Fall Preview 2024: Get to Know the 16 Shows Opening on Broadway Before Year's End

On Broadway, back-to-school season means an influx of must-see shows destined to fill out your fall calendar. The next few months promise a mixture of original plays and musicals, beloved revivals and a collection of actors so starry you'll need to put on sunglasses when the curtain goes up. So mull yourself a batch of cider, break out your autumn flannel and sort through the 16 productions bound for Broadway stages this fall.  

THE ROOMMATE
COMEDY/DRAMA, OPENS 9/12
This not-as-quaint-as-it-seems two-hander from writer Jen Silverman, in which a feisty New Yorker comes to live with a recent divorcée, has been described as The Odd Couple meets Breaking Bad. It pairs real-life friends Mia Farrow and three-time Tony winner Patti LuPone—they’re kind of like this season’s Bill & Ted—which feels a bit like pairing a marshmallow with an open flame. Silverman’s script calls for two women in their fifties; the age-blind casting ought to generate some new laughs but also bring out some of the darker, lonelier themes lurking in the text. Previews August 29 / Opens September 12 / Booth Theatre

THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA
DRAMA, OPENS 9/29
The last time the very British playwright Jez Butterworth and director Sam Mendes brought a show to Broadway, their Northern Ireland drama The Ferryman, the show was so teeming with life that a goose laid an egg backstage. Their latest collaboration has a similarly panoramic sweep and grandness of ambition. The Hills of California alternates between the years 1955 and 1976 to tell the story of the Webb sisters and their domineering mother Veronica. Olivier winner and Tony nominee Laura Donnelly, Butterworth’s partner and muse, commands the stage in two roles. Expect close-harmony singing along with a portrait of siblinghood and mother-daughter bonds at their least harmonious. Not to mention the delight of being transported to a sprawling bed and breakfast in an English seaside town for a few hours. Previews September 11 / Opens September 29 / Broadhurst Theatre

McNEAL
DRAMA, OPENS 9/30
When it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. would be making his Broadway debut this season, the main surprise was how little stagework he’s done previously: His restless energy seems so right for the theater. Beyond the hype around the artificial-intelligence subject matter and the digital doppelgänger of its star, we’re betting that Pulitzer-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar’s script has as much to say, if not more, about humanity than about technology. Previews September 5 / Opens September 30 / Vivian Beaumont Theatre

YELLOW FACE
COMEDY, OPENS 10/1
Back in 1990, the actor Jonathan Pryce, slathered in bronze cream and wearing eye prostheses, played a Eurasian pimp on Broadway in Miss Saigon. Speaking out about the casting at the time, playwright David Henry Hwang became the public face of the first major U.S. controversy over “yellow face.” And then? According to Hwang’s fictionalized play—centered on a bumbling version of himself—hilarity ensued. Hwang wrote Yellow Face back in 2007; its satiric exploration of race, representation and cancel culture will likelier feel even funnier (riskier?) in the current moment. Get excited to see Lost star Daniel Dae Kim tap into his silly side as the Hwang stand-in, leading a comically gifted cast. Previews September 13 / Opens October 10 / Todd Haimes Theatre

OUR TOWN
DRAMA, OPENS 10/10
Thornton Wilder’s paean to community and lyrical reminder to cherish the beautiful mundanity of life as we’re living it is sure to resonate in all new ways this side of a global pandemic. This production stars Tony nominee Jim Parsons as the Stage Manager and Katie Holmes as Mrs. Webb, along with, in the heartrending role of Emily Webb, rising indie film actress (and daughter of actress Lea Thompson) Zoey Deutch. The production is in assured hands: Tony-winning director Kenny Leon has deftly helmed some of the greatest American plays in the canon (and directs Othello later this season). Previews September 7 / Opens October 10 / Ethel Barrymore Theatre

SUNSET BOULEVARD
MUSICAL, OPENS 10/20
Andrew Lloyd Webber is back on Broadway—as if he never said goodbye—and, after the downtown sensation of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, it’s like he’s cool again, y’all. Visionary director Jamie Lloyd offers up a stripped-back, smoky treatment of the sumptuous opera-musical about a faded Hollywood star longing for her glory days. By all accounts, Grammy-nominated former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger is an electrifying Norma Desmond. “I cannot wait to come for blood on Broadway,” she said in her Olivier acceptance speech earlier this year. Let the bloodletting begin. Previews September 28 / Opens October 20 / St. James Theatre

LEFT ON TENTH
DRAMA, OPENS 10/23
In 2016, Delia Ephron—sister to Nora and co-writer of You’ve Got Mail—seemingly found herself in a delightful romantic comedy of her own, exchanging heartfelt emails with a handsome man on another coast. Just like in the movies! Except that Left on Tenth is maybe less like a frothy ’90s rom-com and more like a Nicholas Sparks heart-wrencher from the ‘00s, replete with life-threatening illness. (That innocuous title is richer and sadder than it appears at first glance.) Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher are bound to bring both heft and heart to this story of late-in-life love. Previews September 26 / Opens October 23 / James Earl Jones Theatre

ROMEO + JULIET
DRAMA, OPENS 10/24
A younger generation living with the f**k-ups of the older generation… Is it 1597 or 2024? This new take on Romeo & Juliet boasts a hip, young and inclusive cast—the marketing is giving strong Pepsi commercial vibes—led by Kit Connor and, a newcomer to Broadway but no stranger to star-cross’d love, Rachel Zegler. It also boasts the involvement of probably the coolest Broadway debut this season: super-producer Jack Antonoff is composing the underscore. Fresh off last season’s An Enemy of the People, director Sam Gold gets in touch with his inner angry teen at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Previews September 26 / Opens October 24 / Circle in the Square

