Winter/Spring 2025 Broadway Preview
Plus, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed!
Welcome to The Scene, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed. In this week’s email,
We preview the eight plays and twelve musicals set to open on Broadway this winter and spring of 2025!
The latest free read from Playscripts: Elsewhere, A play in two acts by Don Zolidis!
So, raise the curtain and shine the spotlight as we dive into another thrilling week in the theatre world. Welcome to The Scene.
Happy New Year!
9 Plays to Warm Up Winter in New York by Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times | Several festivals, including Under the Radar, are bringing a tantalizing breadth of new work to stages across New York. Read...
'I Feel Like I'm Just Getting Started': Shaina Taub on Suffs' Broadway Closing and Its Future by Diep Tran, Playbill | The Tony-winning composer reflects on the day she did Suffs and Ragtime back-to-back and reveals what she's working on next. Read...
For Shailene Woodley, Every Day Is Christmas by Alexis Soloski, The New York Times |The actress is starring in the Broadway play Cult of Love, about a dysfunctional family gathered for the holidays. That means another month of caroling. Read...
From Dogs to Lambs to Geese: How Bill Berloni Became Broadway's Go-To Animal Trainer by Margaret Hall, Playbill | Broadway’s animal whisperer spills the secrets behind the stage's most iconic furry friends. Read...
Blue Man Group Co-Founders to Return to the Stage For Final Performances by Margaret Hall and Molly Higgins, Playbill | The production has been running for over three decades. Read...
An American in Paris, Popeye: What's Going Into Public Domain in 2025? by Logan Culwell-Block, Playbill | The Gershwin's symphonic poem, the first Best Picture Oscar-winning movie-musical, and more are losing copyright protection soon. Read...
Winter/Spring 2025 Broadway Preview
By Zach Dulli, The Scene
Welcome to The Scene’s Winter/Spring 2025 Broadway Preview! As the new year unfolds and winter’s chill gradually melts into the soft warmth of spring, the legendary lights of Broadway refuse to be outdone by the changing seasons. In fact, they shine brighter than ever, promising an invigorating lineup of performances guaranteed to delight and inspire.
From thrilling revivals of cherished favorites to daring and innovative new works that push creative boundaries, Broadway’s stages are primed to amaze once again. And speaking of amazement, watch for the many film and television stars set to grace the Great White Way this season—they’ll be stepping off the screen and onto the boards in unforgettable roles.
Stick with us as we unveil the must-see productions lighting up Broadway this winter and spring. Whether you’re a longtime theater aficionado or a newcomer to the magic, prepare for a journey filled with all the suspense, drama, comedy, and musical brilliance that only Broadway can offer!
English
Play | Original
Playwright: Sanaz Toossi
Director: Kund Adams
Previews Begin: January 3, 2025
Opening Night: January 23, 2025
Theatre: Todd Haimes Theatre | 227 West 42nd Street, New York, NY
About: This Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy unfolds in an Iranian classroom where adult English learners practice for their proficiency exam. Their wildly different dreams, frustrations, and secrets come to light as they leapfrog through a linguistic playground. Can they overcome the limits of language to discover what they really want to say?
Redwood
New Musical | Original
Book and Lyrics: Tina Landau
Music and Lyrics: Kate Diaz
Director: Tina Landau
Previews Begin: January 24, 2025
Opening Night: February 13, 2025
Theatre: Nederlander Theatre | 208 West 41st Street, New York, NY
About: Tony and Emmy Award®-winning superstar Idina Menzel makes her long-awaited return to Broadway. Jesse seems to have it all — a successful career and devoted family — until a life-altering event drives her far from everyone and everything she knows. When she finds herself at the foot of the redwoods in Northern California, a chance encounter and a leap of faith will change her life forever. Redwood explores the lengths — and heights — one travels to find strength, resilience, and healing. Direct from a sold-out engagement at San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse, Redwood is a transportive new musical about one woman’s journey into the precious and precarious world of the redwoods.
