Best Shows of The First Half of the 2022-2023 Season

            By Joseph Cervelli

I used to list what I considered to be the best shows of the entire season while other reviewers would write the best of the year. I never quite understood that (and still don't) because quite a number of those shows were already nominated for the previous season. I now prefer to list my favorites from those that opened from May till December and then January to April. The normal cut-off date of shows for the Tony and Outer Critics Circle Awards is in April. 

So, in no particular order here are those I felt were the best during the time period mentioned. 

"Soft" by Donja R. Love was a smashingly good, high intensity play about a group of Black and Latino boys in a juvenile boarding school. The young men have explosive personalities for the most part along with the teacher who tried to keep order. It was an amazing play directed by Whitney White. How they did not (as far as I know) harm themselves in the physical encounters is amazing. 

James Ljames' Pulitzer Prize winning "Fat Ham" which is arriving on Broadway in the spring is a rollicking tale that takes place at a southern barbecue and is a clever, thoughtful takeoff of "Hamlet." It is both seriously entertaining and the next moment a real hoot. I wish it well on Broadway. It has not been easy for transfers of shows off Broadway recently. 

A 1909 play about the lower class in Edwardian England sounds rather dull, yet that is far from what Elizabeth Baker's "Chains" is. Marriage, work, a lodger and a surprise ending made this exceptionally well acted play one that I hope you had a chance to see. 

The wonderfully appealing "Kinky Boots" was given an equally delightful revival. Some might quibble that it was a carbon copy of the original Broadway show but it worked so well.  With a wonderful score by Cyndi Lauper it boasted a bravura performance by Callum Francis as the drag queen performer Lola who forms a friendship with a young man who makes shoes (an equally excellent Christian Douglas.)

While I had some problems figuring out the ancestry in the otherwise superb "Leopoldstadt" by Tom Stoppard,  it is a remarkably effective work about a Viennesse family who thinks they have little to fear from the Nazis living where they have for many years. There are sadly parallels to what we have seen    in this country over the past years. 

Two brilliant performers Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II bring new life in the revival of Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize play Topdog/Underdog. How they are not mentally and physically exhausted by the play's end is quite a feat. Or, perhaps, they indeed may be. Sibling rivalry explodes into a fury of tragedy. 

Despite some unfairly negative reviews, I loved every minute of Gabriel Byrne's lovely, lilting autobiographical "Walking With Ghosts." It was a heartfelt tale about his life--funny, touching and even upsetting. Closed much too early. 

And speaking of unfairly negative reviews, I was completely enthralled by "Ohio State Murders" which was a frightening story about the kidnapping of two babies. Told by the incomparable Audra McDonald who certainly helped to propel the story. I just wondered if those who were not taken with this show were mystery story devotees. If you love reading such genre then I would be surprised if you were not immersed in the storyline. 

"Chester Bailey" by Joseph Dougherty was an intriguing and deeply felt play taking place in a hospital in Long Island in 1945 about the relationship between a psychiatrist and his patient who refuses to believe after a monstrous attack by a fellow worker that he is blind, lost his hands and one ear. Reed Birney and his real life son Ephraim Barney give award winning performances. Especially Ephraim who broke your heart. 

While this list is in no particular order, I do have to say the best of the season, thus far, was the mesmerizing "Downstate" by Bruce Norris who wrote the very good "Clybourne Park." This hard to tell and harder to sit through (but you never take your eyes off the explosive performers) play is about a group home for sex predators and the sexually abused man who comes to confront one of them. If ever revived I urge you not to miss it. In any other hands under than Norris's and Pam McKinnon's direction, it could have been been a true disaster. The one caveat is something obvious that occurs in the second act. But that, notwithstanding, it was quite a play. 

I loved "Cost of Living" off Broadway and the recent Broadway revival conjured up the same feelings. One of the new additions was the unforgettable David Zayas who needs to be remembered at award time. Zayas who was superior in the unforgettably exciting  "Dexter" takes to the stage beautifully. 

