Below is a calendar of theater opening* in August, with some starry casts: Montego Glover, Robert Sean Leonard, et al in a revival of a political drama by Wendy Wasserstein; Raul Esparza, Lily Rabe et al in Shakespeare in the Park; Sam Underwood in an adaptation of Chekhov. Julio Torres has written a strange-sounding show about a New York City sea wench, which — like a number of shows in August — is being presented outdoors. Michael Jackson (the other one) is giving a concert from his past and future musicals. Two New York City landmarks — one beloved, one…not — have title roles in plays opening this month. And what would be August be without a few festivals — including the return of the International Puppet Fringe Festival.

Yes, it’s summertime, but that doesn’t always mean the living is easy; There is a show about a repressive reformatory for wayward girls, and a new immersive play offers theatergoers the opportunity to become office worker drones.

The calendar is organized chronologically by opening date*, or (if no official opening) first performance, but we must consider the dates subject to change, because of the various pathogens going around that are, like theater itself, unpredictable.

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: Orange 🟧. Immersive/site-specific: Silver ⬜️.
Puppetry: Brown 🟫. Opera: Purple 🟪. Concert or Cabaret: 🎶.  Out of Town: 🇺🇸. Outdoors: 🌙 Free or pay what you can: 🆓

August 2

🟩The Vessel (Tollbooth Co at 59e59)
This play by Brendan George centers on three minimum-wage employees who work at the Vessel, the problematic tourist attraction at Hudson Yards
August 1 – 23

August 3

🟩The Pass (La MaMa)
Set in a hotel room in Eastern Europe on the night before two rising British football stars make their Champions League debut, one of them closeted 
July 30 – September 4

August 4

🟦We’ve Been Here Before (Soho Playhouse)
A one-woman musical written and performed by Lindsey Kraft as Liv, who is 40, codependent, and about to have a mid-life awakening, brought on by an overwhelming urge to write music, produced and music directed by Ben Folds. 
August 4 – 17  

August 6

🟦Masticate (Players Theater)
In Madison Fargo’s dark comedy, a group of restaurant workers grapple with loneliness, ambition, trauma, and a strange new waitress. 
August 6 – 23

August 7

🟦Brooklyn Bridge (Irondale)
A musical about Emily Roebling, the woman who actually built the Brooklyn Bridge, although her debilitated husband Washington Roebling received all the credit at the time
August 7 – 23

August 11

🌙 🆓 The Winter’s Tale (Delacorte)
Raul Esparza, Lily Rabe and Chuck Cooper are among the cast in Daniel Sullivan’s production of Shakespeare’s comedy. When the King of Sicilia becomes convinced his pregnant wife has been unfaithful, the royal baby is smuggled to the coast of Bohemia where an old shepherd finds her and renames her Perdita. Sixteen years later, Perdita falls in love with another young shepherd, Doricles, who turns out to be a prince in disguise. 
July 28 – August 23

🟦An American Daughter (La Femme Theatre Productions at Signature)
The first New York revival of Wendy Wasserstein  play political drama about a highly accomplished woman on the verge of national political prominence whose future is threatened after a minor personal mistake ignites an intense media scandal. The cast features Montego Glover, Robert Sean Leonard, and Mary Beth Peil, under the direction of Sarna Lapine.
July 23 – September 20

August 12

🟧🟫 International Puppet Fringe Festival NYC (The Clemente)
This fourth edition of this festival features five days of art exhibitions, screenings, and performances. Opening night includes a puppet parade and red carpet.
August 12 – 16

⬜️The Whole Sky All Diamonds  (Loft Story)
A new immersive theatrical experience that transforms audiences into newly hired employees at a rapidly growing tech company.
August 12 – 22

🎶Tin Pan Alley (Little Island)
A series of concerts celebrating the early 20th century hit factory, led by Cécile McLorin Salvant and featuring Tony winner Lilias White.
August 12 – 16

August 13

🟦🟫Isla (WP Theater)
A musical that tells one immigrant family’s journey from Cuba to Miami, with a score of Latin jazz, cinematic projections, recorded interviews and an extended cast of handmade shadow puppets
August 8 – 29

🟦Marlise (Players Theater)
A musical about a movie star who was framed for murder live at the 1954 Oscars.
August 13 – September 6

August 14

🟧🇺🇸 The Festival (Hutton Brickyards in Kingston, N.Y.)
A new three-day outdoor music festival featuring many Broadway stars (Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Brian Stokes Mitchell) On Aug. 15, original Broadway cast of “Rent” will reunite to celebrate the show’s 30th birthday.

August 14-16

August 16

🟩benevolent (IATI)
Sophie McIntosh’s play  follows four women stuck on laundry duty at a reformatory for wayward girls in 1917. When a member of their group finds herself in trouble, the others must decide how much they’re willing to risk to help her.
August 14 – September 5

🎶Michael R. Jackson: Wakeup Call (Joe’s Pub)
The Pulitzer-winning musical theater writer sings songs from his catalogue ( Strange Loop, White Girl In Danger, Teeth) and his latest musical in progress, Subscribers.

August 19

🟩The Bathroom Attendant (124 Bank Street Theater)
In this dark comic thriller by Tom Kelly, booze, betrayal and blackmail ignite an explosive night that will change the lives forever of an ex-prize fighte, a former adult film star, a young visitor with a secret
August 14 – 25

August 21

🟩To Have and To Hold (Chashama’s Theater 154 – formerly home of the New Ohio Theatre)
A “not-really-adaptation of Taming of the Shrew” written by Laura Lapidus and starring her and Tedra Millan (Broadway’s Leopoldstadt, “The Pitt”) as two sisters, one of whom hates the very idea of marriage, and the other one who is…getting married. Enter an incredibly sexy wooer (Yurly Sardarov)
August 21 – September 12

August 25

🟦The Real Ivanov (at CSC Theater)
Sam Underwood stars in Laura Strausfeld’s adaptation of Chekhov’s play about Nikolai Ivanov, once admired and full of promise,  who finds himself overwhelmed by depression as those around him attempt to explain his unhappiness. 
August 17 – September 19

August 27

🌙Marina (Little Island)
written and directed by Julio Torres, the show stars Martine Gutierrez as Marina, a New York City seawench on a journey of romance and self-discovery. 
August 27-30

*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 shows in 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.  (Shows that begin in August but don’t officially open until September will be listed in next month’s calendar.)
Check out my article: What is Broadway Opening Night? How it’s changed, why it matters.