Below is a selection of theater opening* in New York in December, including four shows on Broadway, one starring Audra McDonald (Gypsy), two more with love in the title (The Cult of Love; All In: Comedy About Love), the fourth (Eureka Day) about an issue that (like it or not) has gained prominence in the news since Election Day.
One of the Broadway shows (All In) and another one Off-Broadway (Pen Pals) feature starry rotating casts.
Much of the month of December is taken up with holiday fare (which I’ve previewed in a separate post) — most of the shows (but not all) are annual traditions, some going back decades; most (but not all) are for the whole family
There are also some political plays, puppetry, and especially some wildly experimental theater going on Off-Off Broadway this month, such as La MaMa’s presentation of “Suppose Beautiful Madeline Harvey,” the first new Richard Foreman play in a decade, and “The Book of Jacob,” a live performance taking place simultaneously in seven countries and in Virtual Reality.
The calendar below is organized chronologically by opening date*, but we must consider the dates subject to change, thanks to the continuing vagaries of COVID-19, and the normal serendipity of live theater.
Each title below is linked to a relevant website
Color key: Broadway: Red 🟥.
Off Broadway: Blue 🟦.
Off Off Broadway: Green 🟩.
Digital or Hybrid Theater: Yellow 🟨
Theater festival or series: Orange 🟧.
Immersive and/or Site Specific: Silver ⬜️ .
Puppetry: Brown 🟫
Opera: Purple🟪
Concert: 🎶
Free of charge (or “pay what you can”) 🆓
For a look at the Broadway season as a whole, check out my Broadway 2024-2025 Season Preview Guide
December 4
🟩DeliaDelia! The Flat-Chested Witch (The Brick)
Written and performed by Amanda Hauser, who was Inspired by the “witch hunt” on trans rights in the United States, “DelliaDelia” features a title character who wants to be a real girl and join a human basketball team.
December 4 – 14
🟫The Beginning After The End of Humanity Circus (Theater for the New City)
The 61-year-old, Vermont-based Bread and Puppet Theater returns to NYC with its latest political activist-infused circus
December 4-8
December 5
🟩In the Court of the Conqueror (La MaMa)
George Emilio Sanchez’s solo show about the history of U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have diminished the tribal sovereignty of Native Nations, interspersed with an account of his journey around his own indigenous identity
December 5 -15
🟩The Hand That Feeds You (Forager at Players Theater)
In this “horror comedy” by Sarah Groustra, John plans to knock down his father’s butcher shop, until he discovers a supernatural meat monster that’s taken up residence inside
December 5 – 22
December 6
🟨⬜️ 🆓The Books of Jacob (La MaMa ETC)
This is a free, live performance taking place simultaneously on seven stages in seven countries, Serbia, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Greece, as well as New York — and online — with actors performing on physical stages in each country and on a digital stage in virtual reality. It adapts Olga Tokarczuk’s Nobel prize-winning novel about the life and works of Jacob Frank, a young Jew in the 18th-century who experienced ecstatic visions. At La MaMa, audiences will have the opportunity to put on a VR headset and experience the production digitally, as well as from their seat where the virtual environment will be projected and layered into the scenography.
December 5 – 8
December 8
🟩Lie Club (Arts on Site)
When two members of Liar’s Anonymous strike up a relationship outside the group, they enter into a daring game of fantasy and deceit.
December 8 – 11
December 11
🟦The Beautiful Land I Seek (The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater)
In this play by Matthew Barbot, it’s 1950, and two assassins on a train to D.C. on a mission to strike in the name of Puerto Rican independence are interrupted by a series of historical figures.
December 4-29
🟦Pen Pals (Theater at St. Clements)
In Michael Griffo’s new play (whose premise recalls Love Letters by A.R. Gurney) two lifelong female friendsform a deep connection through letters exchanged over five decades. The rotating cast begins with Johanna Day and Nancy McKeon
December 5 – February 9
December 12
🟥CULT OF LOVE (Second Stage’s Hayes)
In this play by Leslye Headland directed by Trip Cullman, it’s the holiday season for the Dahl family, but the return of the four adult children and their partners to their childhood home is anything but harmonious.
