The 2012 List

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: 2011 2010

Eastland: A New Musical/Lookingglass/June 16

Epic French Masterpieces/Paris Opera Ballet/June 30

Carmina Burana/Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus at Millennium Park/September 21

Simon Boccanegra/Lyric Opera/November 9

Metamorphoses/Lookingglass/September 29

Good People/Steppenwolf/September 26

Winter Fire/Joffrey Ballet/February 15

Fela!/Broadway In Chicago/March 28

Invisible Man/Court Theatre/January 21

Skylight/American Players Theatre/August 18

Angels in America/Court Theatre/April 14

Disgraced/American Theater Company/January 30

Rashid Johnson: Message to our Folks/Museum of Contemporary Art/June 1

Show Boat/Lyric Opera/February 12

Seascape/Remy Bumppo/September 17

The Iceman Cometh/Goodman Theatre/May 3

James Joyce’s The Dead/Court Theatre/November 17

Golden Anniversary Choral Spectacular/Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus/June 29

I Am Going to Change the World/Chicago Dramatists/June 2

Three Sisters/Steppenwolf/July 10

Sunday in the Park with George/Chicago Shakespeare/October 3

Ameriville/Victory Gardens/February 2

Rinaldo/Lyric Opera/February 29

Spring Series/Hubbard Street Dance/March 15

This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s/Museum of Contemporary Art/June 1

The School for Lies/Chicago Shakespeare/December 12

The Book of Mormon/Broadway In Chicago/December 20

A Steady Rain/Chicago Commercial Collective/July 12

Teseo/Chicago Opera Theater/April 27

Aida/Lyric Opera/February 8

Sweet Bird of Youth/Goodman Theatre/September 23

Time Stands Still/Steppenwolf/January 28

Nickel History: A Nation of Heat/16th Street Theater at Steppenwolf Garage/July 20

Rent/About Face Theatre and American Theater Co./May 12

Twelfth Night/American Players Theatre/August 17

The Admirable Crichton/American Players Theatre/August 19

A Christmas Carol/Goodman Theatre/November 25

Elektra/Lyric Opera/October 6

Oedipus el Rey/Victory Gardens/July 9

One Night Only (A Different Kind of Reality Show)/Black Ensemble Theater/October 7

Illegal Use of Hands/American Blues Theater/September 6

The North Plan/Theater Wit/March 3

Honneger’s Pacific 231, Bates’ Alternative Energy, Franck’s Symphony in D Minor/Chicago Symphony Orchestra/February 3

Schubert’s Entr’acte No. 3 from “Rosamunde, D. 797, Clyne’s Night Ferry, Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944 (“Great”)/Chicago Symphony Orchestra/February 9

Camino Real/Goodman/March 11

Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony/Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus/June 22

Jersey Boys/Broadway In Chicago/April 11

Internet Superheroes: Hennessey Youngman/Museum of Contemporary Art/February 21

The Marvin Gaye Story/Black Ensemble Theater/May 24

Winter Series/Hubbard Street Dance/December 7

Perfectly Frank: From Broadway to Hollywood/Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus/July 14

An Exaltation of Place/Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus/June 15

Respiced: A Silk Road Cabaret/Silk Road Rising/April 7

Hellcab/Profiles Theatre/November 15

Batsheva Dance Company/Auditorium Theatre/March 17

The Convert/Goodman Theatre/March 4

Race/Goodman Theatre/January 22

Crowns/Goodman Theatre/July 5

The March/Steppenwolf Theatre/April 15

Timon of Athens/Chicago Shakespeare/May 2

Ben Bailey, Adam Burke, Ken Garr and the Second City’s Improv All-Stars with Colin Mochrie and Maribeth Monroe/Up Comedy Club/February 17

The Delicate Hour/Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak at the Dance Center/February 23

One World Under One Roof/World Music Festival Closing Night at Chicago Cultural Center/September 27

Motion/Signal Ensemble/January 28

Blizzard ’67/Chicago Dramatists/January 13

The Magic Flute/Chicago Opera Theater/September 15

Chicago Gourmet/Millennium Park/September 30

WarHorse/Broadway In Chicago/December 19

Green Day’s American Idiot/Broadway In Chicago/February 7

Accidental Rapture/16th Street Theater/January 19

Being Shakespeare/Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Broadway Playhouse/April 18

Come Fly Away/Broadway In Chicago/January 11

Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival/January 8 & January 14

The Second City’s Improv All-Stars/UP Comedy Club/February 13

Chicago Works: Molly Zuckerman-Hartung/Museum of Contemporary Art/June 1

Falling: A Wake/Rivendell Theatre/March 10

Amahl and the Night Visitors/Chicago Chamber Opera/December 1

Troilus and Cressida/American Players Theatre/August 18

Mamma Mia!/Broadway In Chicago/January 24

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