The 10 best shows on Broadway (and off) in 2017

Comic monologuist John Leguizamo put forth his best work since "Freak," a touching look at the foibles of fatherhood and an exploration of how, in the rush to assimilation, we so often forget our own histories. Following its premiere last spring off-Broadway, this big-hearted, whip-smart work transferred to Broadway in the fall, where it continues through Feb. 4.

The first revival of Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s 1996 breakthrough, about a brutal battle of wills between a controlling mother and her quietly desperate daughter, played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last winter. (In an ingenious bit of casting, the mother was played by Marie Mullen, who won a Tony in 1997 playing the daughter.) McDonagh earned major (and much-deserved) acclaim this year for the film “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” but this splendid production reminded us that he’s been refining his singular mix of comedy, tragedy and violence for more than two decades now. 

Perhaps the year’s biggest revelation: Thirty-plus years after it won the Tony for Best Play, Harvey Fierstein’s landmark comedy-drama proved just as resonant and relevant as when it was first staged. This excellent revival, which played off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater, was anchored by the wonderful Michael Urie (in the role Fierstein made famous) and Mercedes Ruehl. Fingers crossed that this one makes the transfer to Broadway, and that both Urie and Ruehl get a shot at Tonys.

This warmly old-fashioned musical, which originated in 2015 at the Paper Mill Playhouse before arriving on Broadway last spring, deserved to find a much bigger audience. Those who were lucky enough to see it before its early demise enjoyed a star-making turn by Corey Cott, as well as the year’s most ravishing and inventive choreography, courtesy of Andy Blankenbuehler. (He won the show’s only Tony, a year after winning the same prize for “Hamilton.”)