As the new year is upon us, I thought now would be a good time to give you all a preview of the Spring 2017 Broadway Season. I will be listing each of the 24 productions in order of when they’ll be opening through this year’s Tony Awards cut-off date.
The Present
Opening Night: January 8th
Currently in previews after a successful run at the Sydney Theater Company in Australia is an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s 1878 play Platonov. The Present is set post-Perestroika in the mid-1990s at an old country house where friends gather to celebrate the birthday of the independent but compromised widow Anna Petrovna (Cate Blanchett; whose husband, Andrew Upton actually wrote this adaptation). At the center is the acerbic and witty Platonov (Richard Roxburgh) with his wife (Jacqueline McKenzie), his former students and friends and their partners. They may appear comfortable, but boiling away inside is a mess of unfinished, unresolved relationships, fuelled by twenty years of denial, regret and thwarted desire.
Jitney
Previews: December 28th; Opening Night: January 19th
Presented by Manhattan Theatre Club is the long-awaited Broadway premiere of August Wilson’s 1982 play. The cast for this production features Harvey Blanks, Anthony Chisholm, Brandon Dirden, Andre Holland, Carra Patterson, Michael Potts, Keith Randolph Smith, Ray Anthony Thomas, and John Douglas Thompson. Set in the early 1970s, Jitney follows a group of men trying to eke out a living by driving unlicensed cabs, or jitneys. When the city threatens to board up the business and the boss’ son returns from prison, tempers flare, potent secrets are revealed and the fragile threads binding these people together may come undone at last.
Sunset Boulevard
Previews: February 2nd; Opening Night: February 9th
Everything’s as if they never said goodbye. Coming in from the English National Opera in London is the very first Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, & Christopher Hampton’s musical adaptation of the 1950 Billy Wilder film. This semi-staged concert production stars Glenn Close reprising her Tony-Winning role as Norma Desmond (who by the way won’t be eligible for this year’s Tony Awards as she already won for the role back in 1995) and features a 40-piece orchestra on the stage of the Palace Theatre. In her mansion on Sunset Boulevard, faded, silent-screen goddess, Norma Desmond (Close), lives in a fantasy world. Impoverished screenwriter, Joe Gillis (Michael Xavier), on the run from debt collectors, stumbles into her reclusive world. Persuaded to work on Norma’s ‘masterpiece’, a film script that she believes will put her back in front of the cameras, he is seduced by her and her luxurious life-style. Joe becomes entrapped in a claustrophobic world until his love for another woman (Siobhan Dillon) leads him to try and break free with dramatic consequences.
Sunday in the Park with George
Previews: February 11th; Opening Night: February 23rd
Reopening the Hudson Theatre after a sold out concert at City Center in New York this past fall is the second Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s classic musical. Sunday in the Park with George follows painter Georges Seurat (Jake Gyllenhaal) in the months leading up to the completion of his most famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Consumed by his need to “finish the hat”, Seurat alienates the French bourgeoisie, spurns his fellow artists, and neglects his lover Dot (Annaleigh Ashford), not realizing that his actions will be repeated over the next 100 years.
Significant Other
Previews: February 14th; Opening Night: March 2nd
Following a sold out run off-Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company, this new Joshua Harmon play comes to Broadway. In Significant Other, Jordan Berman (Gideon Glick) would love to be in love, but that's easier said than done. So until he meets Mr. Right, he wards off lonely nights with his trio of close-knit girlfriends (Sas Goldberg, Rebecca Naomi Jones, and Lindsay Mendez). But as singles’ nights turn into bachelorette parties, Jordan finds that supporting the ones you love can be just as impossible as finding love itself.
The Glass Menagerie
Previews: February 7th; Opening Night: March 9th
Only three years after the last (and acclaimed) Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ 1945 classic play comes another one. In The Glass Menagerie, Southern matriarch Amanda Wingfield (Sally Field) worries constantly over her two live-in adult children, the painfully shy Laura (Madison Ferris) and Laura’s restless poet brother, Tom (Joe Mantello). With great persuasion, Tom brings home a possible suitor (Finn Wittrock) for Laura, but reality soon casts a shadow on Amanda’s dreams for both her children.
