Eddie Redmayne, Jessica Lange, Kelli O’Hara with Brian d’Arcy James, Tyne Daly with Liev Schreiber, Jeremy Strong with Michael Imperioli are all performing in shows on Broadway — and Michael Imperioli is making his Broadway debut — in a season that’s shaping up to be a mix of new takes on old favorites (revivals of Pulitzer winning plays and Tony winning musicals; new adaptations of classic books, plays and movies), four shows that debuted recently Off-Broadway (about antisemitism, alcoholism, the fight for women’s equality, and the challenges of raising a disabled child), as well as a solo show about queer life and a brand new play by Paula Vogel.
Below are details, with links to their websites, of the 16 shows (so far) opening on Broadway from January to April, 2024, going chronologically by opening dates. (Plus another play announced but not yet with an opening date) Things are likely to change — additions, subtractions, rescheduling — in the weeks and months ahead; this list will be updated.
January, 2024
Prayer for the French Republic
MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theater
First preview: December 19
Opening date: January 9
Writer: Joshua Harmon
Director: David Cromer
In 1944, a Jewish couple in Paris desperately awaits news of their missing family. More than 70 years later, the couple’s great-grandchildren find themselves facing the same question as their ancestors: “Are we safe?” My review of the play Off-Broadway.
My review on Broadway
Days of Wine and Roses
Studio 54
First preview: January 6
Opening: January 28
Book by Craig Lucas, Based on the play by JP Miller and the Warner Bros. film
Music and Lyrics by Adam Guettel
Directed by Michael Greif
Cast: Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James
A Broadway transfer of the stage adaptation of the sad, dark story about a couple who fall in love with alcohol – originally a 1958 teleplay starring Cliff Robertson and Piper Laurie, then a 1962 film with Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. I raved about it Off-Broadway.
My review on Broadway
March
Doubt: A Parable
Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theater
First preview: February 2, 2024
Opening: March 7
Closing: April 14
Written by John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Scott Ellis
Cast: Amy Ryan, Liev Schreiber, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Zoe Kazan
The first Broadway revival of the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play about Sister Aloysius, the principal of a Catholic school in the Bronx, who suspects an improper relationship between the charismatic priest Father Flynn and a student.
My review
The Notebook
Schoenfeld
First preview: February 6
Opening: March 14
Music & Lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson
Book by Bekah Brunstetter, based on Nicholas Sparks 1996 debut novel (which was made into a popular film in 2004)
Choreography by Katie Spelman
Directed by Michael Greif and Schele Williams
Allie and Noah, from different worlds, share a lifetime of love despite the forces that threaten to pull them apart.
My review
An Enemy of the People
Circle in the Square
First preview: February 27
Opening: March 18
Written by Henrik Ibsen, with a new version by Amy Herzog
Directed by Sam Gold
Cast: Jeremy Strong, Michael Imperioli
Water for Elephants
Imperial Theater
First preview: February 24
Opening: March 21
Book by Rick Elice based on the novel by Sara Gruen
Music and lyrics by PigPen Theatre Co.
Directed by Jessica Stone
After losing what matters most, a young man jumps a moving train unsure of where the road will take him and finds a new home with the remarkable crew of a traveling circus. (A 2011 film starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz was also based on Gruen’s novel.)
The Who’s Tommy
Nederlander Theater
First preview: March 8
Opening: March 28
Music and lyrics by Pete Townsend, book by Townshend and Des McAnuff
Directed by McAnuff
A “reimagined” production of the 1993 Broadway musical that dramatize The Who’s 1969 rock opera album, featuring such familiar tunes as “See Me, Feel Me,” “Sensation” and “Pinball Wizard.” After witnessing his father shoot his rival, the young Tommy Walker is lost in the universe until an innate knack for pinball catapults him from reticent adolescent to celebrity savior.
April
The Outsiders
Bernard Jacobs Theater
First preview: March 16
Opening: April 11
Book by Adam Rapp with Justin Levine
Music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay & Zach Chance) and Justin Levine
Directed by Danya Taylor
A new musical based on the novel by S.E. Hinton and the movie by Francis Ford Coppola: In Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1967, the hardened hearts and aching souls of Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade and their chosen family of ‘outsiders’ are in a fight for survival and a quest for purpose in a world that may never accept them.
Lempicka
Longacre
First preview: March 19
Opening: April 14
Book, lyrics, and original concept by Carson Kreitzer, book and music by Matt Gould, and choreography by Raja Feather Kelly.
Directed by Rachel Chavkin
Cast: Eden Espinosa
A musical about the life and times of the peripatetic artist Tamara de Lempicka, who is best known for her polished Art Deco portraits of aristocrats and the wealthy, and for her highly stylized paintings of nudes.
The Wiz
Marquis Theater
First preview: March 29
Opening: April 17
Book by William F. Brown with additional material by Amber Ruffin
Music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls
Directed by Schele Williams
Cast: Nichelle Lewis as Dorothy, Deborah Cox as Glinda and Melody A. Betts as Aunt Em and Evillene, Kyle Ramar Freeman as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson as the Tinman, Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow, and Wayne Brady as The Wiz.
A revival of the 1975 Tony winning musical version of The Wizard of Oz featuring an all-Black cast.
