A look at the final stretch of the Broadway 2023-2024 season:: The sixteen Broadway shows opening over the next six weeks, starting tomorrow and ending April 25th, the cut-off date for Tony eligibility, with a preview/promotional article or video for each one.

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
Preview article: ‘Enemy of the People’ is the 19th century drama that still resonates with our pandemic-scarred society (LA Times)

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.)
Preview article; Water for Elephants Brings the Circus to Broadway (NY Times)

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.
Preview: The Who’s Tommy Cast and Creative Team: ‘The World Has Caught Up to Tommy‘ (Broadway.com) 

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.
Preview article: On the Road With ‘The Outsiders,’ Where the Greasers and Socs Rumbled (NY Times)

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.
Preview article: Lempicka is Repainting Broadway (Elle)

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.
Preview article: Reviving ‘The Wiz’ Through ‘the Blackest of Black Lenses’ (NYTimes)

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. 
Preview article: A first look at ‘Suffs,’ Broadway’s epic new musical about women’s suffrage (TimeOut)

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.
Preview: Alicia Keys discusses her new musical. (CBS 2 News)

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.”
Preview article: Life Is a Cabaret! The Shimmering Kander and Ebb Classic Heads Back to Broadway Starring Eddie Redmayne (Vogue)

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
Preview article: Michael Stuhlbarg Starring in Broadway’s ‘Patriots,’ a Look at Vladimir Putin From ‘The Crown’ Creator Peter Morgan (Variety)

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..
Preview article: Huey Lewis Says Upcoming Broadway Show Is His ‘Salvation’ Following Hearing Loss  (People)

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.
Preview article: Amy Herzog’s Plays Are Quiet, but Audiences Can’t Look Away (NYTimes)

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.
Preview: Go Inside the 1st Rehearsal for Uncle Vanya, Starring Steve Carell and Alison Pill (Playbill)

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
Preview article: Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada Bring The Great Gatsby to Broadway ‘In All Its Glamour and Glory’ (People Magazine)

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
Preview article: Jessica Lange’s haunting role in Mother Play, like so much of her work, is one only she could perform. (Vulture)