Showstopping classics, new imaginings of old favorites, Pulitzer Prize winners and superstars like Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone—the fall 2024 Broadway season will make you laugh, dance and maybe think about the real world in a whole new way. Read on for what’s debuting when and who’s starring in what, as you figure out which shows will top your must-see list.
The Roommate
Previews begin August 29, 2024, opens September 12, 2024
Stage legend Patti LuPone and screen legend Mia Farrow join forces in Off-Broadway playwright and screenwriter Jen Silverman’s The Roommate. Having roommates is a rite of passage in your twenties, but what happens when you bring your AARP membership and five decades of baggage into a living situation? This play explores what comes from living together as grown-ups.
For fans of: reinvention, friendship, smart female characters, The Heidi Chronicles
McNeal
Previews begin September 5, 2024, opens September 30, 2024
Movie star Robert Downey Jr. is taking his acting chops to Broadway in this new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar (Disgraced), directed by nine-time Tony nominee Bartlett Sher. Downey is writer Jacob McNeal, a perpetual Nobel Prize candidate with a messy family and an increasing fascination with AI.
For fans of: ChatGPT, Paul Auster, long philosophical conversations over a highball, The Humans
The Hills of California. Photo: Mark Douet
The Hills of California
Previews begin September 11, 2024, opens September 29, 2024
Written by Tony and Olivier award winner Jez Butterworth (The Ferryman) and directed by Tony, Oscar and Olivier award winner Sam Mendes, this drama was already a hit in London. The plot follows four grown sisters, a onetime musical act reunited at their mother’s deathbed, reminiscing about what could have been—and what might still be possible.
For fans of: juicy family dramas, 1950s nostalgia
Yellow Face
Previews begin September 13, 2024, opens October 1, 2024
Starring Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) and written by three-time Pulitzer finalist David Henry Huang (M. Butterfly, Golden Child), this comedy is rooted in real-life historical controversy. The action follows a playwright who protests white actors being cast in Miss Saigon, only to then inadvertently cast a white actor as his Asian lead.
For fans of: inside-baseball theater, cultural satire, social commentary, The Atlantic, Cloud 9
Our Town
Previews begin September 17, 2024, opens October 10, 2024
A new production brings a star-studded cast to Grover’s Corners, with The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons leading the way as the stage manager, Zoey Deutch as Emily Webb and Katie Holmes as her mother. Tony winner Kenny Leon directs this return of the Thornton Wilder classic to Broadway for the first time in over two decades.
For fans of: Modern Library Classics, revivals, August: Osage County
Romeo + Juliet. Photo: Sam Levy
Romeo + Juliet
Previews begin September 26, 2024, opens October 24, 2024
Rachel Zegler (West Side Story, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) and English actor Kit Connor (The Wild Robot, Heartstopper) play the infamous star-crossed lovers in a newly concepted version of the Shakespeare classic. With original music by Bleachers singer-songwriter Jack Antonoff and directed by Sam Gold, who has led revivals of Macbeth and King Lear, this take—unlike what you think you know about Romeo and Juliet—promises hope.
For fans of: iambic pentameter, Rent, Spring Awakening
Sunset Boulevard. Photo: Marc Brenner
Sunset Boulevard
Previews begin September 28, 2024, opens October 20, 2024
This reimagined Andrew Lloyd Webber adaptation of the classic Billy Wilder film was a London sensation, winning 7 Olivier Awards. Starring Pussycat Dolls headliner Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond, the completely transformed, sexed up revival brings a whole new meaning to Desmond’s iconic line: “I’m ready for my close-up.”
For fans of: film noir, stripped-down Andrew Lloyd Webber, Hollywood cautionary tales, the new
A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical. Photo: Jeremy Daniel
A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical
Previews begin October 16, 2024, opens November 11, 2024
Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart (Aladdin) plays the jazz icon in a new musical directed by Christopher Renshaw (The King and I). The show focuses on Armstrong’s life through the perspective of his four wives, providing a dynamic, thought-provoking and human look at an American legend.
For fans of: jazz, Six The Musical, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Fela!
Maybe Happy Ending
Previews begin October 16, 2024, opens November 12, 2024
Emmy winner Darren Criss (Little Shop of Horrors) and Helen J. Shen play over-the-hill robots who just may have some life left in them and some love for each other. Directed by Tony winner Michael Arden (Parade, Once on This Island), this imaginative musical comedy reminds audiences that love can overcome everything—even low battery life.
For fans of: Roombas, Modern Love, Avenue Q
Tammy Faye
Previews begin October 19, 2024, opens November 14, 2024
Tony award winner Christian Borle (Smash, Something Rotten) joins British actress Katie Brayben, who already won an Olivier Award for her Tammy Faye performance. This new look at the couple who “put the fun back in faith” wowed London audiences. But the big hair and big eyes have nothing on the big heart beating in this campy and funny pop-rock spectacular with music by Elton John.
For fans of: The Book of Mormon, Elton John, camp
Death Becomes Her
Previews begin October 23, 2024, opens November 21, 2024
Tony nominees Megan Hilty (Wicked, Smash), Jennifer Simard (Company, Disaster) Christopher Siebert (Spamalot, Company) and Michelle Williams (Destiny’s Child) play the leads in this adaptation of the 1992 movie starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis and Isabella Rossellini. Magic potion, eternal youth, frenemies—what could go wrong?
For fans of: Beetlejuice, musical comedy, fudging a birth date when asked
Swept Away
Previews begin October 29, 2024, opens November 19, 2024
Shipwreck, salvation and a score by folk-rock duo the Avett Brothers, this musical began its touring run two years ago, building a rabid coast-to-coast fan base. The stage is set at the end of the 19th century, when a storm sinks the whaling ship of four sailors near New Bedford, Massachusetts. With life and death stakes, the show explores the depths of who we are and who we become when faced with a challenge.
For fans of: sea shanty TikTok, tightly written musicals, Hadestown, Next to Normal
Gypsy
Previews begin November 21, 2024, opens December 19, 2024
The six-time Tony award winner Audra McDonald gets her Mama Rose turn in a Broadway classic known for its complexity and the nuance and intensity of the main character. Directed by Tony winner George C. Wolfe, this can’t-miss tour de force promises an especially compelling performance as lyric soprano McDonald tackles the brassy belting of classics like “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.”
For fans of: The Great American Songbook, powerful female characters, classic Broadway
Eureka Day
Previews begin November 25, 2024, opens December 16
Writer Jonathan Spector’s Broadway debut is coming off an acclaimed London run. Focused on a California private school with a well-meaning board of directors, a liberal vaccine policy and a mumps outbreak, this comedy asks what happens to well-meaning people when they bump against a stubborn virus—and even more stubborn “friends.”
For fans of: social media drama, Big Little Lies, timely social commentary
