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Sutton Foster, who's reprising her acclaimed performance in Once Upon a Mattress on Broadway starting this month
Catch buzzy Broadway transfers, new Off-Broadway musicals and more
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No summer vacation for NYC theatre! Three acclaimed shows from last season are transferring to Broadway: Cole Escola's gloriously campy Oh, Mary!, the heady thriller Job and a delightful revival of Once Upon a Mattress starring Sutton Foster. And there are plenty of productions opening beyond Broadway, too, including Tony winner Bill Irwin reprising his solo show On Beckett, a trio of new musicals and a comedic two-hander starring Hal Linden and Marilu Henner. These are just some of the promising productions that begin performances in July. We couldn't include everything, so be sure to browse the listings in TDF's Show Finder to see what else is playing. And remember, many of our picks for June are still running!
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Lyceum Theatre, 149 West 45th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues
Previews start June 26. Opens July 11. Closes September 15.
A ridiculous and ribald rewrite of history, Cole Escola's Oh, Mary! is an outrageous romp centering on Abraham Lincoln's much maligned and mentally unstable wife. As embodied by playwright Escola, she's a hysterical, booze-soaked harridan who ignores her kids, mistreats her husband (played by Conrad Ricamora) and dreams of returning to her glory days as a cabaret star. Downtown, Oh, Mary! was a sold-out smash, a campy delight reminiscent of classic queer camp like Charles Busch and the Ridiculous Theatrical Company. On Broadway, we expect it to be just as gleefully outrageous and hilarious.
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New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin July 1. Opens July 11. Closes September 22. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Tony-winning performer Cady Huffman (The Producers, The Will Rogers Follies) directs this musical celebrating the Empire State Building. Spanning the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression and the 1976 Bicentennial, the story chronicles the landmark's against-all-odds construction and how the building inspired dreamers of different generations. Caroline Sherman and Robert Hull are behind this fact-filled, family-friendly show, which has been in development for a while—Huffman herself starred in a previous workshop.
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Atlantic Stage 2, 330 West 16th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues
A Hundred Circling Camps: Previews begin July 9. Opens July 16. Closes August 3.
La Viuda: Previews begin July 10. Opens July 17. Closes August 4.
For decades, PTP/NYC, a company cofounded by professors from Middlebury College, produced adventurous repertory summer seasons Off Broadway. That troupe has relocated to Florida, but an intriguing offshoot is taking its place. Dogteam Theatre Project is run by Alex Draper (a founding member and former associate artistic director of PTP/NYC) and Olga Sanchez Saltveit. For their inaugural NYC season, they're mounting two productions in rep. La Viuda is the English-language world premiere of the first play written by avant-garde pioneer María Irene Fornés back in 1961, inspired by letters written to her great-grandfather from a widow who fled Cuba in the 19th century. A Hundred Circling Camps explores the Bonus Army protests of 1932, when more than 20,000 folks camped out in Washington D.C. to demand fair pay for World War I veterans. As was the case with PTP/NYC, the casts for these shows include Middlebury College students alongside professional actors.
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The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street between Dyer and Tenth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin July 9. Opens July 14. Closes August 31.
If you enjoyed Illinoise, try this new dance musical set to the songs of queer country crooner Orville Peck. Directed and choreographed by Jakob Karr of So You Think You Can Dance fame, this emotional 90-minute show tells its story of coming out and looking for love in the South entirely through movement. Previously seen in Orlando, Ain't Done Bad is produced by the Renaissance Theatre Company with Blue Topaz Productions.
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Sheen Center, 18 Bleecker Street between Mott and Elizabeth Streets in Noho
Previews begin July 10. Opens July 11. Closes July 28.
Legendary TV writer Ed. Weinberger (Taxi, The Mary Tyler Moore, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) brings his latest two-person comedy to NYC. Beloved sitcom vets Hal Linden and Marilu Henner star as the title Biblical duo in this he said, she said yuk fest about what went wrong with the world's first couple.
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154, 154 Christopher Street between Greenwich and Washington Streets in the West Village
Previews begin July 10. Opens July 17. Closes July 28.
Busy Off-Broadway actor Ryan Spahn (Gloria, Daniel's Husband) makes his playwriting debut with Inspired by True Events, a dark backstage comedy set at a community theatre where a production goes completely off the rails due to its unstable star. As the cast frantically works to save the show, they end up covering for their leading man in ways they never could have anticipated. Previously seen on Zoom during the pandemic, Inspired by True Events is having its in-person world premiere in 154's intimate green room, where it's performed for just 40 theatregoers each night. Knud Adams directs an ensemble that includes Broadway vet Jack DiFalco and Tony nominee Lou Liberatore.
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Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 West 22nd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Chelsea
Previews begin July 10. Opens July 11. Closes August 4.
