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6 Awake and Sing! Broadway
Clifford Odets' rabble-rouser was written 71 years ago, but in Lincoln Center's first-rate revival, it felt more immediate than ever. Three generations of Bergers coexist and collide under one roof: Loves are lost, identities found, hopes shattered, (American) dreams deferred. Director Bartlett Sher (The Light in the Piazza) lent a graceful touch, and a cast including Lauren Ambrose, Zoë Wanamaker, and Mark Ruffalo made Odets' proletarian poetry truly Sing.
7 Shining City Broadway
Conor McPherson has conjured spirits before: A critic communed with a vampire in St. Nicholas (1998); ghosts haunted his '99 pub-set spookfest The Weir. In City — his most mature, introspective work to date — he crafted a sensitive, sober study in which two men (Oliver Platt, Brían F. O'Byrne) meet the demons in their minds. Turns out McPherson's more than a scary storyteller. He's a frighteningly good playwright.
8 Durango Off Broadway
Coming-of-age dramas are a dime a dozen, and don't get us started on dysfunctional-family road-trip comedies. Julia Cho's Durango is a finely woven fusion of both, full of unexpected emotional twists: Dad (James Saito) harbors deeper, darker secrets than his sons (Jon Norman Schneider, James Yaegashi); the deceased mom — artfully rendered in spotlight, silhouette, and soliloquy — is the play's most powerful presence. But here's the kicker: Cho leaves every loose end untied. Unsatisfying? Maybe. Daring? Definitely.
9 The Clean House Off Broadway
A unique blend of comic magical realism and domestic drama, Sarah Ruhl's gem would be overly precious if it weren't so unmistakably moving: House opens with a lengthy stand-up routine (told entirely in Portuguese), then goes on to explore sibling rivalry, finding one's bashert (soul mate), housecleaning, and the quest for the perfect joke. The marvelous cast (including a deliciously daffy Jill Clayburgh and the ebullient Vanessa Aspillaga) is, well...spotless.
10 A Chorus Line Broadway
The quintessential evocation of Broadway dreams is back, still singular and still sensational. The personal confessions of dancers may seem old hat to reality TV-attuned audiences, but the depth of their ambition does not: American Idol wannabes have nothing on these auditioners. In fact, it's so-called bit players like Natalie Cortez (as Bronx-born Diana), Jason Tam (former drag queen Paul), and Jessica Lee Goldyn (cosmetic-surgery advocate Val) who prove they deserve every kilowatt of the spotlight they steal.
