Theater

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.