Seat Filler: Best NYC Theater of 2011

6. Vieux Carré
Audaciously directed by Elizabeth LeCompte, Wooster Group’s exhilarating revival used experimental artistry to reveal the cigarette-stained soul of a 1977 Tennessee Williams flop. As a gay writer in a seedy ’30s New Orleans boardinghouse, a terrific jockstrap-clad Ari Fliakos interacted with a violent young stud and a tubercular gay letch, two neighbors both played by Scott Shepherd with a strap-on that highlighted the ugliness of lust.
Jerome Robbins Theater at Baryshnikov Arts Center, closed March 13.

5. Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Adapted from the 1994 film about a trans woman and two drag queens busing across the Australian outback, this infectious jukebox musical will wipe the puss off any face. The relationship between Will Swenson’s Tick/Mitzi and his son was beefed up on the road to Broadway, but it never detracts from the shameless flamboyance of Tony Sheldon's Bernadette, Nick Adams' Adam/Felicia, and a birdcage of hot boys in dazzling outfits.

Palace Theatre, open-ended.