September isn't even over yet, and the fall is already abuzz with new shows in performances, shows beginning rehearsals, or other shows selling out before they begin performances. While it's fairly straightforward to see which shows are coming to Broadway (which you can find here), it's a little more complicated for New York City's Off- and Off-Off Broadway scene.
But luckily, I have over a decade of theatre-going experience in the city, and the willingness to go into different boroughs for theatre. I have surveyed the listings of shows that are heading to NYC this fall.
I have also omitted shows with celebrities in them, such as Hold On to Me Darling starring Adam Driver or the entire cast of Shit. Meet. Fan., because those shows sell themselves (though you can get a more comprehensive list of upcoming starry shows here).
From original musicals by up-and-coming composers to a play on an actual barge in Brooklyn to a new Dominique Morisseau play about Haitian immigrants, here are the 11 shows I'm particularly excited about this fall.
The Big Gay Jamboree (Orpheum Theatre)
The Big Gay Jamboree seems like a no-brainer to be excited for: It's written by and stars Marla Mindelle, who also helped create the still-running and still-very-funny Titanique. But then I learned what it's about: a failing actor who is trapped in a Golden Age musical set in Bareback, Idaho. So it's Schmigadoon except more queer. And Margot Robbie is one of the producers. Sign me up! Or rather, take me to Bareback!
The Big Gay Jamboree is currently running through January 19, 2025 (though if it extends, it may cement Mindelle as the queen of Off-Broadway).
Good Bones (The Public Theater)
If you loved James Ijames' Fat Ham, his modern and queer take on Hamlet, when it was on Broadway, then you should be excited for his newest play Good Bones. The play follows a Black couple who have bought a home in a blighted neighborhood, and the questions that decision brings up around gentrification. The play is billed as a comedy, so I expect laughs and also a good bite that will linger for a long time.
Good Bones is currently running through October 27.
Magnificent Bird/Book of Travelers (Playwrights Horizons)
At the 2024 Tony Awards, when Stereophonic won Best Play, Playwrights Horizons Artistic Director Adam Greenfield took to the stage to make a plea for more support for non-profit theatres. And what better way to support the theatre that premiered Stereophonic Off-Broadway than to buy tickets to its newest show. But this isn't just community service. The theatre's season opener is Magnificent Bird/Book of Travelers written by composer Gabriel Kahane, whose chamber musical February House remains one of the most evocative and moving musicals I've ever seen. His newest show is two musical pieces in repertory and promises to be quite personal: Book of Travelers follows Kahane as he embarked on a 9,000-mile train journey through America, and Magnificent Bird is about the year he lived off-line. If the musical is a triumph (which it promises to be considering the entire run extended before it even began), perhaps it'll remind all of us to go offline and touch grass.
Magnificent Bird/Book of Travelers runs September 24–October 13.
The Wind and the Rain (Vineyard Theatre and En Garde Arts)
Immersive theatre pioneer En Garde Arts teams up with Vineyard Theatre to present their newest show: The Wind and the Rain. The show will take place in Red Hook, Brooklyn. It will begin in one location (the Waterfront Museum Barge) and end in another (a local bar named Sunny's that's been owned by one family for over 100 years). This play by Sarah Gancher promises to do what I always love about immersive theatre: teaching audiences about the places where they live and areas of the city that they may have not explored yet. If you don't live in Red Hook and have to go down there, why not take in something ambitious and transportive?
The Wind and the Rain runs September 28–October 27.
Drag: The Musical (New World Stages)
The category is: musical theatre! If you're an avid follower of RuPaul's Drag Race, then put on your heels and head down to Drag: The Musical. Not only is it co-written by Drag Race All-Stars winner Alaska Thunderfuck (who also stars in it), the show is filled with queens: Luxx Noir London, Bre Jackson, and Eddie Korbich. The show follows two rival drag bars fighting for survival. The show had a well-received run in Los Angeles earlier this year (and you can get a preview by listening to the cast album). And if you love drags and boy bands, you're in for a treat because former New Kids on the Block member Joey McIntyre is also in the cast.
Drag: The Musical begins its open run October 21.
Bad Kreyol (Signature Theatre Company and Manhattan Theatre Club)
A new play from Dominique Morisseau (Skeleton Crew, Ain't Too Proud) is always a cause for celebration. But this play promises to be an event: It's about a Haitian American family and Haiti's fraught relationship with America. Morisseau was working on this play long before the current wave of disinformation against Haitian immigrants from the Trump campaign, but her play cannot come at a better time as a way to humanize a group of people who have been unfairly maligned in recent days. And because it's Morisseau, expect some poetic turns of phrases in the play that you will turn in your head for days.
