Keanu Reeves (his Broadway debut!) in a Waiting for Godot revival, Neil Patrick Harris, Bobby Cannavale, James Corden in an Art revival, Lea Michele and Aaron Tveit in a CHESS revival, Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, Brandon Uranowitz in revival of Ragtime: None are listed below. 

I look forward to all of them. The reason for their omission is primarily that I’ve already put together a complete, continually updated preview of the Broadway 2025-2026 season that includes details on all of these shows. 

Other reasons: 1. Celebrity-studded shows sell themselves, and it’ll likely be tough to get (reasonably priced) tickets, so why torture you?  2. There is a tantalizing abundance of new shows — many beyond Broadway — that get less attention and may be just as likely to delight. 

Some of the ten I’ve selected below — all of them shows opening on New York stages between September and December — may well become “can’t miss” or “must see.” But I don’t know that yet for sure (I haven’t seen most of them) and I’ve been burned enough times so that I’m not using those phrases anymore. That’s the reason for the asterisk in the headline. The track record for my past previews is a fairly consistent 70 percent: Three of the ten wind up disappointments in some way.
All I know for certain right now is that these shows excite me enough, or at least intrigue me enough, that I want to make sure to see them, for reasons I enumerate below.  That doesn’t mean I’ll end up liking them (which is why I add a cautionary note to some of them.)
I feel them worth previewing, despite the lack of guarantees, as a way to address a dilemma facing the New York theatergoer: By the time you can be sure that a show is worth seeing (once it’s been reviewed, say, by someone whose taste you trust) it might be too late to get any tickets, or at least any tickets you can afford.

The shows are organized chronologically more or less according to opening date (when I could find the opening date; otherwise, first performance), with the titles linked to the show’s website.  At the beginning of each month, I put together a monthly calendar of theater openings, which will have far more choices for each of the four months as the season unfolds. (And again, check out my Broadway 2025 2026 Season Preview Guide)

Julio Torres

Color Theories
What: Julio Torres makes his Off-Broadway debut with what he describes as a whimsical exploration of color, emotion, and identity that is equal parts comedy, theater, and art piece.
When: September 3 – 21. Opening September 10.
Where: Performance Space New York
Why: In his work on screen in Problemista and Fantasmas, and in his standup special  My Favorite Shapes,  Torres has exhibited a gentle, winning touch with surreal comedy, which reflects a unique sensibility in part shaped by his life as a queer immigrant from El Salvador.

Prince Faggot
What: Jordan Tannahill’s play imagines a grownup Prince George of England (currently 11 years old) as an out gay man
When: September 11 – October 26. 
Where: Seaview Studio
Why: This is an intact transfer of a production from last season that I found, despite its deliberately offensive title and premise,  not just “wonderfully acted and artfully staged,” as I put it in my review,  but also surprisingly thoughtful. It has its hilarious campy moments, and is undeniably meant to shock (there are graphic scenes involving nudity), but the storytelling feels honest, especially in the way It employs its six terrific cast members, all of whom identify as queer –Rachel Crowl, K. Todd Freeman, David Greenspan, Mihir Kumar, John McCrea, and N’yomi Allure Stewart – to tell personal (albeit largely fictionalized) stories about being marginalized. It’s worth seeing for those theatergoers who missed the initial run. However…
Why not:  The play is transferring from the non-profit Playwrights Horizons, where it was in a co-production with the also non-profit SoHo Rep, to a commercial Off-Broadway run at the recently bought and rechristened Seaview Studio, where tickets are as high as $199, continuing an off-putting Off-Broadway price-gouging practice. 

John Leguizamo

The Other Americans
What: John Leguizamo stars in a play he wrote about Nelson Castro, a Colombian-American laundromat owner in Queens grappling with a failing business, buried secrets, and a son who returns from a mental wellness facility after a traumatic incident.
When: September 11 – October 12. Opening September 25.
Where: The Public Theater
Why: Leguizamo has entertained New York theatergoers since his Off-Broadway breakthrough Mambo Mouth in 1991, followed by four solo shows on Broadway, the last of which, “Latin History for Morons” was given a Special Tony Award. This is his first play that features a full cast of characters portrayed by other actors, and a plot that doesn’t sound conducive to his usual freewheeling hilarity. Can he pull it off? He has help from another great pro,  director Ruben Santiago-Hudson (whose son Trey plays Leguizamo’s son in the play)

And Then We Were No More
What: In this new play by Tim Blake Nelson, Elizabeth Marvel portrays a lawyer in the not-too-distant future is forced to represent a prisoner deemed ‘beyond rehabilitation’ and destined to perish in a newly developed machine designed to execute ‘without pain.’ The attorney must strive for justice in a system devoid of mercy.
When: September 19 – November 2
Where: La MaMa ETC
Why: Tim Blake Nelson, best known as a quirky character actor on screen, has written for the stage before, his play Socrates, which was crowded with characters, but certainly erudite. His new play, with a cast of proven New York pros — Marvel Scott Shepherd, Henry Stram – and some newcomers, suggests a timely update of Kafka.

