BLOG: TIME's Top 10 Plays & Musicals of 2009

by Trish Causey

It's no surprise that Ragtime made it into TIME Magazine's "Top 10 Plays and Musicals" for 2009. It's no surprise that Ragtime is the highest ranking of the musicals listed on this "Top 10." However, two questions raise their bitter heads:

1) Why isn't Ragtime, a musical with 40 performers, 28 musicians, untold number of techs and staff, beloved and so relevant to the American dream and the American reality in 2009, not placed higher on this list than a one-act play with a couple of guy actors (albeit, those actors being Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig)?

2) Why are the musicals that are listed also some of the most recently opened shows? (ADHD, anyone?)

3) Why isn't there a list just for plays and a list just for musicals? (That's like comparing apples and multi-tiered confections with piped rosettes, electric swirly-do's, and jazz-hands sprinkles---no comparison!)

4) What about all the professional companies and repertory theatres around the country? And Canada, and Britain? And Japan?

Okay. That was more than two questions, but I made my point. Yet another reason to keep going with the National Musical Theatre Week Campaign: http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Musical-Theatre-Week-Campaign/213118461958

TIME Magazine's Top 10 Plays and Musicals for 2009:

1. Ruined


2. A Steady Rain


3. The Norman Conquests


4. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter


5. Ragtime


6. Mary Stuart


7. Finian's Rainbow


8. Hamlet


9. Fela!


10. After Miss Julie

Source: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1945379_1943992_1944011,00.html