After acclaimed runs both in person and online, Bill Irwin's tribute to Samuel Beckett returns to Irish Rep for an encore engagement. The Tony winner and consummate clown has long been obsessed with the groundbreaking Irish playwright, starring in a few of his classics (two productions of Waiting for Godot and Endgame at Irish Rep last year), and winning an Obie Award for performing some of Beckett's prose pieces in the solo show Texts for Nothing. On Beckett is Irwin's deep dive into the writer's oeuvre and why he loves doing it.
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59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Previews begin July 10. Opens July 16. Closes August 4.
John Jiler's solo show shares the unsung story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg's youngest son Robert, who was orphaned after his parents were executed for espionage and eventually adopted by songwriter Abel Meeropol, best known for the anti-lynching anthem "Strange Fruit." Accompanied by clarinetist Sweet Lee Odom, the performer-playwright finds unexpected connections in America's bloody history as he explores themes of individual and collective responsibility.
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Claire Tow Theater at Lincoln Center, 150 West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue in Lincoln Square
Previews begin July 13. Opens July 29. Closes August 25.
Two longtime friends and Yale School of Drama classmates, playwright Phillip Howze and director Dustin Wills, are behind this world premiere about elite cultural institutions and who's welcome where. The details of the plot are vague, but Black joy, Black bodies, Black anger and Black storytelling are all explored in this satire where, according to the press release, "wigs go flying and all hell breaks loose." Considering the collaborators' credits—Howze penned the acclaimed Frontiéres Sans Frontières and Wills won an Obie Award for directing Wolf Play—and that the title seems to be an allusion to Luigi Pirandello, we are definitely intrigued!
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Hayes Theatre, 240 West 44th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues
Previews start July 15. Opens July 30. Closes September 29.
After two sold-out downtown engagements that earned rave reviews in traditional media and on TikTok, Max Wolf Friedlich's taut two-hander Job comes to Broadway with its powerhouse performers intact. Jane (Sydney Lemmon) is a disgraced Gen Z staffer at a big tech company determined to win back her job after a viral video scandal. Loyd (Tony nominee Peter Friedman) is the Boomer crisis therapist who holds her future in his hands. Both whip-smart, they engage in an exhilarating back-and-forth about trauma, purpose, family and fulfillment in the digital age until a sudden revelation reframes everything that came before. Do not try to guess! Just go and let this tricky psychological thriller surprise you.
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The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street between Dyer and Tenth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin July 17. Opens July 31. Closes August 31. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Written by Domenica Feraud, whose autobiographical play Rinse, Repeat earned solid notices, someone spectacular explores the intense emotions of grief as the members of a bereavement group loose their grip when their therapist doesn't show up. Tatiana Pandiani directs this ensemble dramedy.
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59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Previews begin July 23. Opens July 28. Closes September 1.
Right before the pandemic, Cary Gitter's rom-com The Sabbath Girl had a successful run at 59E59 Theaters. Now it returns but as a musical, with songs by Neil Berg (The Prince and the Pauper) and Glitter. The charming tale of an unexpected interfaith romance between a divorced Orthodox Jewish man and his cynical Italian-American-Catholic neighbor, the production had its world premiere at Penguin Rep Theatre earlier this year. Joe Brancato directs.
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Asylum NYC, 123 East 24th Street between Park Avenue South and Lexington Avenues in Gramercy
Previews begin July 23. Opens August 1. Closes October 13.
For decades, NYC injury attorneys Cellino and Barnes were unlikely local celebs thanks to their viral jingle and ubiquitous billboards. But their booming business fell apart when they turned on each other and sued! Broadway vets Eric William Morris and Noah Weisberg star in this campy musical comedy about the lawyers' low-rent rise and litigious fall, written by Mike B. Breen and David Rafailedes.
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Theatre at St. Clement's, 423 West 46th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin July 29. Opens August 4. Closes August 25.
Tony winner Frank Wood (Side Man, Clybourne Park) and Kelley Curran (The Gilded Age) costar in this two-hander by Catherine Gropper, inspired by her chance encounter with a man who turned out to be a notable Russian-English interpreter. Though billed as a work of dramatic interpretation, the play uses the infamous Trump Tower meeting as a backdrop for an investigation of how everyday people get caught up in morally murky situations.
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Hudson Theatre, 141 West 44th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue
Previews start July 31. Opens August 12. Closes November 30.
After a triumphant run at City Center Encores! earlier this year, this fabulous revival of Once Upon a Mattress transfers to Broadway with star Sutton Foster intact. The two-time Tony winner was born to play the goofy and belty Princess Winnifred, an unapologetic free spirit looking for a mate in this zany riff on The Princess and the Pea. The whimsical score by Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer includes the songs "Shy," "In a Little While" and "Happily Ever After," and Amy Sherman-Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Gilmore Girls) has tweaked the book for modern sensibilities. Lear deBessonet directs and Michael Urie costars as Winnifred's milquetoast prince.
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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her on Facebook at @Raven.Snook. Follow TDF on Facebook at @TDFNYC.
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