Copenhagen, Proof, Music Man Top Year-End Lists

By Robert Simonson
December 28, 2000

Michael Frayn's Copenhagen, David Auburn's Proof and the revival of The Music Man are the most common entries in the "best of 2000" lists currently popping up in the pages of the nation's magazines and newspapers.

Michael Frayn's Copenhagen, David Auburn's Proof and the revival of The Music Man are the most common entries in the "best of 2000" lists currently popping up in the pages of the nation's magazines and newspapers.

Copenhagen and Proof, in particular, are unavoidable on 2000's top ten tallies. The former, a Michael Frayn play about a momentous 1941 meeting between two physicists, arrived on Broadway in spring and went on to win the Best Play Tony Award. Proof opened in May at Manhattan Theatre Club and became a surprise hit, quickly transferring to Broadway. Director-choreographer Susan Stroman was behind the hit revival of Meredith Willson's The Music Man, which stars Craig Bierko and Rebecca Luker.

Also appearing on a few lists was The Full Monty, a musical version of the popular film about out-of-work blue collars who resort to stripping to raise cash, recently moved from L.A. to Broadway, where it received largely positive notices.

Some of the lists featured a surprise or two, such as Tallulah Hallelujah (USA Today) and The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (New York Post). By far the most controversial compilation, however, was that of Time magazine. The periodical's top ten included not only Seussical and Aida—shows which opened to generally poor critical reaction—but three productions which actually opened in the fall of 1999: Fully Committed, Dinner with Friends and the Public Theater mounting of Hamlet starring Liev Schreiber.

Following are a selection of year-end lists. The collection will be added to as new lists are published.

New York Post (Clive Barnes)
Top Ten Broadway Shows
• Betrayal
• Copenhagen
• The Dinner Party
• Dirty Blonde
• The Full Monty
• Jane Eyre
• The Music Man
• Proof
• The Real Thing
• True West

New York Post (Donald Lyons)
Top Ten Off-Broadway Shows
• Juno and the Paycock
• Jitney
• Tabletop
• Old Money
• Kit Marlowe
• What the Butler Saw
• The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant
• Green Fields
• Fully Committed
• A Child’s Garden

The Daily News (Fintan O'Toole)
Top Ten Broadway Shows
• True West
• Proof
• The Full Monty
• The Wild Party
• The Music Man
• Contact
• A Moon for the Misbegotten
• Betrayal
• Jane Eyre
• Copenhagen

Bergen Record
Top Ten New York Stage Shows
• Copenhagen
• The Real Thing
• A Moon for the Misbegotten
• Proof
• The Unexpected Man
• Dirty Blonde
• The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife
• The Music Man
• The Rocky Horror Show

USA Today
Top Ten New York Stage Shows
• The Music Man
• Jitney
• Proof
• The Unexpected Man
• The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life...
• Copenhagen
• Richard II/Coriolanus
• A Moon for the Misbegotten
• Tallulah Hallelujah!

Time
Top Ten U.S Stage Shows
• Boy Gets Girl (Goodman Theater, Chicago)
• Comic Potential
• Aida
• Fully Committed
• The Laramie Project
• Tantalus (Denver Center Theatre Company)
• Proof
• Dinner With Friends
• Seussical
• Hamlet (Public Theater, NYC)

Newark Star-Ledger (Michael Sommers)
Top Ten New York Stage Shows
• Contact
• Dirty Blonde
• Jitney
• The Laramie Project
• The Man Who Came to Dinner
• The Rocky Horror Show
• Spinning Into Butter
• The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife
• The Unexpected Man
• The Wild Party (Broadway)

New York Newsday (Linda Winer)
Top Ten New York Stage Shows
• The Real Thing
• Copenhagen
• Jitney
• Tiny Alice
• The Waverly Gallery
• Betrayal
• The Unexpected Man
• Contact
• James Joyce's The Dead
• True West
• The Rocky Horror Show