As a former theater critic, a brand new season means a deluge of requests from associates, family members, their associates, and so forth, for strategies about what to see. Fortunately, this fall is ample with selections, together with reveals starring among the greatest celebrities on Earth. Oscar winner Robert Downey, Jr. makes his Broadway debut and is joined by Mia Farrow, Katie Holmes, and Rachel Zegler, all taking to the stage. Throw in some tv and pop music heavy hitters — Jim Parsons, Julianna Margulies, Peter Gallagher, Nicole Scherzinger — and the season is not simply promising, it is positively A-list. And that is earlier than you embrace true Broadway royalty, with Patty LuPone, James Monroe Iglehart, and six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald taking over a few of musical theater’s most iconic characters. Want specifics? Listed below are 10 reveals you could get tickets to proper now.
“The Roommate”
Sales space Theatre, 222 W. forty fifth St., theroommatebway.com
The New York Occasions calls this “probably the most sudden double act of the New Broadway season.” Mia Farrow returns to Broadway for the primary time since 1979, when she was seen in “Romantic Comedy” (we’re not counting two staged readings). And Patty LuPone is again, regardless of giving up her Fairness card in 2022 (apparently, she’s nonetheless allowed to seem so long as the required charges are paid). The play by Jen Silverman explores an sudden friendship between two middle-aged ladies who develop into unlikely roommates.
“McNeal”
Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Lincoln Heart, 150 W. sixty fifth St, mcnealbroadway.com
Robert Downey Jr. makes his Broadway debut as a famed author who turns into obsessive about synthetic intelligence on this new play by Ayad Akhtar (“Disgraced”). The Academy Award winner shares the stage with Ruthie Ann Miles, Andrea Martin, and, apparently, his personal digital likeness because the play explores the complexities of mental know-how.
“Our City”
Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 W. forty seventh St.; ourtownbroadway.com
Thornton Wilder’s play about day-to-day life in Grover’s Corners, NH, “stands on the prime of the Mount Rushmore of nice American theater,” mentioned director Kenney Leon in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. Jim Parsons stars within the present, together with Zoey Deutch and Katie Holmes, for added star energy. That is the play’s first revival in almost 25 years, and it gained the Pulitzer Prize in 1938.
“Left on Tenth”
James Earl Jones Theatre, 138 W. 48 St.; leftontenthbroadway.com
Two tv actors take to the stage on this new play by Delia Ephron primarily based on her bestselling memoir. Julianna Margulies (“The Good Spouse”) performs the novelist and screenwriter who connects with a previous romance, performed by Peter Gallagher (“Gracie and Frankie”). As with every true story, all of it seems to be just a little messy.
“Romeo + Juliet”
Circle within the Sq., 235 W. fiftieth St.; romeoandjulietnyc.com
Rachel Zegler performed Maria within the latest movie model of “West Aspect Story.” Now, she has the possibility to discover the unique materials. She stars in director Sam Gold’s new manufacturing of Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy alongside Package Connor (“Heartstopper”), who does some significantly spectacular pull-ups within the present.
“Sundown Boulevard”
St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44 St., sunsetblvdbroadway.com
Contemporary from a run in London that swept the Olivier Awards (the Brit’s Tonys), Nicole Scherzinger, previously the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, offers a stunning efficiency because the consummate diva Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s haunting musical. It is a bare-bones manufacturing with no lavish set or winding staircase. Quite than sweeping robes and turbans, Scherzinger spends a lot of the play barefoot, carrying a easy black slip. Prepared for her closeup, certainly.
“A Fantastic World”
Studio 54, 254 W. 54 St., louisarmstrongmusical.com
James Monroe Iglehart (everybody’s favourite on-stage genie in “Aladdin”) performs famend trumpeter Louis Armstrong with some behind-the-scenes backup from producer Vanessa Williams and orchestrator Branford Marsalis. The biographical musical, that includes songs like “When You are Smiling,” is advised by taking a look at his 4 wives’ affect on his life.
“Tammy Faye”
Palace Theatre, 160 W. 47 St., tammyfayebway.com
“Broadway is the place the place the best tales are advised, and Tammy Faye’s story is made for the stage,” says Elton John, who wrote the songs for the brand new musical. Starring Katie Brayben because the late evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, the present additionally stars Christian Borle as her charismatic husband, preacher James Bakker.
“Loss of life Turns into Her”
Lunt Fontanne Theatre, 205 W. 46 St., deathbecomesher.com
Primarily based on the 1992 movie starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, the present unravels the connection between two longtime frenemies — an aspiring novelist (Jennifer Simard, “Firm”) and the actress who steals her husband (Megan Hilty, “Smash”). Is trying youthful the reply for both of them? The present has nice enjoyable making an attempt to reply that query.
“Gypsy”
Majestic Theatre, 245 W. 44 St.; gypsybway.com
Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald takes on considered one of Broadway’s most iconic characters as Mama Rose, a task many followers have been ready years to see. The Stephen Sondheim/Jules Styne basic, loosely primarily based on the memoir of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, options a few of Sondheim’s most beloved songs, together with “All the pieces’s Coming Up Roses” and the show-stopping “Rose’s Flip.”
Off Broadway
One of many greatest names on stage this season is showing off-Broadway. Academy Award winner Kenneth Branagh performs the title position in Shakespeare’s “King Lear” (Oct.26-Dec. 15 on the Shed, theshed.org). Different huge names embrace Adam Driver, starring in Kenneth Lonergan’s play “Maintain On To Me Darling (Sept. 24-Dec. 22, Lucille Lortel Theatre, holdontomedarling.com), and Jane Krakowski, Neil Patrick Harris, and Debra Messing, showing in Robert O’Hara’s “Shit.Meet.Fan.” (Oct.10-Nov. 17, MCC Theater, mcctheater.org).