In a season that promises to be rich in starry revivals and adaptations of familiar titles, the ten shows below are largely from beyond Broadway — most Off Broadway, some more out-of-the-way, but all of them in theaters and from theater artists that over the years have consistently provided provocations and delights.
Still there are no guarantees. Some of these may well become “can’t miss” or “must see” shows, but I don’t know that yet for sure, and I’ve been burned enough times so that I’m not using those phrases anymore. (That’s the reason for the asterisk in the headline)
All I know is that they intrigue me enough that I want to see them, for reasons I enumerate below. That doesn’t mean I’ll wind up liking them (which is why I add a “why not” as well as a “why” to each of them.)
They’re worth previewing as a way to address a dilemma facing the New York theatergoer: By the time you can be sure that a show is worth seeing (once it’s been reviewed, say, by someone whose taste you trust) it might be too late to get any tickets, or at least any tickets you can afford.
The shows are organized chronologically more or less according to opening date (when I could find the opening date; otherwise, first performance), from February to April. with the titles linked to the show’s website.
High Spirits
What: In this musical adaptation of Noël Coward‘s play Blithe Spirit, a medium accidentally conjures up the dead first wife of a writer, which leads to chaos, even though his current wife sees nothing.
When: February 4 – February 15
Where: Encores! concert series at New York City Center
Why: As with most Encores concerts, the big draw is the starry cast they can get for their short runs This one features married couple Phillipa Soo (from Hamilton) and Steven Pasquale (from The Bridges of Madison County) Andrea Martin as the medium, and the fabulous Katrina Lenk (The Band’s Visit) as Elvira the ghost.
Why Not: Listen to the album of this 1964 musical: There are some lively comic songs, nothing that has really endured.
Mother Russia
What: Lauren Yee’s play takes place in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Evgeny is hired to spy on Katya, a former pop singer with whom he promptly falls in love.
When: February 3 to March 15. Opening February 11.
Where: Signature
Why: In “Cambodian Rock Band,” her play about genocide, Yee demonstrated an ability to turn a horrible moment history into an unlikely entertainment; maybe she’s done it again. The cast consists of proven performers with both comic gifts and dramatic heft:Steven Boyer, Adam Chanler-Berat, Rebecca Naomi Jones, and David Turner
Why Not: Can the play pull off the shifts in tone? Are we ready for a historical play about a country we’d rather not think about right now?
The Dinosaurs.
What: Every week at the same time, in the same place, a group of women share their stories of recovery. As weeks slip into years and decades spin into eternity, the women keep coming back amidst an ever-shifting, unfamiliar world
When: February 4 to March 1. Opens February 16.
Where: Playwrights Horizons
Why: A wonderful intergenerational cast in three great veterans — Kathleen Chalfant, Elizabeth Marvel, April Matthis – as well as Keilly McQuail, Mallory Portnoy, and Maria Elena Ramire. Is it too much to hope that this will offer a similar appeal as “Liberation”? Playwright Jacob Perkins, whose work I don’t know, has said that a recovery group saved his life, and he works (in addition to writing and acting) as a clinical mental health counselor and researcher
Why Not: The production inaugurates the theater’s new “Unplugged” program: a” production model that’s focused on sustainability, de-emphasizing physical production costs while keeping artists’ pay a priority.” I’m glad the artists are getting paid well; will the production prove too “austere” for my taste – especially since it is directed by Lee Waters, who has been praised for his “austerity” (and has directed a number of spiritual-minded productions that made my head ache.)
What We Did Before Our Moth Days
What: A new play by Wallace Shawn, directed by Andre Gregory, about four intelligent and thoughtful people – mother, father, son, and father’s mistress – who live in a sophisticated but violent city.”
When: February 4 to April 26, Opens March 5
Where: Greenwich House Theater
Why: Wallace Shawn reunites with Andre Gregory, the two stars of “My Dinner with Andre,” reason enough in my book. Wallace Shawn is a master dramatist of authoritarian dystopias, so though the title suggests nostalgia, it’s likely to feel relevant.
Why Not: Maybe it’ll be too relevant. Or too intellectual.
Every Brilliant Thing
What: Daniel Radcliffe performs in this solo show about a boy who starts writing a list of a list of “everything worth living for” to cheer up his suicidal mother, and keeps going.
When: February 21 to May 24. Opening March 12.
Where: Hudson Theater
Why: It’s Daniel Radcliffe. And I saw a production of this play Off-Broadway and loved it
Why Not: It’s basically a list. There is audience participation. Will a Broadway theater be too big for this?
Footnotes
What: An immersive multi-media puppetry performance designed and directed by Theodora Skipitares about the history, power and poetry of walking, including famous walkers Aristotle who taught his lessons while walking, Henry Thoreau, Virginia Woolf and Mahatma Gandhi. The audience itself has to walk to several spaces within the theater, each member guided by a small booklet of instructions and interactive stories.
When: Feb 27 – March 15,
Where: La MaMa ETC
Why: Theodora Skipitares has created more than 30 visually splendid, substantive works of puppet theater Off-Off Broadway over the past 45 years, each of them inventive and enlightening, many of them eerie.
Why Not: If you don’t like to walk; if your definition of theater doesn’t include the animation of inanimate objects.
The Wild Party
What: A night in the dark underbelly of the city at the end of the 1920s. Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe bring Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 poem to life in a jazz-infused musical adaptation.
When: March 18 – 29
Where: Encores! at New York City Center
Why: The return to the stage of BOOP star Jasmine Amy Rogers and Tina star Adrienne Warren as best friends and rivals
Why Not: There is another “The Wild Party” that opened at around the same time that is not as dark and that you might be what you rememb er.
Schmigadoon
What: A stage musical based on the six episodes in the first season of the Apple TV+ series , in which a couple (in this cast Alex Brightman and Sara Chase) stumble onto a magical town where everybody breaks into pastiche songs of the Golden Age of Broadway musicals.
When: April 4 – September 6. Opening April 20.
Where: Nederlander
Why: This is for people who liked and laughed at the TV series, which I did .My review of the TV series’ first season. The stage version got positive reviews when it was mounted in Washington last year
Why Not: TV series about Broadway musicals don’t always translate well on Broadway (e.g. “Smash”) In any case, don’t expect this to be as substantive as the musicals it’s spoofing.
Hamlet
What: Shakespeare’s tragedy, reimagined
When: April 19 – May 17
Where: Brooklyn Academy of Music
Why: There are two reasons: Robert Hastie, who directed Operation Mincemeat, promises a witty take. Hiran Abeysekera, who was terrifically athletic and adorable in “Life of Pi,” is taking on the title role.
Why Not: Will it feel like sacrilege to make Hamlet funny?
For the tenth choice, I’ll have to cheat, because I couldn’t choose between three productions opening on Broadway in April of classic scripts, which are absolutely must-see if you have never seen a production of the play before, each of them featuring first-rate casts
Death of a Salesman with Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf
Proof with Ayo Edebiri, Don Cheadle, Samira Wiley, Jin Ha
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone with Taraji P. Henson, Cedric the Entertainer
There are many more shows work checking out — See my Broadway Spring 2026 Preview Guide and, each month, my Current Monthly Calendar of Openings
