New York’s theater roster this fall feels exceptionally thrilling, not least because of some honest-to-god audacity. If fairness prevails, this will be remembered as the year in which an epochal provocation called Downstate (a drama about four sex offenders living together in a group home) succeeded on the country’s most visible stage. That apocryphal story about someone walking out of the original Death of a Salesman so dazed that they walked into traffic? Get ready for a lot of that.
Yes, there’s the celebs: Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Broadway debut in Other Desert Cities, alongside Allison Janney, Ed Harris, Lily Rabe and Joe Keery; Billy Crystal’s latest one-man show; Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of A Few Good Men, starring Bradley Whitford; Rosamund Pike in Inter Alia; and Jamie Lloyd’s Much Ado About Nothing (with Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell). Those are bound to be great, and will likely sell themselves.
But what’s most exciting is the continued stock invested in recent years’ rising talents, like multi-hyphenate Whitney White and born star Jasmine Amy Rogers, or the groundswell of support that brings back downtown hits like Pre-Existing Condition or—talk about audacity—the musical Slam Frank, for return engagements. This is your sign that there is good work still being done on our city’s stages. Theater is ephemeral; catch it before it’s gone.
School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
Where: Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
When: Through Nov. 1
What It Is: The library is open in Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy about prep school girls reading each other while competing for a pageant in 1986 Ghana. Produced in virtually every regional theater after its 2017 premiere (for good reason!), its Broadway bow reteams the Ghanaian-American playwright with her Jaja’s African Hair Braiding director, Whitney White.
Know Before You Go: The cast is an embarrassment of riches, including Denée Benton (The Gilded Age) and unstoppable Boop! breakout Jasmine Amy Rogers, in her first straight play… just months before she takes on The Sound of Music.
Pre-Existing Condition
Where: Greenwich House Theater
When: Through Jan. 8, 2027
What It Is: An often harrowing portrait of a woman in the aftermath of a physically abusive relationship, based on playwright Marin Ireland’s own experience.
Know Before You Go: As in its 2024 premiere, the lead role is played by a succession of stars: Lupita Nyong’o, Phillipa Soo, Susannah Flood, Hari Nef, Edie Falco, and Whitney White. That relay approach, coupled with intimate direction by Maria Dizzia (who also performed in its debut), makes its pain chillingly universal.
Degenerates
Where: Playwrights Horizons
When: Sept. 16 – Oct. 11
What It Is: Wife-and-wife team—Else (the playwright) and Emma Rosa (the director) Went—return after last year’s five-hour Dungeons and Dragons saga, Initiative. This time, they sic their epic ambitions on the Internet’s final boss: the edgelord.
Know Before You Go: If anyone’s going to clock the nuanced hell out of our darkest cyber-behaviors, it’s a trans woman and her devoted wife.
Slam Frank
Where: Orpheum Theatre
When: Sept. 17 – Nov. 30
What It Is: Good luck keeping your jaw off the floor throughout this post-Hamilton musical satire that dares to ask, Was Anne Frank problematic for not being a pansexual Latina?
Know Before You Go: You will never believe where the plot goes. And then you’ll wonder, Why is this the only fucking show to address Palestine?
Ms. Blakk for President
Where: Vineyard Theatre
When: Oct. 15 – Nov. 22
What It Is: Wayne Brady (?!) plays Joan Jett Blakk, the IRL drag activist who launched a presidential campaign at the height of the AIDS crisis with the slogan Lick Bush in ’92. The always great Gideon Glick co-stars, and Stereophonic scenographer David Zinn turns the space into a nightclub.
Know Before You Go: It’s written by Moonlight’s Tarell Alvin McCraney. Anything else?
Wanted
Where: James Earl Jones Theatre
When: Oct. 15, 2026 – March 31, 2027
What It Is: A rousing, big ‘ole musical based on the true story of two Black sisters who pass for white in the outlaw West. Perfectly crafted, it’ll remind you of why you fell in love with the form.
Know Before You Go: Finally a worthy vehicle for generational talent Solea Pfeiffer, my god. R&B legend Ledisi plays her and Liisi LaFontaine’s mom. For those who listen to singers.
Downstate
Where: Booth Theatre
When: Previews begin Oct. 17
What It Is: The Platonic ideal of drama: narrative, style, disgust, recognition, and catharsis. Pulitzer-winner Bruce Norris hones in on a halfway house for convicted sex criminals. That their lives have been ruined is their fault—but how much good does punishment actually accomplish?
Know Before You Go: K. Todd Freeman gives a performance for the ages, as does Francis Guinan—both having starred in the play’s Chicago, London, and off-Broadway premieres. Downtown provocatrix Ivy Wolk joins them in her Broadway debut. The Fox News crowd will probably get mad again.
The Verge
Where: The Public
When: Oct. 27 – Nov. 22
What It Is: Miriam Silverman, who stole the show in (and won a Tony for) The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window a few years back, stars in this excavation of what the Public is calling a “hidden American classic.”
Know Before You Go: I believe it—it’s written by mother of modern American theater, Susan Glaspell, a Pulitzer winner who discovered Eugene O’Neill.
Elektra
Where: Polonsky Shakespeare Center
When: Nov. 10 – Dec. 6
What It Is: The first major New York staging of Sophocles’s tragedy since 1998, using poet Anne Carson’s translation and choral compositions by Ted Hearne.
Know Before You Go: Director Daniel Fish made Oklahoma! sexy and turned a C-SPAN segment into must-see theater with Kramer/Fauci, which returns for a St. Ann’s Warehouse victory lap Sept. 5 – Oct. 24 after selling out Skirball this past February. Catch anything he does.
Imitation of Life
Where: The Shed
When: Nov. 21 – Jan. 3
What It Is: John Legend scores a new adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s landmark novel about two single mothers—one white, one Black—struggling with daughters, race, and success in the early 20th century.
Know Before You Go: Pulitzer-winner Lynn Nottage’s book will take from both the 1933 best-seller and its two film adaptations, including the iconic Douglas Sirk melodrama. Director Whitney White (yes, this is her third mention in this list!) is just the one to pull it all together, and has cast Adrienne Warren, whose vocal prowess knows no bounds.
A View from the Bridge
Where: Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
When: Nov. 27 – Feb. 27
What It Is: An iconic Red Hook story about being so Italian and horny for your niece, it ruins your life. In Arthur Miller’s hands, it’s a proper American tragedy.
Know Before You Go: Sam Rockwell stars in, and Neil Pepe stages, this revival at La MaMa to bring the experimental downtown hub some outside love and attention. Co-starring Marin Ireland (queen!) and Alfred Molina, excellence is a sure bet.
Spring Awakening
Where: Studio Seaview
When: Previews begin Nov. 27
What It Is: Chances are there’s a theater lover in your life whose entire sexual persona sprang from Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s unbearably gorgeous rock musical about troubled teens discovering the terrors and trembles of sex. Listen and learn.
Know Before You Go: With youth whisperer Danya Taymor (The Outsiders; John Proctor Is the Villain) directing and Celia Rowlson Hall (The Testament of Ann Lee; Girls’ “Beach House” episode) choreographing, it’s gonna get visceral.
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