Our 2009 Theatre "Bests"

Due to Ed's autumn cancer battle, we "only" saw 83 theatre productions in 2009.

Our San Francisco Bay Area Top Ten are the following:

Honorable Mention: "A Civil War Christmas," by Paula Vogel at TheatreWorks

10: "Call Me Madam," by Irving Berlin, Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse, 42nd Street Moon

9: "Abraham Lincoln's Big Gay Dance Party," by Aaron Loeb, SF Playhouse

8: "Rabbi Sam," by Charlie Varon, The Marsh

7: "Souvenir, A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins," Stephen Temperley, ACT

6: "First Day of School," Billy Aronson, SF Playhouse

5: "My Name is Asher Lev," Aaron Posner, Chaim Potok, Marin Theatre Company

4: "Macbeth," William Shakespeare, Shotgun Players

3: "Yellow Face," David Henry Hwang, TheatreWorks

2: "Brief Encounter," Noël Coward, Emma Rice, ACT

1: "In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play," Sarah Ruhl, Berkeley Rep

Our Out of Town Top 5 (out of a possible 19 seen):

Honorable Mention: "The Glorious Ones," by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, at BoHo Theatre, Chicago

5: "God of Carnage," Yasmina Reza, Christopher Hampton, Jacobs Theatre, New York

4: "Next to Normal," Tom Kitt, Brian Yorkey, Booth, New York

3: "Fedra, Queen of Haiti," J. Nicole Brooks, Lookingglass, Chicago

2: "Our Town," Thornton Wilder, Second Stage, New York

1: "Waiting for Godot," Samuel Beckett, Studio 54, New York

And of the 11 Operas we went to, our Top 4 operas:

4: "Tosca," Puccini, SF Opera

3: "Porgy and Bess," Gershwin, SF Opera

2: "Ernani," Verdi, Chicago Lyric Opera

1: "Il Triticco," Puccini, SF Opera

We actually only saw a few productions we did not like (e.g., "West Side Story" in New York and half of the ACT productions in SF). There are many, many others not mentioned above that we really enjoyed and thought were quite excellent. Our complete list of 83 shows we saw in 2009.

On to 2010, but with the caveat that it will be almost mid-year before Ed is healed completely and we are going full steam. In the meantime, there is always Netflix.