Bad Kreyol runs October 8–December 1.
We Live in Cairo (New York Theatre Workshop)
I saw an early workshop of We Live in Cairo, a musical about the 2011 Egyptian revolution that launched the Arab Spring, back in 2015. It's composed by brothers Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour. Even in a reading with scripts and music stands, I was struck by the ambition of the work and its musicality. The show made its premiere in 2019 at American Repertory Theatre and will now finally have a New York run via New York Theatre Workshop, a sign of greater ambitions for a show. And led by The Who's Tommy title player (and rising star) Ali Louis Bourzgui, telling a story that many Americans think they know but have only seen the surface of, how can you not be excited?
We Live in Cairo runs October 9–November 24.
Give Me Carmelita Tropicana (Soho Rep)
Like many in the theatre community, I was distraught when I heard that Soho Rep had to move out of their longtime venue on Walker Street. I had countless life-changing theatrical experiences in that space: Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi, Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury, and, more recently, Snatch Adams by Becca Blackwell. What is New York City without the avant-garde grit of Soho Rep? Luckily, the company will live on at Playwrights Horizons' second stage, but I'm going to miss grabbing a boba in Chinatown before going to a Soho Rep show. Luckily, Alina Troyano and newly minted Tony winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins are sending out the Walker space with a bang with Give Me Carmelita Tropicana, which promises to be a meta exploration of the downtown New York theatre scene and real estate. I'm RSVP-ing to this party.
Give Me Carmelita Tropicana runs October 23–December 1.
The Blood Quilt (Lincoln Center Theater)
The Blood Quilt is not a new play. In fact, this family drama by Katori Hall (The Mountaintop) first premiered in 2015. But it hasn't been seen in New York City until now. And that's worth being excited for. The play follows four sisters who reunite to create a quilt together in honor of their deceased mother. And the show is quite personal for Hall, she's a quilter herself who learned how to quilt from her grandmother. So crafters and play lovers unite!
The Blood Quilt runs October 30–December 29.
We Are Your Robots (Theatre for a New Audience and Rattlestick Theater)
With the current heated conversations around A.I. (including a Broadway play about it), perhaps the last thing you want to do is see a musical about robots. But, composer Ethan Lipton had been combining existential dread and science fiction before it was cool. His 2012 musical No Place to Go followed a man whose job had been outsourced to Mars. In his newest musical, directed by frequent collaborator (and Suffs director) Leigh Silverman, Lipton and his band play robots who ask, "What do humans want from their machines?" I expect it to be a funny, sardonic, yet moving time.
We Are Your Robots runs November 7–December 8.
The Beastiary (Ars Nova)
As a fan of Bardcore, I am very excited for The Beastiary. Not only is the always-adventurous Ars Nova producing the show with music, they're letting an up-and-coming company, On the Rocks Theatre Co., create it. The show promises to combine medieval and modern aesthetics into a "twisted comedic puppet pageant of consumption, corruption and the end of humankind." With Ars Nova producing, it'll be memorable and nothing like you've seen before.
The Beastiary runs October 7–November 9.
BONUS: Acclaimed Shows That Are Coming Back to NYC
There's truly too much going on this fall to be summed up in just 10 shows. But if you find yourself overwhelmed with choices, you can also go to a show that had a previous run in the city and is now returning for an encore. Those shows include:
- The horror-musical Teeth, which will make you both laugh and squirm (watch out for the stage blood). If you're wondering if Teeth is right for you, sample the cast album with songs by Anna K. Jacobs and Tony winner Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop).
- The six-hour verbatim reading of The Great Gatsby called Gatz. It's arguably the most faithful Gatsby adaptation you will ever see, and this latest run at the Public Theater will be the production's final outing after over a decade of performances around the world.
- Ragtime at New York City Center, for the musical theatre fans and for folks who are aching for a Broadway revival, or who want to see an all-star cast (led by Tony winner Joaquina Kalukango and Joshua Henry) perform the modern classic musical.
- Our Class—which had a well-received, sold-our run earlier this year and is having an encore run at Classic Stage Company until November 3. The play by Polish writer Tadeusz Słobodzianek is based on the 1941 massacre of the Jewish population in the Polish city of Lviv.
For an up-to-date listing of what's coming Off-Broadway, click here.
