. Ballyturk (Black Box, Galway)
3. The Valley of Astonishment (Young Vic, London)
4. 2071 (Royal Court, London)
5. Gypsy (Chichester Festiveal Theatre)
6. Skylight (Wyndham's, London)
7. The Crucible (Old Vic, London)
8. Fathers and Sons (Donmar Warehouse, London)
9. The Two Gentlemen of Verona (RSC, Stratford)
10. The James Plays (Festival Theatre, Edinburgh)
Lyn Gardner of The Guardian:
1. The Father (Ustinov, Bath)
2. Every Brilliant Thing (Roundabout, Edinburgh)
3. Pomona (Orange Tree, London)
4. A Number (Nuffield, Southampton)
5. Speak Bitterness (Online)
6. Idomeneus (Gate, London)
7. Mr. Burns (Almeida, London)
8. The Wild Duck (Barbican, London)
9. A Series of Increasingly Impossible Acts (King's Hall, Edinburgh)
10. Wot? No Fish!! (BAC, London)
Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal:
Best ensemble: A Raisin in the Sun and The Elephant Man
Best performances in a musical: James Monroe Iglehart in Aladdin and Jessie Mueller in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Best classical production: The Seagull (American Players Theatre and Bedlam Theatre Company)
Best revival of a modern play: The Sea (The Shaw Festival)
Best revival of a musical: On the Town and Camelot (Two River Theater Company)
Best new play: Our Lady of Kibeho (The Signature Theatre)
Company of the year: Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey
Director of the year: Eric Tucker
Performer of the year: Larry Yando
Alexis Soloski of The Guardian:
1. The Realistic Joneses
2. An Octoroon (Soho Rep)
3. The Dreary Coast (Brooklyn at the Gowanus Canal)
4. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
5. Love and Information (New York Theatre Workshop)
6. The Essential Straight and Narrow (New Ohio Theatre)
7. Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park)
8. Punk Rock (MCC Theater)
9. Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 and 3) (The Public Theater)
10. You Can't Take It With You
Robert Kahn and Dave Quinn of WNBC (in alphabetical order):
1. Annaleigh Ashford in You Can't Take It With You
2. Tyne Daly in Mothers and Sons
3. Bridgett Everett in Rock Bottom (The Public Theater)
4. Stephen McKinley Henderson in Between Riverside and Crazy (Atlantic Theater Company)
5. Joshua Henry in Violet
6. James Monroe Iglehart in Aladdin
7. Jan Maxwell in The City of Conversation (Lincoln Center Theater)
8. Alex Sharp in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
9. Rachel Tucker in The Last Ship
10. Tony Yazbeck in On the Town
Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post:
1. A Doll's House (BAM)
2. Bullets Over Broadway
3. Cabaret
4. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
5. Dry Land (HERE)
6. Hand to God (MCC Theater)
7. An Octoroon (Soho Rep)
8. Our Lady of Kibeho (Signature Theatre)
9. Tristan & Yseult (St. Ann's Warehouse)
10. Violet
Robert Feldberg of The Record:
1. Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (The Public Theater)
2. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
3. The Open House (Signature Theatre)
4. The Cripple of Inishmaan
5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
6. Cabaret
7. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
8. The Village Bike (MCC Theater)
9. Indian Ink (Roundabout Theatre Company)
10. Stalking the Bogeyman (Off-Broadway at New World Stages)
Roma Torre of NY1 (in no particular order):
1. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
2. All The Way
3. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
4. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
5. Disgraced
6. A Delicate Balance
7. You Can't Take It With You
8. On the Town
9. The Last Ship
10. Side Show
