On Dec. 29, Newsday theatre critics Linda Winer and Jan Stuart both released their Top 10 lists for theatre in 1996. Newsday is a Long Island newspaper with a large metropolitan New York readership.

Chief critic Winer chose the Broadway revival of Chicago as her #1 (it made Stuart's list at #8). Rounding out Winer's list were The Samuel Beckett Festival (Lincoln Center), Bring In `Da Noise, Bring In `Da Funk, A Delicate Balance, Rent, The King and I, Seven Guitars, The Trojan Women (La MaMa), The Skriker (The Public Theatre), and City Center's Encore! Series of musicals.

Stuart chose Robert LePage's epic, The Seven Streams Of The River Ota (BAM) as his #1, with Rent and Noise/Funk in the 2 and 3 slots. Rounding out the list: Zingaro - Chimere (BAM), The Waste Land (Off-Broadway), A Delicate Balance, When Pigs Fly (Off-Broadway), Chicago, The Grey Zone (Manhattan Class Company), The King And I.

Stuart also listed "Five People To Watch in 1997:" Audra McDonald (Ragtime), Allison Janney (Present Laughter), dancer Adam Cooper (West End's staging of Swan Lake ballet, due for Broadway in `97), Harolyn Blackwell (Candide), Irene Malloy (Whistle Down The Wind).

--By David Lefkowitz