BWW:UK's Best And Worst Of The Decade - 2000-2009

Here's what our team of writers rated and hated on stage over the past ten years. Avenue Q and Spring Awakening have proved popular - what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Add your comments!

Sally Darling -

Best Musicals:
1. Anything Goes (National Theatre)
2. Mary Poppins (Prince Edward)
3. A Little Night Music (Menier)

Best Plays:
1. War Horse (National)
2. Absolutely Perhaps (Wyndhams)
3. The History Boys (National)

Bob Gould -

BROADWAY:
Best Musical: Next To Normal
Best Play: August, Osage County

WEST END:
Best Musical: Spring Awakening
Best Play: August, Osage County
Worst Musical: Too Close To The Sun

UK REGIONAL:
Best Musical: Martin Guerre (Watermill)
Worst Musical: The Thornbirds ("possibly the worst musical of ANY decade")

Laura Holmes -

Best Musical: Spring Awakening for obvious cliched teenage reason, as well as Billy Elliot and Avenue Q.

Angelina Jones -

Best Musical: [title of show], The Last Five Years, Next to Normal...My absolute favourite show in the West End this past decade was The Drowsy Chaperone. Too Close to the Sun of course would fall into both best and worst categories...

Jack Lovejoy -

Best Musicals: I know it's a cop out, but the undoubted highlight of the decade for me is Wicked. Although I found the original London cast underwhelming, I was instantly blown away by the music, production and the story (although I have now seen it often enough that the holes in the plot seem like gaping craters). It has never failed to excite and move me, and Kerry Ellis' final performance in May really was one of the most electric nights of my life.

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? also comes to mind. I watched it at the Apollo as a Theology student, having never seen the film. The simplicity of the production contrasted fantastically with the intense dialogue and the cast, led by Kathleen Turner, oozed charisma and tension. I actually wrote an essay about it, for which I garnered a healthy 1:1.

War Horse was utterly ingenious. Emotional and evocative, I watched most of it through watery eyes, and the Handspring puppetry took my breath away.

I also loved Nicholas Nickleby (Parts I and II) beautiful and compelling. Admittedly, I felt the direction and design worked much better on Chichester's thrust stage, and the cast were much better there too, but by the time it reached the Gielgud, it had lost little of its magic. There were some truly mesmerising performances there too, particularly from Chris Logan, Pip Donaghy and David Dawson.

Desperately Seeking Susan is still a very guilty pleasure. I know it was universally panned, but I honestly couldn't see anything wrong with it. Sure, the songs used had very little to do with the plot, but I loved the film and am a committed Blondie aficionado, and felt absolutely everything was done the best it could be. I realised early on that it wasn't going to last long so in its short life, I managed to see it three times.

Other highlights of this passing decade have been Sister Act, Piaf and the undeservedly shortlived Spring Awakening and The Drowsy Chaperone.

Worst Musicals: There are certainly some shows that make me shudder when they enter my thoughts. The Lord Of The Rings has to be the first one. I'd never read any of the books or seen the films, but having spent my uni days with a bunch of obsessives, I recognised the odd phrase. I could certainly appreciate the grandeur of the production, but cramming so much into a few hours made the whole spectacle just seem silly. Imagine This was an unforgivable waste of a great cast and a beautiful score.

I regret throwing away the time I spent watching Joseph. With what was easily Andrew Lloyd Webber's most popular TV talent search to date, the show certainly did not live up to the rush for tickets that followed Lee Mead's victory. Lee certainly warranted his win and was worth the ticket price alone but I thought the production looked cheap and amateur. Horrid.

Bad Girls was the first show I ever walked out of. I have been told since then that the score was great, but I don't remember a single song, and I found the whole experience grotesque. The characters were one-dimensional and far removed from those in the TV show, and shoving poor old Bodybag onto the stage stank of desperation.

I despised Priscilla Queen Of The Desert. A great performer, Tony Sheldon was completely lost in this big, camp mess of a show. By the time Tick, played appallingly by Jason Donovan, managed to meet his son, I had forgotten he even had a son, so overwhelmed was I by dangly breasts, flying divas and people dressed as cakes.

Caroline Ness -

Best Musical: Spring Awakening. Everything (apart from maybe a couple of clunky songs here and there) was spellbinding and lovely, especially the lights which I think were fantastic.