Come From Away
Previews: February 18th; Opening Night: March 12th
After a series of four out-of-town tryouts, Come From Away flies onto Broadway featuring a cast that includes Petrina Bromley, Geno Carr, Jenn Colella, Joel Hatch, Rodney Hicks, Kendra Kassebaum, Chad Kimball, Lee MacDougall, Caesar Samayoa, Q. Smith, Astrid Van Wieren, and Sharon Wheatley. Come From Away is based on the true story of when the isolated community of Gander, Newfoundland played host to the world. What started as an average day in a small town turned into an international sleep-over when 38 planes, carrying thousands of people from across the globe, were diverted to Gander’s air strip on September 11th, 2001. Undaunted by culture clashes and language barriers, the people of Gander cheered the stranded travelers with music, an open bar and the recognition that we’re all part of a global family.
The Price
Previews: February 16th; Opening Night: March 16th
Presented by Roundabout Theatre Company is a new Broadway production of the 1968 classic play by Arthur Miller. When the Great Depression cost his family their fortune, Victor Franz (Mark Ruffalo) gave up his dream of an education to support his father. Three decades later, Victor has returned to his childhood home to sell the remainder of his parents’ estate. His wife (Jessica Hecht), his estranged brother (Tony Shalhoub), and the wily furniture dealer (Danny DeVito) hired to appraise their possessions all arrive with their own agendas, forcing Victor to confront a question, long-stifled, about the value of his sacrifice.
Miss Saigon
Previews: March 1st; Opening Night: March 23rd
Coming in from London’s West End is the long-awaited first Broadway revival of Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schonberg's 1989 classic musical. Set in 1975 during the final days of the Vietnam War, Miss Saigon is an epic love story about the relationship between an American G.I. and a young Vietnamese girl. Orphaned by war, 17-year-old Kim (Eva Noblezada) is forced to work as a bar girl in a sleazy Saigon nightclub, owned by a notorious wheeler-dealer known as ‘The Engineer’ (Jon Jon Briones). John (Nicholas Christopher), an American GI, buys his friend Chris (Alistair Brammer) the services of Kim for the night, a night that will change their lives forever.
Sweat
Previews: March 4th; Opening Night: March 26th
Veteran playwright Lynn Nottage finally makes her long-awaited Broadway debut with her new play after a successful run at The Public Theatre off-Broadway. With warm humor and tremendous heart, Sweat tells the story of a group of friends who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets and laughs while working together on the line of a factory floor. But when layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, the friends find themselves pitted against each other in the hard fight to stay afloat.
The Play That Goes Wrong
Previews: March 9th; Opening Night: April 2nd
Coming in from London’s West End is a brand new comedy written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields courtesy of producer J.J. Abrams (yes, that J.J. Abrams). This play stars Matthew Cavendish, Bryony Corrigan, Rob Falconer, Dave Hearn, Henry Lewis, Charlie Russell, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields, Greg Tannahill, and Nancy Zamit. The Play That Goes Wrong introduces audiences to the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, a performance troupe attempting to put on a 1920s murder mystery. As the title suggests, it doesn’t go well, and the accident-prone thespians fight against all odds to make it to the curtain call.
Amélie
Previews: March 9th; Opening Night: April 3rd
A musical adaptation of the 2001 Academy Award nominated French film of the same name. Amélie follows the journey of the inquisitive and shy Amélie (Phillipa Soo; the Tony nominated original Eliza Schuyler in Hamilton) who turns the streets of Montmartre into a world of her own imagining, while secretly orchestrating moments of joy for those around her. After discovering a mysterious photo album and meeting a handsome stranger (Adam Chanler-Berat), Amélie realizes that helping others is easier than participating in a romantic story of her own.
Present Laughter
Previews: March 10th; Opening Night: April 5th
A new production of Noel Coward’s 1946 comedy. Present Laughter follows Garry Essendine (Kevin Kline), a self-indulgent actor who receives a visit from a young admirer, initiating a parade of intruders and interruptions, including his ex-wife (Kate Burton), his manager and an aspiring playwright.
