Another year, another 45 theater reviews — which is to say, local theater lovers had no shortage of options in 2010.

There were, however, some changes to the landscape: Dynamic Stage Productions merged with another community theater company, Destination Theatre, to become D2 Productions; the Blackbird Theatre, after a year-long search, moved into its new home at the sh\aut\ Gallery in August; the Purple Rose made some renovations in its theater space and its restrooms; and one new company, The New Theatre Project, kicked off its inaugural season (now in full swing), while a second new company, Penny Seats Theatre Company, announced plans to stage its first (outdoor) show in August 2011.

All good news, especially considering the tough economic climate we still find ourselves in. And before we look too far ahead into 2011, let’s revisit some theater highlights from the 2010 (with the caveat that some shows may be left out because they were seen/reviewed by others).

Best flying leaps (which were strangely plentiful on stages this year): Matthew David in “Boeing Boeing” at the Purple Rose Theatre, and Ben Blackman in U-M’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” both got big laughs for their on-stage stunts, but nothing compares to one of the year’s most unconventional, surprising shows, “Trafford Tanzi” at U-M. Who knew that a professional wrestling musical could be so much fun?

“Our Town” face-off: There was more than one production of Thornton Wilder’s classic this past year, but it was U-M’s production that won my heart.

Best musical production: Lots of good ones to see this year — Performance Network’s “Little Shop of Horrors” and “The Drowsy Chaperone”; Encore Theatre’s production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”; U-M’s “Into the Woods”; and EMU’s “Little Me” — but the one that gave me chills, and felt just plain magical to experience, was U-M’s “Ragtime.” I’m still saying “wow,” just remembering it.

Best new show: Of the seven world premiere shows that we got to see in 2010, Joe Zettelmaier’s “It Came From Mars,” at the Network, was my favorite.

Hottest ticket: “A Very Potter Sequel” at U-M in May. Because the original show, “A Very Potter Musical,” went crazy-viral online, show creators Team Starkid (composed of recent U-M theater and musical theater grads, including “Glee”’s Darren Criss, the star of both Potter shows) got more than 4,000 requests from all over the world for three performances in a theater that seats about 100.

Best fight choreography: Dave Early’s design for the famous male nude wrestling scene in the Blackbird’s “Women in Love” managed to convey the complexity of the two men’s relationship to each other and feel physically intense and real at the same time. Bravo.

Best play productions: U-M’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Our Town” were great, as was Performance Network’s “Sonia Flew.” But the play that stayed with me more than any other was The New Theatre Project’s “Cloud Tectonics.”

Best non-professional company show: Ann Arbor Civic Theatre’s “The Laramie Project.” The show earned an honorary award from Between the Lines for going forward with its performances, despite threatened protests from the Westboro Baptist Church, but it also ended up being one of the company’s best overall productions in recent years.

Touring shows that I’m really glad had a stop in Ann Arbor: “Avenue Q” at the Michigan Theater; and an unusual show that offered a lovely, compelling excuse for a walk in the park, “Susurrus,” presented by UMS.

Most memorable stage performances, male: Phil Powers in the Network’s “The Drowsy Chaperone”; the team of John Manfredi and James Bowen in the Network’s “K2”; Will Young in the Purple Rose’s “Gravity”; Jacob Hodgson in the Network’s “It Came From Mars.”

Most memorable stage performances, female: Jessica Grove in Encore Theatre’s “Club Morocco”; Jamie Weeder in “Cloud Tectonics”; Naz Edwards in the Network’s “Woman Before a Glass”; Sarab Kamoo in the Network’s “Sonia Flew.”

Tech stars of 2010: Andrew Hungerford's lighting design in the Network's "K2"; Daniel C. Walker's set, and Danna Segrest's props, for "Gravity" at the Purple Rose; Charlie Sutherland's props for the Network's "It Came From Mars"; Elizabeth Lynch's set design for "Trafford Tanzi"; Jessica Hahn's costumes for U-M's "Ragtime"; Vincent Mountain's set, and Michelle Bisbee's props, for the Network's "The Seafarer"; Monika Essen's set for the Network's "Little Shop of Horrors"; and Marguerite Woodward's set for U-M's "Pentecost."

Great shows I didn't get to see: When several shows open at the same time, Roger Lelievre helps with coverage, and his favorite production in 2010 was "Hamlet" at EMU ("a fresh, edge-of-your-seat take on the familiar tragedy"), while both P.T.D. Productions' "'Night, Mother" ("grim stuff … but what terrific performances by Alene Blomquist and Darcy MacConnell") and the Blackbird Theatre's "If Only in My Dreams" ("Barton Bund and Will Myers are terrific character actors") also made Roger's list for 2010.

Here's to more great performances and shows in 2011!

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.