Operation Mincemeat
New Musical | Original
Book, Music, and Lyrics: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts
Director: Robert Hastie
Previews Begin: February 15, 2025
Opening Night: March 20, 2025
Theatre: John Golden Theatre | 252 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY
About: The best-reviewed show in West End history is coming to Broadway! It’s 1943, and the Allied Forces are on the ropes. Luckily, they’ve got a trick up their sleeve. Well, not up their sleeve, per se, but rather inside the pocket of a stolen corpse. Equal parts farce, thriller, and Ian Fleming-style spy caper (with an assist from Mr. Fleming himself), Operation Mincemeat tells the wildly improbable and hilarious true story of the covert operation that turned the tide of WWII. The stunning true story of a scheme every bit as dicey, daring, and ridiculous as opening a new musical on Broadway! Winner of the 2024 Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
Buena Vista Social Club
New Musical | Original
Book: Marco Ramirez
Music and Lyrics: Buena Vista Social Club
Director: Saheem Ali
Previews Begin: February 21, 2025
Opening Night: March 19, 2025
Theatre: Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre | 263 W. 45th Street, New York, NY
About: Step into the heart of Cuba, beyond the glitz of the Tropicana, to a place where blazing trumpets and sizzling guitars set the dance floor on fire. Here, the sound of Havana is born—and one woman’s remarkable journey begins. In 1950s Havana, a group of young musicians creates a sound that shakes the world of Cuban music—until the revolution changes everything. Forty years later, the band is brought back together to record the songs they left behind. With decades of heartbreak fueling every note, they unexpectedly go on to create the greatest-selling world music album of all time, immortalizing their songs and their legacy. Inspired by true events, the new Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club™ brings the GRAMMY® Award-winning album to thrilling life—and tells the story of the legends who lived it. A sensational cast joins a world-class Afro-Cuban band in this unforgettable tale of survival, second chances, and the extraordinary power of music.
Othello
Play | Revival
Playwright: William Shakespeare
Director: Kenny Leon
Previews Begin: February 24, 2025
Opening Night: March 23, 2025
Theatre: Ethel Barrymore Theatre | 243 West 47th Street, New York, NY
About: Tony® and Academy Award® winner Denzel Washington stars as Othello, the noble Moor of Venice and commanding warrior-general. Opposite him, Tony® and Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal portrays Iago, the ambitious lieutenant and masterful manipulator. Spurned for promotion, Iago’s relentless quest for vengeance against Othello and his wife, Desdemona (portrayed by Molly Osborne), plunges them into a shocking web of deception and betrayal. Directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon, this production of Othello will play a strictly limited 15-week engagement next spring on Broadway.
Purpose
Play | Original
Playwright: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Director: Phylicia Rashad
Previews Begin: February 25, 2025
Opening Night: March 17th, 2025
Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre | 240West 44th Street, New York, NY
About: For decades, the influential Jasper family has been a pillar of Black American Politics: civil rights leaders, pastors, and congressmen. But like all families, there are cracks and secrets just under the surface. When the youngest son, Nazareth, returns home to Illinois with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith, and the legacies of Black radicalism. Spirited, hilarious, and filled with intrigue, Purpose is an epic family drama from one of the country’s most celebrated voices.
Glengarry Glen Ross
Play | Revival
Playwright: David Mamet
Director: Patrick Marber
Previews Begin: March 10, 2025
Opening Night: March 31, 2025
Theatre: Palace Theatre |160 West 47th Street, New York, NY
About: Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk, and Bill Burr star in David Mamet's Pulitzer and Tony® Award-winning play about a group of Chicago real-estate salesmen who battles ruthlessly for the big deal.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Play | Original
Adaptation: Kip Williams | Based on the book by Oscar Wilde
Director: Kip Williams
Previews Begin: March 10, 2025
Opening Night: March 27, 2025
Theatre: Music Box Theatre | 239 West 45th Street, New York, NY
About: Emmy Award® winner SARAH SNOOK, star of HBO’s smash-hit “Succession,” reprises her Olivier Award-winning performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray on Broadway. In an acting coup for the ages, Snook takes on all 26 roles in this gripping, witty, vibrantly contemporary production that breathes new life into Oscar Wilde’s classic tale. This ground-breaking production – adapted and directed by multi-award-winning Kip Williams during his tenure as Artistic Director at the acclaimed Sydney Theatre Company – delivers an explosive interplay of live performance and video in an astonishing collision of form.
BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical
New Musical | Original
Book: Bob Martin
Music: David Foster
Lyrics: Susan Birkenhead
Director: Jerry Mitchell
Previews Begin: March 11, 2025
Opening Night: April 5, 2025
Theatre: Broadhurst Theatre | 235 W. 44th Street, New York, NY
About: Tony Award®–winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell brings the Queen of the Animated Screen to the theater with celebrated multiple-time Grammy®-winning composer David Foster, Tony-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead, and Tony-winning bookwriter Bob Martin. For almost a century, Betty Boop has won hearts and inspired fans around the world with her trademark looks, voice, and style. Now, in BOOP!, Betty’s dream of an ordinary day off from the super-celebrity in her black-and-white world leads to an extraordinary adventure of color, music, and love in New York City—one that reminds her and the world, “You are capable of amazing things.” Boop-oop-a-doop!
Smash
New Musical | Original
Book: Rick Elice and Bob Martin
Music: Marc Shaiman
Lyrics: Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman
Director: Susan Stroman
Previews Begin: March 11, 2025
Opening Night: April 10, 2025
Theatre: Imperial Theatre | 249 W. 45th Street, New York, NY
About: Inspired by the hit TV show, Smash is finally coming to Broadway! A hilarious behind-the-scenes rollercoaster ride about the making of a Marilyn Monroe musical called Bombshell, it’s got all the iconic songs, kick-ass choreography, and backstage pandemonium that make Broadway the beloved institution it is today. Helmed by five-time Tony Award® winner Susan Stroman, Smash features a score by Tony, Emmy®, and Grammy Award®-winning duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, a book by Rick Elice and Bob Martin, and choreography by Joshua Bergasse.
Good Night, and Good Luck
Play | Original
Playwright(s): George Clooney and Grant Heslov
Director: David Cromer
Previews Begin: March 12, 2025
Opening Night: April 3, 2025
Theatre: Winter Garden Theatre | 1634 Broadway (West 50th Street) New York, NY
About: In a landmark theatrical event, two-time Academy Award® winner George Clooney makes his Broadway debut in Good Night, and Good Luck, an electrifying stage adaptation of the critically acclaimed film. Tune in to the golden age of broadcast journalism and Edward R. Murrow’s legendary, history-altering, on-air showdown with Senator Joseph McCarthy. As McCarthyism casts a shadow over America, Murrow and his team at CBS choose to confront the growing tide of paranoia and propaganda, even if it means turning the federal government and a worried nation against them. Under the direction of Tony Award®-winner David Cromer, from the original screenwriters Clooney and Grant Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck chronicles a time in American history when truth and journalistic integrity stood up to fearmongering and disinformation—and won.
The Last Five Years
Musical | Revival
Book, Music, and Lyrics: Jason Robert Brown
Director: Whitney White
Previews Begin: March 18, 2025
Opening Night: April 6, 2025
Theatre: Hudson Theatre | 141 West 44th Street, New York, NY
About: The Last Five Years follows two New Yorkers, rising author Jamie (Grammy Award® and Golden Globe nominee Nick Jonas) and aspiring actress Cathy (Tony Award® winner Adrienne Warren), as they fall in and out of love over the course of five years. With an acclaimed score by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown, the musical explores whether a couple, once united by their dreams, can remain connected as their paths diverge. Experience the first-ever Broadway production of one of the most beloved musicals of all time in a bold, new production directed by Tony Award nominee Whitney White.
John Proctor is the Villain
Play | Original
Playwright(s): Kimberly Belflower
Director: Danta Taymor
Previews Begin: March 20, 2025
Opening Night: April 14, 2025
Theatre: Booth Theatre | 222 W. 45th Street New York, NY
About: Sadie Sink stars in this bitingly funny new play from Kimberly Belflower that flips the script on the American classic and who gets to be the heroes in the stories we tell. At a high school in a rural town in Georgia, an English class is studying The Crucible, but the students are more preoccupied with navigating young love, sex ed, and a few school scandals. As they delve into the American classic, the students begin to question the play’s perspective and the validity of naming John Proctor the show’s hero. With deep wells of passion and biting humor, John Proctor is the Villain is a new comedy from a major new American voice, capturing a generation in mid-transformation, running on pop music, optimism, and fury, and discovering that their future is not bound by the past.
