Autumn is almost here, and as part of our Fall 2023 Preview, we’re scoping out all the events, experiences and entertainment you should add to your calendar for the upcoming months. Why suffer from FOMO when you can tap into our edit of what’s worth investing time and money in this Fall? Here’s our list of the 10 most buzzed-about and highly anticipated new Broadway and off-Broadway shows hitting theaters in NYC this Fall 2023.
what are the most anticipated Broadway shows this fall?
We’re a few short weeks away from the first day of fall, and you know what that means. It’s time for a brand-new season of art shows, museum exhibits, book releases, and our personal favorite – Broadway and off-Broadway show openings.
On Broadway and beyond, New York is preparing to stage a thrilling round of new plays, musicals, and revivals. As we all know, live performance has had a rocky road few years. So, we’re especially delighted to have so many new and highly anticipated shows arriving this season.
The 10 most highly-anticipated Broadway shows hitting theaters in NYC this Fall 2023.
There are many titles that you should be keeping on your radar. But let’s start with the ones that are generating the most buzz. Here are ten new works we can’t wait to see in theaters in New York this fall.
1. Infinite Life
Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Baker returns to New York with a new play, Infinite Life. The premise? Five women in Northern California sit and discuss the intersections of their fallible bodies and their desires. If this doesn’t sound interesting to you, think back to the way Baker’s The Flick took the city by storm. That was a whole decade ago now. Don’t miss Infinite Life at Atlantic Theater Company. From now until October 8th.
2. Purlie Victorious
This is the first revival of Purlie Victorious, a play that was written by and starred the one-and-only Ossie Davis. This production is directed by Kenny Leon, and stars Leslie Odom Jr. as Purlie Victorious Judson. He’s a charismatic preacher who travels to a small town in the south in order to save its community church amidst the laws of Jim Crow. We absolutely can’t wait to see Odom Jr. back on Broadway! Opens September 7th.
3. Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Jocelyn Bioh (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play) is one of our favorite playwrights. And she’s back this fall with a new production. Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is set in a hair braiding shop in Harlem, and portrays the lives of the tightknit community during one unforgettable summer. Previews will begin at Manhattan Theater Club on September 12th, in a production directed by Whitney White (Our Dear Dead Drug Lord).
What are the must-see shows coming to Broadway in NYC this fall?
4. Merrily We Roll Along
When tickets for Merrily We Roll Along were first released for the production at New York Theater Workshop, the demand temporarily broke the theater’s website. If you were one of the many who initially missed out on the chance to see the revival – the one that stars Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, and Daniel Radcliffe – we are happy to tell you that you have a second shot. The smash-hit production transfers to Broadway this fall. Giving all of us one final opportunity to see the transcendent Sondheim revival in person. Don’t miss out. From September 19th 2023 through March 24th 2024.
5. I Can Get it For You Wholesale
The point of a great Broadway revival is to bring back our favorite plays and musicals, giving us a chance to see them with new faces and new perspective. But sometimes, revivals serve to unearth hidden gems – shows from decades earlier that we may never have had the chance to see.
That’s the case with I Can Get it for You Wholesale, which is coming to Classic Stage Company in a limited run from October 10th through December 3rd. With a book by Jerome Weidman and music and lyrics by Harold Rome, the show is directed by Trip Cullman and brings together a cast of Broadway favorites. Including Adam Chanler-Berat, Eddie Cooper, Santino Fontana, Julia Lester, Rebecca Naomi Jones, and more. It takes place in 1937 in New York’s garment district, and focuses on a young shipping clerk who is trying to achieve his dreams.
6. Hell’s Kitchen
If the words “Alicia Keys wrote the music and lyrics for a musical” have you jumping up and down in your seat, then you better head to the East Village for a chance to see Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theater. Keys’ musical is a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl whose life is forever changed when she hears her neighbor playing the piano. It has a book by Kristoffer Diaz and is directed by Michael Greif, and together with Keys they sound like a dream team. This might just be our most-anticipated show of the new season. From October 24th to December 10th.
Make plans now to see these buzzed-about new Broadway shows opening Fall 2023 in NYC.
7. Spamalot
Going into the fall season, Monty Python’s Spamalot might have the most buzz of any upcoming show. This revival comes straight from its successful run at the Kennedy Center. Christopher Fitzgerald, James Monroe Igleheart, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Ethan Slater, Jimmy Smagula, Michael Urie, and Nik Walker star. Like the Kennedy Center production, the show from Eric Idle and John Du Prez will be directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes. A gold-star comedy is coming our way on October 31st.
8. Waiting for Godot
From November 4th through December 3rd, a brand-new revival of Waiting for Godot comes to Brooklyn’s Theater for a New Audience. We are always enthusiastic about revivals of the Samuel Beckett play, but now even more than usual. It will be directed by Arin Arbus, who is known for her recent direction of The Skin of Our Teeth. In this upcoming production, Michael Shannon stars as Estragon. Paul Sparks is Vladimir. Jeff Biehl is Lucky. And Ajay Naidu is Pozzo. You’ll definitely want to put this one on your calendar.
9. How to Dance in Ohio
If you never got the chance to see the Alexandra Shiva’s 2015 documentary How to Dance in Ohio, it chronicles the experience of a group of autistic teenagers as they prepare for their spring dance. And in a couple of months, director Sammi Cannold will bring the same story to the stage in a brand-new musical. The show’s book and lyrics are by Rebekah Greer Melocik and its music is by Jacob Yandura, and it received extraordinary reviews when it briefly ran in Syracuse last year; we can’t wait for previews to begin on November 15th, 2023.
The Fall 2023 calendar for new Broadway and off-Broadway shows in NYC.
10. Appropriate
There’s no subgenre of theater we love more than the dark family comedy – or the comedic family drama. In Branden Jenkins-Jacobs’ Appropriate, a family in Arkansas gathers together to handle their father’s estate. But when secrets from the family’s past are revealed, and an estranged sibling appears, nothing goes according to plan. Lila Neugebauer will direct the upcoming production. And Sarah Paulson is set to star. It will open at Second Stage Theater sometime in November.
Exclusive Sneak Peek: 10 Upcoming Shows Hitting Theaters this Fall
That’s our edit of the 10 most buzzed-about and highly anticipated new Broadway and off-Broadway shows hitting theaters in NYC this Fall 2023. Get your tickets now . . .
