The new Broadway season is shaping up into something familiar — lavish revivals, jukebox musicals, musical adaptations of movies, a musical about a diva and about a giant ape — but also some serious plays – two about racism, two that involve homophobia, two about journalism – and some eclectic offerings not as easily classified
Below is a list of Broadway shows in the 2018-2019 season, with each title linked to the shows’ websites when available. This list is organized chronologically by opening date and only includes shows that as of now have an opening date and a theater. More is to come; much will be changed.
The Boys in the Band
Booth
Opened: May 31, 2018
Closing Date: August 11, 2018
A birthday party of gay men in 1968. Featuring an all-gay A-list cast.
Straight White Men
2nd Stage’s Helen Hayes
Opening: July 23
Closing: September 9 ,2018
Written by Young Jean Lee
Director: Anna D. Shapiro
Cast: Armie Hammer, Kate Bornstein, Tom Skerritt, Paul Schneider, Josh Charles, and Ty Defoe
In this play by Young Jean Lee, the first play on Broadway by an Asian American woman
On Christmas Eve, Ed and his three adult sons are forced to confront their own identities
Head Over Heels
Hudson Theater
First preview: June 23
Opening: July 26
Director: Michael Mayer
Original book by Jeff Whitty
Set to the music of the Go-Gos – “an unpredictable Elizabethan romp about a royal family that must prevent an oracle’s prophecy of doom”
Gettin’ The Band Back Together
Belasco
First Preview Date: Jul 19, 2018
Opening Date: Aug 13, 2018
Closed: September 16, 2018
Music and Lyrics by Mark Allen, book byKen Davenport and Grundleshotz
Director: John Rando
Mitch, who’s lost his job as a banker, gets his high school rock group back together.
Pretty Woman: The Musical
Nederlander
First Preview Date: Jul 20, 2018
Opening Date: Aug 16, 2018
Written by Garry Marshall (book), Bryan Adam and Jim Vallance (score)
Director and choreographer: Jerry Mitchell
Cast: Andy Karl and Samantha Barks
Adapted from the Julia Roberts/Richard Gere movie about a prostitute and a corporate killer
Bernhardt/Hamlet
Roundabout’s American Airlines Theater
First Preview: Sep 01, 2018
Opening Date: Sep 25, 2018
Written by Theresa Rebeck
Director: Moritz von Stuelpnagel
A new play by Theresa Rebeck. In 1899, the international stage celebrity set out to tackle her most ambitious role yet: Hamlet.
The Nap
MTC’s Samuel J Friedman Theater
First Preview: Sep 04, 2018
Opening Date: Sep 27, 2018
From the One Man, Two Guvnors playwright comes a look at the world of snooker, the British version of pool.
The Lifespan of a Fact
Opening October 18, 2018
Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones and Bobby Cannavale in a true story that begins with an essay written about a Las Vegas teenager who committed suicide. But the fact-checker assigned to make sure the piece is accurate begins to wonder whether any of it is true
The Ferryman
Bernard B. Jacobs Theater
First Preview: October 2, 2018
Opening: October 21, 2018
Written by: Jez Butterworth
Director: Sam Mendes
Set in the Carney farmhouse in rural Northern Ireland in 1981, a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest…until a stranger visits.
The Waverly Gallery
John Golden Theatre
First Preview: September 25, 2018
Opening: October 25, 2018
Written by: Kenneth Lonergan
Director: Lila Neugebauer
Her family tells us the story of their matriarch Gladys, whose world is being rearranged both within her own mind, and externally – the landlord wants to turn her small Greenwich Village into a coffee shop.
Torch Song 
2ndStage’s Helen Hayes
First Preview: October 9, 2018
Opening: November 1, 2018
Written by Harvey Feinstein
Director: Moises Kaufman
Cast: Michael Urie, Mercedes Ruehl
Broadway transfer of Off-Broadway revival about a gay man’s struggle in New York of the 1970s. My review Off-Broadway.
American Son
Booth
First preview: October 6
Opening: November 4
Closing: January 27, 2018
Cast:Kerry Washington and Steven Pasquale
A play by Christopher Demos-Brown, directed by Kenny Leon that takes place in a Florida police station in the middle of the night, with a mother searching for her missing teenage son.
