TDF Stages

A guide to 15 upcoming (and one recently opened) shows you can see on Broadway next month

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After 18 months of darkness, Broadway's lights are finally turning back on. More than three dozen Broadway shows are scheduled to open (or resume performances) between now and the end of 2021. You can browse a comprehensive list of (re)opening dates here. But if that sounds overwhelming (so much feels daunting these days!), TDF is also breaking down the fall season month by month. Below is every show bowing on Broadway this September, including the return of classics such as Hamilton, The Lion King and Wicked alongside buzzy newcomers like SIX and The Lehman Trilogy.

In terms of COVID-19 safety protocols, all Broadway productions require theatregoers to show proof of being fully vaccinated with an FDA or WHO authorized vaccine. Exceptions will be made for children under 12 since they are not yet eligible to be vaccinated, as well as for people with medical conditions or closely held religious beliefs that prevent vaccination. Everyone who falls into those categories must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of showtime, or a negative COVID-19 antigen test taken within six hours of when the curtain rises. Masks are mandatory for audiences inside theatres regardless of vaccination status.

If you're a TDF member, be sure to log in to your account to see what we're selling as ticket inventory changes frequently. Not a TDF member? Our Times Square TKTS Discount Booth reopens on Tuesday, September 14 and sells same-day tickets up to 50% off to many Broadway shows.

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MUSICALS (RE)OPENING IN SEPTEMBER

Hadestown - September 2
Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 West 48th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

Resumes performances September 2. Open run

Well, look who's back livin' it up on top! The 2019 best musical Tony winner comes back to Broadway with most of its original cast intact, including Tony winner André De Shields as Hermes, Reeve Carney as Orpheus, Eva Noblezada as Eurydice and Amber Gray as Persephone. Former Rocky Horror Show star Tom Hewitt is temporarily taking over the role of Hades while Patrick Page shoots a movie, but the gravelly voiced charmer will rejoin Hadestown on November 9. Anaïs Mitchell's musical reimagining of Orpheus and Eurydice has enjoyed an incredible journey, from concept album to Off Broadway to international production to Broadway. We're thrilled its returning from purgatory.

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Waitress - September 2
Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 West 47th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

Resumes performances September 2. Closes December 20.

Yes, you read that correctly. Even though Waitress closed a few months before the shutdown began, Sara Bareilles' Tony-nominated musical about an aspiring baker trying to navigate her challenging life is set to return to Broadway for a limited engagement. The songwriter herself will headline the show until October 17 alongside Waitress vets Drew Gehling as Dr. Pomatter, Eric Anderson as Cal, Charity Angel Dawson as Becky, Christopher Fitzgerald as Ogie, Caitlin Houlahan as Dawn, Dakin Matthews as Joe and Joe Tippett as Earl. Delicious!

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Hamilton - September 14
Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 West 46th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

Resumes performances September 14. Open run

Disney+ is no longer your only option if you want to watch Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning juggernaut about a young scrappy and hungry immigrant who helped shape our nation returns to Broadway with many Hamilton vets in its cast, including Miguel Cervantes in the title role, Jin Ha as Aaron Burr, James Monroe Iglehart as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson, Krystal Joy Brown as Eliza Hamilton, Mandy Gonzalez as Angelica Schuyler, Tamar Greene as George Washington and Euan Morton as King George III. Glad they'll be back in the room where it happens!

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The Lion King - September 14
Minskoff Theatre, 200 West 45th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Resumes performances September 14. Open run

Disney's musical about the coming of age of the king of the jungle is set to enthrall once again. Featuring one of the most breathtaking openings in musical theatre, as the animals parade through the audience, the show is a must-see—especially now since tickets can actually be had. The cast includes Lion King vets Stephen Carlile as Scar, L. Steven Taylor as Mufasa, Tshidi Manye as Rafiki, Cameron Pow as Zazu, Ben Jeffrey as Pumbaa, Fred Berman as Timon, Adrienne Walker as Nala, James Brown-Orleans as Banzai, Bonita J. Hamilton as Shenzi and Robb Sapp as Ed, alongside Julie Taymor and Michael Curry's eye-popping puppets. Here's to the circle of life!

