As we close the door on what has been an enormously challenging year for most Americans, it was comforting to know that even in a world gone mad, Greater Boston theater companies were there to provide much-needed refuge for theatergoers, if only for a few hours at a time.

This may have been the strongest overall year for theater since COVID first hit, with a mix of pure-entertainment musicals like A.R.T.’s Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York (A.R.T.) and Lyric Stage’s Hello Dolly! balanced with plays (and musicals) with much weightier material, like Arlekin Players’ Our Class, and the national tour of Parade at Emerson Colonial. There were also a number of older plays that spoke to the issues bedeviling America today, including attacks on the LGBTQ+, Jewish, and immigrant communities.

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