After a lackluster summer of touring jukebox musicals bring the only fresh productions on Broadway, the theatre season kicks it into gear in early September with brand-new productions of acclaimed shows from New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, as well as some all-star revivals of classic plays. There’s a lot to check out this fall on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and here are the ten productions we’re most excited for.
Anna Nicole
The critically acclaimed and award-winning opera, which was commissioned by London’s Royal Opera House, follows a surprising protagonist: Anna Nicole Smith. The New York City Opera and Brooklyn Academy of Music bring an American production to Brooklyn in September.
Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Tony-nominated Broadway ingenue Jessie Mueller gets the top-billing she deserves after a brief, yet astounding, career on Broadway in this jukebox musical based on the life of singer-songwriter Carole King.
Betrayal
Real-life couple Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz bring this year’s A-list takeover of Broadway to Harold Pinter’s classic drama of the dissolution of a marriage — told in reverse order — directed by the indelible Mike Nichols.
Big Fish
Daniel Wallace’s novel (and Tim Burton’s movie) gets the big Broadway music treatment in this buzzy production starring two-time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz and directed by five-time Tony winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman.
Fun Home
Alison Bechdel’s much-beloved comic memoir about the relationship between her parents and the secret life of her father comes to the Public Theater as a musical starring Michael Cerveris and Judy Kuhn.
The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams’ classic play comes back to Broadway, which is a much-anticipated production starring Tony winner Cherry Jones, Celia Keenan-Bolger, and Zachary Quinto.
Little Miss Sunshine
The Oscar-winning indie comedy was turned into a musical by the Tony-winning team of James LaPine and William Finn. Transferring from a successful run in Los Angeles, the off-Broadway run at Second Stage Theatre is hoping for a Broadway transfer.
Macbeth
It’s a big year for Shakespeare on Broadway, but Alan Cumming’s one-man version of The Scottish Tale isn’t keeping this Lincoln Center Production, starring Ethan Hawke, from bringing another look to New York.
No Man’s Land / Waiting for Godot
X-Men cast mates Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen join Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley in these productions, performed in repertory, of famous plays by Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett, respectively.
Richard III / Twelfth Night
In Shakespeare’s time all of the actors on stage were men, which is why these productions of Richard III and Twelfth Night, featuring Stephen Fry and the astounding Mark Rylance, have an all-male cast. (Women! Totally overrated these days.)