TheaterMania’s Editor-in-Chief salutes some of the greatest male performances of the year!
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Jason Danieley and Marin Mazzie in
Next to Normal
(© Joan Marcus)
As the long-suffering husband of a mentally ill wife,
Jason Danieley gives an emotionally stunning performance (opposite real-life wife Marin Mazzie) in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical
Next to Normal.
Noah Robbins and John Glover in
Secrets of the Trade
(© James Leynse)
John Glover has proven himself to be one of the most consistently brilliant actors of his generation, and he gave yet another master class as a mercurial theater director in Jonathan Tolins’
Secrets of the Trade at Primary Stages.
Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones in
Driving Miss Daisy
(© Annabel Clark)
As the proud Southern chauffeur Hoke,
James Earl Jones delivers a performance of unforgettable skill, charisma, and poignancy in the current Broadway production of Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play
Driving Miss Daisy.
Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane in
The Addams Family
(© Joan Marcus)
No one — and I mean no one — can get a laugh as adroitly as
Nathan Lane, a fact proven by his hilarity-inducing work as Gomez in the hit Broadway musical
The Addams Family.
Al Pacino in
The Merchant of Venice
(© Joan Marcus)
Tackling Shylock, one of Shakespeare’s most controversial and complex characters, the amazing
Al Pacino is simply riveting in Daniel Sullivan’s superb Broadway production of
The Merchant of Venice.
Zachary Quinto and Christian Borle in
Angels in America
(© Joan Marcus)
As the tortured intellectual Louis Ironson, film and television star Zachary Quinto makes a sensational Off-Broadway debut in Michael Greif’s involving production of Tony Kushner’s Pultizer Prize winning drama
Angels in America at the Signature Theater Company.
Mark Rylance and David Hyde Pierce in
La Bete
(© Joan Marcus)
As the alternately (and simultaneously) vain, loquacious, boorish playwright Valere in the Broadway revival of David Hirson’s
La Bete,
Mark Rylance simply redefines the words “comic genius.”
Liev Schreiber and Michael Cristofer in
A View From the Bridge
(© Joan Marcus)
In Gregory Mosher’s sublime revival of Arthur Miller’s
A View from the Bridge,
Liev Schreiber astounded us once again with his extroardinarily layered portrayal of Eddie Carbone, the Brooklyn longshoreman unable to cope with his feelings for his wife’s beautiful niece.
Michael Shannon in
Mistakes Were Made
(© Ari Mintz)
Michael Shannon commands the stage for 90 minutes with peerless flair as an exasperated — and exasperating — theatrical producer in Craig Wright’s Mistakes Were Made at the Barrow Street Theatre.
Christopher Sieber and Lucas Steele in
The Kid
(© Monique Carboni)
Christopher Sieber offered a thoroughly endearing performance as real-life sex columnist Dan Savage handling the possibility of impending parenthood in The New Group’s delightful production of the new musical
The Kid.
Paul Sparks and Kate Walsh in
Dusk Rings a Bell
(© Ari Mintz)
Paul Sparks not only gets under his characters’ skins, he gets under audiences’ skins every time — just as he did as a loner trying to reconnect with a woman from his past in the Atlantic Theater Company’s production of Stephen Belber’s affecting two-character play
Dusk Rings a Bell.
Ivan Hernandez and Bobby Steggert in
Yank!
(© Carol Rosegg)
As Stu, the innocent World War II soldier dealing with his first homosexual love affair,
Bobby Steggert was utterly heartbreaking and utterly brave in the York Theatre Company’s production of the Broadway-bound musical
Yank.
Christopher Walken in
A Behanding in Spokane
(© Joan Marcus)
As the malevolent one-handed salesman Carmichael in the Broadway production of Martin McDonagh’s
A Behanding in Spokane,
Christopher Walken delivered the kind of one-of-a-kind performance that will linger in theatergoers’ memories for years to come.
Hugh Dancy and Ben Whishaw in
The Pride
(© Joan Marcus)
Ben Whishaw was nothing short of remarkable playing two very different gay men
— 50 years apart in British hitory — in Alexi Kaye Campbell’s compelling play
The Pride, presented earlier this year by Manhattan Class Company.
Christina Kirk and Frank Wood in
Clybourne Park
(© Joan Marcus)
In Playwrights Horizons’ first-rate production of Bruce Norris’ unsettling
Clybourne Park,
Frank Wood delivered a completely memorable turn as a 1950s homeowner barely coping with the death of his son, the change in his marriage, and the specter of racism in suburbia.