An excellent revival of the wild "Between Riverside and Crazy"by Stephen Adly Guirgis with a memorable Stephen McKinley Henderson reprising his role is a must. Funny, touching and interesting how your feelings about the injured ex-cop played by Henderson starts to turn as the play evolves. I would hope that someday my personal favorite of all Guirgis' works "Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven" arrives on Broadway. It is a knockout play. 

Mike Birbiglia never fails to disappoint in any of his hilarious and touching one person shows. Birbiglia is a kind of Everyman. A type of guy you want to call up and ask, "Hey, buddy, want  to go out for a beer?" and find out what is going on in his life. His latest and best "The Old Man & The Pool" makes you laugh out loud one moment and wipe away a tear the next. 

"& Juliet" is a rollicking delight about what happens if Juliet wakes up while Romeo supposedly never awakens. Stark Sands as Shakespeare and Betsy Wolfe (Anne Hathaway) just about steal the show. The music while not original fits in perfectly. It is a romp from beginning to end.

Jefferson Mays astounded (not a surprise) in his one man "Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol." Taking every major role in the play he is miraculous as is the thrillingly alive production with the scenic and sound design. And that lighting was award winning. I hope he brings it back next year. 

One of the most frightening performances in a play from many years go, "Wait Until Dark," was Robert Duvall as a psycopath. Now there is another one that was just as chilling. In Harrison David Rivers' deeply engrossing play "The Bandaged Place"  Anthony Lee Medina gives a performance that could easily keep you up nights as the psychotic ex-boyfriend who refuses to stay away from his lover well played by a gentle Jhardon DiShon Milton. There was also a performance of many layers beautifully played by Stephanie Berry. This one stayed with me for days after attending it. 

"Into The Woods" was a joy when it opened back in 1987 and the revival ending on January 8 is just as jubilant with a cast that brought new life into a play about the retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Stephen Sondheim at his very best. 

Bravo to the immensely talented performer/actor Maria Friedman for her direction that made the Sondheim show "Merrily We Roll Along" now more accessible. The book was always troublesome but now makes much more sense. The three leads Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, and Daniel Radcliffe could not be better. And that score still is a reigning achievent for the extraordinary composer. Moving to Broadway next season. 

Both Danielle Brooks and John David Washington bring life into the revival of  "August Wilson's The Piano Lesson." It is a masterwork about the fight between a sister and brother over the sale of a piano that has more riches than the young man cares about. How the past influences who we are today is one of the themes and in its own way it is a deeply spiritual experience.

HONORBLE MENTION:

Johnny Berchtold and Lily McInerny were standouts in "Camp Siegfried"; Nicholas Barasch was amazing in the difficult role of a crazed young man in the bizarre "The Butcher Boy"; As much as I admire Wendall Pierce along with Khris Davis and McKinley Belcher III,  I was not taken with their performances in the latest revival of "Death of a Salesman," yet Sharon D Clarke plays the part of Linda Loman with complete elegance; Tonya Pinkins was simply wonderful as Lena Younger in the disappointing revival of the classic "A Raisin in the Sun"; While I was not a fan of  "Straight Line Crazy," Ralph Fiennes never failed to disappoint and there was a subtly good performance by Helen Schlesinger; the  hardworking cast of "Ain't No Mo'" made it almost worth a visit; the cast, music and dancing were the only assets in the trite "KPOP"; Except for a noteworthy performance by Matt DeRogatis almost everything was wrong about the last revival of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"; and the late Douglas McGrath gave an immensely likable performance in his last show "Everything's Fine" which was cut short by his untimely death. 

PHOTO CREDITS IN ORDER:

Daniel J, Vasquez

Joan Marcus

Todd Ceveris

Matthew Murphy

Joan Marcus

Marc J. Franklin

Emilio Madrid

Richard Termine

Carol Rosegg

Joan Marcus

Julieta Cervantes

Joan Marcus

Emilio Madrid

Matthew Murphy

A Christmas Carol Live

Joan Marcus

Evan Zimmerman

Joan Marcus 

Julieta Cervantes