Sure, five more Broadway shows closed over the weekend, but not everything has come and gone (30 still running), and there are several exciting new announcements: Taraji P. Henson will make her Broadway debut in a revival of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” co-starring Cedric the Entertainer and directed by Debbie Allen. (In “Spring 2026″)
And three more shows have nailed their Broadway venues and opening dates: Punch is opening Sept 29 at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Oedipus is opening November 13 at Roundabout’s Studio 54, and “Chess” is opening November 16 at the Imperial Theater.
That makes 12 shows fully scheduled for the 2025-2026 Broadway season. (Scroll down to “ANNOUNCED BUT NO PRECISE DATES OR VENUE YET” for details of Joe Turner and other such shows.)
Speaking of the Imperial: Its longest-running tenant, “Phantom of the Opera” is getting new life in an immersive spinoff entitled Masquerade. Directed by Diane Paulus, it will begin six weeks of previews July 31 at 218 W. 57th St, featuring a huge cast, including two previous Broadway Phantoms Hugh Panaro and Jeremy Stolle, and such familiar Broadway veterans as Raymond J. Lee, Telly Leung, and Kyle Scatliffe,
Theater Quiz for June 2025: Politics, Prizes, and Pride
The Week in Reviews
Duke & Roya
A decade ago, rap star Duke (Jay Ellis) had gone over to entertain the American troops at the Bagram Air Force Base, and met Roya (Stephanie Nur), an Afghan interpreter. He was immediately attracted to her, with repercussions lasting to this day….[Recent events] would likely heighten interest in a suspenseful and pointed story of an American’s clueless and disastrous entanglement with a foreigner, presented as a microcosm of America’s entanglement with foreign countries. The timing might even boost something less political, a steamy romance set against a background of danger and intrigue. The actual production, though, lands somewhere in-between pointed tale and romance, not completely satisfying as either, despite a charming four-member cast.
Lowcountry
As “Lowcountry” begins, David, who just recently was permitted to remove his ankle bracelet, is about to go on a first date with Tally, whom he met on a dating app. Eventually, we learn what David did to turn his life upside down; eventually, we discover that Tally has a hidden agenda. Eventually, there are revelations. Abby Rosebrock’s new play is evidently intended to be intriguing, even seductive in the slow way it parcels out the info, with a payoff of an ending that is deliberately shocking. But from the get-go “Lowcountry” was easily the most exasperating production I’ve sat through all year…..this is too bad, because, for all its flaws, “Lowcountry” serves as a showcase for Babak Tafti and Jodi Balfour, two terrific actors;
Beau the Musical
This sweet, lively and original musical deserves a wider audience, or maybe just a much longer run where it is, since the production works so wonderfully well in the intimate Off-Off Broadway Theater 154 that scenic designer Daniel Allen has transformed into a Nashville honky tonk. There, Matt Rodin and seven other versatile actor-musicians enact the coming-of-age story – and the coming out – of Ace Baker, who we witness, starting at the age of 12, learn to accept his sexuality, discover his passion, and develop his compassion. In other words, he grows up — and does so with much help from his grandfather, whose name is, you guessed it, Beau.
Book: Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty Year Trail to Overnight Success
Jeff Hiller has written a celebrity memoir to end all celebrity memoirs. Each of his twenty-four chapters is given the title of an actual celebrity memoir, and the age at which the author of that memoir became a celebrity – by which Hiller is expressing his envy and irritation. “It is exceptionally common in celebrity memoirs for an actor to describe their big break after ‘years’ of struggling,” he writes in the first chapter (“Girl Walks into a Bar by Rachel Dratch,” who was thirty-three years old when she was cast in Saturday Night Live.) “I feel no sympathy for the person describing how it was a ‘decade-long slog to success’ when the decade they’re talking about was from ages fifteen to twenty-five.” Hiller, you see, was 45 when he first performed the role of Joel, the Bridgett Everett character’s best friend in the HBO series “Somebody Somewhere,” which gave him the clout to get his own celebrity memoir published
The Week in New York Theater News
BOOP! The Musical, will play its final performance on Broadway on July 13, after 25 previews and 112 regular performances. This is now the fourth post-Tony earlier-than-hoped-for closing. One thing is clear: We will see Jasmine Amy Rogers on Broadway again
Lynne Meadow is stepping down as artistic director of Manhattan Theater Club after an extraordinary 53-year run. She announced a new role as “artistic advisor” for the company, as it conducts a search for a new a.d. One of the last generational transition in NYC non-profit theater leadership.
Gay Broadway 2025: LGBTQ characters in current Broadway shows
In Memoriam
Paul Libin, 94, long-time Broadway producer and philanthropist, lead Circle in the Square Theatre for 62 years, and served as President of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS for 24 years,
Sue Anderson, 70, Broadway conductor
Mark Brokaw, 67, prolific director, last on Broadway helming the revival of Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive
