TDF Stages

A guide to 20 upcoming musicals and plays

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Broadway marks its one-year anniversary of reopening with an exciting and diverse slate of fall productions. There are starry play revivals (Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington in The Piano Lesson, Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in Topdog/Underdog); new musicals with great out-of-town buzz (Almost Famous, & Juliet); lauded London imports (Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt, The Collaboration) and critically acclaimed Off-Broadway transfers (Kimberly Akimbo, Cost of Living, Ain't No Mo'). Plus, Audra McDonald in a groundbreaking Adrienne Kennedy drama! In all, there are 19 productions debuting between now and the end of the year. Our guide helps you navigate everything that's coming.

Bonus: The two Broadway shows that opened over the summer, The Kite Runner and Into the Woods, are still running, with the latter welcoming new cast members this fall, including Cher Tony winner Stephanie J. Block as the Baker's Wife and her real-life husband Sebastian Arcelus as the Baker.

In terms of COVID-19 safety protocols, Broadway theatres no longer require proof of vaccination and only a few mandate masks. Exceptions are noted.

If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to see what we're selling as ticket inventory changes frequently. Not a TDF member? Our TKTS Discount Booths sell same-day tickets up to 50% off to many Broadway shows.

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NOTE: Shows are listed in first preview date order within each category.

MUSICALS

1776 - begins performances September 16

American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews start September 16. Opens October 6. Closes January 8, 2023.

Thanks to nontraditional casting, this musical about the birth of our nation inspires audiences to look at the Founding Fathers in a new way. No, I'm not talking about Hamilton. I'm talking about the 1969 Tony-winning musical that helped inspire Lin-Manuel Miranda's magnum opus: 1776. Last seen on Broadway a quarter century ago, this Roundabout Theatre Company production is co-directed by Pippin Tony winner Diane Paulus and features a multiracial company of cis-women, transfolk and nonbinary performers. With songs by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone, the show chronicles the contentious events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Off-Broadway stalwart Crystal Lucas-Perry makes her Broadway debut as John Adams, who tirelessly rallies the troops. Fela alum Jeffrey L. Page codirects and choreographs.

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Almost Famous - begins performances October 3

Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 West 45th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews begin October 3. Opens November 7. Closes January 8, 2023.

Hollywood auteur Cameron Crowe turns his semi-autobiographical 2000 movie Almost Famous into a classic rock musical with help from Tony-winning songwriter Tom Kitt (Next to Normal). The tale of an ambitious '70s high schooler writing for Rolling Stone who's sent on tour with a volatile rock band, the tuner received strong notices when it premiered at San Diego's Old Globe in 2019. Crowe penned the book based on his own Oscar-winning screenplay, and he collaborated on the lyrics with Kitt. Casey Likes makes his Broadway debut as the green journalist, Chris Wood and Waitress' Drew Gehling are dueling rock gods and Solea Pfeiffer (Evita at Encores!) is the irresistible groupie Penny Lane.

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Kimberly Akimbo - begins performances October 12

Booth Theatre, 222 West 45th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews start October 12. Opens November 10. Closes April 28, 2024.

After earning raves at Atlantic Theater Company last season, the bittersweet Kimberly Akimbo transfers to Broadway. Based on David Lindsay-Abaire's play of the same name, the show centers on Kimberly (a knockout Victoria Clark), a teenager who's literally growing up too fast due to a rare disease—but that's the least of her problems. She's also forced to navigate family secrets, unstable relatives and criminal activities in her quest for happiness before time runs out. Book writer-lyricist Lindsay-Abaire reunites with his Shrek: The Musical collaborator Jeanine Tesori for this musical meditation on mortality, and the entire Off-Broadway cast, including scene-stealers Bonnie Milligan (Head Over Heels) and Steven Boyer (Hand to God), is on board. 

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KPOP - begins performances October 13

Circle in the Square Theatre, 1633 Broadway with the entrance between Broadway and Eighth Avenue on 50th Street

Previews start October 13. Opens November 20. Closes December 11.

Anyone who saw the immersive musical KPOP Off Broadway in 2017 will wonder, how can it be done in a sit-down theatre? Unlike that production, audiences for this Broadway iteration will not literally go behind the scenes of a K-pop music factory. Yet it's still a backstage story set in the juggernaut Korean pop industry, as a special one-night-only concert is jeopardized by a struggling superstar singer. Real-life K-pop sensation Luna leads the all-Asian cast, who are sure to perform Helen Park and Max Vernon's exhilarating bops and Jennifer Weber's tight choreography with BTS-level skill.

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& Juliet - begins performances October 28

Stephen Sondheim Theatre, 124 West 43rd Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway

Previews start October 28. Opens November 17. Open run.

In & Juliet, Shakespeare's tragic teenage heroine gets a second chance at love and life. The Bard's wife Anne Hathaway hates the ending of Romeo and Juliet, so she comes up with an alternate fate for the character, with the ingenue eschewing suicide and pursuing other romances. The book by Schitt's Creek writer David West Read uses well-known pop songs by Max Martin in unexpected and hilarious ways, including iconic hits he penned for Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, Céline Dion, NSYNC and Katy Perry. London audiences have been falling for this musical comedy since 2019, and this new production, which just wrapped its Toronto tryout, stars Kinky Boots' Stark Sands as Shakespeare, Betsy Wolfe as his wife and Lorna Courtney as Juliet.

