Top 100 Stage Plays of All Time

[Dr. Zyllihapping]

David wrote: "Tahnk you, Tayyab."

Welcome :) Anyways, I plan on reading Waiting for Godot soon! Sounds like my type of book.......weird, strange, revolutionary, and funny!

[Sergio]

Tayyab/Killer of Mockingbirds/Eggman Walrus Taxman wrote: "David wrote: "Tahnk you, Tayyab."

Welcome :) Anyways, I plan on reading Waiting for Godot soon! Sounds like my type of book.......weird, strange, revolutionary, and funny!"

Beckett is an amazin writer! I know you'll like it!

[Nick]

There are three contemporary plays that I've seen live which absolutely knocked me out:

Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman

Burn This by Lanford Wilson

The Caretaker by Harold Pinter

I've read them since seeing them and they live up to their theatricality in prose.

[Karen]

Blood Knot, by Athol Fugard
The Admirable Crichton, by J.M. Barrier
The Little Foxes, by Lillian Hellman

[Devan]

I know the final list was already posted, but in case anyone is still checking in thought I'd add a few contemporary favorites: Six Degrees of Separation, A Lie of the Mind and The Real Thing.

[Chuck]

I saw BENT on Broadway with richard gere. gere wasn't all that good but the other guy was a fabulous actor.
Gotta go to work. More to come.

[Chuck]

GB Shaw is fun to read because of those parenthetical comments.
If I was teaching high school Shakespeare I would teach JULIUS CAESAR first because that seems like the easiest one to read and the kids would think JC is cool because of how he talks about himself in the third person...

[Chuck]

Don King does a cool reading of ''Sweet are the uses of adversity'' if anybody can find it i'd love to hear it again

[Dg240]

The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman! How come nobody mentioned The Little Foxes, one of the most well-written and powerful plays??? Or did they? Can we add it, please.

[Douglas]

Two that come to mind for me are
The Dining Room by A. R. Gurney. I saw this many years ago and about half way through the play I realized that the main character was the dining room. All the people the used it were minor characters.

The other is Tales from Hollywood. A story about German writers who lived in Hollywood during WWII. They supported themselves by writing scripts for Hollywood. A profound story that caught me by surprise.

[James]

I have my list of the 100 best American plays, beginning with The Contrast and ending with The Clean House.
1. The Contrast
2. Fashion
3. The New York Idea
4. Superstition
5. The Great Divide
6. Secret Service
7. The Octoroon
8. The Witching Hour
9. The Truth
10. The Easiest Way
11. Salvation Nell
12. Margaret Fleming
13. The Verge
14. Trifles
15. The Hairy Ape
16. The Adding Machine
17. They Knew What They Wanted
18. In Abraham's Bosom
19. Lucky Sam McCarver
20. Porgy
21. Street Scene
22. Strictly Dishonorable
23. The Front Page
24. The Second Man
25. The House of Connelly
26. Counsellor at Law
27. Biography
28. Ah, Wilderness!
29. Johnnie Johnson
30. Both Your Houses
31. Awake and Sing
32. Men in White
33. The Petrified Forest
34. Dead End
35. Boy Meets Girl
36. Idiot's Delight
37. You Can't Take It With You
38. Abe Lincoln in Illinois
39. The Little Foxes
40. Life With Father
41. The Man Who Came To Dinner
42. The Time of Your Life
43. The Philadelphia Story
44. The Male Animal
45. The Voice of the Turtle
46. The Patriots
47. The Glass Menagerie
48. Harvey
49. Mr Roberts
50. A Streetcar Named Desire
51. Death of a Salesman
52. Come Back, Little Sheba
53. The Moon is Blue
54. The Member of the Wedding
55. The Autumn Garden
56. The Rose Tattoo
57. The Crucible
58. The Seven-Year Itch
59. The Teahouse of the August Moon
60. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
61. A Hatful of Rain
62. The Diary of Anne Frank
63. Long Day's Journey Into Night
64. The Rope Dancers
65. The Connection
66. The Zoo Story
67. Toys in the Attic
68. A Raisin in the Sun
69. The Night of the Iguana
70. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
71. Dutchman
72. Slow Dance on the Killing Ground
73. Incident at Vichy
74. Hogan's Goat
75. The Effect of Gamma Rays...
76. American Buffalo
77. Buried Child
78. Seascape
79. Crimes of the Heart
80. A Soldier's Play
81. Glengarry Glen Ross
82. Talley's Folly
83. 'night, Mother
84. The Heidi Chronicles
85. Doubt
86. Agnes of God
87. How I Learned to Drive
88. Angels in America
89. Three Tall Women
90. Wit
91. Fences
92. The Piano Lesson
93. Fool for Love
94. Six Degrees of Separation
95. The American Plan
96. Anna in the Tropics
97. Rabbit Hole
98. August: Osage County
99. Ruined
100. The Clean House

