My Theatrical Year in Review

My Theatrical Year in Review

Here, in alphabetical order, is a list of the nine shows that I rated Very Good (****) in 2015.

Musicals:

An American in Paris 

Fun Home 

Hamilton

The King and I

On the 20th Century

Plays:

Barbecue 

Big Love

Gloria

The Qualms

Here, also alphabetically, are the eight plays I rated Poor (*) this year:

Airline Highway

Consent

Fondly, Collette Richland 

Guards at the Taj

Important Hats of the Twentieth Century

Placebo

Shear Madness

Summer Shorts: Series B

Once again this year, I did not rate any productions as Excellent (*****), although “Hamilton” came very close, or as Horrible (0 stars).

The comparisons with last year are a bit disturbing. In 2014, I gave four stars to 16 shows; this year, to just 9. In 2014, I rated 45 shows as Good (***); this year, 40. In the Fair (**) category there were 28 shows in 2014 v. 32 this year. Last year I rated 5 plays as Poor (*); this year there were 8. 

Looked at slightly differently, last year 61 shows were rated either very good or excellent; this year there were only 49. In 2014 I rated 33 shows as fair or poor; this year there were 40.

Whether the difference can be attributed to an actual decline in quality, my impaired ability to select worthwhile plays, a random occurrence or a harshening of my critical faculties is open to speculation. As always, comments are welcome. Send them to:

r.sholiton@me.com