King Kong
Broadway Theatre
First Preview: October 5, 2018
Opening: November 8, 2018
Written by Jack Thorne (book), Marius de Vries and Eddie Perfect (score)
Director and choreographer: Drew McOnie
A musical adaptation of Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace’s novella, with book by the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child playwright.
Mike Birbiglia’s The New One
Cort Theater
First Preview: Oct 25, 2018
Opening Date: Nov 11, 2018
Written and performed by Mike Birbiglia, making his Broadway debut. My review of The New One when it was Off-Broadway
The Prom 
The Longacre Theater
First Preview: October 21, 2018
Opening: November 15, 2018
Written by Bob Martin (book), Chad Beguelin (lyrics), Matthew Sklar (music)
Director: Casey Nicholaw
Cast: Beth Leavel, Brooks Ashmanskas, Christopher Sieber
Four fading stars’s desperate need of a new stage leads them to protest a small-town prom that’s banning one student from bringing her girlfriend.
The Cher Show
Neil Simon
First Preview: November 1, 2018
Opening: December 3, 2018
Book by Rick Elice. Music by various composers.
The musical traces the career of pop star Cher, who is played by three performers at different ages of her life.
Network
Cost Theater
First preview: November 10
Opening: December 6
Directed by Ivo Van Hove
Bryan Cranston stars as Howard Beale the network anchor who’s mad as hell and can’t take it anymore, in the stage adaptation of the 1976 film.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Shubert Theater
First Preview: November 1, 2018
Opening: December 13, 2018
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Director: Bartlett Sher
Cast: Jeff Daniels, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Will Pullen, Gideon Glick, Latanya Richardson Jackson, Stark Sands, Frederick Weller, Erin Wilhelmi, Dakin Matthews, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Stephen Mckinley Henderson, Phyllis Somerville, Liv Rooth
Based on Harper Lee’s novel about a virtuous Southern lawyer at a time of racial bigotry
JANUARY
Choir Boy
MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theater
First preview: December 11
Opening January 10, 2019
Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Director: Trip Cullman
Cast: Jeremy Pope, Chuck Cooper, Austin Pendleton
For half a century, the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys has been dedicated to the education of strong, ethical black men. Jeremy Pope reprises the role he had in the Off-Broadway production as a gay youth whose appointment as head of the school’s legendary gospel choir sparks tension.
True West
Roundabout’s American Airlines Theater
First preview: December 27, 2018
Opening January 24, 2019
Written by Sam Shepard
Director: James Macdonald
Ethan Hawke stars opposite Paul Dano in revival of clash between two brothers.
MARCH
Be More Chill
Lyceum
First preview: February 13
Opening night: March 10
Book by Joe Tracz based on the novel by Ned Vizzin
Music and lyrics by Joe Iconis
Director: Stephen Brackett
Transfer of the teenage cult musical about high school student Jeremy Heere who sees himself as a loser but then swallows a pill containing a supercomputer and becomes cool — but at what cost?
My review of Be More Chill Off-Broadway
Kiss Me Kate
Studio 54
First Preview: February 14, 2019
Opening: March 14, 2019
Score by Cole Porter
Director: Scott Ellis
Cast: Kelli O’Hara
Aint Too Proud
Imperial Theater
First Preview: Feb 28, 2019
Opening Date: Mar 21, 2019
Book by Dominique Morisseau
Music by The Temptations
Director: Des McAnuff
Cast: Jeremy Pope as Eddie Kendricks, Ephraim Sykes as David Ruffin, etc.
This new musical helmed by the director of “Jersey Boys” follows The Temptations’ journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
What The Constitution Means To Me
Helen Hayes Theater
First Preview: March 14, 2019
Opening Date:March 31, 2019
Closing Date:June 09, 2019
Writer: Heidi Schreck
Director: Oliver Butler
Cast: Heidi Schreck, Rosdely Ciprian, Mike Iveson, Thursday Williams
Fifteen-year-old Heidi Schreck earned enough money for her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States. Now, the Obie Award winner resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between four generations of women in her own family and the founding document that dictated their rights and citizenship.
