Jeff Bengfords List of
The Top 50+ Most Important Plays in Theatre History
as of 2/9/05
(the space breaks indicate a theatrical period)
441BC Sophocles Antigone
431BC Sophocles Medea
425BC Sophocles Oedipus
415 BC Euripedes The Trojan Women
410 BC Aristophanes Lysistrata
1495 Everyman
1588 Marlowes Doctor Faustus
1595 Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet
1601 Shakespeares Hamlet
1605 Cervantes Don Quixote
1606 Johnsons Valpone
1613 Shakespeares The Tempest
1618 DeVegas Fuente Ovejuna
1636 Calderons LIfe is a Dream
1664 Molieres Tartuffe
1675 Wycherlys The Country Wife
1677 Racines Phaedre
1700 Congreves The Way of the World
1728 Gay's The Beggar's Opera
1879 Ibsens A Doll s House
1890 Ibsens Hedda Gabbler
1895 Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest
1901 Chekhovs Three Sisters
1904 Chekhovs The Cherry Orchard
1907 Strindbergs A Dream Play
1909 Goldsmiths She Stoops To Conquer
1921 Pirandellos Six Charactors in Search of an Author
1927 Kern and HammersteinsShow Boat
1932 Ziegfields Ziegfield Follies
1933 Lorcas Blood Wedding
1936 Kaufman and Harts You Cant Take It With You
1938 Wilders Our Town
1936 Kaufman and Harts The Man Who Came to Dinner
1943 Rodgers and Hammersteins Oklahoma
1944 Williams The Glass Menagerie
1947 Millers All My Sons
Williams A Streetcar Named Desire
1950 Loessers Guys and Dolls
1950 Ionescos The Bald Soprano
1951 Shaws Pygmalion
1954 Brechts Caucasian Chalk Circle
1956 Lerner and Loewes My Fair Lady
1957 ONeills Long Days Journey into Night
Becketts Waiting for Godot
Bernsteins West Side Story
1958 Ionescos Rhinoceros
Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun
1962 Albees Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1964 Blocks Fiddler on the Roof
Hermans Hello, Dolly!
1966 Kander & Ebbs Cabaret
1967 Rado & Ragnis Hair
1968 Stoppards Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
1970 Pinters Old Times
1975 Browns The Wiz
1976 Kirkwood and Dantes A Chorus Line
1977 Mamets American Buffalo
1979 Sondheims Sweeney Todd
1980 Medoffs Children of a Lesser God
Shepards True West
1981 Webbers Cats
1983 Fiersteins Torch Song Trilogy
Hermans La Cage Aux Folles
1984 Ludlams The Mystery of Irma Vep
1987 Hugos Les Miserables
Wilsons Fences
1988 D.H. Whangs M. Butterfly
1989 Wassersteins The Heidi Chronicles
1990 Sondheims Assassins
1991 Simons Lost in Yonkers
1993 Kushners Angels in America
Stoppards Arcadia
Hampton & Webbers Sunset Boulevard
1994 McNalleys Love, Valor, Compassion
1995 Disneys Beauty and the Beast
1997 Larsons RENT
1998 Taymors The Lion King
2001 Frayns Copenhagen
Auburns Proof
2002 Kotis Urinetown, the Musical
Zimmermans Metamorphoses
Parks Topdog/Underdog
2003 Kotis & Hollmanns Urinetown
2004 Whitty, Lopez and Marxs Avenue Q