CAPE COD TIMES – As another year comes to an end, the Cape Cod Times looks back on the incredible productions that graced Cape stages in 2023, asking our reviewers to pick their favorites.
We are also including an early look at shows that are coming to the Cape in 2024 so you can start planning your theater season now.
With so many theaters and so many shows worthy of accolades, it’s hard to touch on every single one staged throughout the year. With our subjective list of favorite picks, keep in mind that these are simply the choices of our reviewers. This isn’t a matter of selecting the best, but highlighting the ones that stood out the most to us.
The reviewers who contributed to this list are Barbara Clark, Gwenn Friss, Shannon Goheen, Sue Mellen, Carol Panasci, Jay Pateakos, Ambermae Rivard and Frankie Rowley. We asked each reviewer to pick their favorite show, favorite performance and favorite moment from shows over the past year and write a brief explanation. They’re listed alphabetically, with the aim of showing the wealth of talent here on Cape Cod.
Cape Cod theater: Our favorite shows of 2023
“Agnes of God,” Sandwich Arts Alliance, Sandwich: The Sandwich Art Alliance’s rendition of the 1979 play was both deeply disturbing and thrilling as we watched Dr. Martha Livingstone unearth the trauma that led Agnes to the position she finds herself in ― insane in a convent, awaiting a manslaughter trial after murdering her newborn baby. Each cast member — Kelly Kean, Miranda Daniloff and Janet Geist Moore — gave an outstanding performance coupled with superior directing from James Ring.
“American Idiot,” Academy of Performing Arts: Putting up this ensemble show, based on music by “Green Day,” is a coup for a community group. The small theater gives the outstanding, Tony award-winning “American Idiot” more emotional punch than ever. This up-close, in-your-face, coming-of-age production is painful, fragile and touched with a graceful beauty as a trio of friends flee their economically depressed hometown only to find different is not always better.
By Frankie Rowley