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Wicked - September 14
Gershwin Theatre, 222 West 51st Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

Resumes performances September 14. Open run.

Thank goodness Stephen Schwartz's popular musical about the unlikely friendship between Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West will once again defy gravity on Broadway. A family favorite since 2003, the musical features many of the same cast members who were starring on Broadway when theatres shut down, including Lindsay Pearce as Elphaba, Ginna Claire Mason as Glinda, Sam Gravitte as Fiyero, Michael McCormick as The Wizard, Riley Costello as Boq and Michael X. Martin as Doctor Dillamond. Wonderful.

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Chicago - September 14
Ambassador Theatre, 219 West 49th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

Resumes performances September 14. Open run

This musical's merry murderesses are back in the spotlight they crave as Broadway's longest-running revival restarts on Broadway. The reopening cast set to thrill and kill includes Bianca Marroquín as Velma (not Roxie, a role she's played many times in the past; On Your Feet! star Ana Villafañe as Roxie; and Tony winners Paulo Szot as Billy Flynn and Lillias White as Mama Morton. These players certainly have plenty of razzle dazzle!

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SIX - September 17
Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 West 47th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

Previews begin September 17. Opens October 3. Open run.

Yas Queens! After being forced to shut down on its 2020 opening night due to the pandemic, this pop musical about Henry VIII's six wives is ready for its royal revival. Oozing with girl power, the show started out at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and made it to Broadway in just a few years, becoming an international sensation thanks to its much-streamed studio cast recording. Written by newcomers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, SIX is presented as a concert, during which each spouse sings for her suffering, with the most tormented woman crowned the group's lead singer. The original cast returns for this resurrection: Adrianna Hicks as Catherine of Aragon, Andrea Macasaet as Anne Boleyn, Abby Mueller as Jane Seymour, Brittney Mack as Anna of Cleves, Samantha Pauly as Katherine Howard and Anna Uzele as Catherine Parr. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived indeed!

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David Byrne's American Utopia - September 17
St James Theatre, 246 West 44th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Resumes performances September 17. Closes April 3, 2022.

Although David Byrne's concert spectacle had already completed its critically acclaimed Broadway run before the shutdown, and was even filmed by Spike Lee for HBO, producers planned to bring it back for an encore engagement in fall 2020. After a year delay, American Utopia finally returns, with the rock icon sharing the stage with 11 multicultural musicians who play songs from his extensive catalog, including lots of Talking Heads tunes. Glad they'll be burning down the house once again.

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Come From Away - September 21
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 West 45th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Resumes performances September 21. Open run. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.

This September, there are two ways to enjoy this uplifting musical about a small Newfoundland community that welcomed stranded strangers on 9/11: on Broadway starting September 21, with an ensemble cast including Caesar Samayoa, Q. Smith, Pearl Sun, Rachel Tucker, Jim Walton and Sharon Wheatley; and, starting September 10, on Apple TV, which will stream a filmed version of the stage show that was mounted during the shutdown featuring members of the original cast, including Tony nominee Jenn Colella. Welcome back to the rock!

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Moulin Rouge! The Musical - September 24
Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues

Resumes performances September 24. Open run

Alex Timbers' jaw-dropping stage adaptation of Baz Luhrmann's audacious 2001 movie musical returns to seduce Broadway audiences. Featuring a cavalcade of pop and rock hits, this over-the-top romance centers on the love triangle between a 19th-century writer, a nightclub temptress and a lecherous Duke, as an opportunistic impresario presides over the louche scene. Winner of ten 2020 Tony Awards including best musical, this production returns with most of its original cast, including Aaron Tveit as Christian, Danny Burstein as Harold Zidler, Sahr Ngaujah as Toulouse-Lautrec, Tam Mutu as the Duke, Ricky Rojas as Santiago and Robyn Hurder as Nini, but sparkling diamond Karen Olivo, who quit the show in a viral Instagram Live video, has been replaced by Natalie Mendoza, who appeared in a small role in the original movie. Yes they can-can-can!

