The Bitter Lemons Top Rated Shows of 2011

Phew! This was a lot of work. Over 400 LemonMeter Ratings to slog through. But it’s done. Gasp. These are the sacrifices I make for the LemonHead Nation.

Okay, let’s review: this earlier post was subjective, my opinions on what I liked and didn’t like, this one I am now posting is objective. Meaning these are the shows that received the best CRITICAL PRAISE OF 2011. This is not my opinion. These are not awards. They are based on empirical fact, pulled directly from the LemonMeter scores.

Okay, that said, there are a few caveats that were necessary to make it all work. We refined our LemonMeter algorithm slightly in October so many of the shows that received 100% before that, would NOT have received 100% afterwards. Therefore, this is the criteria I used to whittle down the top candidates in each category:

1. A show had to have received at least 6 reviews or more to even be considered.

2. A show had to have received ALL Sweet Reviews without ANY Bittersweet reviews to even be considered.

3. After this whittling effect I decided that the number of reviews a show received should come into bear, not a deciding factor, because some smaller shows just could not get as much press as the larger budget shows, but it had to be factored in to further whittle the giant list and it seems fair that a show that got 15 reviews as opposed to 6 should have some more consideration.

4. Finally, I looked at the actual quality of the reviews. What was written. Did the critics all love the show, did they equivocate here and there even though it was a positive, you get the idea.

Okay. Good.

I’ve also divided the productions into the following categories, Los Angeles Premiere of a Play, Los Angeles Premiere of a Musical, Revival of a Musical, Revival of a Play and Solo Show. I’ve also added Best Season and some Honorable Mentions for those shows that deserved mention but didn’t quite make the grade for the top list or hit high in the 90th percentile.

I’ll probably mix up some of these categories and screw up revival and premiere somewhere. But that’s why we have our guardian angel Don Shirley.

The lists go in descending order, best rated to least best rated. Honorable Mention is in no particular order.

Okay. Done. Now. Here it comes. Wait for it. Drum roll. Annnnnd. Here are the…

 

BITTER LEMONS TOP RATED SHOWS OF 2011

Los Angeles Premiere of a Play

Small Engine Repair

The God of Carnage

Blackbird

The Romance of Magno Rubio

D is for Dog

The Sonneteer

Gospel According to First Squad

Love Sick

The Word Begins

Pursued by Happiness

Honorable Mentions: Urban Death, Love Sucks, What’s Wrong with Angry?, The Author, Pulp Shakespeare, Year Zero, The Insidious Impact of Anton, Margo Veil, Esther’s Moustache, Moose on the Loose, Extraordinary Chambers, Goodbye Louie…Hello!, Me, As A Penguin, Locked and Loaded, Bonded,The Gay Marriage Plays, Tiger Tiger Burning Bright, Bakersfield Mist, Tragedy of the Commons, Hermetically Sealed, Daddy, Aftermath, Four Clowns, House of the Rising Son, The Escort, Sex and Education, The Method Gun, Bhutan, I Love Lucy: Live on Stage.

 

Los Angeles Premiere of a Musical

Re-Animator: The Musical

Bash’d: A Gay Rap Opera

Cyclops: A Rock Opera

Traces

Burn the Floor

Just Imagine

Crack Whore Galore

Rockin’ the Ages 3

As You Like It: The Musical

Honorable Mentions: Broadsword: A Heavy Metal Musical, Having it All, Hey, Morgan!, Don’t Hug Me I’m Pregnant, A Christmas Westside Story, Fleetwood MacBeth, Iris, The Next Fairytale, Hope, Shrek: The Musical.

 

Revival of a Play

The Prisoner of Second Avenue (El Portal)

The Cripple of Inishman (Kirk Douglas)

Raisin in the Sun (Ebony Rep)

The Merry Wives of Windsor (Theatricum Botanicum)

Beau Jest (Glendale Center Theatre)

On Golden Pond (Colony Theatre)

Midsummer Night’s Dream (South Coast Rep)

Broken Glass (West Coast Jewish Theatre)

Short Eyes (LTC & Urban Theatre Movement)

The Trip to Bountiful (South Coast Rep)

Honorable Mentions: The Comedy of Errors (ANW), I Never Sang for My Father (New American), The Temperamentals (Blank), My  Three Angels (Group Rep), Barrie: Back to Back (PRT), Dancing at Lughnasa (Chrysalis), Room Service (Open Fist), Trip to Bountiful Group Rep), Oedipus the Tyrant (Porters of Hellsgate) The Capulets and the Montagues (Andak), All My Sons (Matrix), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Crown City), Peace in our Time (Antaeus), The Chairs (ANW), The Malcontent (Antaeus), Eccentricities of a Nightingale (Fountain), Southern Comforts (Falcon), Travels with my Aunt (Colony), Blues for an Alabama Sky (Pasadena Playhouse), The Merchant of Venice (Broad). Memory of Two Mondays (Ruskin) Steel Magnolias (Rubicon), Private Lives (ICT), Voice Lessons (Whitefire/Sacred Fools), Seascape (Theatre West), Amadeus (Old Globe), The Tempest (Old Globe).

 

Revival of a Musical

Falsettos (Third Street Theatre)

1776 (Glendale Center Theatre)

Spring Awakening (Pantages)

The  Sound of Music (Cabrillo Center for the Performing Arts)

Jolson at the Wintergarden (El Portal)

Jesus Christ Superstar (La Jolla Playhouse)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Glendale Center Theatre)

The Last Five Years (Bright Eyes Productions)

Honorable Mentions: Les Miserables (Ahmanson), West Side Story (Segerstrom), Hairspray (Carpenter Center), As Is (New American).

 

Solo Show

No Word in Guyanese for Me

Jamaica, Farewell

The Expert at the Card Table

Mad Women

Sandra Bernhard: I Love Being Me, Don’t You?

Blink and You Might Miss Me

A Weekend with Pablo Picasso

The Leopard

Honorable Mentions: Let Me Down Easy, Simon Wiesenthal: Nazi Hunter, Ghetto Klown, The Night Watcher, Who’s Your Daddy?.

 

Best Season

Rogue Machine Theatre

Glendale Center Theatre

South Coast Repertory

Elephant Theatre

Celebration Theatre

Honorable Mentions: Troubador Theatre Company, Antaeus Theatre, A Noise Within, The Odyssey Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA, The Fountain Theatre, Center Theatre Group.