2017 Broadway Review

Last year I did a recap of all the shows we saw on Broadway in 2016 (see here). We had SO MUCH FUN seeing all those shows and although I know we are likely never to see that many shows again, we do still try to see at least one or two every year. This year, despite being pregnant and having a baby, we managed to see five shows!! We paid full price for all the shows we saw this year (no rush tickets) but saved a little by buying direct from the box office. See my Broadway, on the Cheap post for tips on how to afford Broadway.

Like last year, I'm wanted to review what we saw and rank them in order of favorites.

#1 Overall Favorite Show: Anastasia 

We had high expectations for this show because of how much I loved the movie. We got tickets as our "birthday" show since it is sort of a tradition for Dan to take me to a show for my birthday. Now that Mandy is here, it was part of her gift too!! We all LOVED it. It had a perfect mix of familiar songs from the movie but new songs as well and a slightly different plot. It was great and I'd love to see it again.

#2 Lion King

This was a surprise for us as we had been entering the digital lottery for weeks with no luck. Dan's cousin happened to be entering the lottery as well and when she won tickets she graciously passed them on to us! This show has been on Broadway for a very long time and it's easy to see why. The costumes and set are amazing and the show was truly epic.

#3 A Bronx Tale


Dan surprised me with tickets to see A Bronx Tale as a special date this past fall. Mandy babysat Kippy and we escaped to the city for the Saturday afternoon matinee. I didn't know what to expect of this show because I didn't know what it was about and I didn't know any of the music. I was pleasantly surprised. The plot was great and the music and performance were fantastic. This was based on true story and the creator, Chazz Palmintari, even came on stage at the end. This show seems to be somewhat underrated but in my opinion it was a great affordable show.

#4 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (no longer on Broadway)

Charlie was one of the main shows I really wanted to see in 2017 and I'm glad we made it happen because the show closed last weekend after only one year on Broadway. I'm not sure why this show closed so soon since we loved it and it seemed to be really popular. Anyways, it was similar to Anastasia in that it had some familiar songs from the movie but new songs as well and a slightly different plot. It was very creative and the set design was awesome. Sad it closed.

#5 The Great Comet

I stopped myself from not ranking this one at all because it was terrible. Okay, I'm sure there are fans out there somewhere but we did not enjoy it. We got tickets for this show to see while Dan's parents were in town in the spring. It was just weird and not what we expected and really hard to understand and I'm still confused why anyone would create a musical with that complex of a story line. Even though Josh Groban was in the show, it wasn't good. We need Terri Mom and Allen Dad to come back to visit so we can redeem their experience. Sorry guys.

Overall, it was a great year for Broadway. I ended up seeing three of the five shows I said I wanted to see and that was way more than I expected. In 2018, I know I'll be seeing at least Dear Evan Hansen since Dan bought tickets for Mandy and me to see it as our Christmas present. I'm also hoping to see Once on This Island. I am also intrigued by Spongebob the Musical and want to see it just out of curiosity. Next weekend my Broadway fan friend is coming to town and we are going to try out another cheap ticket option so I'll report back on whether it's successful.

As long as we're in New York, I hope we always make time for Broadway.