My review of the play Off-Broadway
APRIL
King Lear
Cort
First Preview: Feb 28, 2019
Opening: Apr 04, 2019
Closing: Jul 07, 2019
Author: William Shakespeare
Director: Sam Gold
Cast: Glenda Jackson, Jayne Houdyshell, Elizabeth Marvel, Aisling O’Sullivan,John Douglas Thompson, Ruth Wilson, Sean Carvajal, Russell Harvard, Matthew Maher
Oklahoma!
Circle in the Square
First Preview: Mar 19, 2019
Opening: Apr 07, 2019
Closing: Sep 01, 2019
Authors: Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; Music by Richard Rodgers
Director: Daniel Fish
Cast:
The sixth revival of the groundbreaking Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about love and conflict in the territory just after the turn of the century. This one one the hip production transferring from St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, where the golden haze is a bit dark and the corn not as high. (My review of the show at St. Ann’s)
Burn This
Hudson Theater
First Preview: Mar 15, 2019
Opening: Apr 16, 2019
Author: Lanford Wilson
Director: Michael Mayer
Cast: Adam Driver, Keri Russell, Brandon Uranowitz
A revival of Wilson’s 1987 play about four New Yorkers who are brought together after the accidental death of their friend, a young dancer.
Hadestown
Walter Kerr
First Preview Date: Mar 22, 2019
Opening: Apr 17, 2019
Author: Anais Mitchell
Director: Rachel Chavkin
Cast:
Singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell’s musical, widely acclaimed at New York Theatre Workshop (my review), follows two intertwining love stories — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of king Hades and his wife Persephone — as it invites audiences on an epic journey to the underworld and back.
Hillary and Clinton
John Golden Theater
First Preview: March 16
Opening: April 18
Author: Lucas Hnath
Director:Joe Mantello
Cast: Laurie Metcalf, John Lithgow.
Behind closed doors in the state of New Hampshire during the early days of 2008, a former first lady named Hillary (Metcalf) is in a desperate bid to save her troubled campaign for President of the United States. Her husband, Bill (Lithgow), sees things one way; her campaign manager, Mark, sees things another
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Booth
First preview: March 11, 2019
Opening: April 21, 2019
Writer: Taylor Mac
Director: George C. Wolfe
Cast: Nathan Lane, Kristine Nielsen, Julie White
Marking the Broadway debut of acclaimed theater artist Taylor Mac (A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, Hir.), “Gary” is set just after the blood-soaked conclusion of William Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus. Civil war has ended and the country is in the hands of madmen. Casualties are everywhere; Lane and Nielsen portray servants charged with cleaning up the corpses
All My Sons
Roundabout’s American Airlines Theater
First Preview: April 4
Opening: April 22, 2019
Author: Arthur Miller
Director: Jack O’Brian
Cast: Annette Bening, Tracy Letts
A revival of Miller’s first hit. In the aftermath of WWII, the Keller family struggles to stay intact and to fight for their future when a long-hidden secret threatens to emerge, forcing them to reckon with greed and post-war disenchantment.
Tootsie
Marquis Theater
First Preview: March 29, 2019
Opening: April 23, 2019
Music and lyrics: David Yazbek
Director: Scott Ellis
Cast: Santino Fontana, John Behlman, Julie Halston, Lilli Cooper
A musical adaptation of the 1982 film about an out-of-work actor who assumes the role of a woman on a soap opera, and pretends to be a female actress.
Ink
MTC’s Samuel Friedman
First preview: April 2, 2019
Opening April 24, 2019
Writer: James Graham
Director: Rupert Goold
The rise of a brash, young Rupert Murdoch and the U.K.’s most influential newspaper
Beetlejuice
Winter Garden Theater
Opening night: April 25, 2019
Book by Scott Brown and Anthony King
Music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect
Director: Alex Timbers
Based on the Tim Burton movie, which ells the story of Lydia Deetz, a teenager obsessed with the whole “being dead thing.” Lucky for Lydia, her new house is haunted by a recently deceased couple and a degenerate demon who happens to have a thing for stripes.
