117 Nights (and some afternoons)

Thank goodness I'm in the LA Drama Critics Circle or I wouldn't bother to put this year-end list together. (I was a secret voter for last year's Garland Awards, too, which forced to make a similar list. If you're wondering why I had to be secret, ask someone at my old place of business.)

If I have time I'll offer comments about each of the following, most but not all of which I reviewed either for the LA Times or the Downtown News. For the time being, I've simply bolded the shows I found special, memorable, or noteworthy for some reason or other over the past year (and I've got about a half dozen more or so to see before we ring down the curtain on this year).

At the very least, it's a kind of diary of my year as a critic and theatregoer. At best it's a cross section of another busy, stimulating, enervating, pathetic, and glorious year in the great invalid's stepchild, L.A. theatre.

18 Arrests, No Convictions at the Court Theatre
29 Things To Do on a Rainy Day, SOB Theatre Co at Theatre/Theater
110 Degrees in the Shade at Pasadena Playhouse
Abingdon Square at Open Fist Theatre
Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo’s Greatest Hits at the Canon Theatre
Architect of Destiny, Inkwell Productions at the Zephyr Theatre
Around the World in a Bad Mood at the Hermosa Beach Playhouse
As Vishnu Dreams at East West Players
The Authors Thumb at Theatre Unlimited
A Woman’s Worth at the Orpheum Theatre
Bitter Bierce at the Zephyr Theatre
Blithe Spirit at the Globe Playhouse
Blue Surge at the Third Street Theatre
Buddy at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center
Caroline, or Change at the Ahmanson Theatre
Catch-22 at West Coast Ensemble
Center of the Star, Cornerstone Theater Company at Greenway Court
Chekhov x 4, Antaeus at NewPlace Theatre
A Comfortable Truth at Lee Strasberg Theatre Center
Coming to Life at Fremont Center Theatre
Company, Reprise at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse
The Conquest of the South Pole at the Odyssey Theatre
Continental Divide at La Jolla Playhouse
The Credeaux Canvas at the Little Victory Theatre
Dark Rapture at Evidence Room
The Days When Cocaine Was King at the American Renegade Theatre
Dealing With Clair at the Matrix Theatre
Deconstructing the Torah, Circus Theatricals at the Odyssey Theatre
Diary of a Madman at the Odyssey Theatre
Dorian at the NoHo Arts Center
Duel at the Hollywood Court Theatre
Eat Me at Theatre of NOTE
Electra at A Noise Within
Embedded at Actors’ Gang
The Empire Builders at City Garage
Enchanted April at Pasadena Playhouse
The Family Room at the Powerhouse Theatre
Four Dervishes at 24th Street Theatre
The Four Postmen at the Stella Adler Theatre
Freedomland at Sidewalk Studios
Fully Committed at San Fernando Valley Playhouse
Galileo at Brand Park
A Gift From Heaven at Beverly Hills Playhouse
Golden Prospects at the Powerhouse Theatre
Grand Hotel at the Colony Theatre
Hairspray at the Pantages Theatre
Hard Times at Evidence Room
Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Celebration Theatre
Henry Part, Part I, Circle X at Shakespeare Festival LA
Hollywood Hell House at Center for Inquiry West
Holy Days at Theatre 40
Homewrecker at Evidence Room
In the Land of the Giants at the 2nd Stage Theatre
An Infinite Ache at the Black Dahlia Theatre
Intimate Apparel at the Mark Taper Forum
Jack or The Submission at the Elephant Stageworks
Johnny Boy at the Falcon Theatre
Juvenilia at Gardner Stage
Kismet, Reprise at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse
Letting Go of God at the Hudson Backstage
Like a Dog on Linoleum at the Elephant Asylum Theatre
A Lion in Winter at Theatre 40
Little Mary Sunshine, Musical Theatre Guild at the Alex Theatre
Little Shop of Horrors at the Ahmanson Theatre
Lobby Hero at the Odyssey Theatre
Lydie Breeze at the Open Fist Theatre
M Butterfly at East West Players
Measure for Measure, SOB Theatre Co at Theatre/Theatre
Midnight Brainwash Revival at Sacred Fools Theatre
Mirror Mirror at 24th Street Theatre
Miss Margarida’s Way at the Zephyr Theatre
Miss Saigon at the Pantages Theatre
Mixed Messages at East West Players
Molly Sweeney at the Eclectic Company Theatre
My Favorite Year, Musical Theatre Guild at the Alex Theatre
Nothing But the Truth at the Mark Taper Forum
The Oedipus Tree at Plummer Park
Only the Dead Know Burbank, Inkwell Productions at the Hudson Theatre
Ourselves Alone at Gardner Stages
Passing, Towne Street Theatre at the Stella Adler Theatre
Peach Blossom Fan ar REDCAT
A Perfect Wedding at the Kirk Douglas Theatre
Peter Pan at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts
Pharmacopeia at Evidence Room
Play Strindberg at Company Rep
The Queen of Sheba, Unity Players at the Stella Adler Theatre
Raree, Meadows Basement at Theatre/Theater
Red Light, Green Light at Theatre of NOTE
Robert Johnson: Trick the Devil at the Group Repertory Theatre
The Royal Family at the Ahmanson Theatre
Self-Defense at the Actors’ Gang
She Loves Me, Musical Theatre West the Carpenter Performing Arts Center
Shel’s Shorts at Kuttingroom
Side Man at Malibu Stage Company
Sperm, Circle X at the 24th St Street Theatre
Spite for Spite, Andak Stage Company at NewPlace Theatre
Stones in His Pockets at the Mark Taper Forum
Summertime, Theatre @ Boston Court
Swimming in the Shallows, MetaTheatre Company at Third Street Theatre
The Talking Cure at the Mark Taper Forum
The Ten Commandments at the Kodak Theatre
Topdog/Underdog at the Mark Taper Forum
Tougher Than Grace at King King club
True Story at the Coronet Upstairs
Twelfth Night at Actors Co-op
Twelfth Night, Shakespeare Festival LA at Pershing Square
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Independent Shakespeare Company at Hollyhock House
Waking Up in Lost Hills, Cornerstone Theater Company at Lost Hills School Auditorium
War Music at the Geffen Playhouse
Western Big Sky at the Met Theatre
What Are You, Deaf? at Company Rep
What the Night Is For the Laguna Playhouse
Wonder of the World at West Coast Ensemble

UPDATE: Forgot to include one show--nothing major, just the production of the year: Exits and Entrances at the Fountain Theatre.