My Top 20 Live Shows of 2023
I saw 117 live shows in 2023! Everything from Broadway, theater, concerts, dance, opera, stand-up, improv, sketch comedy, & immersive experiences. Some of these may have opened prior to 2023, but this was the year I saw them. These were my favorites!
1. GARTH BROOKS: PLUS ONE
Garth Brook’s Vegas residency lights up the stage on fire. The legend takes on almost three hours of music spanning decades of hits. I have not seen an audience leap to their feet for hours and be so immersed in a concert this way in a very long time. Go see it! There is no trailer for the show, but here’s some behind-the-scenes footage.
2. KIMBERLY AKIMBO
The Tony Award winner for Best Musical, Best Actress (Victoria Clark), Best Featured Actress (Bonnie Milligan), Best Score, and Best Book is nothing short than magical. The performances are sharp and the message is clear, “Make your shitty life better.” And better it did get!
3. MYSTÈRE BY CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
This Cirque du Soleil classic is the oldest currently running show for the company, having originally opened in 1993. The show remains fresh and jaw dropping. The acts, sets, music, and lighting design are on another level. One of the best Cirque shows I’ve seen.
4. CHEMISTRY: AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH KELLY CLARKSON
Clarkson’s Vegas residency was different every single night with her setlist changing and evolving as it went. Her vocal talents dazzled and her connection with the audience felt open and vulnerable. The show traveled through her hits and clearly displayed she is a legendary singer and unquestionably an emotionally captivating songwriter.
5. ASI WIND’S INNER CIRCLE
This off-Broadway eye-grabbing show has your attention from beginning to end. Asi Wind is a magician whose acts are phenomenal, and I have seen a lot of magic shows. The show involves audience interaction and is intertwined with some of Wind’s personal stories. The best magic show around. The New Times called Wind, “Magic’s best kept secret.”
6. ANTHONY RAPP’S WITHOUT YOU
Broadway star Anthony Rapp writes a one-person show that is moving and yet hilarious. It spans the time from his childhood all the way through him being in the original cast of the Broadway musical RENT. Singing some of the musical theater songs that put him on the map as well as some original tunes, the show is a must-see.
7. SHUCKED
This original musical received nine Tony nominations. Cast member Alex Newell made history as one of the first two openly non-binary performer to be nominated for a Tony. Newell won for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. The show is a nonstop silly fun! The jokes are corny as the storyline. But the show is about corn after all, so I just back and ate it!
8. DAVID COPPERFIELD
I have been wanting to see David Copperfield since I was a child. I finally got to do it this year. His Vegas show has been changing and evolving since it opened in 1996. It still has plenty of charm, personal stories, and a whole lot of magic and illusions. He is still selling out crowds after all these decades and he did not disappoint.
9. NEW YEAR’S EVE WITH PINK MARTINI
This is my favorite currently performing band. I’ve seen their concerts all over the world. This New Year’s Eve concert in L.A.’s Walt Disney Concert Hall was a beautiful way to ring in the New Year. With Pink Martini’s classic tunes alongside some new ones and plenty of special guests, this was a sweeping evening of musical enchantment.
10. SARAH SILVERMAN: GROW SOME LIPS
This stand-up comedy tour was masterfully crafted as it went on to be filmed for HBO and then retitled Someone You Love. Now nominated for and Emmy and a Golden Globe, it shows how Silverman is a woman like no other on the comedy scene. Poking at some serious subjects, her background, and cultural issues, the laughs keep on coming.
11. GOLDEN GRLS: THE LAUGHS CONTINUE
I was doubtful about this, but pleasantly surprised. I laughed almost nonstop. This all-new Golden Girls play centers around the ladies creating a new dating app. Set in today’s time and consistently referring what made the show so iconic, the actors are uncanny. It’s currently touring. See it f you can! The script is tight and the production is Broadway caliber.
12. PARADE
This revival of this musical by Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown centers around a man who is wrongfully convicted of a crime simply because he is Jewish. Ben Platt starred on this grippingly haunting tale, which earned six Tony Award nominations and won two including Best Revival of a Musical.
13. TINA FEY AND AMY POEHLER: RESTLESS LEG TOUR
This brand new stand-up tour honors the iconic comedians’ friendship highlighting their path and career. Calling one another “work wife,” they revisit their time in Chicago’s comedy school Second City, as well as their Saturday Night Live years, and TV & film careers. The show brings fresh perspective and plenty of laughs along with it.
14. GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR
This new play snatched three Tony nominations and gave Sean Hayes his first Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. Written by Doug Wright it captured the moment in time where Oscar levant, famous concert pianist, composer, conductor, was to be in interviewed on The Tonight Show. Hayes deserved his Tony as his performance was moving and emotionally charged.
15. BROADWAY BARBARA’S HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR
Actress Leah Sprecher stars in this holiday show with her popular original character, Broadway Barbara. Cleverly intertwining holiday songs with Broadway show tunes, she sprinkles in hilarious stories and choreography with a holiday flair. You gotta get yourself a ticket to a Broadway Barbara show! It’s laugh-out-loud silly fun! Here she is singing her original holiday song!
16. JERRY SEINFELD: THE BEACON RESIDENCY
Comedy legend Jerry Seinfeld returns to The Beacon in NYC for a new stand-up residency that was both personal and highly entertaining. If you haven’t seen him live, you should. He is a master at the craft. Time flies by and you leave the theater feeling like you had a workout from laughing. There’s no trailer for the residency, but here is a clip of Seinfeld talking about joke writing.
17. TONY YAZBECK AT 54 BELOW
Broadway star Tony Yazbeck brings his intimate cabaret show to NYC’s 54 Below. It’s an evening of song and dance that sweeps you into an unexpected emotional journey. Yazbeck centers the show around growing up and facing challenges of life as well as fatherhood. THere are no clips from the show, but here is Tony performing a tap number with his original choreo.
18. LA TRAVIATA
This New York City’s Met Opera production was stunning. It enticed all the senses and pulled you in from start to finish. Starring soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor Stephen Costello, the tragic story revolves around a self-sacrificing love and the constant disapproval from others.
19. JINKX MOSOON: EVERYTHING AT STAKE
Jinks Monsoon, drag star winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 5 and Drag Race All Stars season 7, pens an all out hilarious evening of show stopping tunes, jokes, and stories. Here is a clip of Jinkx performing the song, “When You’re Good To Mama,” which she also did in this tour.
20. PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND
This New Orleans Jazz Band gives a show you cannot miss. So catch them when you can. I got to see them in the landmark Preservation Hall in New Orleans, the iconic hall they derive their name from. The sound is unique to Louisiana jazz. It cleanses the soul and it’s a whole lot of foot-stomping fun!