Critics' Choice

Hamilton

Lin-Manuel Miranda · 2015

Lin-Manuel Miranda's revolutionary sung-and-rapped-through musical traces the meteoric rise of Alexander Hamilton, an orphaned immigrant from the Caribbean who becomes George Washington's trusted aide and the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury. Driven by ambition and haunted by his past, Hamilton's relentless pursuit of legacy and influence ultimately leads to his downfall in a fateful duel with Aaron Burr. This electrifying fusion of hip hop, R&B, and classical musical theatre transforms the Founding Fathers into a contemporary narrative of ambition, love, betrayal, and the struggle to shape one's place in history.

A Strange Loop

Michael R. Jackson · 2019

A Strange Loop is a meta-theatrical musical that follows Usher, a Black, queer aspiring musical theatre writer working as a Broadway usher, as he navigates the labyrinth of his own consciousness. His inner thoughts materialize as six ensemble members who embody both his self-criticism and the various characters in his life, creating a dizzying, hilarious, and deeply moving exploration of identity, desire, and creative ambition. The musical collapses the boundary between performer and audience, between art and life, as Usher grapples with the impossible task of writing a musical about writing a musical. A groundbreaking work that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Musical.

The Lehman Trilogy

Stefano Massini · 2013

An epic chronicle spanning 164 years, *The Lehman Trilogy* traces the rise and catastrophic fall of the Lehman Brothers empire through the eyes of three German Jewish immigrant brothers and their descendants. Beginning with Henry Lehman's arrival in Alabama in 1844, the play follows the family's transformation from dry goods merchants to titans of American finance, navigating the Civil War, the Great Depression, and the postwar boom. Performed by three actors embodying multiple generations, this sweeping narrative culminates in the firm's spectacular 2008 collapse, exposing the human cost of unchecked financial ambition.

Hadestown

Anaïs Mitchell · 2016

Anaïs Mitchell's Tony-winning folk opera reimagines the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as a haunting love story set against the backdrop of Hades' industrial underworld. When the idealistic musician Orpheus falls in love with Eurydice, he must navigate a world of economic despair and divine power to reclaim her, guided by the enigmatic Hermes. A meditation on love, loss, and the transformative power of art, Hadestown weaves ancient mythology into a contemporary tale of hope and heartbreak.

Stereophonic

David Adjmi · 2023

Set in a California recording studio between 1976 and 1977, Stereophonic immerses audiences in the painstaking, year-long creation of a second album by a British-American rock band on the cusp of superstardom. The play unfolds the volatile interpersonal dynamics, creative tensions, and personal crises that emerge as five musicians and two engineers navigate the intricate process of capturing lightning in a bottle—revealing the human cost of artistic ambition and the fragile bonds that hold a legendary ensemble together.

Leopoldstadt

Tom Stoppard · 2020

Tom Stoppard's sweeping drama traces the arc of a prosperous, assimilated Jewish family in Vienna across five decades, from the confident belle époque of 1899 through the gathering darkness of Nazi occupation to the fractured aftermath of 1955. Through intimate family gatherings and private moments, the play captures how love, ambition, and the illusion of belonging collide with the inexorable forces of history, asking whether assimilation can ever truly protect those deemed outsiders by their own blood.

Slave Play

Jeremy O. Harris · 2018

The Inheritance

Matthew López · 2018

Matthew López's epic two-part drama reimagines E.M. Forster's Howards End through the lives of three generations of gay men in contemporary New York City. When young activist Eric Glass and his volatile writer boyfriend Toby Darling encounter the wealthy couple Walter Poole and Henry Wilcox—survivors of the AIDS crisis—their intertwined fates become a meditation on legacy, desire, class, and generational responsibility. As relationships fracture and secrets unravel, Walter's bequest of his country house becomes the crucible for examining what we inherit and what we owe to those who came before.

Kimberly Akimbo

Jeanine Tesori · 2021

The Band's Visit

David Yazbek · 2016

An Egyptian police orchestra arrives in a small Israeli town for a concert that never happens, stranding them overnight in this unlikely place. As the musicians and townspeople navigate cultural divides and personal loneliness, unexpected connections bloom—a stern conductor discovers tenderness, a shy café worker finds courage, and a community discovers that music transcends borders. This luminous musical explores how strangers become neighbors when they dare to truly see one another.

Fun Home

Jeanine Tesori, Lisa Kron · 2013

A groundbreaking musical that weaves together three versions of cartoonist Alison Bechdel—as a child, college student, and accomplished adult—as she excavates her past to understand her complicated relationship with her closeted gay father. Through fractured memories and intimate musical moments, the work traces a family's hidden truths, sexual awakening, and the redemptive power of artistic self-discovery. Tender, darkly comic, and profoundly moving, *Fun Home* transforms a graphic memoir into a luminous meditation on identity, love, and the stories we tell ourselves.

Come From Away

Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Irene Sankoff and David Hein · 2015

When 38 planes are diverted to the remote town of Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001, nearly 7,000 stranded passengers arrive with nowhere to go. The welcoming residents of this tight-knit community open their hearts and homes to these unexpected visitors, forging profound human connections in the aftermath of tragedy. Over the course of one transformative week, strangers become friends, and a small town demonstrates the extraordinary power of compassion and community.

Dear Evan Hansen

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul · 2015

Evan Hansen, a high school senior paralyzed by social anxiety, becomes entangled in a devastating lie when a troubled classmate's suicide is misattributed to a deep friendship between them. As Evan navigates the murky terrain between truth and deception, he must confront the consequences of his fabrication while grappling with genuine human connection and the weight of unintended harm. A poignant exploration of adolescent isolation, digital communication, and the desperate human need to matter.

Fire Shut Up in My Bones

Terence Blanchard · 2019

Terence Blanchard's groundbreaking opera traces the harrowing journey of Charles M. Blow from a traumatized child in rural Louisiana to a man confronting the ghosts of sexual abuse and violence that shaped his identity. Through a visceral blend of jazz, gospel, and orchestral music, the work explores how one man's survival becomes an act of defiance, as he navigates family dysfunction, spiritual searching, and the path toward healing and self-discovery. A searing meditation on race, masculinity, and resilience in contemporary America.

Appropriate

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins · 2013

The Lafayette family gathers at their late patriarch's decaying plantation home in Arkansas to settle his estate, only to unearth a horrifying archive of lynching photographs and Ku Klux Klan memorabilia that shatters their carefully constructed narratives. When the estranged youngest brother returns with his young fiancée after a decade away, old resentments ignite into explosive confrontations as the family is forced to reckon with inherited racism, generational trauma, and the unsettling truth of their father's legacy. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's darkly comic masterwork dissects how historical sin and psychological damage reverberate through white American families, transforming a weekend of remembrance into a reckoning with complicity and identity.