Broadway Show Roundup
It was a great year on Broadway, with a good variety of offerings - veteran stage performers, Hollywood celebrities, new works, revivals, and female writers/composers. Thanks to our apartment’s ideal location in the Theater District, and my retired status allowing me more time to shop for discounted tickets, we managed to see quite a few shows.
The Stats
During our two month stay in New York City, we saw 24 shows, concerts, and other live performances. Here’s the final tally:
Broadway musical - 6
Broadway play - 7
Off-Broadway play - 2
Opera - 1
Ballet - 1
Jazz Concert - 2
Other Concert - 2
Comedy show - 1
Talk Show taping - 1
Variety show (rally) - 1
Thanks to discounted tickets and free events, our average ticket price was $77.50 - not too bad. (You can see my tips for saving money on tickets HERE.)
The Names
It was great to see so many award-winning shows and performers. All but one show (Six) still had the original casts.
2024 Tony Award winners**: Best Play (Stereophonic), Best Musical (Outsiders), Best Book and Best Score (Suffs)
Well-known film and TV actors: Robert Downey, Jr. (from the third row!), Anne Hathaway, Mia Farrow, Neil Patrick Harris, Darren Criss, Jim Parsons, Peter Gallagher, Julianna Margulies, Michael Urie, Constance Wu, Whoopi Goldberg
Broadway royalty: Bernadette Peters, Patti Lupone, Audra Macdonald, Kelli O’Hara, Sutton Foster (read more about the star-studded rally we attended HERE)
Broadway favorites: Norbert Leo Butz, Jane Krakowski, Billy Porter, Seth Rudetsky
Cast members from the TV series Smash: Megan Hilty, Debra Messing, Bernadette Peters
The Standouts
Musicals
Maybe Happy Ending - I was delighted by this story of two robots who fall in love. It was sweet and funny and bittersweet, with cleverly simple staging, good songs, and a wonderful performance by Darren Criss.
The Outsiders - This was a musical adaptation of S. E. Hinton’s book and the Francis Ford Coppola film. The score evoked the 1960’s while feeling fresh and modern. The cast was talented, even the understudy playing the lead. The sets, lighting, and choreography were innovative. The special effects (fire, rain) managed to impress without being gimmicky. Overall, it was an exciting show, and I think the Tony for Best Musical was well-earned.
Suffs - Written by a woman (Shaina Taub, who also stars) and performed by women (even in the male roles), this was an original musical about the suffragists fighting for the Nineteenth Amendment. The songs were rousing and powerful, sometimes paying tribute to Hamilton. I saw this with my girlfriends soon after the Presidential election, so it was an emotional experience.
Plays
Shit. Meet. Fan. - A revival of a play where friends at a dinner party agree to share their cellphone calls and messages, and things get hilariously out of control. Debra Messing was in her element - that body language! Jane Krakowski and Neil Patrick Harris were both great, but they’re still on our wish list because we want to see them perform in musicals.
Left on Tenth - An autobiographical rom-com by Delia Ephron. Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher were excellent in the lead roles, but we were most impressed by the two actors who played a variety of other characters in rapid succession. Those were quick costume changes! There was also a cute dog.
Vladimir - The world premiere of an original play about a journalist in Moscow. It was thought-provoking and chillingly relevant, and the cast included one of our favorites, Norbert Leo Butz. It was thrilling to see this from the front row!
Performers
Bernadette Peters at Carnegie Hall - She’s incomparable, she’s iconic, she was Stephen Sondheim’s muse. She was on stage in Carnegie Hall. She’s 76 years old, and she’s still got it. Enough said.
Sutton Foster in Once Upon a Mattress - This was a revival of a 1959 musical about the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. It was old-fashioned, and some scenes and songs ran too long. But Sutton Foster was a worthy successor to Carol Burnett, and she and Michael Urie were clearly enjoying themselves.
Postscripts
Just to complete the Broadway roundup for 2024: earlier this year, on our annual Broadway Binge in February, we saw Days of Wine and Roses with Brian D’Arcy James and Kelli O’Hara, and Sweeney Todd with Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster (yes, we double-dipped on Sutton Foster this year!).
We had some Broadway opening night red carpet sightings, including Katharine McPhee from Smash, Matthew Morrison and Alex Newell from Glee, and Skylar Astin from Pitch Perfect. Oh, and Jessica Chastain from, well, a bunch of things. That’s not nearly the same as seeing them perform on stage, but it was exciting nonetheless!
