Thrilling: 40 buffaloes roaming in Brooklyn! A new theater and cultural center opening in Inwood! Chilling: The continuing war against culture in D.C. This all happened beyond Broadway. Broadway still matters: All but two of the 13 shows that will be produced the most throughout the U.S. this season either began or had their highest profile runs on Broadway. But theatergoers in the know know not to look there for all that’s new and happening. Most of the 25 shows so far scheduled for the 2026-2027 Broadway season are revivals, transfers or imports. (Here are photographs from the original Broadway productions of six of this season’s revivals)
The Week in New York Theater Reviews
Pre-Existing Condition
There are enough facts about domestic violence to fill an especially effective Public Service Announcement. It would be unfair to say that “Pre-Existing Condition” sometimes feels like one…But it is hard not to think of Marin Ireland’s personal story because we are told very little about [the play’s central character named only] A other than the scant details of her abuse, which dovetail with what we know about Ireland’s.
Beyond the Stardust
How to describe “Beyond the Stardust”? It feels like buzzkill for me just to call it a loud disco with circus acts, given how the creative team bills it as an “Afro-disco-space-punk extravaganza”…
America, Who Hurt You?
In an extraordinary display of quick-hit characterizations, Sarah Jones cycles through almost twenty Americans, each with distinctly different accents, from widely different ethnic backgrounds, some even from different centuries, but almost all of them seem to have two traits in common: They like to argue, and they live with trauma…Her vividly populated solo show, although often droll, spends much of its 100 minutes presenting precisely the kind of stories that the Trump administration is currently trying to erase from the Smithsonian Institution, and everywhere else.
Return of the Buffalo: Tatanka Owe Akupi
In one of the most exhilarating and purest works of theater in memory, the herd of forty buffaloes lumbered their way through the narrow streets of the city, snorting, twitching, swinging their massive heads, and patiently pausing at some of the most historically resonant sites in New York for a wide and arresting range of non-puppet performances…“Return of the Buffalo: Tatanka Owe Akupi” might sound like a variety show on the move, but it felt more integrated than that, something visceral as well as intellectual, as if the buffalo were leading New Yorkers on a tour simultaneously of American history, culture, and politics.
The Week in New York Theater News
The People’s Theater launched its latest season in its first permanent home. Called The People’s Theater: Centro Cultural Inmigrante, it is a $40 million cultural center on 206th Street, with 19,000 square feet featuring two performance spaces, four rehearsal studios, a soundproof practice room, gallery space and lobbies designed for gatherings, exhibitions and events. (A Theater Finds a Home in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Backyard)
“Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)” will close on Nov 29, 2026, after 21 previews and 428 performances at the Longacre Theatre. A national tour is planned, starting in Providence.
(I suspect we won’t have long to wait for the return of Sam Tutty.)
“Annie” will return to Broadway in Fall 2027, fifty years after its Broadway debut, directed by Sam Pinkleton (Oh, Mary!; The Rocky Horror Show)
“Grass,” a new play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Purpose, Appropriate) will open Feb 26 at Park Avenue Armory, directed by Sarah Benson, designed by Mimi Lien. A mother and son go on a fantastical, picaresque road trip through the American South.
It is the latest addition to an impressive season by the National Black Theatre. (See video short below by artistic director Jonathan McCrory.)
Book of Mormon original cast members Nikki M. James (who won a Tony for her role as Nabalungi) and Rory O’Malley (Tony nominated for Elder McKinley) will return to Broadway to play their original roles from October 27, 2026 through January 17, 2027
Rosie O’Donnell will be guest Narrator on Rocky Horror Show Oct 6 – 18. (Rachel Dratch returns on October 20, 2026.)
Patti LuPone will star as famous (fired) fashionista Diana Vreeland in a new MTC production of the one-woman play “Full Gallop,” written by Mark Hampton and Mary Louise Wilson, opening January 17, 2027 at NY City Center.
Andrew Scott will star in a revival of “Sea Wall” by Simon Stephens at Studio Seaview, October 16-30. It will be filmed throughout to create a film. The play was paired with “A Life” on Broadway in 2019 starring Tom Sturridge and Jake Gyllenhaal
Among the dozens of new shows at Joe’s Pub: Jeff Hiller, “trying to write a second book and hoping you will listen to the early versions of it at glamorous Joe’s Pub. ” Nov 11, 18 & 25. (His first was funny.)
In Memoriam
Duncan Sheik, 56, Tony-winning composer of Spring Awakening and American Psycho, who had left behind a successful career as a singer-songwriter/reluctant sex symbol.
Lea Michele: “I met Duncan when I was 14 years old, I listened to a demo on tape of him singing songs from Spring Awakening outside of my middle school before my first audition. I’m at a loss for words. This one hurts and does not seem real. Thank you for everything you gave us. And for the time we had together. Sending all my love and prayers now to Nora, Ines, and Duncan’s family.”
“Spring Awakening” is about to be revived, at Studio Seaview, opening December 17. The production will be directed by Tony Award winner Danya Taymor, with choreography by Celia Rowlson-Hall, making her theatrical debut, and cast featuring ack Bateman as ‘Georg,’ Jada Simone Clark as ‘Thea,’ Leif Coomer as ‘Ernst,’ Ryo Kamibayashi as ‘Moritz,’ Ashlyn Maddox as ‘Wendla,’ Nando Morland as ‘Otto,’ Antonio Porciello as ‘Hanschen,’ Khadija Sankoh as ‘Martha,’ Grace Slear as ‘Anna,’ Tyler Jordan Wesley as ‘Melchior,’ and Amalia Yoo as ‘Ilse.’ (See promotional video below)
The Theater Posters of Peter Max
Trump’s War on Culture
Trump Says His Contested Arch Would House Drones and Snipers (NYTimes)
How President Trump Broke the Kennedy Center (NYTimes)
New examples of the “wreckage and chaos” Trump has inflicted on the Kennedy Center
Crisis at the Kennedy Center: Why Its Main Building Is Going Dark for Two Years (Time)
From United States District Court Judge Christopher R Cooper’s ruling that, just as the board of the Kennedy Center cannot rename it the Trump Kennedy Center, so it cannot add the words “renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump” to the building’s façade, nor can it name the grounds The President Donald J. Trump Plaza:
“The government plays word games. In its view, the Renovation Inscription is a “recognition,” a “plaque,” a “testimonial,” or an “acknowledgment”—that is, anything but a “memorial.”.But common sense dictates that the words “renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump” establish a memorial…Linguistic gymnastics cannot extricate the Kennedy Center’s Board from an operative judicial order or the governing statute it was designed to enforce…
One final point: In its briefing, the government intones that, if the Board is not allowed to implement its latest resolution, the Kennedy Center will face financial peril and might even “be required to be taken down” altogether…. As this Court noted, the government offered “no proof that current or future donations hinge on President Trump’s name being on the building” and “no competent evidence that removing the Trump name would prevent the Center from fulfilling its artistic mission, as it has done for the last sixty years.”… In fact, evidence before the Court pointed in the opposite direction: The renaming of the Center coincided with declines in revenue and contributions, as artists cancelled performances, the Washington National Opera ended its 50-year residency, and ticket sales and viewership of the Kennedy Center Honors broadcast dropped precipitously
Thousands join protest outside Kennedy Center, expressing concern that Trump might tear it down (PBS)
This Week’s Theater Video
Watch the buffalo roam in three more videos (and numerous photos)
Jonathan McCrory at opening of “America, Who Hurt You?” one of the six works of theater in the National Black Theatre season.
One of the circus acts at “Beyond the Stardust”
