Best of the Year: Live and on Stage

This was a tough and simple category. Should I choose something I saw and admired in 2007 or should I choose something that actually opened in 2007? Going in the latter direction, it occurred to me that I would never get the chance to select Spring Awakening as my pick of the year. So, the live performance I rank as number one this year is, indeed, Spring Awakening. It's a fresh show dealing with difficult themes. It contributes to the development of music theater by introducing new forms.

The cast is exuberant with John Gallagher (who departed last week) and Jonathan Groff (who just extended six months) as standouts. But the creative team gets the biggest nod here. The book, music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater are simply fantastic, and the package is amazingly well crafted by Michael Mayer. Bill T. Jones (choreography) and Kim Grigsby (musical direction) put their own stamps on the evening, as well.

I do my homework before I go to the theater. It's too frikkin expensive not to. The result is that I'm rarely surprised. I don't avoid spoilers, so heading into Spring Awakening, I knew a lot about the surprises in store. And still I was surprised. The show is so rich, so well done, so engaging that the chatter on the web can't reveal everything. That's masterful!

And if I had limited my choices to those that opened in 2007? Coram Boy. Another compelling night at the theater.

This year I saw perhaps the fewest live performances in the last two decades. But there were a few things that deserve honorable mention: Sweeney Todd demonstrated that there was still much to be mined in the John Doyle production. Judy Kaye was as good and as different from LuPone as possible. Iceland Dance completed its first American tour. The dances weren't always successful, but they could only have come out of Iceland. And Annie Lennox provided a thrilling evening at Symphony Hall in Boston.