Best performances in Chicago theater in 2023: These actors made plays, musicals and comedies come alive this year

Our annual list of the 10 greatest performances of the year in Chicago theater is back! This joins my earlier top 10 theater productions of the year.

Here’s hoping they recall some happy memories for you. And that this list adds some formidable performers to watch out for in 2024.

1. Jasmine Amy Rogers in “Boop! The Musical” at CIBC Theatre: Like almost all Broadway tryouts, “Boop! The Musical” still needs work. But it sure has the right star in place. A beautiful singer and a vulnerable but powerful actress, Rogers is an audience-pleasing delight from start to finish in this new musical, even though she had the tricky job of fleshing out a cartoonish character. Literally. Watching her breakout performance on opening night was akin to seeing Sutton Foster take the stage in “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” It was self-evident you were experiencing the birth of a big new Broadway star. To be this good this early in the development of a difficult, made-from-scratch musical is indicative of one heck of a future career.

2. Kate Fry in “Birthday Candles” at Northlight Theatre: Fry’s beautiful performance in this emotional Noah Haidle play brought an entire theater to tears. Playing a woman who ages before your eyes, spanning decades in a matter of minutes, Fry hit nary a false note as her character was propelled through one difficult year after another. “Birthday Candles” mostly is a play about loss and survival and Fry’s work here felt like a tribute to all Midwestern mothers, nurturing loved ones and eventually having to watch them leave.

3. Kaitlyn Davis in “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire: Davis had some very talented Broadway actresses to follow in the lead of this Carole King jukebox musical, produced anew at the Marriott under the direction of Jessica Fisch. But she had one additional asset in her toolbox: the ability to play live piano throughout the show. Add in her formidable vocal and acting chops and this became an extraordinarily fine performance. Marriott audiences flocked to see a beautifully constructed performance focused on the paradox King lived all her life — she always wanted a stable husband and family, which proved elusive, whereas fame and acclaim did not.

4. Dana Saleh Omar in “Once” at Writers Theatre: “How’s your heart?” is the fundamental question asked by the beautiful Anglo-Irish musical “Once” and every previous production I’ve seen has focused on the emotional journey of the depressed Dubliner known only as Guy, as beautifully played at Writers by Matt Mueller. But Omar’s exquisite performance made the case that Girl is every bit as “stopped” as the fellow musician with whom she develops the most complex and hypnotic of relationships. She thrust her character’s emotional journey to the fore, working with director Katie Spelman to find something new in this lovely show, and it was beautiful to watch.

5. Jeff Perry in “No Man’s Land” by Steppenwolf Theatre Company: On rare occasions at the theater, it feels like an actor has been waiting for a role for years. So it seemed with Perry, whose performance in this oblique Harold Pinter classic was textually impeccable, emotionally wrenching and blistering with passion and menace. Perry’s work both embodied and reignited Steppenwolf’s trademark intensity and this fearless performance felt like a vital benchmark in the Steppenwolf co-founder’s distinguished career.

6. Ali Louis Bourzgui in “The Who’s Tommy” at Goodman Theatre: When he won a Joseph Jefferson Award, Bourzgui thanked The Who’s Pete Townshend and director Des McAnuff for taking a chance on a relative unknown in his high-profile Broadway revival of “Tommy.” Not an unknown for long, we suspect. Once “Tommy” opens in New York, Bourzgui’s life likely will change. In Chicago, his honest, authentic and vocally spectacular performance as the kid who plays a mean pinball blew audiences away, avoiding many of the potential cliches. Here was a Tommy for a new generation and Chicago audiences saw it first.

7. Evan Mills in “Don’t Quit Your Daydream” at Second City: Mills is the kind of transformative comic actor who can represent different things to different people. Long an asset on Wells Street, Mills hit his hilarious peak in this 2023 mainstage revue. Most Second City performers specialize either in physical comedy or rapid-fire verbosity; Mills specializes in both, along with offering audiences an empathetic personality and the kind of personal vulnerability that makes him instantly likable. Add in a fast-moving brain that comes with the current affairs and cultural knowledge needed to excel at this work and Mills is the whole package. He’s been crucial to Second City recovering its comedic nerve.

8. Kate Fry in “The Cherry Orchard” at Goodman Theatre: No performer has appeared twice in this list before. But to not include both of Fry’s 2023 tours de force would have been an injustice. In Robert Falls’ production of Anton Chekhov’s famously difficult play — the director’s swan song at the Goodman — Fry’s Lyubov Ranevskaya had to deal with so much directorial subtext, lesser performers would have collapsed under the sheer weight. Not Fry. She soared in the role, alternately articulating the enormous difficulty most humans face in moving on, and the ease with which we slip into the makeup of a clown.

9. Erica Stephan in “Cabaret” at Porchlight Music Theatre: Notwithstanding its plethora of now-iconic characters, the great musical “Cabaret” still revolves around the emotional trajectory of Sally Bowles, the oblivious British socialite performing in Berlin as the party comes crashing to an end. Stephan, now settling into her relatively new role as one of this city’s stars of musical theater, was fantastic in the part: her performance copied no one, was as compassionate as it was unforgiving and came with the tawdry but hypnotic gloss of someone singing to assuage desperation.

10. Tracey N. Bonner in “Toni Stone” at Goodman Theatre: A colossal central role and clearly a huge challenge to play, Negro League baseball star Toni Stone, the first of three Black women to play pro baseball for the Indianapolis Clowns in the 1950s, was a gift for Bonner. Her courageous central performance was an ideal blend of playwright Lydia R. Diamond’s historical accuracy and intellectual richness and director Ron OJ Parson’s characteristic humor, pace and spontaneity. Stone was a baseball nerd, a savant and also a very good player, all characteristics out of sync with being hired as a crowd-pleasing gimmick. Bonner’s performance communicated pain and frustration but also the joy of the beautiful game.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com