Best Shows of the Second Half of the 2022-2023 Theater Season

           By Joseph Cervelli

I had previously  listed shows which I considered the best from May of 2022 to December. Here are those I feel are the best which opened from January 2023 to April. 

Again, I am listing them in no particular order. 

It is hard to believe that Betty Smith who wrote "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" never had her radiant 1931 play "Becomes a Woman" published nor produced. A feminist story about a determined young woman with inner strength and fortitude to make something of her life. There is a bravura performance by Emma Pritzer Price who plays the leading role. Thankfully, she has been nominated for Best Lead in an Off Broadway play from the Outer Critics Circle.    

I was very moved by Anthony Rapp's "Without You." A one person musical based on his memoir he was one of the leads in the mega hit "Rent." In this show of love and loss he discusses the making of the show in a very poignant manner. The show may have first premiered off Broadway in 1996, but he speaks of it in such a loving manner that you have the feeling it only opened recently. My first thought was that the "without you" refers to a lost romantic love. Not at all. It is a wonderfully touching tribute to his mother who was the inspiration in his life.   

 

Suzan Lori-Parks brings the popular 1972 crime film "The Harder They Come" to the stage and it was a terrific show. It takes place in Kingston, Jamaica, where a young aspiring singer (an amazing Natey Jones) tries to make something of himself but has to deal with a corrupt music magnate. If a show should move from off Broadway to Broadway this is certainly on the top of my list. 

I was not a huge fan of one of my favorite composer's Jason Robert Brown's shows "Parade" when it first opened at Lincoln Center in 1999. Despite an excellent cast it just never clicked for me despite the engrossing book by Alfred Uhry. However, under Michael Arden's superlative direction this Broadway production which is based on the imprisonment and hanging of Leo Frank a Jewish man in Atlanta, Georgia, after being found guilty of the murder of a young girl who was one of his employees is first rate. The witnesses were all bamboozled into lying. Jews were not exactly welcomed down there in 1913. With the anti-Semitic attacks happening now the show resonates. While I had some issues with Ben Platt's sometimes too laid-back performance, I was most impressed by Micaela Diamond who portrays his wife. 

"Life of Pi" based on the famous book and film is a thrillingly vibrant account of a young man's months at sea on a boat with a Bengal tiger. Almost a phantasmagorical tale it combines philosophy and spirituality in a wonderous tale with lifelike puppetry and incredible staging. Hiran Abelsekara gives a monumental and exhausting performance.  

 

Bravo to Josh Groban for his surprisingly exciting performance as that demon barber of Fleet Street in the must see revival of Stephen Sondheim's brilliant "Sweeney Todd."Some have complained he was not as menacing as his predecessors who played the role. Not sure what they wanted more of because he was frightening enough. And his pure, lucious voice was perfect for this role, Gaten Matarrazzo was one of the best if not the best Toby I have seen; Jamie Jackson the best Judge Turpin; and John Rapson a very different and smarmy Beadle. As much as I do like Annaleigh Ashford I found her performance too cartoonish. No need for some of those antics. Not sure if it was the fault of director Thomas Kail or Ashford's concept for the role. It did not work for me. Everything else certainly did.   

"Shucked" is quite simply the best musical of the season. Hysterically funny with rapid fire one liners by the incomparable book writer Robert Horn (no justice if he does not win for every nomination he obtains) it is also a lovely tribute to people in a small town who just get along wonderfully. There are star turns by so many including a knockout performance by Alex Jewell. Everything in this laugh a minute show works.  

It is always a pleasure having Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht on stage and having them in the same play is a real treat. Such is the case in David Auburn's ("Proof") lovely "Summer, 1976" about a friendship between two very different women. Watching this two hander I began thinking of various friendships in my life. Those that lasted and why some never did. Notice the almost lyrical lighting design by Japhy Weideman. The play breaks the fourth wall which tends to annoy me but here the monologues they speak to the audience works beautifully. 

Sean Hayes gives a brilliant performance as the famed raconteur and classical pianist Oscar Levant in "Good Night, Oscar." He captures all the tics and emotional despair that the late Levant who was addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs went through. The play basically is one of many appearances he made on the Jack Paar talk show which was a must see during the 50's. The only fault I found was that Ben Rapporport was too animated as Paar who was more laidback as I recall. Emily Bergl was excellent as Levant's supportive wife.

 

I had mixed feelings about the musical "New York, New York" in the first act because of too many subplots, but it redeemed itself in the second. Based on the not very good film of the same title this is a vast improvement. A few of the numbers by John Kander and Fred Ebb still are in the show and Lin-Manuel Miranda has provided lyrics for the new ones. While bookwriters David Thompson and Sharon Washington are aiming for a Valentine to New York and building the dreams of those coming here  it would have been better to eliminate one or two storylines in the first act. The second act is so much better focusing on the two stars Anna Uzele and Colton Ryan who  not only have tremendous singing voices but have a wonderful charisma so their relationship works completely. And the set design by Beowulf Borritt whom I have sung the praises of for quite a few years and Susan Stroman's choreography are exemplary. 

PHOTO CREDITS IN ORDER

Todd Ceveris

Russ Rowland

Joan Marcus

Joan Marcus

Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Jeremy Daniel

Joan Marcus

Paul Kolnik