Suffs
Music Box Theater
Opening: April 18
Book, music and lyrics by Shaina Taub
Directed by Leigh Silverman
The story of the suffragists — “Suffs,” as they called themselves — who relentlessly pursued a Constitutional amendment that would give women the right to vote. My review of the Off-Broadway production, which I called an inspiring, instructive and entertaining sung-through musical that tells the sweeping story of the final seven-year push to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.
Stereophonic
Golden
First preview: April 3
Opening: April 19
Written by David Adjmi
Songs by Will Butler
Directed by Daniel Aukin
Cast: Will Brill as Reg, Andrew R. Butler as Charlie, Juliana Canfield as Holly, Eli Gelb as Grover, Tom Pecinka as Peter, Sarah Pidgeon as Diana, and Chris Stack as Simon.
The Broadway transfer of a play taking place entirely in a music studio in the 1970s about a fictitious rock band recording a new album. My review Off-Broadway
Hell’s Kitchen
Shubert Theater
First preview: March 28
Opening: April 20
Music and lyrics by Alicia Keys
Book by Kristoffer Diaz
Directed by Michael Greif
A jukebox musical featuring Alicia Keys’ hits to tell the somewhat fictionalized story of Keys at age 17, growing up in the Manhattan Plaza artists housing in the NYC neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, pursuing a boy and discovering the piano while rebelling against her strict mother. My review of the production Off-Broadway.
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
August Wilson Theater
First preview: April 1
Opening(s): April 20 and 21
Music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, book by Joe Masteroff based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood.
Directed by Rebecca Frecknall
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Gayle Rankin
A Broadway transfer of the new (and newly named) production of the story about American Sally Bowles in Nazi Germany will take place in a Broadway house transform with an in-the-round auditorium and “sinfully dreamlike spaces which guests will be invited to explore pre-show entertainment, drinks, and dining.”
Patriots
Barrymore
First preview: April 1
Opening: April 22
Closing: June 23
Written by Peter Morgan
Directed by Rupert Goold
Cast: Michael Stuhlbarg, Will Keen as Putin, Luke Thallon
A play by Peter Morgan (The Crown, The Audience, Frost/Nixon) about a Russian oligarch’s ill-fated role in the rise of Vladimir V. Putin. The play had a successful run on the West End
The Heart of Rock and Roll
James Earl Jones Theater
First preview: March 29
Opening: April 22
Book by Jonathan A. Abrams, and story by Tyler Mitchell and Jonathan A. Abrams
Music by Huey Lewis and the News
Using the hit songs from the 1980s band (including “Workin’ For A Livin’,” “Stuck With You,” and “If This Is It,”), the musical tells the story of a Chicago-based musician who gives up his life onstage for a corporate job and meets the girl of his dreams — but his old bandmates want to get back on stage..
Mary Jane
MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theater
First Preview: April 2
Opening April 23
Written by Amy Herzog
Directed by Anne Kaufman
Cast: Rachel McAdams
The playwright and director reunite to tell the story of Mary Jane, a single mother who takes care of her two-year-old son Alex, who was born prematurely and wasn’t expected to live more than a few days. My review of the 2017 Off-Broadway production of this play, which exerted a quiet, warm but firm grip on audience emotions as we gradually come to understand just how much it takes for Mary Jane to remain both diligent and hopeful.
Illinoise
St. James Theater
Opening: April 24
Closing: August 10
Music and Lyrics by Sufjan Stevens
Based on the Album Illinois
Story by Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury
Directed and Choreographed by Justin Peck
The dance-theater piece inspired by Sufjan Stevens’ 2005 album Illinois just had brief run at Park Avenue Armory that was much acclaimed — including by me: My review.
Uncle Vanya
Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater
First preview: April 2
Opening: April 24
Written by Anton Chekhov, in a new translation by Heidi Schreck
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
Sonya and her uncle Vanya have devoted their lives to managing the family farm in isolation, but when her celebrated, ailing father and his charismatic wife move in,their lives are upended. In the heat of the summer, the wrong people fall in love, desires and resentments erupt, and the family is forced to reckon with the ghosts of their unlived lives.
Directed by Gordon Greenberg
The Great Gatsby
Broadway Theater
First preview: March 29
Opening: April 25
Book by Kate Kerrigan, based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel
Music and lyrics by Nathan Tysen and Jason Howland
Directed by Marc Bruni
Cast: Jeremy Jordan, Eva Noblezada
A Broadway transfer of the Paper Mill Playhouse musical adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Jazz Age novel about the mysterious Jay Gatsby, who will stop at nothing in the pursuit of his lost love, Daisy Buchanan
Mother Play
Second Stage’s Hayes Theater
First preview: April 2
Opening: April 25
Written by Paula Vogel
Directed by Tina Landau
Cast: Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jessica Lange, Jim Parsons
It’s 1962, just outside of D.C., and matriarch Phyllis (Jessica Lange) is supervising her teenage children, Carl (Jim Parsons) and Martha (Celia Keenan-Bolger), as they move into a new apartment. Phyllis has strong ideas about what her children need to do and be to succeed, and woe be the child who finds their own path
*Opening Night
Opening night is usually not the same as the first performance on Broadway. There is usually a preview period, of anywhere from a few days to a few weeks (sometimes a few months), where the creative team tries out the show before an audience. One of the few things opening night still means is that’s when the reviews come out. I organize this calendar by opening night rather than first performance, as a way to support the continuing relevance of theater reviewing. Check out my essay: Broadway Opening Night. What It Means. How It’s Changed. 7 Facts to Clear Up The Confusion and Crystallize the Outrage.