War Paint
Previews: March 7th; Opening Night: April 6th
Inspired by the 2004 Lindy Woodhead novel and the 2007 documentary The Powder and the Glory, War Paint is a new musical by the creative team of Grey Gardens. This production stars two two-time Tony-Winning titans of the musical theatre, Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole. War Paint tells the remarkable true story of cosmetics titans Helena Rubinstein (LuPone) and Elizabeth Arden (Ebersole), who defined beauty standards for the first half of the 20th Century. Brilliant innovators with humble roots, both women were masters of self-invention who sacrificed everything to become the country’s first major female entrepreneurs. They were also fierce competitors, whose 50-year tug-of-war would give birth to an industry that would forever change the face of America. From Fifth Avenue society to the halls of Congress, their intense rivalry was ruthless, relentless and legendary, pushing both women to build international empires in a world dominated by men.
Oslo
Previews: March 23rd; Opening Night: April 13th
Presented by Lincoln Center Theater after a successful run off-Broadway last summer is a new play by J.T. Rogers. Oslo tells the true (little known) story of Norwegian diplomat Mona Juul (Jennifer Ehle) and her husband, Terje Rød-Larsen (Jefferson Mays), who together coordinated top-secret peace negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat in the early 1990s. Their efforts culminated in the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
Groundhog Day
Previews: March 16th; Opening Night: April 17th
Coming in from The Old Vic in London is a musical adaptation of the 1993 Harold Ramis film of the same name. Groundhog Day follows TV weatherman Phil Connors (Andy Karl), who reluctantly goes to cover the story of Punxsutawney Phil for the third year in a row. Making no effort to hide his frustration, he covers the story and moves on, expecting his job to be finished. However, he awakes the ‘following’ day and discovers that it's Groundhog Day again, and the fun happens again and again and again. He soon realizes he must take advantage of it in order to secure the love of a co-worker (Barrett Doss).
Indecent
Previews: April 4th; Opening Night: April 18th
Lynn Nottage isn’t the only veteran playwright whose finally making her long-awaited Broadway debut this season, Paula Vogel’s new play is coming to Broadway after a successful run at the Vineyard Theatre off-Broadway. Indecent is inspired by the true events surrounding the controversial 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch’s God of Vengeance, a play seen by some as a seminal work of Jewish culture, and by others as an act of traitorous libel. The play charts the history of an incendiary drama and the path of the artists who risked their careers and lives to perform it.
The Little Foxes
Previews: March 29th; Opening Night: April 19th
Presented by Manhattan Theatre Club is a new Broadway production of Lillian Hellman’s 1939 play starring Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon (who will both actually be alternating between two different characters). Set in Alabama in 1900, The Little Foxes follows Regina Hubbard (Linney/Nixon) and her ruthless clan, including her sister-in-law Birdie Hubbard (Linney/Nixon), as they clash in often brutal ways in an effort to strike the deal of their lives.
Hello, Dolly!
Previews: March 15th; Opening Night: April 20th
It’s so nice to have you back where you belong! A new Broadway production of the 1964 classic musical by Michael Stewart & Jerry Herman. Hello, Dolly! follows famed New York City matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi (Bette Midler), who receives her toughest challenge yet when rich grump Horace Vandergelder (David Hyde Pierce) seeks a suitable wife. She successfully matches many others in the city, including Horace’s niece (Melanie Moore) and his two young clerks (Gavin Creel and Taylor Trensch), but everything seems to go wrong when it comes to matching Horace. Dolly finally realizes that maybe she’d like to marry Horace herself, but only if her late husband will send her a sign, and if Horace himself will have her. This production has already broken box office records by making over $9,000,000 on the very first day tickets went on sale.
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
Previews: March 28th; Opening Night: April 23rd
A new stage musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s novel that’s actually been reworked after a prior production earned divisive reviews in London’s West End. This production stars Christian Borle in the iconic role of Willy Wonka. When young Charlie Bucket (Jake Ryan Flynn/Ryan Foust/Ryan Sell) wins a golden ticket to the weird and wonderful Wonka Chocolate Factory, it's the chance of a lifetime for him and his Grandpa Joe (John Rubinstein) to feast on the sweets he's always dreamed of. But beyond the gates astonishment awaits, as down the sugary corridors and amongst the incredible edible delights, the five lucky winners discover not everything is as sweet as it seems.
Anastasia
Previews: March 23rd; Opening Night: April 24th
A new stage musical that’s loosely based on the 1997 animated film musical that of course was inspired by the legend of the Grand Duchess Anastasia. From the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, a brave young woman (Christy Altomare) is attempting to discover the mystery of her past while finding a place for herself in the rapidly changing world of a new century. The cast also includes Derek Klena, Ramin Karimloo, John Bolton, Mary Beth Peil, and Caroline O’Connor.
