The 10 best Broadway shows of 2023
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EW rounds up our 10 favorite pieces of theater to hit the Great White Way in 2023.
Another openin', another show...
2023 found Broadway back in full force, after creeping back to life in the aftermath of the unprecedented pandemic-induced shutdown. The year was jam-packed with starry revivals (Parade, Sweeney Todd, Purlie Victorious, A Doll's House) and plenty of marvelous new work (Here Lies Love, Shucked, Jaja's African Hair Braiding, I Need That), reminding audiences that the death of the American theater is not as imminent as one may fear. Of the titles that stood out to us, here are the ten best Broadway shows of 2023, as chosen by members of EW's theater bureau.
The 10 Best Broadway Shows of 2023
10. The Cottage
The Cottage may be the only Broadway play in recent history to get away with one of its characters attempting to use a swordfish as a weapon. The fiercely funny feminist farce, written by playwright Sandy Rustin and directed by Jason Alexander, is a true comedy of errors that all kicks off when 1920s socialite Sylvia (Laura Bell Bundy) decides to hard launch her secret relationship with Beau (Eric McCormack) by notifying her husband, Clarke (Alex Moffat), and Beau’s pregnant wife, Marjorie (Lilli Cooper), about their years-long affair via telegram. But, as Sylvia soon discovers, Beau is keeping more than just their illicit connection a secret as lovers new and old soon descend upon his countryside cottage demanding answers, vengeance, and cups of tea, please. With such witty — and surprisingly heartfelt — material at their disposal, The Cottage’s buzzy ensemble brings the house down by leaning into physical comedy, delivering hilarious one-liners, and extracting cigarettes from a multitude of seemingly normal household objects. Prepare to leave laughing all the way out the door and down the block. — Emlyn Travis
9. Shucked
A little musical about corn snuck onto Broadway this season to upend expectations. With exceedingly catchy music from country songwriters Brandy Clark and Shane McNally and a hysterical book from Broadway vet Robert Horn (Tootsie), Shucked follows the story of Cob County, a town grappling with a corn blight that threatens to end their way of life. Jokes (plenty of corny ones at that) and a rollicking score serve as the lighthearted wrapping for a story that interrogates everything from identity to climate change to religion. Tony winner Alex Newell is the show’s beating heart, tearing down the house every night with Act One showstopper, “Independently Owned.” But what makes Shucked a kernel of joy in this packed Broadway season is the seamlessness of the ensemble, and the ways they bring to life energetic numbers like “Best Man Wins.” Sometimes the show veers into syrupy territory, more interested in laughs than a message — but couldn’t we all use a little more corn in our theatergoing diet? Cultural impact is all well and good, but sometimes you just want to laugh until your face hurts. — Maureen Lee Lenker
8. Purlie Victorious
As refreshing as it is to see new work from talented playwrights, it’s also important to remember that America has a deep history of plays that don’t get as much attention as they deserve. That’s what Leslie Odom Jr. has been trying to remind us with his six-year quest to bring Ossie Davis’ Purlie Victorious back to Broadway. Now that he has succeeded, it’s an absolute treat to watch Odom and his talented costars (particularly Kara Young) feast on Davis’ eloquently hilarious language. One of the play’s central jokes (that despite looking like an antebellum costume drama, these Black Southerners are struggling to free themselves from a domineering white plantation owner after the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation) also serves as a reminder of the importance of studying the full breadth of American history, not just the standard highlights. — Christian Holub
7. Merrily We Roll Along
If you mess up the first time, you still have the chance to make things right. That’s the lesson of Merrily We Roll Along’s long and eventful production history. Even though the show itself tells (in reverse chronology) the story of three old friends caught in a decades-long spiral of betrayal and compromise, this Stephen Sondheim musical has made a wonderful recovery from its disastrous premiere production in 1981. The well-staged new Broadway revival — which stars Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez in the lead roles — combines the cynicism of the material with enough playful exuberance to remind audiences that not every life choice we make is inevitable. Radcliffe in particular makes a meal of “Franklin Shepard Inc.” in his return to the New York stage.— CH
6. A Doll's House
Just the notion of Jessica Chastain starring as Nora Helmer, one of the most famous heroines in dramatic history, feels like theatrical gold. But Jamie Lloyd’s iconoclastic, stripped down production of A Doll's House brings something charged and fresh to the oft-revived Ibsen play. Lloyd positions his leading lady in a folding chair on a revolving stage stripped of any sets, backdrops, or hints of artifice. Here, Nora faces off against husband Torvald (Arian Moayed) on a bare stage with barely any blocking, more nakedly exposing the universal truths of its tale of patriarchal abuses and a woman’s journey toward self-discovery and fulfillment. Chastain is radiant as Nora, her trilling naïveté slowly transforming into a dawning horror. She meets her match in Moayed, who perfectly tempers Torvald as a loving spouse whose gentleness turns into manipulative menace when his authority is threatened. The show’s final moment — when Chastain enacts Nora’s famous exit from her home by walking out the stage door — is jarring and disorienting, making the now familiar conclusion feel as revolutionary as it once must have when Ibsen shocked 19th-century theatergoers. By removing any pretense or theatrical trappings, Lloyd distills the power of A Doll’s House into a play more potent and provocative than it has been in decades.—MLL