Worst Musical: Acorn Antiques The Musical - something about it was toecurlingly awful, even with the mighty Victoria Wood (maybe it was because Julie Walters was off). It was kind of funny, but I just felt embarrassed by the naffness of it all.

Richard O'Hagan -

Best Musical: "Either Les Mis after it moved from the Palace, as the change seemed to revitalise what had become a pretty tired show, or Spamalot with the original cast, which was very funny, very silly and a great evening of entertainment."

Worst Play: "Probably Art, which I thought was a load of rabidly pretentious nonsense."

Steven Perkins -

Best Musical: Avenue Q. Having a cast chiefly consisting of puppets is a masterstroke for many reasons, one of which is that the show's appeal can transcend any number of cast changes. While the initial temptation of the show was seeing a bunch of ersatz Muppets singing and talking about sex, it was the warmheartedness of the show that kept me coming back for repeated viewings. In a show filled with wonderfully catchy songs, first-act closer 'There's A Fine, Fine Line' never fails to make me tearful.

Best Play: Oleanna. In a time where almost every show I saw seemed to have a visiting Hollywood star out to prove their mettle on the London stage, this production stood out with its spellbinding performances from Aaron Eckhart and Julia Stiles. This remains the only production I've ever been to see that's made me involuntarily hiss abuse at one of the characters - and judging by the audience the night I went, I wasn't the only one.

Worst Musical: Rent: Remixed. A revised version of Jonathan Larson's musical was in theory a good idea, since the original had a few flaws that could have done with tweaking. Regrettably, however, director William Baker chose to ignore all of these and instead created a whole new set of flaws of his own, yanking out whatever depth and soul was there and replacing it with Hi-RNG remixes. The book no longer made any sense, most of the characters were now impossible to warm to, Oliver Thornton was horrendously miscast as Mark, and only Leon Lopez, Luke Evans and Francesca Jackson (as Collins, Roger and Joanne, respectively) emerged with their dignity intact.

Worst Play: F***ing Games.A largely unsuccessful queer retelling of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, one of this play's chief flaws was that the adulterous affair at the centre of all of its plot twists was never especially credible. The dialogue was clunky, as characters tended to tell their feelings rather than show them, and the writer never trusted the audience to interpret his meaning correctly without having it explicitly spelt out for them. Finally, the play's ending - in which a young man deliberately infects an older man with HIV because the former has decided he deserves it for being such a horrible and manipulative person - was shocking, but for its sheer irresponsibility rather than its theatrical impact.

Jessica Pinkett -

Best Musical: Hairspray. Both the Broadway and West End versions were great and I love both of the film versions too. I eagerly await the sequel! The best touring show I saw was Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance, a really enjoyable and well put together trip through the history of musical theatre.

Miriam Zendle -

Best Plays: c*ck(Royal Court). Pairing beautifully shaped writing with clever and intimate staging, this fantastic production brought AnDrew Scott to critics and punters' attention. It epitomises good writing.

As You Like It (The Globe). A top-notch team of actors used every inch of the Globe's space, creating a relentlessly funny production that beared repeat viewing.

Hamlet (Stratford upon Avon and Novello). A truly wonderful piece that came with a fantastic ensemble, wonderfully claustrophobic staging and brilliant modern-dress costumes. Brilliant understudy work when lead David Tennant injured his back meant no role felt underplayed - each understudy brought his own interpretation of the role he had been put in at short notice, especially Ed Bennett's wonderful Hamlet.

Revenger's Tragedy (The National). A booming, bloody, raunchy and thrilling production.

Best Musical: Priscilla - fun, sparkly, heartwarming and clever placement of classic tunes made this the most uplifting production of the decade for me.

La Cage - the recent revival in the West End was a must-see show.

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - This fun show appeals to both adults and children through its use of a familiar concept but with clever, cutting and witty songs and script. It's not overlong and it deserved a longer Broadway run.

Worst Play: Hamlet (Wyndhams). Despite the presence of actors like Penelope Wilton and Jude Law, this Donmar production felt stifled and mediocre.

Worst Musical: Curtains. This David Hyde Pierce-fronted Broadway show failed to impress. Devoid of laughs and full of clunky songs, it felt like a slog to sit through.

We Will Rock You - despite strong vocals from an obviously talented cast, this dreary attempt at stringing every Queen song in existence together to form a coherent story fails on every count.

 

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