Year in Review: Who Won? Who Lost?

Last year's knockout Broadway season had to be hard to beat. Of course, like any other season, it had its shortcomings and fair share of failures. But with all four 2005 Tony nominees for Best Musical still running strong (including several unprecedented extensions for The Light in the Piazza at Lincoln Center), and the winner for Best Play (John Patrick Shanley's Doubt) expanding with a tour and regional productions, it was arguably one of the best seasons in recent memory, boasting a decent amount of strong competition rather than predictable sweeps. But as for the new productions, things aren't looking so great on the Great White Way.

Though economically Broadway is close to reaching its profits prior to Sept. 11, 2001, the new season is shaping up to be an artistic disappointment.

The 2005-2006 season featured Ring of Fire, a sloppily strung-together series of on-stage music videos using the tunes of Johnny Cash and obviously riding on the heels of Walk the Line. It also produced Hot Feet, a dull, predominantly dance-driven performance using the music of Earth, Wind, and Fire. With shows like Ring of Fire and Hot Feet, it's no surprise that Jersey Boys was one of the saving graces of the season. Jersey Boys, the critically acclaimed show about the Four Seasons, with acting chops and charisma to spare, uses music to tell a unique story, rather than building fiction around the music.

The remainder of the musicals came in droves this spring. Roundabout's revival of The Pajama Game sold out its run after opening to stunning reviews for both the production and its leads, Harry Connick Jr. and Broadway regular Kelli O'Hara (The Light in the Piazza). A few blocks farther uptown, Roundabout's revival of Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, helmed by a star-studded cast (Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer, and Cyndi Lauper), opened at Studio 54 on April 20. Even if the concept of the show isn't for everyone, the production is likely to please.

Despite the strength of the season's revivals, the new musicals are more of a mixed bag. A score by Elton John and a talented, sexy cast isn't going to save Lestat from going the way of several recent vampire musicals, not that it deserves to be saved from such a fate. Tarzan will likely be both plagued and blessed by the schema brought by the Disney tag line. But the poor choice of theater is already bringing about huge controversy and dissatisfaction, as the show's eye-popping stunts are blocked by many interior sight-lines. Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest, The Woman in White, closed after only a few short months on Broadway, although it was moderately successful on London's West End.

The Wedding Singer will likely be this year's Hairspray, though it is probably not as worthy of hype. Chances are that it will not receive as much either, a fact that brings shame to its powerful yet relatively unknown cast. The Color Purple and The Drowsy Chaperone will likely vie for the best musical win, the former a moving adaptation of the classic novel and the latter proclaimed a rarity as a truly original show with favorite Sutton Foster in the lead.

The plays this past season thrived on star power, which was apparently enough to revive those shows that should not have been resurrected, and to lower significantly the high potential of the new productions. Barefoot in the Park brought Amanda Peet to Broadway, along with the yelling known to the acting world as "projection." Despite its starry cast, Festen seemed to have lost something in translation. And, of course, Julia Roberts made her Broadway debut in Three Days of Rain. But other than being a vehicle for Roberts' Broadway debut, this show and the reasons for its production are questionable. The sure-fire exception to the rule was David Lindsay-Abaire's touching Rabbit Hole, which starred Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon in its now-ended limited engagement at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

New shows will be opening this spring right up until the night before the deadline for Tony nomination eligibility, and the busy opening period will end with Disney's Tarzan on May 10. Unfortunately, the spring offerings fail to thrill, and a lackluster season will leave theater buffs with a less-than-suspenseful Tony race this year, acting awards aside. Amid the mess, there is much talent to spare.

But fear not. Though the new shows for 2006-2007 are still up in the air, the powers that be are already planning three major, highly anticipated revivals: Les Miserables makes a limited-engagement return to Broadway, A Chorus Line gets its long-awaited resurgence, and after a strangely placed step into a flying car, critical darling Raúl Esparza soars back to Broadway, headlining John Doyle's eagerly anticipated revival of Sondheim's Company, complete with the use of his trademark actor-musician concept, when the show transfers from Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park. Make it through this sleeper of a season, and soon there will be much reason for joy.