2014 was not a banner year for musicals, but at least some took risks. Case in point: this sprawling and musically complex adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s Brooklyn bildungsroman. Composer-lyricist Michael Friedman assembled a rich mosaic of pop numbers that evoked Motown, funk, punk and rap—new tunes you’d swear you grew up with. Book writer Itamar Moses carved a play out of a doorstop novel. And director Daniel Aukin staged it all with the right balance of whimsy and heartbreak.
Leafing through our clips and searching online to compile 2014’s best and worst lists, we came to realize there was no clear front-runner for either of us. Sure, we found plenty of good, solid work to celebrate but no show that shot straight to the top—no Good Person of Szechwan or Shakespeare’s Globe double bill of Twelfth Night and Richard III to confidently tag No. 1. We couldn’t find that groundbreaking new drama or game-changing musical. (In fact, it was a pretty weak year for tuners, as you’ll see.) Still, venues from Broadway to Off-Off Broadway offered plenty of great hours at the theater, with a healthy mix of sterling revivals and adventurous new plays. It's worth noting both our lists feature playwrights of color we adore: ambitious talents such as Suzan-Lori Parks, Robert O’Hara and Young Jean Lee. The Public Theater also continues to be a producing powerhouse, with Oskar Eustis orchestrating diverse and exciting seasons. But the love is spread around to the Roundabout, New York Theatre Workshop and the Signature Theatre Company. Without these pillars of the New York theater community, it would be a barren landscape every year.
RECOMMENDED: Best of 2014