Best in show award goes to , the tenacious terrier in the American Musical Theatre of San Jose's ``The Wizard of Oz'' in September. Stepping into the pivotal role of Toto at the last minute, Gus stole every scene he was in (and some he wasn't).

Hey yo, . The hip-hop theater diva held court at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in February with ``Bridge & Tunnel,'' workshopping her slammin' portrait of immigrant life in post-Sept. 11 America. Next year she takes the show to Broadway (where it will be directed by the Rep's Tony Taccone).

All hail . Few actors shed their skin on stage like this über chameleon, who won a Tony for his incomparable performance in ``I Am My Own Wife.'' He brought it to San Francisco's Curran Theatre in May.

, a heart-pounding whirl through Charles Dickens' lavish classic, swept the audience away at the California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda in July.

Tanya Shaffer's riotous comedy of dating and mating, was presented at TheatreWorks in Mountain View in October, marking the first time a major theater in Silicon Valley had focused on Indian themes.

Nepotism be damned. Directed by her daddy, the legendary Sir Peter Hall, in the Theatre Royal Bath's ``As You Like It'' at the Curran in April, was the most charming Rosalind I've ever seen.

San Jose Repertory Theatre's in May, took the prize for the sexiest play of ideas in a local theater this year. Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger having an affair meant philosophy as foreplay.

OK, having read Edward Albee's ``The Goat,'' a play about a man in love with livestock, I can't say I was shocked in July at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater by the risque aspects of the plot. But in this post-modern Greek tragedy still made me squirm. Close second: Mike Daisey's rough sex escapades in ``The Ugly American'' at Berkeley Rep in August. Let's just say it wasn't a first-date kind of play.

After sitting through the ABBA-salute '' with my critical nose in the air several times before, I had low expectations for last month's presentation at American Musical Theatre of San Jose. I went only because, well, it's my job. But, lo and behold, the cheesy musical finally grew on me (kind of like spandex). Guess Shaw was right: You never can tell.

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