Wherein I attempt to rank every show I’ve seen this year, a running list as the year unfolds, regardless of genre (theater, music, dance, art). Note, the company I keep is not a factor, though it often redeems the lesser of such evenings. If I’ve written about them, links are provided. If I published a review, it is linked.
Previous Years: 2012 2011 2010
Simpatico/A Red Orchid/July 11
Head of Passes/Steppenwolf/April 13
Smokefall/Goodman/October 14
George Saunders and Adam Levin/Lincoln Hall/January 8
Measure for Measure/Goodman Theatre/March 17
Hank Williams: Lost Highway/American Blues Theater/September 20
La Bayadère: The Temple Dancer/Joffrey Ballet/October 16
Goshka Macuga, Exhibit, A/MCA/March 23
Fall Series/Hubbard Street Dance/October 10
Pullman Porter Blues/Goodman Theatre/September 26
To Master the Art/Chicago Commercial Collective/September 17
Spring Series/Hubbard Street + Alonzo King Lines Ballet/March 15
R.H. Quaytman: Passing Through The Opposite of What It Approaches, Chapter 25/Renaissance Society/January 6
La Bohème/Lyric Opera/March 12
Other Desert Cities/Goodman Theatre/January 20
Chicago Works: Jason Lazarus/MCA/March 23
Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec: Bivouac/MCA/January 10
Inner Voices/Piccolo Teatro di Milano-Chicago Shakespeare/June 25
Collected Stories/American Blues Theater/April 25
Oklahoma!/Lyric Opera/May 4
Alexander Nevsky/Grant Park Orchestra/June 15
The Mountaintop/Court Theatre/September 14
The Jungle Book/Goodman Theatre/June 30
Thom Pain (based on nothing)/Theater Wit/July 2
The Happiest Song Plays Last/Goodman Theatre/April 21
The Misanthrope/Court Theatre/May 18
Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story/Broadway In Chicago/June 19
Once/Broadway In Chicago/October 9
A Christmas Carol/Goodman Theatre/November 24
Million Dollar Quartet/Apollo Theater/September 22
Tribes/Steppenwolf/December 12
The Motherf**ker With The Hat/Steppenwolf/January 10
The Wheel/Steppenwolf/September 24
Big Lake Big City/Lookingglass/June 29
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark/Goodman Theatre/May 5
Marie Chouinard “IN MUSEUM”/MCA March 23
Julius Caesar/Chicago Shakespeare/February 13
Too Many Husbands/American Players Theatre/July 19
Catch Me If You Can/Broadway In Chicago/April 3
The Walk/School of the Art Institute of Chicago/May 3
Flashdance/Broadway In Chicago/August 6
Color Bind: The MCA Collection in Black and White/MCA/March 23
Cyrano de Bergerac/Chicago Shakespeare/October 2
Belleville/Steppenwolf/July 6
The Merry Wives of Windsor/Chicago Shakespeare/December 11
Skylight/Court Theatre/January 19