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Aladdin - September 28
New Amsterdam Theatre, 214 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Resumes performances September 28. Open run

It will feel like a whole new world when this Disney favorite reopens on Broadway. The plucky tale of a poor young man and the friendly Genie who helps him win a princess and thwart a villain, the musical is set to star Michael Maliakel in the title role, Shoba Narayan as Jasmine, Michael James Scott as Genie, Don Darryl Rivera as Iago and Jonathan Freeman as Jafar, a role he originated on Broadway and voiced in the 1992 animated movie!

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PLAYS (RE)OPENING IN SEPTEMBER

Pass Over - August 4
August Wilson Theatre, 245 West 52nd Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

In previews. Opens August 22. Closes October 10. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.

A critically acclaimed hit at Lincoln Center Theater's smallest house in 2018, Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu's powerful play about racism has transferred to Broadway, making it the first show back since March 2020 (not counting Bruce Springsteen). An ingenious mash-up of the biblical story of Exodus, Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and our country's ongoing reckoning with white supremacy, Pass Over is both poetic and profane, absurdist and fantastical, a tragedy that is shockingly funny and revitalized by a new hopeful ending. The Lincoln Center cast, Jon Michael Hill, Namir Smallwood and Tony winner Gabriel Ebert, reprise their roles under Danya Taymor's direction. Don't pass over this one!

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Lackawanna Blues - September 14
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

Previews begin September 14. Opens October 7. Closes November 12. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.

Lauded actor-writer-director Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who was appointed as an artistic advisor to Manhattan Theatre Club last year, reopens that nonprofit's Broadway house with his autobiographical solo show. Previously seen Off Broadway 20 years ago, the play celebrates the powerful and empathetic woman who raised Santiago-Hudson in a '60s boarding house outside Buffalo, New York. The Tony winner also serves as director for this intensely personal piece, in which he portrays more than 20 colorful characters.

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Chicken & Biscuits - September 23
Circle in the Square Theatre, 1633 Broadway at 51st Street

Previews begin September 23. Opens October 10. Closes November 28. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.

How's this for a pandemic success story: In March 2020, the world premiere of Douglas Lyons' rollicking comedy Chicken & Biscuits at Queens Theatre was cut short due to COVID-19. A Broadway performer who's appeared in The Book of Mormon and Beautiful, Lyons had been developing the play about the skeletons that emerge at a Black family funeral for years. He continued to work on it during the pandemic, mounting a virtual reading that generated interest and helped catapult it to Broadway for a limited run this fall. Zhailon Levingston directs an ensemble cast that includes Tony nominee Norm Lewis, NaTasha Yvette Williams and Michael Urie.

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Is This A Room - September 24
Lyceum Theatre, 149 West 45th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

Previews begin September 24. Opens October 11. Closes November 27. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.

The Vineyard Theatre's acclaimed production of Tina Satter's play transfers to Broadway, where it will run in repertory with Dana H., which begins performances in October. Is This A Room is a verbatim transcript of the FBI's initial interrogation of Reality Winner, a 25-year-old Air Force linguist arrested in 2017 for leaking classified information to the media. It's an astonishing work of hyperrealism and a fascinating examination of power and gender dynamics featuring a jaw-dropping performance by Emily Davis.

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The Lehman Trilogy - September 25 
Nederlander Theatre, 208 West 41st Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews begin September 25. Opens October 14. Closes January 2, 2022.

This critically acclaimed productional had only played four previews when Broadway shut down, but it resumes performances this fall with a few big changes. Original cast members Simon Russell Beale and Adam Godley are returning but Adrian Lester is replacing Ben Miles, and disgraced producer Scott Rudin is also gone. A theatrical epic that deconstructs American capitalism through the meteoric rise and catastrophic downfall of a financial dynasty, The Lehman Trilogy is told in three parts over three-plus hours. Tony winner Sam Mendes directs the show, which previously ran in London and at the Park Avenue Armory.

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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her at @RavenSnook. Follow TDF at @TDFNYC.

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