Six Degrees of Separation
Previews: April 5th; Opening Night: April 25th
The very first Broadway revival of John Guare’s 1990 classic play. Six Degrees of Separation tells the story of Ouisa (Allison Janney) and Flan Kittredge (John Benjamin Hickey), a wealthy New York couple who take in Paul (Corey Hawkins), a young man who cons them into believing he’s a friend of their son at Harvard and the son of Sidney Poitier. After they discover his lies, Ouisa and Flan piece together his true identity and their connection to him, as well as the similar encounters their upper class friends have had with Paul.
Bandstand
Previews: March 31st; Opening Night: April 26th
After an out-of-town tryout at the Papermill Playhouse in New Jersey, Bandstand is swinging onto Broadway. Set in the smoke filled, swing fueled night clubs of 1945, Bandstand brings the against-all-odds story of singer/songwriter Donny Novitski (Corey Cott) and his band of mismatched fellow WWII veterans to the stage. When a national radio contest to find America’s next big swing band offers a chance at instant fame and Hollywood fortune, Donny must whip his wise-cracking gang of jazzers into fighting shape. Teaming up with the beautiful young war widow Julia (Laura Osnes) as their singer, they struggle to confront the lingering effects and secrets of the battlefield that threaten to tear them apart. The cast also features Beth Leavel, Joe Carroll, Brandon James Ellis, Nate Hopkins, Geoff Packard, and Joey Pero.
A Doll’s House, Part 2
Previews: April 1st; Opening Night: April 27th
A new play by Lucas Hnath written as a sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 classic, A Doll’s House. This play stars Laurie Metcalf, Chris Cooper, Jayne Houdyshell, and Condola Rashad. In the final scene of Ibsen's 1879 ground-breaking masterwork, Nora Helmer makes the shocking decision to leave her husband and children, and begin a life on her own. This climactic event (when Nora slams the door on everything in her life) instantly propelled world drama into the modern age. In A Doll’s House, Part 2, many years have passed since Nora’s exit. Now, there’s a knock on that same door. Nora has returned. But why? And what will it mean for those she left behind?
So which of these shows are you most interested in seeing or (if you’re like me and don’t live in New York) hearing about?
The Present
Opening Night: January 8th
Currently in previews after a successful run at the Sydney Theater Company in Australia is an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s 1878 play Platonov. The Present is set post-Perestroika in the mid-1990s at an old country house where friends gather to celebrate the birthday of the independent but compromised widow Anna Petrovna (Cate Blanchett; whose husband, Andrew Upton actually wrote this adaptation). At the center is the acerbic and witty Platonov (Richard Roxburgh) with his wife (Jacqueline McKenzie), his former students and friends and their partners. They may appear comfortable, but boiling away inside is a mess of unfinished, unresolved relationships, fuelled by twenty years of denial, regret and thwarted desire.
Jitney
Previews: December 28th; Opening Night: January 19th
Presented by Manhattan Theatre Club is the long-awaited Broadway premiere of August Wilson’s 1982 play. The cast for this production features Harvey Blanks, Anthony Chisholm, Brandon Dirden, Andre Holland, Carra Patterson, Michael Potts, Keith Randolph Smith, Ray Anthony Thomas, and John Douglas Thompson. Set in the early 1970s, Jitney follows a group of men trying to eke out a living by driving unlicensed cabs, or jitneys. When the city threatens to board up the business and the boss’ son returns from prison, tempers flare, potent secrets are revealed and the fragile threads binding these people together may come undone at last.
Sunset Boulevard
Previews: February 2nd; Opening Night: February 9th
Everything’s as if they never said goodbye. Coming in from the English National Opera in London is the very first Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, & Christopher Hampton’s musical adaptation of the 1950 Billy Wilder film. This semi-staged concert production stars Glenn Close reprising her Tony-Winning role as Norma Desmond (who by the way won’t be eligible for this year’s Tony Awards as she already won for the role back in 1995) and features a 40-piece orchestra on the stage of the Palace Theatre. In her mansion on Sunset Boulevard, faded, silent-screen goddess, Norma Desmond (Close), lives in a fantasy world. Impoverished screenwriter, Joe Gillis (Michael Xavier), on the run from debt collectors, stumbles into her reclusive world. Persuaded to work on Norma’s ‘masterpiece’, a film script that she believes will put her back in front of the cameras, he is seduced by her and her luxurious life-style. Joe becomes entrapped in a claustrophobic world until his love for another woman (Siobhan Dillon) leads him to try and break free with dramatic consequences.
Sunday in the Park with George
Previews: February 11th; Opening Night: February 23rd
Reopening the Hudson Theatre after a sold out concert at City Center in New York this past fall is the second Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s classic musical. Sunday in the Park with George follows painter Georges Seurat (Jake Gyllenhaal) in the months leading up to the completion of his most famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Consumed by his need to “finish the hat”, Seurat alienates the French bourgeoisie, spurns his fellow artists, and neglects his lover Dot (Annaleigh Ashford), not realizing that his actions will be repeated over the next 100 years.
Significant Other
Previews: February 14th; Opening Night: March 2nd
Following a sold out run off-Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company, this new Joshua Harmon play comes to Broadway. In Significant Other, Jordan Berman (Gideon Glick) would love to be in love, but that's easier said than done. So until he meets Mr. Right, he wards off lonely nights with his trio of close-knit girlfriends (Sas Goldberg, Rebecca Naomi Jones, and Lindsay Mendez). But as singles’ nights turn into bachelorette parties, Jordan finds that supporting the ones you love can be just as impossible as finding love itself.
The Glass Menagerie
Previews: February 7th; Opening Night: March 9th
Only three years after the last (and acclaimed) Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ 1945 classic play comes another one. In The Glass Menagerie, Southern matriarch Amanda Wingfield (Sally Field) worries constantly over her two live-in adult children, the painfully shy Laura (Madison Ferris) and Laura’s restless poet brother, Tom (Joe Mantello). With great persuasion, Tom brings home a possible suitor (Finn Wittrock) for Laura, but reality soon casts a shadow on Amanda’s dreams for both her children.
Come From Away
Previews: February 18th; Opening Night: March 12th
After a series of four out-of-town tryouts, Come From Away flies onto Broadway featuring a cast that includes Petrina Bromley, Geno Carr, Jenn Colella, Joel Hatch, Rodney Hicks, Kendra Kassebaum, Chad Kimball, Lee MacDougall, Caesar Samayoa, Q. Smith, Astrid Van Wieren, and Sharon Wheatley. Come From Away is based on the true story of when the isolated community of Gander, Newfoundland played host to the world. What started as an average day in a small town turned into an international sleep-over when 38 planes, carrying thousands of people from across the globe, were diverted to Gander’s air strip on September 11th, 2001. Undaunted by culture clashes and language barriers, the people of Gander cheered the stranded travelers with music, an open bar and the recognition that we’re all part of a global family.
The Price
Previews: February 16th; Opening Night: March 16th
Presented by Roundabout Theatre Company is a new Broadway production of the 1968 classic play by Arthur Miller. When the Great Depression cost his family their fortune, Victor Franz (Mark Ruffalo) gave up his dream of an education to support his father. Three decades later, Victor has returned to his childhood home to sell the remainder of his parents’ estate. His wife (Jessica Hecht), his estranged brother (Tony Shalhoub), and the wily furniture dealer (Danny DeVito) hired to appraise their possessions all arrive with their own agendas, forcing Victor to confront a question, long-stifled, about the value of his sacrifice.
Miss Saigon
Previews: March 1st; Opening Night: March 23rd
Coming in from London’s West End is the long-awaited first Broadway revival of Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schonberg's 1989 classic musical. Set in 1975 during the final days of the Vietnam War, Miss Saigon is an epic love story about the relationship between an American G.I. and a young Vietnamese girl. Orphaned by war, 17-year-old Kim (Eva Noblezada) is forced to work as a bar girl in a sleazy Saigon nightclub, owned by a notorious wheeler-dealer known as ‘The Engineer’ (Jon Jon Briones). John (Nicholas Christopher), an American GI, buys his friend Chris (Alistair Brammer) the services of Kim for the night, a night that will change their lives forever.
Sweat
Previews: March 4th; Opening Night: March 26th
Veteran playwright Lynn Nottage finally makes her long-awaited Broadway debut with her new play after a successful run at The Public Theatre off-Broadway. With warm humor and tremendous heart, Sweat tells the story of a group of friends who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets and laughs while working together on the line of a factory floor. But when layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, the friends find themselves pitted against each other in the hard fight to stay afloat.
