Playbill.com has culled a collection of year-end, "best of" and "top 10" lists focusing on works of the stage — which include Broadway, Off-Broadway and some productions beyond — from various publications.
Other shows to surface on a number of lists include In the Heights, Road Show and Hair.
Following is a list of 2008's top theatrical contenders (by publication):
AP's Michael Kuchwara:
1. Billy Elliot
2. South Pacific
3. Black Watch (BAM)
4. In the Heights
5. Happy Days (BAM)
6. Port Authority (Atlantic Theatre Company)
7. The Understudy (Williamstown Theatre Festival)
8. Next to Normal (Second Stage Theatre)
9. Rafta, Rafta... (The New Group)
10. What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling (Atlantic Theater Company)
New York Newsday's Linda Winer:
1. South Pacific
2. The Seagull
3. Billy Elliot
4. Passing Strange
5. In The Heights
6. Hair
7. All My Sons
8. Blasted
9. Black Watch
10. Garden of Earthly Delights
New Yorker's John Lahr:
Sunday in the Park with George
. Fela!
2. South Pacific
3. Gypsy
4. The Seagull
5. Top Girls
6. Blasted
7. Hair
8. Hunting and Gathering
9. Les Liaisons Dangereuses
10. On the Town
The New York Times' Ben Brantley:
. Billy Elliot
2. Hair
3. All My Sons
4. The Visit
5. Black Watch
6. reasons to be pretty
7. The Little Mermaid
8. Blasted
9. South Pacific
10. Farragut North
Time Out New York's David Cote:
1. Billy Elliot
2. Blasted
3. The Sound and the Fury
4. Top Girls
5. Gypsy
6. Adding Machine
7. All My Sons
8. Bride
9. Body Awareness
10. The Glass Cage
Time Out New York's Adam Feldman:
1. Gypsy
2. Happy Days
3. Waves
4. All My Sons
5. Adding Machine
6. Bride
7. Billy Elliot
8. Crooked
9. Hair
10. If You See Something Say Something
Time Out New York's Helen Shaw:
1. All My Sons
2. This Place Is a Desert
3. Die Soldaten
4. I'll Go On
5. Don Juan
6. Sunday in the Park with George
7. The Marriage of Bette and Boo
8. Trojan Women
9. The Seagull(Classic Stage Company)
10. Hey Girl
