At the risk of sounding like a television "tease," the end of the year is upon us and that means lots of top ten lists. Last year at this time, I took a look at the 19 shows that I had reviewed since I began blogging on Patch in July of 2011 and came up with my own top ten list. (I cannot believe that this list was nearly 340 blog posts ago!) Due to the manageable size of my list, this was a relatively easy task. Those were the days...
This year, I reviewed a whopping 43 adult productions and 17 shows put on by teens and children; that does not even include to many shows for which I posted a preview and/or an audition notice but was unable to attend. Therefore, this year's task is a daunting one. At first, I decided to rank the young people's productions separately, but that still meant I would have to cut over thirty of the adult shows, many of which I loved. I ultimately decided to follow the lead of the Tony Awards and pick my ten favorite musicals and then deal with the 13 plays on a separate list. I will still be forced to cut many, many of the musicals I enjoyed, but at least this would allow me to include more of my favorites.
Further, I made the decision to limit contenders to the state of CT because I had the pleasure of seeing Newsies on Broadway and it was amazing. Also, although it pains me to do so, I decided to also exclude the Phoenix Stage Company's production of The Last Supper: A Musical Enactment. This is not because it wasn't excellent (because I truly thought it was) but because I had a part in the show. Sincere apologies to my cast mates that welcomed this newbie with open arms.
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So now I am working on giving each musical, play and young actors show a letter grade (although elementary teachers like me rarely use them.) I am hoping that the grades will make this task a little easier. I am very lucky to have the luxury of more than adequate online space and a very supportive editor. Look for my three top ten lists in the coming days and see if you agree with my rankings.
