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The 2025 season is filled with favorites, old and new. Long runs from the past show up in dazzling new renditions. Star power is on full display with performances by Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel and Denzel Washington. And we bid a fond adieu to creative gems like Romeo and Juliet, Stereophonic, Eureka Day and A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical.
With so many closings and new shows, a good way to stay current is to sign up for newsletters and ticket offers from sites like Broadway Inbound, www.broadway.org, The Broadway League’s official online info site www.telecharge.com, www.broadwaybox.com and www.todaytix.com.
Another great resource is the TKTS app. It provides real-time listings at the Theater Development Organization’s discount, day-of ticket booth at Father Duffy Square just north of Times Square, or at its Lincoln Center location.
Here is the latest roundup of ongoing, new and soon-to-open Broadway shows. Plus some Off-Broadway faves.
Created by the writer of “Schitt’s Creek,” the jukebox musical-comedy & Juliet asks the question, What would Juliet do if she reinvented her life without Romeo? Is Romeo totally out of the picture?
You’ll have to see this musical to find out. Pop hit after hit (28 in total) will keep you smiling and rooting for Juliet with anthems like “Since U Been Gone,” “Baby One More Time,” “It’s My Life” and “Roar.”
Stephen Sondheim Theatre, www.andjulietbroadway.com
One of two Disney blockbusters currently on Broadway, Aladdin is now in its twelfth magical year. A great introduction to live theater for audiences of all ages, the musical is a magic-carpet tour of adventure mixed with song. You’ll recognize larger-than-life Genie’s “You’ve Never Had a Friend Like Me” and Aladdin’s “I Can Show You The World.”
New Amsterdam Theatre, www.aladdinthemusical.com
Do you love South Park? Then this play-cum-musical is a must for you. A little offensive and a lot crazy, The Book of Mormon irreverently tells the tale of two Mormon missionaries who have been given their first “conversion” assignments far far away from their hometowns. It’s hard to believe the show opened 15 years ago. The Book of Mormon won nine Tony Awards in 2011.
Eugene O’Neill Theatre, www.bookofmormonbroadway.com
Moving to Broadway from a sold-out Off-Broadway run, Buena Vista Social Club is a spirited and sensitive depiction of life in Cuba through the music of the legendary album. Featuring an Afro-Cuban band, the musical tells the story of a group of musicians reuniting in their beloved Havana to pick up where they left off forty years earlier. Viva Chan Chan!
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is another transplant from the West End to Broadway. Concurrently playing in both the US and the UK, the immersive re-imagining of Kander & Ebb’s classic musical creates club life in Berlin during Nazi Germany with nightclub spaces, tables, and pre-show entertainment and cocktails. For the full experience, “guests” at the Kit Kat Club can pre-reserve Champagne and dinner at their tables.
Kander and Ebb’s utterly contemporary-feeling musical has been running since 1996. No matter how many times you see Roxie Hart, Velma Kelly and their murderous cohorts sing about what landed them in jail, the show is as fresh and sexy as ever.
If you can, try to imagine Joel Grey, the original Mr. Cellophane, when you watch the razzle dazzle. The choreography by Bob Fosse is legendary. You’ll be singing “All That Jazz” when you leave the theater.
Ambassador Theatre, www.chicagothemusical.com
A musical comedy version of the popular 1992 movie Death Becomes Her pits “frenemies” against each other in a story of revenge and mystery. With tour-de-force performances by Megan Hilty, Jennifer Simard and Michelle Williams, the musical has a dark and twisty score that will have you entranced.
David Mamet’s intense drama stars about two days in the lives of real estate salesman features Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk and Bill Burr. The advance buzz about this revival is so hot that the show was extended before its actual opening.
You’ve probably read the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald about 1920s millionaire Jay Gatsby. The lush musical follows Gatsby’s pursuit of his lost love, Daisy Buchanan, with an elaborate score and production that befits the time period.
Broadway Theatre, www.broadwaygatsby.com
Stephen Sondheim’s beloved musical Gypsy, graces the stage again with six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald plays the lead role as Rose, the stage mother pushing for her daughters’ fame. McDonald is ravishing and you’re sure to “have a real good time!”
