The Best of 2012: Part 2: ‘The Best Musicals of 2012’

After reviewing over 1,200 theatrical productions, concerts, and recitals on DCMetroTheaterArts in 2012 – it was no easy task to come up with this list of our ‘Best Musicals of 2012,’ because there so many wonderful productions and performances that graced our local stages and our local concert halls. Because we extensively cover the DC Metro Area – which includes the Baltimore and Annapolis areas – we had a lot to choose from. There’s a good chance that you may not recognize some of the venues on our ‘Best of 2012’ lists. We hope you learn more about them and will support their work, and visit them in 2013.

For the next week we will be posting lists of our favorites of 2012 in several categories. These lists reflect the opinions of members of the writing staff of DCMetroTheaterArts. We were allowed to nominated shows and performances we reviewed and did not review – but attended.

With the amount of riches on our local stages, it’s only reasonable that some of your favorites may not have made our lists – but that’s where you come in!  We invite you to leave comments and to share your own favorites of 2012 with our readers.

Thank you for supporting the theater and arts community in the DC Metro Area, and thanks for reading DCMetroTheaterArts.

Kudos to everyone in our theatre and arts community for your glorious work in 2012! We wish you and your loved ones a healthy and successful 2013 filled with sold-out houses!

BEST MUSICALS OF 2012
1776 at Ford’s Theatre.

Altar Boyz at 1st Stage.

Avenue Q at Red Branch Theatre Company.

Brother Russia at Signature Theatre.

Cinderella at Olney Theatre Center.

Dames at Sea at Infinity Theatre Company.

Dreamgirls at Signature Theatre.

Fiddler on the Roof at Riverside Center Dinner Theater.

Finian’s Rainbow at Catholic University.

First You Dream: The Music of Kander & Ebb at The Kennedy Center.

Grease at Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre.

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at Metrostage.

James Joyce’s The Dead at Quotidian Theatre Company.

Josephine Tonight! at MetroStage.

Les Miserables at The National Theatre.

Legally Blonde at Toby’s Dinner Theater of Columbia.

Little Shop of Horrors at Olney Theatre Center.

Mame at Spotlighters Theatre.

Mary Poppins at Hippodrome Theatre.

Memphis at The Kennedy Center.

The Music Man at Arena Stage.

One Night with Janis Joplin at Arena Stage.

Peter Pan at Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre.

Phantom at Riverside Center Dinner Theater.

RENT at Silhouette Stages.

Spring Awakening at The Keegan Theatre.

Sunday in the Park with George at Kensington Arts Theatre.

The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas at Signature Theatre.

The Color Purple at Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia.

The Pirates of Penzance at Encore Stage and Studio.

The Rocky Horror Show at Washington Savoyards.

The Secret Garden at St. Mark’s Players.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre.

The Wizard of Oz at Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia.

Valhella at Baltimore Rock Opera Society.

Wicked at Hippodrome Theatre.

Xanadu at Signature Theatre.

2 COMMENTS

  1. It is exciting for all of us who were involved in Josephine Tonight – author – director/choreographer, musical director, actors, to be on this list. When a show opens early in the year as we did in 2012 there is a tendency for it to be forgotten by years end, so we are delighted to be remembered by the theater community as a worthy entertainment. A small, new show needs all the accolades it can get in order to move forward to other theaters in other venues. Thanks for your support. Sherman Yellen (book/lyrics – Josephine Tonight.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here