1 KING CHARLES III
Prince Charles ascends the throne at last, and all hell breaks loose. Mike Bartlett’s speculative drama has a sharp grasp of politics, the private lives of public figures and the logical absurdity of the British monarchy. One of the great political plays of our time.
2 HAMILTON
(See right)
3 ARTHUR MILLER
Miller’s centennial year was marked by two outstanding productions: Ivo van Hove’s expressionistic take on A View From the Bridge and the Signature Theater’s powerful revival of the less celebrated Holocaust play Incident at Vichy.
4 THE KING AND I
The Tony-winning revival boasts spectacle, heart and beautiful voices, making a good case for the 1951 show as the best Rodgers and Hammerstein classic.
5 THE CHRISTIANS
The minister of a megachurch has a spiritual revelation and prompts a crisis in the congregation. Lucas Hnath’s knotty play is a rarity: a serious investigation of the nature of faith.
6 THE VISIT
Kander and Ebb’s last collaboration, about a woman who takes revenge on her hometown, was too dark for Broadway–but too good to go unnoticed.
7 CONSTELLATIONS
Nick Payne’s one-act charts a love affair in scenes that keep rewinding and replaying in alternate versions. Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson made this high-wire act fly.
8 JOHN
A couple’s fraying relationship is further tested by the ghosts of an oddball Pennsylvania inn. Annie Baker’s 3½-hour play moves at its own pace but is strangely enthralling.
9 FINDING NEVERLAND
Critics had the hook out, but this spirited and nimbly staged musical about J.M. Barrie and the creation of Peter Pan is a delight.
10 WOLF HALL
The adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novels about Henry VIII’s court was a model of Royal Shakespeare Company polish and storytelling skill.
Hamilton
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical, recounting Alexander Hamilton’s rise from poor immigrant to Founding Father and architect of the U.S. banking system, is now Broadway’s favorite’s sellout.
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