You might want to brush up on your Greek mythology before seeing Hadestown. Winner of the 2019 Tony Award for Best Musical, the unusual, haunting musical by Anaïs Mitchell tells the story of two couples with disparate love themes.
Hades rules the underworld, from which Persephone escapes each Spring to bring forth flowers above. Orpheus, a songwriter in search of the perfect tune, meets Eurydice, a soul lost in other ways. On-stage musicians present a rollicking New Orleans-type score perfect for the narrator, Hermes.
Walter Kerr Theatre, www.hadestown.com
The show that shattered all records and changed theatrical history is as glorious and relevant as ever. Rap, hip hop, ballads, deceit and ambition all mix in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s genre-breaking musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton.
If you didn’t know much about Hamilton and his relationship with Aaron Burr before this play arrived on Broadway or streamed on the Disney Channel, you certainly will by the end of this show. Creative staging, stunning costumes and rapid-fire lyrics add to the show’s brilliance.
Hamilton won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Musical as well as a Grammy and an Olivier Award and has been playing to packed houses ever since its transfer from Off-Broadway’s Public Theater.
Richard Rodgers Theatre, www.hamiltononbroadway.com
The wizardry shines on Broadway filled with special effects you might have thought possible only in film. In this latest chapter of E. K. Rowland’s Harry Potter series, your favorite characters have grown up with their own children to worry about.
The rest of the Hogwarts entourage is there, too, along with some new characters. See it twice – once from an orchestra seat and once from the mezzanine, where you’ll be gifted with a different view of the spectacular set changes and magic. The play won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Play and continues to delight children of all ages into its seventh year.
Lyric Theatre, www.harrypotteronstage.com/us.com
Alicia Keys’ semi-autobiographical jukebox musical had a sold-out run Off-Broadway at the Public Theater and continues to draw in young and old audiences at its new home on Broadway.
Hell’s Kitchen reveals the singer-songwriter’s teenage challenges living in Hell’s Kitchen in the ’90s with her divorced and overbearing mother. Ali shows her spirit and develops her musical prowess through a relationship with a surprising mentor and an older beau. Music and lyrics are by Alicia Keys.
Shubert Theatre, www.hellskitchen.com
The second of Disney’s gargantuan Broadway hits currently running, The Lion King is a visually striking depiction of the story of the animals living in Pride Land. The characters – Simba, Nala, Timon and Pumba — are familiar from the animated movie of the same name.
The show’s standout “Circle of Life” song and procession will stay with you long after you’ve left the theatre. The Lion King opened in 1997 and was the winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1998.
Minskoff Theatre, www.lionking.com
Two retired robots called HelperBots meet in this musical with a surprising, evolving relationship. The play stars Darren Criss.
Belasco Theatre, www.maybehappyending.com
MJ the Musical
Popular among Michael Jackson fans worldwide, MJ follows the career of the “King of Pop” while focusing on the making of Jackson’s 1992 “Dangerous World” tour. The dancing is spectacular and the songs from the Jackson Five through Michael Jackson’s solo days will have you rocking in your seat.
Neil Simon Theatre, www.MJTheMusical.com
An over-the-top, musical interpretation of Baz Luhrmann’s film about decadent literary and nightclub life in Paris, Moulin Rouge is a wondrous romp through the Bohemian lifestyles of its characters.
Replete with more than 70 songs that will test your knowledge of pop music, the show rocks with dance, outré costumes, and superb staging in both the Moulin Rouge and the city beyond. There’s a reason Moulin Rouge won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2020. See it again and again.
The hardest ticket to get Off-Broadway continues its wacky success on Broadway. Cole Escola’s campy, hilarious play portrays the life of Mary Todd Lincoln through her desired lens as a cabaret singer just prior to the assassination of her famous husband. An outrageous rewrite of history, the play stars Escola as the boozy, unstable First Lady.
