We were fortunate to have seen 17 different productions in 2025: 14 on Broadway and 3 off-Broadway. These are the shows we considered in all categories this year: Bat Boy: The Musical. Buena Vista Social Club, Dead Outlaw, Death Becomes Her, Floyd Collins, Gypsy, Heathers, John Proctor is the Villain, Operation Mincemeat, The Queen of Versailles, Ragtime, Real Women Have Curves, Redwood, Romeo + Juliet, Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) and Urinetown. There were two productions we paid another visit to: Hadestown and Sunset Boulevard and considered only those elements which were new to us this time around. We made our selections separately, so below you'll see where we agreed, where we differed, and those things we each just had to include. Our selections are arranged in alphabetical order below.
How did we compare to your favorites? Let us know via social media - @jkstheatresecene on all platforms. (X, Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky and Yahoo mail)
2025 in Review:
The Movers and Moments of the Year
The New Faces of 2025:
Outstanding Performers
As Sondheim wrote in Merrily We Roll Along, "these are the movers, these are the shapers," and here we present ten of those performers who burst onto the theater scene with outstanding Broadway debuts. This year, the list includes leading roles, supporting roles and ensemblists (and even a few who are already stars in other disciplines) who we think will continue to move us with their talents and shape the future of theater.
Anna Grace Barlow - Ragtime Kit Connor - Romeo + Juliet
Tatianna Cordoba - Real Women Have Curves
Tommy Dorfman - Romeo + Juliet Lizzy McAlpine - Floyd Collins
Joanna Riding - Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
Sam Tutty - Two Strangers Jack Wolfe - Hadestown
Amalia Yoo - John Proctor is the Villain Rachel Zegler - Romeo + Juliet
The New Faces of 2025:
Outstanding Creatives
This past season gave us a cornucopia of thrilling theatrical events, stunning revivals and shows that have already established themselves as new classics. Theater, of course, does not exist in a vacuum, and so these "new faces" are not new to their creative endeavors. All of them made significant, career-changing contributions in 2025. We look forward to seeing them all in new, exciting productions in the years to come!
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Kimberly Belflower - Playwright - John Proctor is the Villain
The Original Buena Vista Social Club
Jim Barne & Kit Buchan - Book, Music and Lyrics - Two Strangers
Robert Hastie - Director - Operation Mincemeat
Julia Mattison & Noel Carey - Music and Lyrics - Death Becomes Her
The Movers of 2025
One of the greatest pleasures we get from being regular theatergoers is seeing performers we've admired for years continuing to grow and contribute to the theater scene. This year, there was an abundance of such talent - many in multiple roles. Some have become award-winners, others breaking new ground in their careers. All of them made this past year memorable.
Natalie Venetia Belcon - Buena Vista Social Club Jeb Brown - Dead Outlaw
Danny Burstein - Gypsy Kerry Butler - Bat Boy Andrew Durand - Dead Outlaw
Gabriel Ebert - John Proctor is the Villain Jason Gotay - Floyd Collins
Joshua Henry - Ragtime Jeremy Jordan - Floyd Collins
Julia Knitel - Dead Outlaw
Cassie Levy - Ragtime Justina Machado - Real Women Have Curves
Diego Andres Rodriguez - Sunset Blvd. Lea Salonga - Old Friends
Nicole Scherzinger - Sunset Blvd.
Sherie Rene Scott - The Queen of Versailles
Sadie Sink & Fina Strazza - John Proctor is the Villain
Paulo Szot - Hadestown Nina White - The Queen of Versailles
Performer of the Year
This year, there were many stunning performing achievements, and I assure you both Mike and I wrestled with what actor to choose. Here are our choices for 2025.
Jeff's Selection:
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Taylor Trensch
Floyd Collins/Bat Boy
I've been a fan of Taylor throughout his career, and over the years he has been consistently excellent. This year, his performances - he was in two critically acclaimed productions - were exceptional. On Broadway, he played reporter Skeets Miller in Floyd Collins, showing a dramatic maturity that earned him his first Tony Award nomination. He followed that with the starring role in Encores' Bat Boy: The Musical, a tour de force performance of exciting physicality and surprising depth and emotional range. In both, he was captivating. He made my year.
Mike's Selection:
Audra McDonald
Gypsy
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Audra, playing one of the greatest roles in one of the greatest musicals ever written, is a recipe for musical theater Nirvana. Her Madame Rose offered a fresh and unique perspective while remaining fully respectful to the classic material. We saw some amazing performances in 2025, but for me this was easily the best.
The Moments of 2025
Over the past 12 months, we have had the privilege of seeing some truly great moments. Years of theater going have continued to raise the bar of expectation, and yet every year, the creative teams, writers and performers continue to raise that bar even more. As with everything else, we had to whittle down these moments, and on any given day, this list could be completely different. Here they are, arranged alphabetically by show title:
Buena Vista Social Club - Every time the band played
Music by Buena Vista Social Club
Musical Direction by Marco Peguia
Literally every single time the Special Tony Award-winning band played the hair on my arms went straight up and I leaned forward in my seat in order to take it in even more. Somehow, the ears just aren't enough to fully experience such bliss. Wow. Just wow.
Gypsy - "Rose's Turn"
Performed by Audra McDonald
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Geoge C. Wolfe
One of the top three most electrifying moments I have witnessed live in over four decades of seeing Broadway shows. Everything Mike said above and more. It was a privilege to be in the room to witness it for myself.
John Proctor is the Villain - The Class Project Sequence
Performed by Sadie Sink, Amalia Yoo and the Company
Song: "Green Light" by Lorde
Playwright Kimberly Belflower
Direction by Danya Taymor
In a play so intense, it was almost hard to believe that the build up to the classic projects finale of the piece didn't really prepare the audience for the actual moment, but when it happened, it was even more intense! A brilliant melding of The Crucible and the realities of the #MeToo movement, I think I held my breath the entire time. The dance, the song, the circumstance of the play... the audience was screaming its approval, and I screamed right along with them.
Ragtime - The arrival of the Company
Direction by Lear deBessonet
Choreography by Ellenore Scott
As if the stunning opening number by Ahrens and Flaherty wasn't thrilling enough, the grand entrance of the cast via a center stage elevator was elegant in its simplicity and just so powerful to witness. No wonder the audience erupted in applause the second it started. And to think it was just the first of many such moments created by Ms. deBessonet and Ms.Scott.
Redwood - The aerial choreography
Performed by Idina Menzel, Michael Park and Khaila Wilcoxon
Vertical Movement/Vertical Choreography by BANDALOOP
It didn't last very long, but Redwood had its strengths. Among them were the moments "way up in the sky" as the cast was tethered to a giant redwood tree. And they sang while they did it! My mouth was agape, and I was glad to see it.
