If I could revisit any of the...

If I could revisit any of the shows I reviewed during the past year, I’d pick “The Wonder Years,” the baby boom revue that opened at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and then moved to the Coronet. Though it needled anyone who had anything to do with the baby boom, the show ended with a hopeful flourish. What better way to begin a new year?

Then again, pessimists might prefer “Suggs,” a 1972 comedy that’s as sharp-witted as “The Wonder Years” but ever so much more bitter. I reviewed it twice--at Actor’s Alley and then at the Cast--and I was twice impressed by the continuing pertinence of David Wiltse’s analysis of urban malaise. Michael Holden’s flawless staging made “Suggs” one of the most provocative shows of 1986.

Talk about provocative: That’s what “Violence: The Misadventures of Spike Spangle, Farmer” was. Not every scene in this Actors Gang production at the Wallenboyd worked, but the combination of quick political commentary (it was created in reaction to the bombing of Libya), lyrical writing and a muscular performance style was something that’s rarely seen in Los Angeles. Move over, San Francisco Mime Troupe.

I also reviewed the Actors Gang in a charged up revival of Daniel Therriault’s “Battery,” at Second Stage. Other fine revivals of the year included “Trouble in Tahiti” at the Skylight, the Ocean Front Studio’s “Streamers” at the Fig Tree, “The Fifth of July” at Theatre West, “Brothers” at the Gnu, and the Pacific Theatre Ensemble’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” at Brunswick Court in Pasadena.

Among new works, honorable mention goes to Larry Hyman’s cream-puff dance musical “Tequila!” and the roughly staged but remarkably moving “AIDS/US” documentary (both Camelot Artists productions at the Skylight), as well as “Red, White and Rosie,” an old-fashioned musical that had a lot more on its mind than most such shows.