Below is a list with links to the 17 shows opening on Broadway in March and April — starry casts, iconic musicals, theater classics and adventurous new works… the closest to a normal Spring season Broadway has seen in three years. Except not so normal. Seven of the shows were originally scheduled to open in Spring 2020; a couple were already in previews. Theatergoers will be required to show proof of vaccination, and wear masks.
The shows below, organized chronologically by opening date, are in addition to the three that already opened on Broadway in 2022 — Skeleton Crew, MJ the Musical, and The Music Man. (There are usually more by this time…a reflection of the uncertainty that we haven’t completely escaped: The following dates may change.) Click here to look at the entire 2021-2022 Broadway season
And check here for all my theater reviews, including all the shows below, starting with the latest ones.
Plaza Suite
Hudson Theater
First preview: February 25, 2022
Opening: March 28, 2022
Closing: June 26
Written by Neil Simon
Directed by John Benjamin Hickey
Cast: Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker
In this first revival of Simon’s 1968 comedy, Broderick and Parker (married in real life) perform as three couples in three one-act plays all taking place in the same suite in the Plaza Hotel.
Paradise Square
Theater: Barrymore
First preview: March 15, 2022
Opening: April 3
Book by Christina Anderson, Marcus Gardley , Craig Lucas and Larry Kirwan
Score by: Jason Howland, Nathan Tysen, Masi Asare,Larry Kirwan, and the songs of Stephen Foster
Director Moisés Kaufman
Choreographer: Bill T. Jones
Cast: Joaquina Kalukango, Chilina Kennedy, John Dossett, Sidney DuPont, A.J. Shively
Nathaniel Stampley, Gabrielle McClinton, Jacob Fishel, Kevin Dennis
A musical about New York’s Draft Riots of 1863, which pitted Irish immigrants against Black Americans, who lived together in the slum neighborhood Five Points ,where tap dancing was born, as Irish step dancing joyously competed with Black American Juba.
Take Me Out
Theater: Second Stage’s Helen Hayes
First Preview: March 10, 2022
Opening: April 4, 2022
Written by Richard Greenberg
Director: Scott Ellis
Cast: Jesse Williams and Jesse Tyler Ferguson
A revival of the Tony-winning play about the coming out of a gay baseball player.
Beetlejuice
Marquis
Opened: April 25, 2019
Reopening: April 8, 2022
Book by Scott Brown and Anthony King
Music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect
Director: Alex Timbers
Based on the Tim Burton movie, which tells 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. My review
Birthday Candles
Theater: Roundabout’s American Airlines
First Preview: March 18, 2022
Opening: April 10, 2022
Written by Noah Haidle
Director: Vivienne Benesch
Cast: Debra Messing, John Earl Jelks, Enrico Colantoni
Messing portrays a woman whose birthdays we see her celebrate, from age 17 to 101.
The Little Prince
Broadway Theater
First preview: March 29
Opening: April 11
Closing: August 14
Libretto Adaptation by Chris Mouron based on the Book by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
Original Music by Terry Truck
Directed by Anne Tournié and Chris Mouron
The play is an adaptation of the popular 1943 novella that follows a young prince who visits various planets in space, including Earth, and addresses themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss.
American Buffalo
Circle in the Square Theater
First preview: March 22
Opening: April 14
Closing: August
Written by David Mamet
Directed by Neil Pepe
Cast: Darren Criss, Laurence Fishburne, and Sam Rockwell
A revival of the 1977 plays about three small time hustlers who want a bigger cut of the American dream
The Minutes
Opening: April 17, 2022
Closing: July 10
Written by Tracy Letts
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
Cast: Noah Reid, Ian Barford, Blair Brown, Cliff Chamberlain, K. Todd Freeman, Tracy Letts, Danny McCarthy, Jessie Mueller, Sally Murphy, Austin Pendleton, Jeff Still
Letts’ most political work to date is a dark comedy about a town council meeting in the fictional town of Big Cherry that turns ominous.
