Best Theatre of 2024

I have to admit, I didn't do a great job of keeping track of, and certainly not reviewing, what I saw this year, but I did see a lot of theatre, most of which was good or even great.  Let's see what I can reconstruct for 2024.

Jan.

i am your spaniel by We Quit Theatre @ Buddies.  (This was very good, but I did not like the other two plays put on by We Quit Theatre.)
Better Living by George F. Walker @ Alumnae
Diana and Casey @ Soulpepper.  (It was ok, but not really my thing.  I found many elements of the play to be predictable and/or emotionally manipulative.  A few critics put this on their best of lists.)
Two Noble Kinsmen by Shakespeare @ Shakespeare Bash'd (A good production of a minor play.)

Feb.

MacBeth: A Tale Told by an Idiot @  Eldritch Theatre/Red Sandcastle Theatre

(I saw something else at Theatre Centre in Feb., but didn't care much for it.)

March

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard @ Mirvish

April

The Inheritance @ Canadian Stage (Technically, Part 1 was in March...)
Staged reading of The Knight of the Burning Pestle - Shakespeare Bash'd
shaniqua in abstraction by bahia watson @ Crow's Theatre
Mad Madge @ Theatre Centre
El Terremoto @ Tarragon
Huff by Cliff Cardinal @ Crow's Theatre (This almost didn't happen because he had to cancel a performance, but I was able to catch one the next day.)

(I actually traveled out to Hamilton to see Lobby Hero, but it was so cliched, not a good play at all.)

May

First Métis Man of Odesa @ Soulpepper
The Wrong Bashir by Zahida Rahemtulla @ Crow's Theatre

June

Age is a Feeling by Haley McGee @ Soulpepper (I liked this so much I went back a second time and saw nearly all of the segments I missed on my first viewing.)

July

Toronto Fringe - I liked Gringas (aside from the ending), James Roque in Champorado, the improv show Before We Go, All of Our Parents are Immigrants, and You Lost Me.

Aug.

Hamlet @ High Park/Canadian Stage (The acting was terrific, though the director's vision for the play was completely warped and made this an inferior experience.)

Sept.

Fierce by George F. Walker @ Alumnae
London Assurance @ Stratford
Twelfth Night @ Stratford
Girls Unwanted by George F. Walker @ King Black Box (Amazing.  Probably the single best thing I saw in 2024.)
Infinite Life by Annie Baker @ Coal Mine (This really dragged, and the plot was unusually thin even by Baker's standards.)

Oct.

1939 @ Canadian Stage (This was ok, though I couldn't believe how much attention they gave to the priest's flatulence.  I mean really?)
Who's Live is it Anyway @ Massey Hall (the improvising was amazing, but the seats were terrible)
This Feels Like the End @ Buddies/Toronto Fringe (I just couldn't get past the premise that the sun would disappear but plants would keep growing and the moon would still be in the sky.  In general, the acting was solid but the ending was completely confusing.  So I guess not a success but still interesting.)
Something Rotten @ Stratford (The bus ride was totally horrible, but we made it just in time and the musical was terrific!)
Goblin Macbeth @ Tarragon (Also terrific.)
Wonderful Joe by puppeteer Ronnie Burkett @ St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts (it is astonishing how much emotion Burkett conveys through his puppetry)

Nov.

Staged reading of Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy - Shakespeare Bash'd
I Don't Even Miss You @ Factory (Again, the SF premise was completely implausible and really took me out of the play.  Too bad...  And I really thought the talk-back would focus much more on environmental disaster and theatre and instead it was almost entirely about artistic process and making art as a couple.  Sigh.)
A Case for the Existence of God @ Coal Mine
Interior Design @ Tarragon
Playing Shylock @ Canadian Stage
Dead Broke by Will King @ Theatre Centre (I didn't feel this ghost story was sufficiently grounded, and the "internal rules" of the play kept shifting)
McNeal by Ayad Akhtar @ Lincoln Center, NYC (The main reason to see this was to catch Robert Downey, Jr. in the flesh, though Andrea Martin was also quite amusing.)
The Bidding War @ Crow's Theatre
Erased @ Theatre Passe Muraille (This piece had very strong connections to Caryl Churchill's Far Away.  I didn't see a single review that pointed this out, which seems bizarre.)

(I was supposed to see Timon of Athens at Theatre Centre, but I just had too many things to deal with before my trip to NYC and DC; I ended up forfeiting the ticket, which is extremely rare for me.)

Dec.

Big Stuff by Baram and Snieckus @ Crow's Theatre  (Very moving show about grieving for lost relatives and having trouble letting go of things that are reminders of them.  Suggestions from the audience are woven into the narrative.)
The Master Plan by Michael Healey @ Crow's Theatre/Soulpepper (I managed to score rush tickets to this remount of The Master Plan at Soulpepper.  Almost the entire cast returned, though Healey himself joined the cast and plays a tree!)
It Sees You When You're Sleeping by Phil Rickaby @ Red Sandcastle (A creepy cautionary tale on why parents should avoid bringing Elf on the Shelf into their homes.)

The single best play was Walker's Girls Unwanted, but Age is a Feeling, Goblin Macbeth and Big Stuff were also terrific, as was The Master Plan, though this was my second time 'round seeing it, so there wasn't the same element of surprise.  The best (and quite possibly the only) musical of the year was Something Rotten, which I saw at Stratford.  I just don't have the energy right now to do more fulsome reviews, but I do think I managed to track down pretty much everything I saw in 2024, with a few strategic omissions...

Sing-for-Your-Supper showed up for 3 months or so at Assembly Theatre (I made it twice), then the new custodians got burned out and pulled the plug right around the time of the Toronto Fringe (which was a pretty solid season, btw).  They may restart in 2025, but I'm getting a little tired of being jerked around and may just go off and do my own thing to have some sort of creative outlet.  Mostly, I just need to find the time to write down everything I've jotted down while at the Rex, and then I suppose I can worry about what to do with it all.  Not the worst problem in the world to have...