This was one of the best theater years in memory.

The ten best will take into consideration both Broadway and Off Broadway from among 37 on Broadway and 63 Off Broadway plus an honorable mention list, and a list of dishonorable mentions as a reminder (using the words of Cornelius Melody in Eugene O’Neill’s play A Touch of the Poet, in response to the news that Andrew Jackson is running for president) “Everywhere the scum is rising to the top.”

Were it not for the non-profits:The Manhattan Theater Club, Roundabout Theater, and Lincoln Center Theater, six of the ten best would most likely not have been produced at all.

There is an impressive number of new musicals with only 2 revivals – the mediocre Sweet Charity and the magnificent Sweeney Todd . Of the fourteen new musicals that opened, only two made the top ten cut. Jukebox musicals by such popular songsmiths as Bob Gaudio, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (Jersey Boys), Elvis Presley (All Shook Up), The Beach Boys (Good Vibrations), and John Lennon (Lennon) were eliminated from consideration for top ten. There is apparently no end in sight as Broadway prepares for the songs of Johnny Cash (Ring of Fire) and Bob Dylan (The Times They Are a-Changin’). Even the John Denver song-book (Almost Heaven) managed a short spin Off-Broadway.

Of the seven new plays: Richard Greenberg’s strained comedy A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, Steven Temperley’s loopy homage to legendary tone-deaf diva Florence Foster Jenkins Souvenir, Elaine May’s forgettable After the Night and the Music and Donald Margulies’ sincere Brooklyn Boy were seriously flawed, two British imports deserved acclaim: Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman and Primo , as adapted by and starring the great Antony Sher. There were a number of lack-luster revivals: Tennessee Williams: The Glass Menagerie (despite a first-rate Jessica Lange) and A Streetcar Named Desire (with a second-rate Stanley), On Golden Pond, Steel Magnolias, and Mark Twain Tonight and even Albee’s 1975 Pulitzer Prize winner Seascape never became must-sees. In total, there were thirty seven Broadway entries.

Commendable shows that landed in no-man’s land included well-intentioned tuners In My Life, The Color Purple* and Little Women, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the well-designed The Constant Wife, and Chita Rivera:A Dancer’s Life* . A good case could be made for the popularity of Julius Caesar, a much maligned production that starred Denzel Washington, but nevertheless induced thousands of inner city school children to attend theater, some for the first time in their lives. So here are the winners and losers in alphabetical order and with a few observations along the way.

The Ten Best of the Year (including Broadway, Off Broadway, Plays and Musicals).

A Touch of the Poet* – Gabriel Byrne gives a towering performance in a terrific production of one O’Neill’s least known and surprisingly funny dramas.

Dessa Rose – Lincoln Center produced this thrilling musical about the relationship of a black slave (La Chanze) and a white woman (Rachel York) during the Civil War years. Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime ) delivered another great score with a book based on Shirley Williams’s novel. La Chanze is currently sensational in The Color Purple.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels* – This musical comedy with an unstoppably funny book by Jeffrey Lane and a witty score by David Yazbek (The Full Monty) should have won the Tony over Spamalot.

Doubt* – John Patrick Shanley’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner about a nun who has it. I have no doubt about the excellence of this play.

Private Fears in Public Places – Alan Ayckbourn’s clever and smart comedy about the lives of six ordinary people was produced for a limited time Off-Broadway as part of the British Festival and got rave notices. It will return this year for an open ended run. Watch for it and don’t miss it.

Sweeney Todd* – This chilling new multi-tasking (all performers play their own instruments) version of Stephen Sondheim’s gory opera comes courtesy of Britain’s Watermill Theater and its artistic director John Doyle. Patti Lupone at her peak.

The Light in the Piazza* – Craig Lucas (book) and Adam Guettel (score) have created a sublime and beautiful-to-look-at musical theater experience based on Elizabeth Spencer’ ;s novel.

The Trip to Bountiful *– This Off-Broadway revival of Horton Foote’s forever lovely and touching play stars a sublime Lois Smith and almost obligatory Foote interpreter Hallie Foote in this Signature Theater Production which is offering all seats for $15.

Third – Wendy Wasserstein’s best play in years focused on a conflict between a middle-aged progressive university professor and a wealthy, smart but conservative male student.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf – A dynamite revival of Albee’s best play about a dysfunctional marriage paired the explosive Kathleen Turner and the astonishing Bill Irwin.

Honorable Mention

All Shook Up – This fun and situation filled romantic musical amusingly blended Presley hits into a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

A Soldier’s Story – A tension-packed Off-Broadway revival of Charles Fuller’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winner about a murder in an army barrack.

Counselor at Law – Off-Broadway’s Peccadillo Theater Company staged Elmer Rice’s 1931 melodrama with brio and with twenty fine actors including a terrific John Rubinstein in the title role. What a rare treat.

Jersey Boys*– This highly entertaining musical bio of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons features a solid book, hit tunes, and a great cast that highlights the amazingly high voice of John Lloyd Young as Valli.

Miss Witherspoon*– Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons presented Christopher Durang’s funniest, nuttiest and most irreverent comedy in years. (It followed a successful premier at the McCarter Theater Center).

Romance – Off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company brought us David Mamet’ ;s farcical burlesque that skewed the American judicial system and a howl from start to finish.

Spamalot* – Even if you are not a fan of the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you will get a belly full of laughs in this silly musical circus of Arthurian tomfoolery.

The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow – The Atlantic Theater Company gave us another winner with Rollin Jones’ surreal and poignant play about a brilliant obsessive compulsive young woman with a severe case of agoraphobia who creates an android to be her alter ego.

The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee*– Junior High spelling geniuses compete with verve and a vengeance to William Finn’s bright score.

The Woman in White*– Andrew Lloyd Webber just sneaked into the running with his ultra melodic telling of Wilkie Collins’ Victorian melodrama in an extraordinary production designed to make you think you are watching a movie.

*Still running

Dishonorable Mention

After the Night and the Music – Another of Elaine May’s mistakes

A Mother, A Daughter, and a Gun – and a critic who had to sit through it.

Chitty Fran’s Bed – Mia Farrow died in it but not quickly enough

Good Vibrations – only in the Beach Boys dreams

Hot n’ Throbbing– only in playwright Paula Vogel’s wet dreams

Jackie Mason’s Freshly Squeezed – oy vey

Miracle Brothers – an all-wet musical about people who turn into dolphins.

Mr. Marmalade – Mr. Sicko