How I Learned to Drive
MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theater
First preview: March 29
Opening:April 19
Written by Paula Vogel
Directed by Mark Brokaw
Cast: David Morse and Mary-Louise Parker
The revival of playwright Paul Vogel’s Pulitzer-winning 1997 play about a charismatic child molester and the niece who recalls him with ambivalence. The play marks Vogel’s second show on Broadway (after Indecent), and features the original Off-Broadway stars.
for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf
Booth Theater
First preview: April 1, 2022
Opening: April 20, 2022
Written by Ntozake Shange
Directed and choreographed by Camille A. Brown
The first Broadway revival of the groundbreaking 1970s “choreopoem” in which seven women of color share their stories and find strength in each other’s humor and passion through a fusion of poetry, dance, music, and song.
Hangmen
Golden
First preview: April 1
Opening: April 21
Written by Martin McDonagh
Directed by Matthew Dunster
Cast: Alfie Allen, David Threlfall
A former British hangman, who retired after hanging was abolished, now owns a pub, which a mysterious stranger enters, turning the world upside down in this macabre farce. (My review of Hangmen, with a different cast, Off Broadway.)
Funny Girl
August Wilson Theater
First preview: March 26
Opening: April 24
Book by Isobel Lennart; Revised Book by Harvey Fierstein; Music by Jule Styne; Lyrics by Bob Merrill
Directed by Michael Mayer
Cast: Beanie Feldstein, Ramin Karimloo, Jane Lynch, Jared Grimes
A revival of the musical based on incidents in the life of comedian Fanny Brice, which debuted on Broadway in 1964 starring Barbra Streisand.
The Skin of Our Teeth
Vivian Beaumont
First preview: March 31
Opening: April 25
Written by Thornton Wilder
Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz
Wilder’s 1943 Pulitzer Prize winning drama follows the Antrobus family of Excelsior, New Jersey, as they persevere through an Ice Age, a Biblical flood, and war, a model of human endurance.
A Strange Loop
Lyceum
First preview: April 6
Opening: April 26
Book, music and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
Directed by Stephen Brackett
Cast: Jaquel Spivey (Usher) Antwayn Hopper (Thought 6), L Morgan Lee (Thought 1), John-Michael Lyles (Thought 3), James Jackson, Jr. (Thought 2), John-Andrew Morrison (Thought 4), and Jason Veasey (Thought 5).
The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical about a big, gay Black guy who is struggling to write a musical about a big, gay black guy who is struggling… (Read my review when it was Off-Broadway and my interview with Michael R. Jackson.)
Mr. Saturday Night
First preview: March 29
Opening: April 27
Book By Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel
Music By Jason Robert Brown
Lyrics By Amanda Green
Choreography By Ellenore Scott
Directed By John Rando
Cast: Billy Crystal, Randy Graff, David Paymer,Chasten Harmon
Based on original 1992 Columbia Pictures film of the same name, Billy Crystal portrays Buddy Young Jr., an outrageous and outspoken comedian who found fame, if not fortune, in the early days of television. Now, some 40 years after his TV career flamed out, Buddy seeks one more shot at the spotlight, and fixing his family. (Crystal no longer has to play old.)
POTUS
Shubert
First preview: April 14
Opening: April 27
Closing: August 14
Written by Selina Fillinger
Directed by Susan Stroman
Cast: Lilli Cooper, Lea Delaria, Rachel Dratch, Julianne Hough, Suzy Nakamura, Vanessa Williams
Subtitled: “Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” the new play (unsurprisingly) features seven women who risk life, liberty, and the pursuit of sanity to keep the President out of trouble after he unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis.
Macbeth
Longacre
First preview: March 29
Opening: April 28
Closing: July 10, 2022
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Sam Gold
Cast: Daniel Craig, Ruth Negga
The Bard’s tragedy about the costs of political ambition
