Determined to go to the theater as much as possible since I now live in New York, and also pressured to see shows that are closing at the end of the 2016, I saw nine Broadway shows this semester! Here are my thoughts and recommendations as I look back on all the shows I saw. (listed in chronological order of me seeing it)

Show #1: Fun Home

1 sentence summary: A middle-aged lesbian cartoonist recalls her childhood and teenage years in her home with a gay father in the funeral business who ends up killing himself.

Written and composed by: Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron

Theater: Circle in the Square

Best song: Come to the Fun Home, Changing my Major

Who to take to it: Your cousin or sibling who goes to a liberal arts college and is preferably majoring in Women’s and Gender’s Studies

Rating: 9/10 aneurysm hooks

Show #2: Matilda the Musical

1 sentence summary: Little girl Matilda is extremely bright and loves to read but has terrible and idiotic parents and she learns more about herself and others when starting school

Written and composed by: Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly

Theater: Shubert Theatre

Best song: When I Grow Up, Naughty

Who to take to it: Your little sister or the young at heart

Rating: 5/10 Chokies

Show #3: Waitress

1 sentence summary: When Jenna, a baker/waitress is an abusive marriage and gets pregnant, she decides to enter a pie-baking contest to win $20000 and leave her husband (she also encounters a cute doctor and her friends/co-workers have their own love storylines as well)

Written and composed by: Sara Bareilles and Jessie Nelson

Theater: Brooks Atkinson Theatre

Best song: She Used to Be Mine

Who to take to it: Your friend who doesn’t necessarily love musical theater but loves romantic comedies and pop music

Rating: 10/10 Deep Shit Blueberry Bacon Pies

Show #4: Oh, Hello

1 sentence summary: Basically just Nick Kroll and John Mulaney making strange jokes while dressed as old men. Also there is always a celebrity guest!

Written by: Nick Kroll and John Mulaney

Theater: Lyceum Theatre

Best song: N/A

Who to take to it: Your friend who watches way too much stand up comedy and is basically an old man

Rating: 7/10 Tuna Sandwiches

Show #5: Dear Evan Hansen

1 sentence summary: Awkward high schooler Evan Hansen gets put in a difficult situation when his classmate Connor kills himself and his parents think a note Evan wrote to himself is Connor’s suicide note

Written and composed by: Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Steven Levenson

Theater: Music Box Theater

Best song: Waving Through a Window

Who to take to it: People who say “I don’t really like showtunes” and post on their snapchat stories too much

Rating: 9/10 casts with the name “Connor” on them

Show #6: Falsettos

1 sentence summary: The story of a dysfunctional family of divorced parents (one gay), their son, the father’s lover/boyfriend and the mother’s new husband (who is also the therapist)

Written and composed by: James Lapine and William Finn

Theater: Walter Kerr Theatre

Best song: Trina’s Song

Who to take to it: Whoever you watched “Milk” or “Rent” or “Philadelphia” with

Rating: 6/10 Jews in a room bitching

Show #7: The Humans

1 sentence summary: A family gathers for Thanksgiving in their younger daughter’s new apartment and they discuss a lot of issues they all have been facing

Written by: Stephen Karam

Theater: Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre

Best song: N/A

Who to take to it: Your cousin who used to go to a liberal arts college and is now getting a masters in Sociology or something

Rating: 8/10 Virgin Mary Statues

Show #8: Something Rotten

1 sentence summary: The Bottom Brothers, playwrights who rival Shakespeare, seek to find a new idea for a play and end up creating the world’s first musical, which features many references to contemporary musicals.

Written and composed by: Wayne Kirkpatrick, Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell

Theater: St. James Theatre

Best song: A Musical

Who to take to it: That person you know who always goes to the stage door after they see a Broadway show

Rating: 7/10 Omelettes

Show #9: The Color Purple

1 sentence summary: Celie, a young woman growing up in the early 20th century, learns about herself through her relationship with an abusive husband, his old lover Shug Avery and her sister who fled and went to Africa.

Written and composed by: Stephen Bray, Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Marsha Norman (based on the novel by Alice Walker)

Theater: Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre

Best song: The Color Purple

Who to take to it: Your AP Lit Teacher

Rating: 8/10 Pairs of Miss Celie’s pants