“And Then We Were No More” has a longer run than usual for La MaMa. It’s worth checking out the other offerings at this longstanding Off-Off Broadway theater.

Little Bear Ridge Road
What: The title is the street on the outskirts of Troy, Idaho where the playwright Samuel D. Hunter’s father lived, and it is the setting of Hunter’s play about an aunt and a nephew with a painful history between them who hunker down together during the pandemic.
When: October 7 to February 8. Opening October 30
Where: Broadway’s Booth theater
Why:  This marks the long-awaited Broadway debut of a playwright whose every play I’ve seen (all of them taking place in his home state of Idaho) has been a quietly amusing and powerfully affecting drama about loss and hope, most memorably “Lewiston/Clarkston” (2018), “Greater Clements” (2019), and especially “A Case for the Existence of God”  (2022.), as well as last season’s Grangeville.  The prolific Joe Mantello directs, and its four-member cast includes the much-praised Tony winning actress (and “Roseanne” alumna) Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock, whose Broadway debut in “It’s Only A Play” ten years ago made him a fan favorite.
Why not: It marks the return to Broadway of producer Scott Rudin, who was forced to “step away” from producing four years ago after reports of widespread abusive behavior.

Kyoto
What: The play dramatizes the 1997 conference in Japan that led to the Kyoto Protocol, the first unanimous agreement by the nations of the world on climate change, despite obstacles thrown up by American oil lobbyist and master strategist Don Pearlman (portrayed by  Stephen Kunken in a reprise of his acclaimed performance in England)
When: October 8 – November 30. Opening November 3
Where: Lincoln Center’s  Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
Why: The play was acclaimed in London, where it was called gripping and funny. The New York version features such reliable actors as Kate Burton and Roslyn Ruff. If I worry this play may be too dry for my taste, I’m reassured by the participation of four theater artists with a track record for theatrical spectacle – the writers, Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, gave us the extraordinary immersive The Jungle, a re-creation of a real-life refugee camp; the Broadway credits of the co-directors, Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, include  “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”

Screenshot

The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire
What: In this play written by Anne Washburn, an intentional community somewhere in foggy Northern California tries to live off the land and keep an unsteady world at bay – until one of their own dies unexpectedly.
When: October 23 – December 5. Opening November 9
Where: Vineyard Theater
Why:  Washburn is forever in my sights because of her 2013 “Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play” — clever, funny take on the apocalypse.

The Queen of Versailles
What: Stephen Schwartz’s musical, which reunites him with his Wicked star Kristen Chenoweth, is based on the 2012 documentary about socialite Jacqueline Siegel, whose plan to build a mansion in Florida to rival the 17thcentury French palace went awry. 
When: First preview: October 8. Opening November 10
Where: Broadway’s St. James Theater
Why: Some who saw the try-out in Boston found it Schwartz’s most emotionally affecting score; everybody seemed to adore the performances by both Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham playing her husband. This promises to be the lavish new Broadway musical of the season, but one with a sharp social message, entertaining and amusing, but also moving, 
Why not: The danger here is that it turns out to be like last year’s “Tammy Faye,” attempting to satire without understanding its target.

Archduke
What: In Rajiv Joseph’s play casts Gavrilo Princip and his fellow revolutionaries in a new light. Best remembered as the man who started World War I by assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand, he is pictured here as part of a ragtag group of teenager dreamers s
When: October 23 – December 21. Opening November 12.
Where: Roundabout’s Laura Pels
Why: The playwright, best known for “Bengal Tiger at the Bagdad Zoo,” has a grasp of world history and politics, that brings it down to earth. The only cast member announced as of this writing is Patrick Page, best known for “Hadestown” and “All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain.” I’d see anything he is in (that included Spiderman!)

Marjorie Prime
What: In Jordan Harrison’s play,  an elderly woman’s grown children give her a robot caregiver,
When: Opening December 8
Where: Second Stage’s Helen Hayes Theater
Why: Althought the play was first produced in 2015, it is even more relevant with the ascendance of AI. But it’s also insightful about family dynamics. My review of it Off-Broadway in 2015. And what a cast this time: Danny Burstein, Cynthia Nixon, Christopher Lowell. I regret that Lois Smith, now 94, is not reprising her role. But they cast June Squibb, who is a year older at 95, and got her first leading role in a movie last year in Thelma.

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