2018 Media and Literary Diet

Hello dear blog!

2018 was the year I stopped blogging and while part of me misses the documentation (my monthly recap posts were a good exercise in gratitude), another part of me is content living life without rigorously documenting it.

I might blog a bit about 2018 for posterity’s sake, but the main post I wanted to write is about all the books, movies, TV shows, and THEATER I saw this past year. I don’t have the time or patience to do my normal book recap but this list will suffice. For recaps of my media and literary diet in years past, here are the links for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

BOOKS

I read 20 total… my favorites are denoted by asterisks. After feeling let down by some of my book selections in previous years, I intentionally skipped stories about rich white people this year and was rewarded with way more interesting reads. I also made an effort to read more plays.

The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman (play)

The Crucible by Arthur Miller (play)

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi*****

Blood Knot by Athol Fugard (play)

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue*****

Hunger by Roxane Gay

The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang

Everything is Horrible and Wonderful by Stephanie Wittels Wachs

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson*****

Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card by Sara Saedi*****

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid*****

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

5th of July by Lanford Wilson (play)

A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid*****

Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones*****

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

The Circle by Dave Eggers

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo*****

TV SHOWS

Broadchurch (S3)
Will & Grace*****
Big Little Lies (S1)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (half of S1)
Crashing (half of S1)
Insecure (half of S1)
Teachers (S2 & S3)*****
The Good Place (S1 & S2)*****
Nashville (S6)
Younger (S4 & S5)*****
Bloodline (S3)
Barry (half of S1)
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (various eps)
Homeland (S7)*****
Kimmy Schmidt (S4 – pt.1)
Queer Eye (S1 & S2)*****
Kim’s Convenience (a few episodes)
Great British Bake-Off (Collections 2 & 3 on Netflix)*****
Indecent (PBS)*****

+ Live from Lincoln Center specials featuring:
Sutton Foster
Leslie Odom Jr.
Stephanie J. Block
Andrew Rannells

+ Netflix comedy specials:
Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette*****
John Mulaney’s Kid Gorgeous*****
Ali Wong’s Hard Knock Wife*****
Ali Wong’s Baby Cobra
Tig Notaro’s Happy to be Here
Hari Kondabolu’s Warn Your Relatives
Natasha Leggero & Moshe Kasher’s The Honeymoon Stand-up Special*****
Chris Rock’s Tambourine
Ellen DeGeneres’ Relatable
Pete Holmes’ Dirty Clean

MOVIES

Battle of the Sexes
The Post
I Tonya
Molly’s Game
Wonder Woman
Coco*****
Shape of Water
Phantom Thread
Jesus Christ Superstar Arena Tour
Get Out*****
Black Panther*****
A Quiet Place
Game Night
Won’t You Be My Neighbor*****
American Animals
Sorry to Bother You
Love Simon*****
Eighth Grade
Crazy Rich Asians*****
Blackkklansman*****
Three Identical Strangers*****
South Pacific
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Obvious Child
Malevolent
A Star is Born
Funny Girl
Mary Poppins Returns
The Princess Switch
Daddy’s Home 2
Ocean’s 8

THEATER

I saw 103 theatrical events in 2018 (a whopping 25 more than I saw in 2017 — I attribute that to the extended periods I was in NYC for work, like during Jesus Christ Superstar when I saw 26 shows in the month of February). This is what I say every year, and it holds true: theater is a big priority for me and I’m on a lifelong quest to study the depths and expanse of this art form. Attending a variety of shows is an investment in my on-going education. Below is a list of all the plays and musicals I saw in 2018 — favorites are denoted by asterisks.

Theater in New York City (68 total: 20 on Broadway, 46 off-Broadway, 2 concerts):

The Children
The Wolves*****
SpongeBob SquarePants
Mankind
The Homecoming Queen*****
Disco Pigs
Miles for Mary*****
Queens*****
Athena
Otto is Good
Edward Albee At Home at the Zoo
Jerry Springer the Opera
Relevance
John Lithgow: Stories by Heart
[PORTO]
The Amateurs
Once on This Island*****
Carousel
Amy and the Orphans
Hello Dolly
Folk Wandering
The Low Road*****
Kings
Three Tall Women
In the Body of the World
Harry Clarke
Admissions*****
The Brobot Johnson Experience
Miss You Like Hell
Mean Girls
Is God Is
This Flat Earth
The Seafarer
The Lucky Ones
Frozen
Yerma*****
The Iceman Cometh
Dance Nation*****
Light Shining in Buckinghamshire
Time’s Journey Through a Room
Angels in America Parts One and Two (Millennium Approaches / Perestroika)*****
Our Lady of 121st Street
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two*****
Skintight
Log Cabin
Sugar in Our Wounds*****
Teenage Dick*****
Mary Page Marlowe
Desperate Measures
Girls and Boys
Straight White Men
The House That Will Not Stand
Fairview*****
My Fair Lady*****
Oklahoma
American Son*****
Fireflies
The Ferryman
India Pale Ale
The Niceties*****
To Kill a Mockingbird*****
The Jungle*****
Lifespan of a Fact
What the Constitution Means to Me*****
David Yazbek @ 54 Below
Carnegie Hall Broadway Concert

Regional Theater (34 shows plus 1 concert):

Elliott, A Soldier’s Fugue (Kirk Douglas Theater)
Pirates of Penzance (Pasadena Playhouse)
Ironbound (Geffen)*****
Candide (LA Opera)
Rude Mechs’ Field Guide (Yale Rep)
Father Comes Home from the Wars Part 1, 2, 3 (Yale Rep)
Age of Innocence (Hartford Stage)*****
Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Garry Marshall Theater)
Homeward LA (Boston Court Theatre)
Through the Eye of a Needle (The Road Theatre Co.)
Belleville (Pasadena Playhouse)*****
Red Speedo (The Road Theatre Co.)
Soft Power (Ahmanson)*****
The Sound Inside (Williamstown)
The Closet (Williamstown)
The Royal Family (Barrington Stage Co.)
The Cake (Barrington Stage Co.)*****
Slave Play (Eugene O’Neill Theater Center)*****
Hole in the Sky (Circle X Theatre)
Sweat (Taper)
The Untranslatable Secrets of Nikki Corona (Geffen)
Lizzie (Color & Light Theatre @ Resident in DTLA)
American Hero (Pasadena Playhouse / IAMA Theatre Co.)
The Cake (Geffen)
Sell Buy Date (Renberg Theatre)*****
Hundred Days (La Jolla Playhouse)*****
El Huracán (Yale Rep)
God Bless You Mr. Rosewater (Cast Aside Productions)
Hughie / Krappe’s Last Tape (Geffen)
Vietgone (East West Players)*****
A Bronx Tale (Pantages)
A Christmas Carol (Geffen)
Come From Away (Ahmanson)
Bliss (or Emily Post is Dead) (Atwater Village Theater)*****
Aaron Lazar cabaret w/ the touring cast of Dear Evan Hansen (Catalina Bar & Grill)