Five shows we loved on Philly stages in 2024

This year saw a lineup of great shows across the region, from touring Broadway productions, to world premieres, to the Fringe Festival. There were feats of endurance with three-hour long productions and epic myths about the gods containing crucial lessons for humanity, as well as crowd-pleasing musicals that brought in large audiences. Here are a few of our favorites as we look back at 2024.

Dito van Reigersberg’s delightfully eccentric ode to Aimee Mann was an unforgettable trip through a nonlinear narrative following a Hollywood audition, a breakup, a spy story, and other abstract threads. The plot points, though, were secondary to the surreal journey accompanied by music and movement as seven Aimee Manns of all genders — everyone in a blonde wig — performed the rock legend’s songs. Despite not knowing much of Mann’s music, I was completely awed by the immense talent in front of me. (The Fringe Fest play was created by Pig Iron Theatre, the physical theater company van Reigersberg cofounded in Olde Kensington that faced enormous challenges this year following the sudden closure of UArts.) It was the best version of that difficult-to-capture feeling when you see a show you don’t fully understand, but you get its brilliance all the same.

Jukebox musicals are the Walnut Street Theatre’s bread and butter and Beautiful was a true gem this year. Few shows focus on the labor of songwriting, so it was refreshing to see someone like Carole King — whose name younger folks might not know — get the credit for all the blockbuster hits she wrote (or cowrote) in the 1960s and 1970s. The staging was glittery and dynamic with a well-rounded cast that spotlighted groups like the Shirelles and the Drifters. While King’s personal story of breaking away from her husband and longtime songwriting collaborator Gerry Goffin echoed many similar tales, no one could imitate the soaring moment when King (played thunderously by Sara Sheperd) reclaimed “A Natural Woman,” which Goffin had written. I never thought I could appreciate a version of that song by anyone other than Aretha Franklin, but I was, happily, proven wrong.

The vocal talent alone was overflowing in this production of the rapturous revival of the 1990 musical. Long before Halle Bailey played Ariel onscreen, there was Ti Moune. Lynn Ahrens wrote Once on This Island based on Rosa Guy’s novel My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl, which was a retelling of The Little Mermaid set in the French Antilles. There’s no happy ending here — instead, it’s a thoughtful look at the intergenerational damage of colonialism packaged in a family-friendly musical. Unfortunately that resulted in glossing over very real violence, which was my one critique (though that could apply to most musicals that contain references to sexual assault). Still, the show was packed with veteran and emerging performers who served as an excellent ensemble, with each vocal spotlight better than the last, and the choreography was amazingly engaging. I believe there are important lessons this play can teach audiences about colorism, so I welcome future iterations — including the Disney film adaptation that is reportedly in the works.

The scariest thing in the U.S. premiere of this contemporary opera was what we couldn’t hear: a haunting hum that terrorizes the characters, leading them to follow a cult leader. Lansdale-raised composer Missy Mazzoli spun a chilling descent into madness with soaring vocals delivered by sopranos Nicole Heaston, the mother at the center of the story, and Lindsey Reynolds, who played the daughter. Also impressive was the production design, with stunning projections displaying the characters’ confessionals as they sang and even an Instagram Live moment. Seeing an opera that combines the genre’s incredible range with contemporary speech and humor was a treat, from hearing curse words sung in lovely harmonies to witnessing the teen daughter vaping onstage.

This ambitious production put three actors playing some 50 characters onstage over the course of more than three hours to tell the multigenerational story of the Lehman family (of Lehman Brothers fame and failure) across 150 years of history. Actors Charlie DelMarcelle, Scott Greer, and Akeem Davis were the triumphant stars at the center, using very little to convincingly convey each new character; it was a master class for any aspiring theater kid. The epic story commanded a sparse stage punctuated by enthralling videos by Jorge Cousineau that captured the characters’ fears of losing everything. If there’s a common thread among this list, it’s that I learned so much from each of these productions, and Lehman was essentially a financial history lesson; though occasionally that didn’t work in its favor (the first act was somewhat of a slog). The energy of the second and third acts, though, ratcheted up my curiosity about how high they could climb before the ending we all knew was coming. Afterwards, I reviewed the play with another critic who raised valid concerns about the harmful stereotypes of Jewish people that Lehman employed in its storytelling, and we agreed that it could have benefited from more depth.

Overall this year on Philly stages provided chances to feel wonderfully alive in the theater, and I look forward to more of that feeling (and attempts at undoing historic misgivings) in 2025.