“We expect greatness from the cooks wielding a thousand spices, from those who stride out onto our Broadway stages, and from our starting point guard at Madison Square Garden. Let us demand the same from those who work in government.” – NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani inaugural address.
Will Broadway be great in 2026? It’s one of the questions as the year begins.
Broadway Poll: Spring 2026 Show You Most Want To See?
10 Questions About Theater in 2026
1. Will the affordability agenda extend to the theater?
2. How will Broadway be shaped by the high costs of putting on a show?
3. How will theater be affected by America’s 250th birthday celebrations?
4. What are the next battles in the federal war on culture and the arts?
5. Will theater play a role in the resistance against authoritarian rule?
6. How will the relationship with Hollywood evolve?
7. Will “Masquerade” survive, and inspire a renaissance in immersive theater in New York?
8. How much innovation will there be in New York theater?
9. Who and what will drive the conversation about theater?
10. Will 2026 become The Year of the Theater Kid?
January 2026 New York Theater Openings
January Theater Festivals 2026
Ring IN The Old: Saluting 25 Broadway Troupers Aged 89 to 101
Year End Theater Quiz: A Look Back at 2025
The Week in New York Theater News
The War on Culture
(With President Trump sending the U.S. armed forces into another country last week, , it might strike some as an exaggeration to employ the word “war” to describe the administration’s undermining of the arts in America, but one definition of war is “a state of hostility, conflict, or antagonism”)
Composer Stephen Schwartz, now best known for such Broadway hits as “Wicked,” has been involved with the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts from its very beginning in 1971, when, at the age of 23, he wrote the English text for Leonard Bernstein’s composition “Mass,” which premiered at the opening of the center.
Schwartz is now the latest artist to announce he is canceling an appearance there. He had been asked to serve as host of a gala for the Washington National Opera in May. In a statement, he said that it was founded as “an apolitical home for free artistic expression for artists of all nationalities and ideologies. It is no longer apolitical and appearing there has now become an ideological statement. As long as that remains the case, I will not appear there.” (NY Times)
Their first instinct was to loot’: how Trump’s acolytes are plundering the Kennedy Center (The Guardian)
Senate Democrats say they have obtained documents that suggest the national cultural center is being operated as a “slush fund and private club for Trump’s friends and political allies”, resulting in millions of dollars in losses and a significant deviation from its statutory mission.
Betty Boop, Blondie, Nancy Drew, Miss Marple and Animal Crackers enter public domain (AP)
These are “among the pieces of intellectual property whose 95-year U.S. copyright maximum has been reached, putting them in the public domain on Jan. 1. That means creators can use and repurpose them without permission or payment.”
Also: Four cherished classics written by George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira: “Embraceable You,” “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” “But Not for Me” and “I Got Rhythm.” as well as “Georgia on My Mind,” written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell.
How celebrities dominated Broadway plays in 2025 (Washington Post)
Death of a Salesman cast: K. Todd Freeman (Charley), Jonathan Cake (Ben Loman), John Drea (Howard), Michael Benjamin Washington (Bernard), Tasha Lawrence (The Woman), Jake Silbermann (Stanley), Joaquin Consuelos, Jake Termine, Karl Green and Jack Falahee will join the previously announced Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf, Christopher Abbott and Ben Ahlers. Directed by Joe Mantello, Death of a Salesman will begin previews Friday, March 6, for a limited 14-week engagement at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre (1634 Broadway), with an official opening night set for Thursday, April 9.
Theatermania asks: Did “Little Bear Ridge Road” close earlier than scheduled because of objections to the return to Broadway of its producer, Scott Rudin, who four years ago announced he would “step back” from film and Broadway producing after the publicizing of his long-time abusive behavior towards his employees. Will a better test be the reaction to “Death of A Salesman,” his second production after his return?
In Memoriam
Isiah Whitlock Jr, 71, best-known for his roles on The Wire and Veep, but he was also a Broadway veteran, and gave an especially memorable performance Off-Broadway as a sympathetic married professor having a one-night stand with a gay teenager in Christopher Shinn’s play “Four.”
Carmen de Lavallade, 94, a dancer and actor of extraordinary poise and grace, who worked in theater (a five-time Broadway veteran), opera, nightclubs, film and television alongside 20th-century luminaries like Alvin Ailey, Lena Horne, Agnes de Mille, Harry Belafonte, Josephine Baker and her husband of 59 years, the artist, actor and dancer Geoffrey Holder.
Robert Heide, 91, a playwright whose 1965 play “The Bed” featured an early depiction of a gay relationship, became notable “not mainly for any one of his plays, film scripts, books or essays so much as his memories of his time as a young star of downtown Manhattan’s bohemia and his improbable survival as a downtown bohemian himself.”
Bret Hanna-Shuford, 46, a nine-time Broadway veteran who, with husband Stephen Hanna, founded Broadway Husbands, a social media channel documenting their joint journey as a sober gay couple, as parents, and as advocates for LGBTQ+ families.