[James]

I am not a fan of Our Town or of any of Wilder's plays. He is a novelist if he's any form of writer. He uses a novelist's technique in Our Town, with the Stage Manager as omniscient narrator and discontinuing the dialogue once he's given an impression of a scene. His script for Shadow of a Doubt betrays a similar absence of dramatic construction. He wrote only three full-length plays anyway, and one of these is an adaptation of a German play. Robert E Sherwood deserves the kudos given to Wilder. Sherwood's output is comparatively slight, but three of his plays were awarded Pulitzer Prizes, and he knows how to write a play. He also had much of Wilder's erudition.

[James]

1. The Contrast
2. Fashion
3. The New York Idea
4. Superstition
5. The Octoroon
6. Secret Service
7. The Great Divide
8. The Witching Hour
9. The Easiest Way
10. Salvation Nell
11. The Truth
12. Margaret Fleming
13. The Verge
14. Trifles
15. The Adding Machine
16. The Hairy Ape
17. They Knew What They Wanted
18. Lucky Sam McCarver
19. Beggar on Horseback
20. In Abraham's Bosom
21. The Second Man
22. Street Scene
23. Porgy
24. Strictly Dishonorable
25. The Front Page
26. Biography
27. The House of Connelly
28. Counsellor at Law
29. Johnnie Johnson
30. Ah, Wilderness!

[James]

31. Both Your Houses
32. Tobacco Road
33. Men in White
34. The Petrified Forest
35. Dead End
36. Idiot's Delight
37. You Can't Take It With You
38. Abe Lincoln in Illinois
39. Life With Father
40. The Little Foxes
41. The Man Who Came to Dinner
42. The Philadelphia Story
43. The Time of Your Life
44. There Shall Be No Night
45. The Male Animal
46. The Patriots
47. The Voice of the Turtle
48. The Glass Menagerie
49. Harvey
50. Mr Roberts
51. A Streetcar Named Desire
52. Death of a Salesman
53. Come Back, Little Sheba
54. The Moon is Blue
55. The Member of the Wedding
56. The Autumn Garden
57. The Rose Tattoo
58. The Crucible
59. The Teahouse of the August Moon
60. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
61. A Hatful of Rain
62. The Diary of Anne Frank
63. Long Day's Journey Into Night
64. The Connection
65. Suddenly Last Summer
66. The Rope Dancers
67. The Zoo Story
68. Toys in the Attic
69. A Raisin in the Sun
70. The Night of the Iguana
71. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
72. Dutchman
73. Slow Dance on the Killing Ground
74. Hogan's Goat
75. Incident at Vichy
76. The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
77. Seascape
78. American Buffalo
79. Buried Child
80. Talley's Folly
81. Crimes of the Heart
82. 'night, Mother
83. Glengarry Glen Ross
84. The Heidi Chronicles
85. The Piano Lesson
86. Lost in Yonkers
87. Angels in America
88. Three Tall Women
89. How I Learned To Drive
90. Wit
91. Three Days of Rain
92. Topdog/Underdog
93.. Anna in the Tropics
94. Rabbit Hole
95. The Man From Atlanta
96. Doubt
97. August: Osage County
98. Ruined
99. Claybourne Park
100. The Clean House

[Bobby]

Did I just not see "The War Horse" on the list??

[James]

The War Horse is based on a novel by a British writer. My list is restricted to American authors.