Contributor-critic David Sheward compiled the top ten list. Among the Broadway and Off-Broadway shows he chose were the London National Theatre live broadcast of Phedre, the New York International Fringe Festival hit Abe Lincoln's Big Gay Dance Party and the Brooklyn Academy of Music presentation of the Sydney Theatre Company revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Here is Backstage's "Best of Theatre 2009":

1. Ruined
2. Our Town
3. Exit the King!
4. Joe Turner's Come and Gone
5. Waiting for Godot
6. Phedre
7. Abe Lincoln's Big Gay Dance Party.
8. The Emperor Jones
9. A Streetcar Named Desire
10. The Orphans' Home Cycle

For Sheward's explanation on "Best of Theater 2009," visit backstage.com.