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Some Like It Hot - begins performances November 1

Shubert Theatre, 225 West 44th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews start November 1. Opens December 11. Closes December 30, 2023.

This is actually the second Broadway musical inspired by Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy classic about a pair of Prohibition-era musicians who witness a Mafia murder and hide from the gangsters by cross-dressing and joining an all-women band. (In case you're curious, the first was 1972's Sugar.) While this story may sound a bit stale in the 21st century, the buzz is great and the talent top-notch: the swinging songs are by the genius team behind Hairspray, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman; the book is by Inheritance Tony winner Matthew López and late-night TV charmer Amber Ruffin; and the production is directed and choreographed by The Book of Mormon Tony winner Casey Nicholaw. And then there's the hilarious cast, led by two-time Tony winner Christian Borle and J. Harrison Ghee as the on-the-run duo, with SIX queen Adrianna Hicks reinventing the Marilyn Monroe role of Sugar.

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A Beautiful Noise - begins performances November 2

Broadhurst Theatre, 235 West 44th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews start November 2. Opens December 4. Closes June 30. 2024.

Subtitled "The Neil Diamond Musical," this bio show chronicles the life and career of the legendary singer-songwriter, from nice Jewish boy in Brooklyn to international superstar with decades of hits, including "Sweet Caroline," "America" and "Cracklin' Rosie." After a successful Boston tryout earlier this summer, the musical comes to Broadway starring Will Swenson as the rocker in his heyday and Mark Jacoby as Diamond now. Tony winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) directs.

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PLAYS

Cost of Living - begins performances September 13

Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

Previews start September 13. Opens October 3. Closes October 30. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.

Note: Masks are required. Read more about Manhattan Theatre Club's COVID-19 protocols.

Martyna Majok's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, seen in a celebrated 2017 staging at Manhattan Theatre Club Off Broadway, transfers to the company's Broadway house. Obie Award winner Jo Bonney returns to direct the new production, which reunites acclaimed original stars Gregg Mozgala and Katy Sullivan as individuals with disabilities navigating complex relationships with their caregivers. Clyde's Tony nominee Kara Young and Dexter's David Zayas complete the cast of this powerful exploration of caring and being cared for.

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Leopoldstadt - begins performances September 14

Longacre Theatre, 220 West 48th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

Previews start September 14. Opens October 2. Closes July 2, 2023.

Tom Stoppard's deeply personal, Olivier Award-winning epic centering on one extended Jewish family comes to Broadway. Set in Vienna and spanning the first 55 years of the 20th century, the play features an ensemble of more than three dozen performers, including West End actors reprising their critically acclaimed roles alongside new cast members such as David Krumholtz, Caissie Levy and Seth Numrich. As he did in London, Patrick Marber directs this emotional show.

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Death of a Salesman - begins performances September 17

Hudson Theatre, 141 West 44th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue

Previews start September 17. Opens October 9. Closes January 15, 2023.

Arthur Miller's American classic is reimagined in this lauded production, which debuted in London in 2019. The remarkable Sharon D Clarke (Caroline, or Change) won an Olivier Award for her moving turn as Linda Loman, who stands by her struggling salesman Willy (The Wire's Wendell Pierce) and demands that attention be paid. They are joined by new cast members Khris Davis and McKinley Belcher III as their diametrically opposed sons, and Hadestown Tony winner André De Shields as Willy's larger-than-life brother. Miranda Cromwell, who codirected the West End mounting with Marianne Elliott, flies solo on Broadway.

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The Piano Lesson - begins performances September 19

Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 West 47th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

Previews start September 19. Opens TBD. Closes January 15, 2023.

The first-ever Broadway revival of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play is, fittingly, a family affair: LaTanya Richardson Jackson directs her husband, Samuel L. Jackson, in this searing drama about siblings clashing over an heirloom piano in 1936 Pittsburgh. Boy Willie (John David Washington in his Broadway debut) wants to sell the instrument so he can buy the land where their ancestors toiled as slaves. But his sister Berniece (Tony nominee Danielle Brooks) wants to retain this important piece of family history. Jackson is their uncle, whose stories illuminate their shared legacy.

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Topdog/Underdog - begins performances September 27

John Golden Theatre, 252 West 45th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews start September 27. Opens October 20. Closes January 15, 2023. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.

Another revival of a Pulitzer Prize winner: Suzan-Lori Parks' blazing fable about a pair of Black brothers returns to Broadway two decades after its audacious premiere. Corey Hawkins (Six Degrees of Separation) and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen) are Lincoln and Booth, whose family inheritance includes poverty, racism, abandonment and $500 each. As they banter and battle, they grapple with their shared history, issues of identity and the lure of three-card monte. Tony winner Kenny Leon directs.

