This year we marked the fourth anniversary of the day that theater (and nearly everything else good in the world) shut down due to a global pandemic. And while there are still cancelled shows and understudies stepping in at the last minute due to the virus that won't go away, it feels like this was the first full year of theater since the pandemic, and definitely #TCTheater's best. From a second viewing of Chanhassen Dinner Theatre's fabulous 2023 revival of
Jersey Boys in early January, to an understudy performance of this year's remount of one of my 2023 faves
Dinner for One on New Year's Eve Eve at the Jungle Theater, I saw 251 live performances in three countries, and three different states in this country. That includes 147 plays, 67 musical/opera/dance shows, 19 concert/other, and 18 comedy/improv, 230 of which were in Minnesota (including
31 Minnesota Fringe shows and
7 Twin Cities Horror Festival shows). That's definitely back to pre-pan levels, and about as many as one human can handle in 366 days (I needed the extra day this year). This task of narrowing down that list of shows to a few (dozen) of my favorites is something I both look forward to and dread every year. There's just so much amazing theater happening on a daily basis in this town that it's nearly impossible to do. But here's my best attempt:
