This season’s slate of Broadway shows promises journeys across time and space right in the middle of Manhattan’s Theatre District. Find yourself in the middle of the ocean, a moment in someone’s memory or transported to the past by way of an epic orchestra. You don’t need a DeLorean to get there (though there is going to be one parked at the Winter Garden Theatre).
Previews begin January 10, opens February 9
Photographer Larry Sultan (Danny Burstein) sets out to puncture the mythology of the perfect Reagan-era family, only to find more complexity than he bargained for when he turns to his parents (Zoe Wanamaker and Nathan Lane) as subjects. Playwright Sharr White (The Other Place, Annapurna) adapts Sultan’s 1992 photo memoir for the stage in a star-studded production directed by Bartlett Sher.
For fans of: family drama, small but perfect casts, Fun Home
Courtesy, A Dolls House
Previews begin February 13, opens March 9
A Doll’s House turned theater upside down in 1879, but now it’s getting a remodel by acclaimed playwright Amy Herzog (4000 Miles) and British director Jamie Lloyd (Cyrano at BAM). Academy Award winner Jessica Chastain stars as Nora Helmer, a woman whose husband compares her to a tiny animal one too many times.
For fans of: Tours-de-force for actresses, marital drama, “Thank U, Next”
Previews begin February 17, opens March 23
Fans lamenting Phantom of the Opera’s impending April closing can look forward to a new musical by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber opening on Broadway. The production transfers from the West End (where it was called Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella) with a new title to reflect its unconventional take on the classic Cinderella story, as well as a book by Academy Award–winning screenwriter Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) and lyrics by David Zippel (The Woman in White).
For fans of: fractured fairy tales, leaving parties at midnight, Andrew Lloyd Webber
Sweeney Todd. Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Previews begin February 26, opens March 26
Want a recipe for a delicious-looking Sweeney Todd revival? Combine one Josh Groban in the title role with one Tony winning Annaleigh Ashford as Mrs. Lovett. Stir in a full 26-piece orchestra, a rare treat on today’s Broadway stages. Top with direction by Thomas Kail (Hamilton). The ingredients look promising for this production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s diabolical musical, set in mid-1800s London, about a vengeful barber who finds a convenient ally in a scheming meat-pie maker.
For fans of: peak Stephen Sondheim, darkly comic thrillers, secret menu items
Previews begin March 2, opens March 19
Anywhere you can see a jazz hand, you can see the influence of Bob Fosse’s choreography, but Fosse’s compilation show Dancin’ hasn’t been seen on Broadway since its original run from 1978 to 1982. It returns under the direction of original cast member Wayne Cilento, now a Tony-winning choreographer. He promises to reinvent the celebration of dance, set to music across multiple genres, for the 21st century.
For fans of: sparkly costumes, bowler hats, all that jazz
Courtesy, Shucked
Previews begin March 8, opens April 4
Details about the plot of this new musical remain shrouded in a husk of mystery, but one thing is for sure: there’s corn (in multiple meanings of the word). The comedy has a score by Nashville-based songwriting team Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, and a book by Robert Horn (Tootsie). Jack O’Brien (Hairspray) directs.
For fans of: country music, puns, Hee Haw
Courtesy, Camelot
Previews begin March 9, opens April 13
Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) joins his To Kill a Mockingbird director Bartlett Sher (see Pictures from Home above) to once again reimagine a classic: the 1960 Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot. Sorkin will rewrite the original book, which centers on an idealistic young King Arthur torn between love and his kingdom. Hope the Knights of the Round Table are ready for a walk-and-talk.
For fans of: Arthurian legends, "happily-ever-aftering," speedy banter
Life of Pi. Photo: Matthew Murphy
Previews begin March 9, opens March 30
This story of a 16-year-old boy stranded in a lifeboat with a Royal Bengal tiger has already had an epic journey: from 2002 Booker Prize–winning novel by Yann Martel to 2012 Ang Lee film to Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation. After gathering critical acclaim and five Olivier awards on the London stage, Life of Pi crosses the ocean to Broadway, with a menagerie of gorgeous animal puppets in tow.