A WONDERFUL WORLD: THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG MUSICAL
MUSICAL, OPENS 11/11
The story of jazz legend Louis Armstrong gets the musical treatment in A Wonderful World, a biomusical co-directed by Christopher Renshaw, Christina Sajous and the show’s Tony Award-winning star, James Monroe Iglehart. The show delves into the life of the man behind popular tunes like “What a Wonderful World” and “When You’re Smiling,” but the story is told by the wives that shaped his life: Darlesia Cearcy as Lucille Wilson, Dionne Figgins as Daisy Parker, Kim Exum as Alpha Smith and Jennie Harney-Fleming as Lil Hardin. Co-conceived by Renshaw and Andrew Delaplaine, the musical features a book by Aurin Squire. Previews October 16 / Opens November 11 / Studio 54

MAYBE HAPPY ENDING
MUSICAL, OPENS 11/12
Maybe Happy Ending, a futuristic romantic musical comedy by Will Aronson and Hue Park, stars Darren Criss and Helen J Shen as a pair of abandoned helper-bots who find love and connection in an isolating world. The show rides to Broadway on the buzz it’s accumulated through years of productions: a 2016 Korean-language world premiere in Seoul, followed by mountings in Japan and China, and a 2020 English-language debut at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre. The original musical is directed by Tony winner Michael Arden, who earned his trophy just last year for helming the Broadway revival of Parade. Previews October 16 / Opens November 12 / Belasco Theatre

TAMMY FAYE
MUSICAL, OPENS 11/14
Katie Brayben brings her Olivier Award-winning performance as televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker to Broadway, leading a cast that also includes two-time Tony winner Christian Borle as her husband Jim Bakker and two-time Tony winner Michael Cerveris as Reverend Jerry Falwell. With a book by James Graham, the show also brings a brand-new score from Elton John, the rock-star composer behind Broadway’s Aida, Billy Elliot, Lestat and The Lion King (Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters writes the lyrics). Rupert Goold directs the production, returning to Broadway with his first musical since American Psycho. Previews October 19 / Opens November 14 / Palace Theatre

SWEPT AWAY
MUSICAL, OPENS 11/19
The Avett Brothers set their music to a fully conceived stage musical about the 1884 shipwreck that inspired their 2004 concept album, Mignonette. Directed by Tony winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, American Idiot), the show stars Tony winner John Gallagher, Jr., two-time Tony nominee Stark Sands, Wayne Duvall and Adrian Blake Enscoe as the four-man crew cast adrift in a lifeboat after their yacht is sunk. Tony-winning playwright John Logan (Red) writes the book that binds the time-tested folk-rock score, which will also be bolstered by nautical stage craft fit for a Broadway stage. Previews October 29 / Opens November 19 / Longacre Theatre

DEATH BECOMES HER
MUSICAL, OPENS 11/21
Robert Zemeckis’ 1992 dark comedy about the price of eternal beauty is bringing some of Broadway’s best to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Tony nominees Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard star as washed-up actress Madeline Ashton and her mild-mannered frenemy Helen Sharp—the pair of looks-conscious women fighting for the affections of plastic surgeon Dr. Ernest Menville (two-time Tony nominee Christopher Sieber). Michelle Williams, of Broadway and Destiny’s Child fame, plays Viola Van Horn, purveyor of the magic potion that is sure to inspire some ghoulish visual effects. Directed and choreographed by Tony winner Christopher Gattelli, the show has a book by Marco Pennette and music and lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey. Previews October 23 / Opens November 21 / Lunt-Fontanne Theatre

CULT OF LOVE
DRAMA, OPENS 12/12
Leslye Headland, best known as co-creator of the hit Netflix series Russian Doll, makes her long-awaited Broadway debut with this family drama set around a contentious Christmas holiday. An exploration of “pride,” the play is the final installment of Headland’s Seven Deadly Sins cycle, which also includes her addictively raucous comedy Bachelorette (witness the “gluttony” in the 2012 film adaptation). “I wrote this play seven years after the first six in the series, so it’s very different from the others,” said Headland ahead of Cult of Love’s 2018 world premiere at IAMA Theatre Company. “The play tackles being raised in a religious home and how that affects us in adulthood.” Trip Cullman directs this darkly thematic offering for the holiday season, produced by Second Stage Theater. Previews November 20 / Opens December 12 / Hayes Theater

EUREKA DAY
COMEDY, OPENS 12/16
A mumps outbreak at a private California elementary school prompts an all-too-relatable vaccination debate in Jonathan Spector’s new comedy, coming to Broadway as part of Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2024-25 season. The satirical culture war will be waged by an accomplished ensemble, featuring Zoë Chao, Tony nominee Amber Gray, two-time Tony nominee Jessica Hecht, Tony winner Bill Irwin and Emmy nominee Thomas Middleditch. Anna D. Shapiro, Tony-winning director of August: Osage County, helms the play’s Broadway premiere. Previews November 25 / Opens December 16 / Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

GYPSY
MUSICAL, OPENS 12/19
It’s Audra’s turn in Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents’ oft-revived musical about striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee and the stage mother that made her. Audra McDonald, a six-time Tony-winning stage icon, is taking her crack at the infamous Momma Rose in a new production directed by George C. Wolfe at the newly renovated Majestic Theatre. Wolfe and McDonald previously collaborated on the 2016 Tony-nominated production of Shuffle Along, Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, so the pair have a proven track record when it comes to revisiting classics with a modern eye. And as the first Broadway revival to be produced after the passing of all three of its original creators, this Gypsy could have fewer creative constraints than ever before. Previews November 21 / Opens December 19 / Majestic Theatre