Suggested to you by a Theatre Kid
Many shows such as Dear Evan Hansen, Company, Come From Away and others have closed on Broadway, and people are wondering what will happen next. Many are speculating what shows will come back or what shows will be be introduced to the stage. As a theater kid myself, I am constantly checking the Playbill website for answers. Many shows have announced that they will open in the fall of 2022. In this list, I will tell you which shows should be on your radar.
Take Me Out
The first show that I found really interesting was called Take Me Out, written by Richard Greenberg and directed by Scott Ellis. It will open on October 27, 2022 in the Schoenfeld Theater. This show is about Darren Lemming: a major league baseball player, coming out of the closet and how society and his team reacted to this situation. As the team gets ready for a championship year, the situation with Lemming makes them start to question themselves and their own beliefs. This show stars both Jesse Williams, who potrayed the character of Jackson Avery in Grey’s Anatomy, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who played Mitch in Modern Family. The show did a preview for a couple of weeks in the last Broadway season and gained positive traction. It was then nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play and won. Both Jesse Williams and Jesse Tyler Ferguson were nominated for Tony Awards and Jesse Tyler Ferguson won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. This preformance has had an impressive track record of awards and nominations. Make sure to get your tickets now if you want to see Take Me Out – it’s only Broadway for a mere 14 weeks!
&Juliet
The second show that I was excited for is &Juliet, written by Max Martin and David West Read and directed by Luke Sheppard. Already having previewed in the United Kingdom and being a total hit, I was overjoyed to find out that it was coming to Broadway. It is a jukebox musical – which is so fun! The previews will begin October 28, 2022 and it will officially open on November 17, 2022 in the Stephen Sondheim Theater. This musical is based on one of the most famous love stories: Romeo and Juliet. But it has a little bit of a twist: Juliet didn’t end it all over Romeo. Through music, performance, and humor, it tells the story of Juliet’s life after the death of her beloved Romeo. This musical is starring so many famous Broadway actors and actresses that it is hard to write them all down. I know I will be taking the Amtrak from DC to NYC for!
A Beautiful Noise
The third show that I saw that drew me in was A Beautiful Noise: the Neil Diamond Musical. This show is written by Anthony McCarten and directed by Mayer. Previews will start on November 2, 2022 and the opening will take place December 4, 2022 in the Broadhurst Theater. This is the story of the legend Neil Diamond’s life and how he has influenced the world through songs such as Sweet Caroline or America. This show stars quite a few famous people but the most well known is Robyn Hurder. She played Nini in Moulin Rouge and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Featured Role for her outstanding preformance. I’m excited to see what she does in the show because of how unbelievably talented she is. This show will be very popular due to the fact that people know Neil Diamond and almost everyone in the world knows the song Sweet Caroline by heart. Sweet Caroline is played at Oktoberfest in Munich, and it is played at soccer games throughout the world and it’s also a song for people to sing and dance too. It is also a biotopic musical and these types of musicals usually do pretty well, and most importantly, it is a musical for people of all generations to enjoy.
Sweeny Todd
The fourth show that I was literally screaming about when it was announced was the revival of the musical Sweeny Todd. The way I know all the words to all the songs in this show is just astounding to me. This show is written by Stephen Sodemin and Hugh Wheeler and directed by Thomas Kall at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. This musical thriller about the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is going to be brought back to life with a 26 person orchestra and I am over the moon. I love the idea of live music in musicals instead of tracks. It just adds something to the entire experience and ambience. The show is going to star the one and only Josh Groban who made his broadway debut in 2016 in Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 as Pierre Bezukhov and was nominated for a Tony Award in 2017 for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a musical. This is another show I will be taking the Amtrak to from DC to NYC to see! It will be 100% worth the train ride!
The Collaboration
The last and final show that intrigued me when looking at the list is called The Collaboration. This show was written by Anthony McCarten and directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah. The first previews of this show will start on November 29, 2022 and will open December 20, 2022 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater. It will be starring Paul Bettany, who originated the role of Vision in the Marvel Universe and Jeremy Pope, who was nominated for awards and actually went to a highschool in Orlando, Florida — where I’m from. The play takes place in New York in 1984 when Andy Warhol was failing and getting older while Jean-Michael Basquiat was taking the art world by storm. Then Basquiat and Warhol work together on an exhibition, and it becomes the talk of the city. I thought the idea of this play was really fascinating and something that Broadway has never seen before. This play has seen a run in the United Kingdom and I am excited for it to have a run here on Broadway!
Now that I have explained some of these shows, I hope you are compelled and keep your radar up and ears open:)