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
New Musical | Revue
Book, Music, and Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Devised by: Cameron Mackintosh
Previews Begin: March 25, 2025
Opening Night: April 8, 2025
Theatre: Samuel J. Friedman Theatre | 261 West 47th Street, New York, NY
About: Celebrate one of Broadway’s true icons with this legendary theatrical event! Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends is an irresistible celebration of the master himself, with a company headlined by none other than Tony Award® winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga. Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends comes to Broadway from London’s West End, where it earned a bevy of 5-star raves.
Floyd Collins
Musical | Revival
Book: Tina Landau
Music and Lyrics: Adam Guettel
Director: Tina Landau
Previews Begin: March 27, 2025
Opening Night: April 21, 2025
Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre | 150 West 65th Street, New York, NY
About: Floyd Collins is based on the true story of a cave explorer in Kentucky in 1925. While chasing a dream of fame and fortune by turning Sand Cave into a tourist attraction, Floyd Collins becomes the attraction when he gets trapped 200 feet underground. Alone but for sporadic contact with the outside world, including his brother Homer, Floyd fights for his sanity – and, ultimately, his life – as the rescue effort above explodes into the first genuine media circus. Reporters and gawkers from across the country descend on the property, fueling the hysteria and manipulating the nation into holding its collective breath. Floyd Collins, featuring a haunting exploration of the American dream by Tina Landau and a glorious folk and bluegrass-inspired score by Adam Guettel, tells the transcendent tale of a true American dreamer. Floyd Collins had its world premiere at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia in 1994. It was followed by the off-Broadway debut at Playwrights Horizons in 1996, where it won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical. Due to its enduring cast recording, the musical has achieved a devoted following over the years. This Lincoln Center Theater production will mark the long-awaited Broadway debut of this modern-day classic.
Just in Time
New Musical
Book: Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver
Music and Lyrics: Bobby Darin
Director: Alex Timbers
Previews Begin: March 28, 2025
Opening Night: April 23, 2025
Theatre: Circle in the Square Theatre | 235 W. 50th Street, New York, NY
About: Tony Award® winner Jonathan Groff returns to Broadway this spring as Bobby Darin, the legendary singer whose short but remarkable life took him from teen idol to global sensation. Directed by Tony Award winner Alex Timbers, Just In Time is an exhilarating new musical that immerses audiences in an intimate, swinging nightclub complete with a live band, a stellar ensemble cast, and iconic Bobby Darin hits including “Beyond the Sea,” “Mack the Knife,” “Splish Splash,” and “Dream Lover.” Discover the man behind the music – a once-in-a-lifetime talent who knew his time was limited and was determined to make a splash before it was too late.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Play | Original
Playwright: Kate Trefry
Concept: The Duffer Brothers, Jack Thorne, and Kate Trefry
Director: Stephen Daldry
Previews Begin: March 28, 2025
Opening Night: April 22, 2025
Theatre: Booth Theatre | 222 W. 45th Street New York, NY
About: From Netflix and the multi-award-winning Broadway producer Sonia Friedman Productions comes Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Winner of two Olivier Awards, including Best Entertainment, this landmark production is brought to life by an award-winning creative team, including director Stephen Daldry and co-director Justin Martin. With stunning special effects, extraordinary performances, and a storyline that will keep you on the edge of your seat, this gripping, stand-alone adventure will take you right back to the beginnings of the Stranger Things story. Hawkins, 1959: a regular town with regular worries. Young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously, and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out of town. When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy… and the shadows of the past have a very long reach.
Real Women Have Curves
Musical | Original
Book: Lisa Loomer and Nell Benjamin
Music: Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez
Lyrics: Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez
Director: Sergio Trujillo
Previews Begin: April 1, 2025
Opening Night: April 27, 2025
Theatre: James Earl Jones Theatre | 138 W. 48th Street, New York, NY
About: Based on the play by Josefina López that inspired the iconic hit film, Real Women Have Curves: The Musical is a funny, joyous, and empowering new show coming to Broadway. It’s the summer of 1987, and Ana Garcia dreams of flying away from East Los Angeles. But when her family’s garment business receives a make-or-break order for 200 dresses, Ana finds herself juggling her own ambitions, her mother’s expectations, and a community of women all trying to make it work against the odds.
Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Musical | Revival
Libretto: W. S. Gilbert
Music: Sir Arthur Sullivan
Adaptation: Rupert Holmes
Director: Scott Ellis
Previews Begin: April 4, 2024
Opening Night: April 24, 2024
Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre | 150 West 65th Street, New York, NY
About: Ramin Karimloo, Jinkx Monsoon, and David Hyde Pierce lead the crew in Pirates! The Penzance Musical! a must-see Roundabout reimagining of The Pirates of Penzance. Scott Ellis directs, and Warren Carlyle choreographs with a hilarious new adaptation by Rupert Holmes, musical direction by Joseph Joubert, and orchestrations by Joubert and Daryl Waters. Gilbert & Sullivan’s pirate ship docks in New Orleans in this jazzy-bluesy vision of the crowd-pleasing classic in an outrageously clever romp sizzling with Caribbean rhythms and French Quarter flair. With the tongue-twisting Major-General, the rabble-rousing Pirate King, newly-imagined young lovers, daring daughters, footloose pirates, and fleet-footed police, there's a shipload of musical comedy delights on board to dazzle first-timers and G&S aficionados alike.
Dead Outlaw
New Musical | Original
Book: Itamar Moses
Music and Lyrics: David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna
Director: David Cromer
Previews Begin: April 12, 2025
Opening Night: April 27, 2025
Theatre: Longacre Theatre | 220 W. 48th St., New York, NY
About: The most critically acclaimed new musical of 2024, Dead Outlaw, will open on Broadway following its smash-hit world premiere engagement at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre. Dead Outlaw is the darkly hilarious and wildly inventive musical about the bizarre true story of outlaw-turned-corpse-turned-celebrity Elmer McCurdy. As Elmer’s body finds even more outlandish adventures in death than it could have ever hoped for in life, the show explores fame, failure, and the meaning—or utter meaninglessness—of legacy. Dying is no reason to stop living life to its fullest. Dead Outlaw dominated the 2024 awards season, winning the ‘Best Musical’ prize at the Drama Desk Awards, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, Outer Critics Circle Awards, and Off-Broadway Alliance Awards.
What to See on London Stages This Winter by Matt Wolf, The New York Times | Some recommendations for visitors and residents who want to get the most from the city’s varied theater scene. Read...
Bridge Theatre puts Guys and Dolls neon lights on eBay by Alex Wood, What’s On Stage | Your chance to own a piece of the award-winning production! Read...
New Year Honours list: Stephen Fry, Carey Mulligan, Sarah Lancashire, and more recognized by Alex Wood and Tanyel Gumushan, What’s On Stage | See who made the list this winter. Read...
Hollywood Bowl Will Present Jesus Christ Superstar This Summer by Andrew Gans, Playbill | The Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical will play a limited engagement at the outdoor Los Angeles venue. Read...
Cast and Creative Team Set for Signature Production of Psychological Thriller Job by Andrew Gans, Playbill | Matthew Gardiner will direct Max Wolf Friedlich's two-hander, seen on Broadway earlier this season. Read...
Cast Complete for Marcia Milgrom Dodge-Directed Waitress at the Olney by Andrew Gans, Playbill | Performances of the Sara Bareilles-Jessie Nelson musical will begin in February. Read...
Free Reads of the Week
Read entire plays for free! Playscripts offers a selection of full-length and one-act plays that you can access for free, which is ideal for use in theatre productions, school performances, or competitions. To explore these titles, click on the cover image below or select the "READ FOR FREE" button at the bottom of this section. This action will direct you to the play's page on the Playscripts website. Once there, click "READ NOW" to begin enjoying the play immediately!
Elsewhere: A play in two acts by Don Zolidis
The Story: At a boarding school in New Hampshire, the former headmaster’s house sits empty, abandoned decades ago after his son disappeared inside and now thought haunted. But when four students break in on a dare, they don’t find ghosts or ghouls but instead a doorway to another world: Elsewhere. Elsewhere is a realm of pure imagination, overflowing with everything Sylvan, Ariel, Jenna, and Vi could ever want: magic, adventure, acceptance, purpose, a half-human, half-buffalo librarian. But the longer they stay in Elsewhere, the more it seems there’s something not quite right with the fantasy utopia—and the less willing Elsewhere is to let them go back to their real lives. To escape this dream world, the four friends must journey through their darkest nightmares. (An alternate version of this play amended for language and content is also available.)
Dramedy | 100 - 120 minutes | 9 W, 5 M, 1 Nonbinary actor, 10 Any (15-35 actors possible) | Set: Flexible