For fans of: puppetry, literary adaptations, War Horse
Fat Ham. Photo: Joan Marcus
Previews begin March 21, opens April 12
Fat Ham arrives on Broadway well seasoned by a sold-out run at The Public Theater and its 2022 Pulitzer Prize win. The Public Theater's Saheem Ali returns to direct the original Off-Broadway cast in this comedy by James Ijames (The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington). A Black, queer, Southern college kid is confronted by his father’s ghost in his backyard in an uproarious take on Hamlet.
For fans of: comedy, tragedy, cookouts
New York, New York. Photo: Paul Kolnik
Previews begin March 24, opens April 26
As the City rebuilds after the pandemic, Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, Encanto) and John Kander (Cabaret, Chicago) take us back to a similar time of reinvention in NYC: the postwar 1940s. Inspired by the 1977 Martin Scorsese movie musical New York, New York, which featured songs by Kander and his late writing partner Fred Ebb (you may be familiar with a certain one popularized by Frank Sinatra), the show expands upon that score; Susan Stroman directs and choreographs.
For fans of: NYC history, big band music, the musical theater equivalent of the Avengers team
Summer 1976. Photo: Jeremy Daniel
Previews begin April 4, opens April 25
Laura Linney (My Name Is Lucy Barton, Netflix’s Ozark) stars in a world premiere by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright David Auburn (Proof). Tony winner Daniel Sullivan (also Proof) directs this story about two seemingly disparate women—one a single mother (Linney), one a married homemaker (Jessica Hecht)—who bond over the course of a fateful summer in Ohio.
For fans of: feminist history, friendship drama, really good actors
Good Night Oscar. Photo: Joan Marcus
Previews begin April 7, opens April 24
Will & Grace star Sean Hayes (Promises, Promises) returns to Broadway in a new play by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife), which arrives in New York City after a successful Chicago run. Hayes plays Oscar Levant, a pianist who became a favorite witty guest on 1950s talk shows. One live broadcast with The Tonight Show’s Jack Paar leads to questions about the boundaries of comedy and the parts of ourselves we offer for public consumption—and they didn’t even have the internet in 1958.
For fans of: TV Land, Frost/Nixon, zippy one-liners
Prima Facie. Photo: Helen Murray
Previews begin April 11, opens April 23
In this solo show by playwright Suzie Miller, Killing Eve breakout star Jodie Comer commands the stage as Tessa, a young, brilliant attorney who must confront the patriarchy inherent in the law after she is assaulted. Justin Martin directs this West End transfer's 10-week Broadway run.
For fans of: What the Constitution Means to Me, Killing Eve, solo plays
Once Upon a One More Time at Shakespeare Theater Company. Photo: Matthew Murphy
Previews begin May 13, opens June 22
A group of storybook princesses reevaluate their priorities when a fairy godmother gives their book club a copy of The Feminine Mystique. Also, it’s a jukebox musical based around the hit songs of Britney Spears, such as “Oops!... I Did It Again.” Husband-and-wife duo Keone and Mari Madrid (The Karate Kid) direct this fractured fairytale again after a run in Washington, DC. Let’s hope Banana the snake from Britney's 2001 VMA performance makes a cameo!
For fans of: ’90s pop, Shrek, Britney Spears
Courtesy, Back to the Future
Previews begin June 30, opens August 3
Great Scott, they made a musical of Back to the Future! This adaptation of the 1985 Robert Zemeckis film won Best New Musical at the 2022 Olivier Awards and now transfers from the West End with Tony winner Roger Bart as Doc Brown. New songs by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard join music from the film (classics like “Johnny B. Goode” and “Earth Angel,” plus a few Huey Lewis tunes). Bob Gale, cowriter of the film, adapts for the stage
For fans of: 1980s nostalgia, 1950s nostalgia, rock ’n’ roll, plutonium
Note: These were all the shows with opening dates announced for the season as of publication time. More shows will undoubtedly be announced and will premiere during winter and spring 2023; for information on those, please see our Broadway page.