Lyceum Theatre, www.ohmaryplay.com
It’s a farce, it’s a thriller and it’s the winner of the 2024 Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Coming to Broadway from the West End, Operation Mincemeat is a spy caper set in 1943 with the Allied Forces plotting a secret operation to win World War II. With so much advance buzz, the musical has already extended its run.
Shakespeare returns to Broadway in the dramatic, limited-run Othello with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. Running for only 15 weeks, this story of vengeance, deception and betrayal is the current box office leader with nearly impossible-to-score tickets.
A musical adaptation of the 1983 Francis Ford Coppola movie about hard living in 1967 Tulsa, Oklahoma, The Outsiders pits Greasers Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade and their friends-family of “outsiders” against the entitled Socs and the girl who tries to cross the line. Heroism is brought to life through dramatic sets, staging and a strong songbook. 2024 Tony winner for Best Musical.
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, www.outsidersmusical.com
Idina Menzel returns to the stage as a middle-aged woman dealing with a crisis. Created with dramatic video, the set is a redwood forest where Jesse confronts her demons. Musical numbers predominate with strong cast performances and acrobatics.
SIX rocks the theater with a musical concert-play that sings the stories of the six wives of Henry VIII. Which glitter-studded wife deserved to be the king’s favorite? You’ll have to judge yourself.
The pop musical was the 2022 winner of the Tony for Best Original Score Written for the Theatre. The transplant from the West End will have you repeating the show’s “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived” chorus over and over again.
Brooks Atkinson Theatre, www.SIXonBroadway.com
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s powerful musical returns to Broadway with a production that is of-the-moment. Starring Nicole Scherzinger, the musical focuses on Norma Desmond, a fading movie star who wishes to revive her career with the help of screenwriter Joe Gills.
You may have seen Sunset Boulevard in the past with Glenn Close or Patti LuPone, but this new edgy version befits the Norma as embodied by Scherzinger. Be prepared for something entirely different.
St. James Theatre, www.sunsetblvdbroadway.com
Who doesn’t love the Wizard of Oz? Now celebrating more than 25 years on Broadway, Wicked takes another look at the Man Behind the Curtain story in a prequel about two school chums who grow up to be popular Glinda the Good Witch and gloriously green Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. The movie was good, but this is the real deal.
Gershwin Theatre, www.wickedthemusical.com
OFF-BROADWAY
The unauthorized comedic musical that lovingly pokes fun at TV’s Friends celebrates the adventures of Ross, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Joey and Chandler as they navigate the pitfalls of work, life and love in 1990s Manhattan. The show recreates favorite moments from all 10 seasons of the iconic sitcom through an uncensored, fast-paced, music-filled romp.
A family phenom for your family from the Yang family of bubble virtuosos. “We are so thrilled to be bringing bubbles back to the stage and smiles to our audiences,” says master bubble maker Melody Yang.
The wildly acclaimed Tony-winning musical revival is now a long-running Off-Broadway hit. The story follows hapless flower-shop employee, Seymour, who finds himself trapped under the blood-thirsty fronds of the plant he’s named Audrey II after the girl of his dreams.
A madcap hybrid of Monty Python and Sherlock Holmes, this award-winning comedy is bringing down the house—literally—Off-Broadway. It’s the opening night of The Murder at Haversham Manor, where an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything are only some of the hilarious mishaps.
A musical celebration that turns one of the greatest love stories of all time into a hysterical and joyful slay-fest. Want to find out what really happened to Jack and Rose on that fateful night? Leave it to Céline Dion to casually hijack a Titanic Museum tour and enchant the audience with her totally wild take, recharting the course of Titanic’s beloved moments and characters with her iconic song catalog. There’s a reason this show has been extended again and again.
Inspire your next adventure with our articles below:
Traveling has given Meryl Pearlstein a chance to “live” all over the world, something she’s always longed to do. A member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), Meryl is the author of Fodor’s Family: New York City with Kids and a contributor to Splash Magazines, Travel Supermarket and City Guide. Meryl’s blog, Travel and Food Notes, www.travelandfoodnotes.com, is a lively companion to her column on www.AllNY.com. Follow her on social media @merylpearlstein.
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