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Walking with Ghosts - begins performances October 18

Music Box Theatre, 239 West 45th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews start October 18. Opens October 27. Closes November 20.

After a lauded premiere at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre earlier this year, Gabriel Byrne's theatrical memoir comes to Broadway. Adapted from the two-time Tony nominee's book of the same name, Walking with Ghosts is an evocative autobiographical solo show chronicling his evolution from imaginative Irish lad to Hollywood heartthrob, as well as a commentary on the vagaries of stardom and a tribute to the people and places that helped shape his remarkable life. Broadway vet Lonny Price (Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, Sunset Boulevard) directs.

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Take Me Out - begins performances October 27

Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 West 45th St between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews start October 27. Opens TBD. Closes January 29, 2023.

The 2022 Tony winner for best play revival is getting some extra innings! Second Stage Theater's acclaimed revival of Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out returns for an encore run led by original stars Jesse Williams, who plays a beloved biracial Major League Baseball player who comes out and contends with homophobia and racism, and his loquacious gay accountant, portrayed by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who won a Tony for his riotous performance. The rest of the cast has yet to be announced, but Scott Ellis returns to direct. Like last time, audiences will be required to lock their phones in Yondr pouches to prevent unauthorized pics and video of the performers, who appear nude in multiple scenes, although we know how well that worked last time.

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The Old Man and the Pool - begins performances October 28

Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 West 45th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews begin October 28. Opens November 13. Closes January 15, 2023.

After acclaimed runs in Los Angeles and Chicago, Mike Birbiglia's new one-man comedy comes to Broadway. An insightful and masterful storyteller, Birbiglia previously showed off his spellbinding skills in The New One and Sleepwalk with Me. The Old Man and the Pool is his meditation on mortality as he shares his hilarious take on growing older.

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Ain't No Mo' - begins performances November 3

Belasco Theatre, 111 West 44th Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue

Previews start November 3. Opens December 1. Closes December 23.

Jordan E. Cooper wrote and stars in this outrageous comedy, which lands on Broadway after a hit run at The Public Theater in 2019. The premise is simple but explosive: What if our government gave Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa? Fusing sketch, satire and drag, this romp is a whirlwind tour of what it's like to be Black in a nation built on white supremacy. Stevie Walker-Webb once again directs.

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Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol - begins performances November 8

Nederlander Theatre, 208 West 41st Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews start November 8. Opens November 21. Closes January 1, 2023.

Jefferson Mays is a master at playing multiple characters in the same show. He won a Tony Award for doing just that in I Am My Own Wife (40 different roles!) and earned a nomination for portraying eight members of the ill-fated D'Ysquith family in A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder. This fall, he'll portray more than 50 characters (including Scrooge, Tiny Tim and a potato) in his celebrated solo adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Originally mounted at LA's Geffen Playhouse in 2018, the production was reimagined for digital consumption during the shutdown by director Michael Arden (Once on This Island) and costume and set designer Dane Laffrey. They're helping bring Mays' passion project to Broadway, a fresh and intimate take on Dickens' timeless tale featuring the actor in a tour-de-force performance—make that performances.

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Ohio State Murders - begins performances November 11

James Earl Jones Theatre, 138 West 48th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

Previews start November 11. Opens December 8. Closes January 15, 2023.

There are so many things to celebrate about this landmark production of an undersung work. It marks Audra McDonald's return to Broadway post-shutdown as well as the long-overdue Broadway debut of groundbreaking nonagenarian playwright Adrienne Kennedy. And it's happening at the newly christened James Earl Jones Theatre (formerly known as the Cort)! Kennedy's semi-autobiographical 1992 play centers on a Black woman writer who's invited to talk about the violence in her work at her alma mater. But as she revisits the not-so-safe haven of her academic youth, she unravels heartbreaking truths about the personal impact of racism. McDonald reteams with director Kenny Leon after collaborating on a digital mounting of the play last year.

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The Collaboration - begins performances November 29

Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue

Previews start November 29. Opens December 20. Closes February 11, 2023. 

Note: COVID-19 rules to be determined. Read more about Manhattan Theatre Club's COVID-19 protocols.

Direct from its smash London premiere, Anthony McCarten's entertaining two-hander about the creative relationship between art superstars Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat arrives on Broadway courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club. Paul Bettany (The Avengers) and two-time Tony nominee Jeremy Pope (Ain't Too Proud, Choir Boy) reprise their performances, and Kwame Kwei-Armah once again directs.

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Between Riverside and Crazy - begins performances November 30

Hayes Theatre, 240 West 44th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

Previews start November 30. Opens December 19. Closes February 19, 2023. 

Yet another revival of a Pulitzer Prize winner! Stephen Adly Gurgis' hilariously profane, pitch-black comedy Between Riverside and Crazy receives its Broadway debut courtesy of Second Stage Theater. Austin Pendleton directs this play about a grumpy, ex-cop widower and his ex-con son who go to insane lengths to hang on to their rent-stabilized Upper West Side apartment. The cast reunites actors from the play's original 2014 Off-Broadway production, including Tony nominee Stephen McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, Liza Colón-Zayas and Michael Rispoli.

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

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