5. Here Lies Love
Despite being based on real history and originally produced off-Broadway 10 years ago, Here Lies Love still manages to feel ahead of its time. That’s not just because of the David Byrne/Fatboy Slim score. The Broadway production literally rearranged the seating of the Broadway Theatre to make it feel more like both a dance club and a political arena, perfectly fitting for the story of how dictators Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos dominated the Philippines for decades. Far from engaging in apologia, Here Lies Love uses its format to show how the Marcoses clung to power through corruption and superficial celebrity. The real stars are the charismatic Conrad Ricamora as their political opponent Ninoy Aquino and Lea Salonga’s star turn as Aurora Aquino. But the show is never didactic. That innovative stage design reminds us that we are a part of history — and that we must always be on the lookout for would-be dictators.—CH
4. Jaja's African Hair Braiding
Ghanaian-American playwright Jocelyn Bioh wonderfully shines a spotlight on the Black hair community in her hilarious and heartbreaking new comedy, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. A powerful tale of joy, loss, and sisterhood, Jaja’s chronicles a day in the life of the West African hair braiders working at its titular Central Harlem salon as they exchange backhanded compliments, dance, and create beautiful hair transformations for their clients. However, as the day progresses, Bioh skillfully morphs the found family’s everyday arguments about stolen customers and song selections into frank discussions about dreams, racism, deportation, and the personal sacrifices that each woman has had to make to build a better life for herself in the United States. Add in an excellent, almost entirely woman-led ensemble (many of whom were making their Broadway debut), Whitney White’s solid stage direction, and Jaja’s African Hair Braiding succeeds in delivering a whole lot more than just stunning looks during its 90 minute runtime.—ET
3. Parade
More than 20 years after its original Broadway run, Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown’s Tony award-winning musical Parade marched back onstage earlier this year in a compelling and poignant revival led by Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond. The period drama, which went on to receive six Tony nominations, is inspired by the true story of the trial, imprisonment, and murder of Leo Frank, a Jewish man living in Georgia who was convicted of murdering a young girl amid a rise in antisemitism in 1913. With historical photography projected onto its stage, the latest iteration of Parade refuses to shy away from the horrifying reality of the story it presents and encourages theatergoers not to turn a blind eye either. As the introspective Frank, Platt is nothing short of outstanding as he attempts to hold onto his freedom, connection to God, and dignity against increasingly impossible odds. Meanwhile, as Leo’s wife Lucille, Diamond brings a steadfastness and indomitable sense of hope that makes the musical’s conclusion that much more heartbreaking. Combine them together, especially on songs like the show-stopping “This Is Not Over Yet,” and it’s easy to see why Parade was one of the most highly revered and affecting musicals this year.—ET
2. The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
Getting dismayed about the depressing state of the world and the apparent failure of electoral politics to create meaningful change? Lorraine Hansberry knows how you feel. Though best known for writing A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry also channeled frustrations with politics and media into The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, which felt as fresh as ever in this year’s revival — first at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and then the James Earl Jones Theater. Oscar Isaac starred as the title character, a Greenwich Village intellectual who overcomes his cynicism to throw himself and his independent newspaper behind a local reformist politician, and delivered his best performance since Inside Llewyn Davis.—CH
1. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The last few years have brought no shortage of Sondheim revivals, but perhaps the most anticipated of all was this richly realized production of Sweeney Todd. Josh Groban stars as the titular demon barber of Fleet Street opposite Annaleigh Ashford as the deviously madcap Mrs. Lovett. Taking the opposite tack from many recent revivals' minimalism, this production is an ode to the grandeur of the original. Tommy Kail’s interpretation of the work is full of intriguing choices, particularly the chilling ways he stages the show’s final scenes. Kail taps into the grande guignol horror of the proceedings with gusto, while also letting a reverence for the work guide his hand. There’s many reasons to attend the tale — Groban’s velvet baritone that somehow finds new complexities and surprising emotionality in the lush score (particularly in the “Johanna” quartet), Ashford’s go-for-broke unhinged take on Lovett as a dangerous ditz, and Ruthie Ann Miles’ wrenching, physically taxing take on the Beggar Woman. But to hear a full orchestra lushly render Sondheim’s layered score is an extraordinary gift — there’s an electricity that comes with sitting in a dark theater and letting the opening number’s wall of sound crash into you with the force of a tidal wave. It’s that rare theatrical experience that makes audiences sit up straighter in their seats, bolts of lightning zipping down their spines. In a Broadway increasingly dominated by shrinking orchestras and projections instead of physical sets, to see Sweeney in all its bloody, orchestral glory? God, that’s good.—MLL
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