Birgitte Larsen in BAM's The Wild Duck.   (Photo: Richard Termine/Courtesy of BAM)

6. ‘The Wild Duck’ at BAM
Revivals of classic plays this year ranged from intelligent and respectfully modest (Heartbreak House) to hyperactive and sluttishly inane (The Threepenny Opera)—and that’s just at the Roundabout. To find the revival of a play that best balanced fidelity and innovation, you had to go to Brooklyn. The Norwegian National Theatre’s stripped-down, sleekly modernized production of The Wild Duck brought Ibsen’s concerns with long-simmering guilt and the protective lies we tell ourselves thrillingly close to our own time. bam is sometimes criticized for showcasing over-arty European directors, but Eirik Stubø left no doubt that it’s possible to have characters sing Elvis songs and still deliver a great play’s punch.