November 20 – February 2
🟦A Guide for the Homesick (DR2)
In this queer play by Ken Urban, directed by Shira Milikowsky McKinley Belcher III and Uly Schlesinger portray two American men an Amsterdam hotel drawn together by their shared isolation and haunting secrets.
December 6 – February 2
🟩I Love That For You (La MaMa)
Paul Budraitis invites the audience to notice what death might teach us about living.
December 12 – 22
December 13
🟩Suppose Beautiful Madeline Harvey (La MaMa)
The experimental theater director Richard Foreman’s first new play in 10 years: A love story between Madeline, who isn’t sure she exists, and Roger, whose life has been stolen from him.
December 13 – 22
December 16
🟥EUREKA DAY (MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman)
In this play by Jonathan Spector directed by Anna D. Shapiro, Eureka Day is a private California elementary school with a Board of Directors that values inclusion above all else – that is, until an outbreak of the mumps forces everyone in the community to reconsider the school’s liberal vaccine policy. Featuring a five-member cast, including Broadway stalwarts Amber Gray, Jessica Hecht and Bill Irwin, and Broadway newcomers Thomas Middleditch and Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz
November 25 – January 19
December 17
🟫Puppet Parlor (HERE Arts Center)
HERE’s annual celebration of puppetry pop-ups, with Basil Twist
December 17 and 18
December 18
🟫Puppets Come Home: A Light in the Darkness (Dixon Place)A one-night-only puppet slam featuring a dynamic line-up of performers, whose work will explore the theme ‘A Light in the Darkness.
🟧Gestating Baby (The Brick)
The latest edition of this decade-old semi-regular series features “Crossing the Water,” a solo performance written and performed by Rawya El Chab that weaves together Lebanon’s turbulent history from the 1978 occupation through the 1982 invasion of Beirut; and “Doom Scroll,” written and performed by Adin Lenahan, which is a dizzying take on TikTok.
December 18-21
December 19
🟥GYPSY (Majestic)
Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald returns to Broadway to portray the most famous stage mother of all time (Gypsy Rose Lee’s) in this sixth Broadway production of this much lauded 1959 musical, directed by George C. Wolfe
December 22
🟥All in: Comedy About Love (Hudson)
Stories about dating, heartbreak, and marriage adapted from the short stories of Simon Rich, directed by Alex Timbers, and performed by a starry rotating cast.The first cast features John Mulaney, Fred Armisen, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Richard Kind
December 11 – February 16
December 31
Theatrical events specific to New Year’s Eve, and leading up to it, will be in a forthcoming post.
*Opening Night
This selection of plays is organized chronologically by opening night, but includes the dates when a show’s run starts and ends (when available.)
Opening night is usually not the same as the first performance on Broadway and Off-Broadway (although it is the same for festivals and most Off-Off Broadway shows ) For Broadway and Off-Broadway, there is usually a “preview period” that can last days or weeks, sometimes months. But professional reviews are forbidden from being published until opening night, which is why I organize this calendar by opening night (when it exists and when I can find it) rather than first performance, as a way to support the continuing relevance of theater reviewing. (There aren’t many shows that begin previews in December but open in January; if there were, I’d featured them in next month’s calendar.) Check out my essay: Broadway Opening Night. What It Means. How It’s Changed. 7 Facts to Clear Urp The Confusion and Crystallize the Outrage.
What Is Broadway 🟥, Off Broadway 🟦 and Off-Off Broadway🟩?
Off-Broadway theaters, by definition, have anywhere from 100 to 499 seats. If a theater has more seats than that, it’s a Broadway house. If it has fewer, it’s Off-Off Broadway.
There is a more sophisticated definition, having to do with contracts, and more elaborate distinctions, having to do with ticket prices, number and location of theaters, length of runs, willingness to take artistic risks, etc. Off-Off Broadway tends to have shorter runs and much lower ticket prices
Several performing arts venues in New York City, such as The Shed, Little Island, Park Avenue Armory, NYU Skirball and the Perelman Performing Arts Center, technically exist outside these classifications; I list them as Off-Broadway, even though, for most shows, they have more than 500 seats.