The Play That Goes Wrong
Previews: March 9th; Opening Night: April 2nd
Coming in from London’s West End is a brand new comedy written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields courtesy of producer J.J. Abrams (yes, that J.J. Abrams). This play stars Matthew Cavendish, Bryony Corrigan, Rob Falconer, Dave Hearn, Henry Lewis, Charlie Russell, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields, Greg Tannahill, and Nancy Zamit. The Play That Goes Wrong introduces audiences to the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, a performance troupe attempting to put on a 1920s murder mystery. As the title suggests, it doesn’t go well, and the accident-prone thespians fight against all odds to make it to the curtain call.
Amélie
Previews: March 9th; Opening Night: April 3rd
A musical adaptation of the 2001 Academy Award nominated French film of the same name. Amélie follows the journey of the inquisitive and shy Amélie (Phillipa Soo; the Tony nominated original Eliza Schuyler in Hamilton) who turns the streets of Montmartre into a world of her own imagining, while secretly orchestrating moments of joy for those around her. After discovering a mysterious photo album and meeting a handsome stranger (Adam Chanler-Berat), Amélie realizes that helping others is easier than participating in a romantic story of her own.
Present Laughter
Previews: March 10th; Opening Night: April 5th
A new production of Noel Coward’s 1946 comedy. Present Laughter follows Garry Essendine (Kevin Kline), a self-indulgent actor who receives a visit from a young admirer, initiating a parade of intruders and interruptions, including his ex-wife (Kate Burton), his manager and an aspiring playwright.
War Paint
Previews: March 7th; Opening Night: April 6th
Inspired by the 2004 Lindy Woodhead novel and the 2007 documentary The Powder and the Glory, War Paint is a new musical by the creative team of Grey Gardens. This production stars two two-time Tony-Winning titans of the musical theatre, Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole. War Paint tells the remarkable true story of cosmetics titans Helena Rubinstein (LuPone) and Elizabeth Arden (Ebersole), who defined beauty standards for the first half of the 20th Century. Brilliant innovators with humble roots, both women were masters of self-invention who sacrificed everything to become the country’s first major female entrepreneurs. They were also fierce competitors, whose 50-year tug-of-war would give birth to an industry that would forever change the face of America. From Fifth Avenue society to the halls of Congress, their intense rivalry was ruthless, relentless and legendary, pushing both women to build international empires in a world dominated by men.
Oslo
Previews: March 23rd; Opening Night: April 13th
Presented by Lincoln Center Theater after a successful run off-Broadway last summer is a new play by J.T. Rogers. Oslo tells the true (little known) story of Norwegian diplomat Mona Juul (Jennifer Ehle) and her husband, Terje Rød-Larsen (Jefferson Mays), who together coordinated top-secret peace negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat in the early 1990s. Their efforts culminated in the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
Groundhog Day
Previews: March 16th; Opening Night: April 17th
Coming in from The Old Vic in London is a musical adaptation of the 1993 Harold Ramis film of the same name. Groundhog Day follows TV weatherman Phil Connors (Andy Karl), who reluctantly goes to cover the story of Punxsutawney Phil for the third year in a row. Making no effort to hide his frustration, he covers the story and moves on, expecting his job to be finished. However, he awakes the ‘following’ day and discovers that it's Groundhog Day again, and the fun happens again and again and again. He soon realizes he must take advantage of it in order to secure the love of a co-worker (Barrett Doss).
Indecent
Previews: April 4th; Opening Night: April 18th
Lynn Nottage isn’t the only veteran playwright whose finally making her long-awaited Broadway debut this season, Paula Vogel’s new play is coming to Broadway after a successful run at the Vineyard Theatre off-Broadway. Indecent is inspired by the true events surrounding the controversial 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch’s God of Vengeance, a play seen by some as a seminal work of Jewish culture, and by others as an act of traitorous libel. The play charts the history of an incendiary drama and the path of the artists who risked their careers and lives to perform it.
The Little Foxes
Previews: March 29th; Opening Night: April 19th
Presented by Manhattan Theatre Club is a new Broadway production of Lillian Hellman’s 1939 play starring Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon (who will both actually be alternating between two different characters). Set in Alabama in 1900, The Little Foxes follows Regina Hubbard (Linney/Nixon) and her ruthless clan, including her sister-in-law Birdie Hubbard (Linney/Nixon), as they clash in often brutal ways in an effort to strike the deal of their lives.
