BroadwayWorld's 10 Memorable Theatre Moments of 2007

My New Year's resolution for 2007 was to see less theatre.  Oh, it's not that I loved sitting in the dark and watching artists collaborate on a creative effort any less, but that I loved having the occasional night off from viewing and writing to maybe catch a ballgame or have live conversations with non-fictional people a bit more.  So in 2007 I attended only 230 live performances: 136 plays or musicals, 25 theatre-related concerts, 24 editions of Seth Rudetsky's Broadway Chatterbox, 23 cabarets, 12 readings, 6 operettas, 3 operas and 1 burlesque show.  I didn't keep count in 2006, but this schedule of only 4.42 performances a week did free up some time to watch my Mets implode in September like a plot point in a Joe Brooks musical.

In any case, out of those 230 dazzling and not so dazzling productions (I still have nightmares about Sealed For Freshness, which I don't mind calling the worst show of the year because author Doug Stone says he writes plays for people who hate theatre.) here's a list of 10 moments that linger in my mind as the most memorable of 2007:

David Oyelowo, completely riveting in Prometheus Bound, spent nearly the entire ninety minutes of the play chained to the stage, nearly nude with his arms outstretched.  Gritty, muscular and majestic, he began the performance in a lengthy, wordless soliloquy where Prometheus makes several attempts to free himself; systematically trying to power and finesse his way to freedom only to be left sweaty and frustrated.  One of the best acting jobs of the year.

The most memorable line reading of the year was uttered by Boyd Gaines as the fatherly lieutenant serving at the front lines in Journey's End as he casually refers to the suicide mission he's been ordered to carry out as "a damn nuisance."  His understated acceptance that he is about to die in service of his country was both noble and painful to watch.

Sitting in the audience waiting for My First Time to begin and seeing a message flash on the stage informing us of how many virgins were in the audience that night.  Imagine if all shows did that.

Kevin Kline's entrance in Cyrano de Bergerac, where just for a moment he tricks the audience into being a part of the play.

Nothing made me laugh so hard this year as Christine Pedi at The Metropolitan Room belting out the money notes of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" in a hilarious impersonation of Bernadette Peters.

Patti LuPone's "Rose's Turn," where the gaping wound of Rose Hovick's loneliness was exposed with such vicious sorrow that it would be impossible to watch in real life.  The bile with which she groaned out the word "leaves," recalling the parade of loved ones she drove away with her ambitions, and the painful growl of her ultimate "For me!" climaxed an impeccable progression from an amusingly pushy jazz baby to a heartbroken woman who has seen every dream of hers crushed.  I can't wait to see her in Gypsy again.

Martha Plimpton, with the help of Michael Yeargan's set, Jess Goldstein's costumes and Brian MacDevitt's lights, literally getting lost in the stars at the end of Cymbeline's first act.  The most beautiful and romantic theatre image of the year.

Patti Colombo's wildly athletic choreography in The Paper Mill's terrific production of Seven Brides For Seven Brothers stopped the show cold in a challenge dance ballet sequence that mixed ballroom dancing, folk dancing, ballet and brawling, performed by a rip-roaring cast full of humor and spirit.  Get this woman on Broadway.

I don't want to spoil the ending of Michael Hollinger's Opus, my favorite new play of the year, but his smart, funny and ultimately shocking and downright breathtaking comedy/drama about the group dynamics among members of a Grammy-winning string quartet ends with a destructive act that had audience members, including myself, gasping with surprise.

In The Heights, my favorite musical of the year, has a dynamic score by Lin-Manual Miranda and some of the best theatre choreography I've seen in years, courtesy of Andy Blankenbuehler, but what really sticks in my mind about the night I saw the show was Olga Merediz's rapturous solo as the grandmother remembering the exciting nights of her youth, which ended with the high-pitched cheers of teenage girls in the audience showing their appreciation for the older actress like she's Elphaba defying gravity.

I had a tough time whittling down the list to ten this year and had to leave out some good ones.  What were some of your most memorable moments in the theatre this year?

Michael Dale's Martini Talk appears every Monday and Thursday on BroadwayWorld.com.

Top photo by Richard Termine: David Oyelowo Prometheus Bound; Center photo of Christine Pedi by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.; Bottom photo by Joan Marcus: Olga Merediz in In The Heights