Hello, Dolly!
Previews: March 15th; Opening Night: April 20th
It’s so nice to have you back where you belong! A new Broadway production of the 1964 classic musical by Michael Stewart & Jerry Herman. Hello, Dolly! follows famed New York City matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi (Bette Midler), who receives her toughest challenge yet when rich grump Horace Vandergelder (David Hyde Pierce) seeks a suitable wife. She successfully matches many others in the city, including Horace’s niece (Melanie Moore) and his two young clerks (Gavin Creel and Taylor Trensch), but everything seems to go wrong when it comes to matching Horace. Dolly finally realizes that maybe she’d like to marry Horace herself, but only if her late husband will send her a sign, and if Horace himself will have her. This production has already broken box office records by making over $9,000,000 on the very first day tickets went on sale.
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
Previews: March 28th; Opening Night: April 23rd
A new stage musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s novel that’s actually been reworked after a prior production earned divisive reviews in London’s West End. This production stars Christian Borle in the iconic role of Willy Wonka. When young Charlie Bucket (Jake Ryan Flynn/Ryan Foust/Ryan Sell) wins a golden ticket to the weird and wonderful Wonka Chocolate Factory, it's the chance of a lifetime for him and his Grandpa Joe (John Rubinstein) to feast on the sweets he's always dreamed of. But beyond the gates astonishment awaits, as down the sugary corridors and amongst the incredible edible delights, the five lucky winners discover not everything is as sweet as it seems.
Anastasia
Previews: March 23rd; Opening Night: April 24th
A new stage musical that’s loosely based on the 1997 animated film musical that of course was inspired by the legend of the Grand Duchess Anastasia. From the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, a brave young woman (Christy Altomare) is attempting to discover the mystery of her past while finding a place for herself in the rapidly changing world of a new century. The cast also includes Derek Klena, Ramin Karimloo, John Bolton, Mary Beth Peil, and Caroline O’Connor.
Six Degrees of Separation
Previews: April 5th; Opening Night: April 25th
The very first Broadway revival of John Guare’s 1990 classic play. Six Degrees of Separation tells the story of Ouisa (Allison Janney) and Flan Kittredge (John Benjamin Hickey), a wealthy New York couple who take in Paul (Corey Hawkins), a young man who cons them into believing he’s a friend of their son at Harvard and the son of Sidney Poitier. After they discover his lies, Ouisa and Flan piece together his true identity and their connection to him, as well as the similar encounters their upper class friends have had with Paul.
Bandstand
Previews: March 31st; Opening Night: April 26th
After an out-of-town tryout at the Papermill Playhouse in New Jersey, Bandstand is swinging onto Broadway. Set in the smoke filled, swing fueled night clubs of 1945, Bandstand brings the against-all-odds story of singer/songwriter Donny Novitski (Corey Cott) and his band of mismatched fellow WWII veterans to the stage. When a national radio contest to find America’s next big swing band offers a chance at instant fame and Hollywood fortune, Donny must whip his wise-cracking gang of jazzers into fighting shape. Teaming up with the beautiful young war widow Julia (Laura Osnes) as their singer, they struggle to confront the lingering effects and secrets of the battlefield that threaten to tear them apart. The cast also features Beth Leavel, Joe Carroll, Brandon James Ellis, Nate Hopkins, Geoff Packard, and Joey Pero.
A Doll’s House, Part 2
Previews: April 1st; Opening Night: April 27th
A new play by Lucas Hnath written as a sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 classic, A Doll’s House. This play stars Laurie Metcalf, Chris Cooper, Jayne Houdyshell, and Condola Rashad. In the final scene of Ibsen's 1879 ground-breaking masterwork, Nora Helmer makes the shocking decision to leave her husband and children, and begin a life on her own. This climactic event (when Nora slams the door on everything in her life) instantly propelled world drama into the modern age. In A Doll’s House, Part 2, many years have passed since Nora’s exit. Now, there’s a knock on that same door. Nora has returned. But why? And what will it mean for those she left behind?
So which of these shows are you most interested in seeing or (if you’re like me and don’t live in New York) hearing about?