While there’s plenty of drama on the political front, we’re ready to settle into squashed seats with our sippy cups full of overpriced wine for what’s coming down the theater pipeline. Despite previously quitting Actors’ Equity, we knew Patti LuPone couldn’t resist Broadway’s temptation for long, and she’s not the only big name headed to the stage this season.
Jim Parsons, Jake Gyllenhaal, Nicole Scherzinger, and Audra McDonald are among the biggest stars arriving on Broadway before the end of the year. Beyond New York City, a bevy of new works and revivals arrive on more intimate stages across the country while London’s West End prepares for an adaptation of one of our favorite movies — we’re cerulean with envy!
Your dose of fabulosi-TEA
Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.
Broadway
The Roommate
Patti LuPone quit Actor’s Equity, but that’s not stopping the three-time Tony winner from returning to Broadway. Patti gets what Patti wants. And in this case, it’s a roommate by way of Mia Farrow in Jen Silverman’s new play. Described as a “witty and profound portrait of a blossoming intimacy between two women from vastly different backgrounds,” The Roommate promises powerhouse performances from two of our favorite leading ladies.
Booth Theatre, New York City. Performances August 29 – December 15.
Yellowface
“Is he or isn’t he (Asian)?” is the question posed in playwright David Henry Hwang’s (M. Butterfly) 2007 Obie Award-winning semi-autobiographical satire Yellowface. Not so loosely based on actual events surrounding Hwang’s 1993 play Face Value – about the casting of Caucasian actor Jonathan Pryce as the pivotal role of The Engineer in Miss Saigon – this Broadway debut has been 17 years in the making and arrives on The Great White Way without director Leigh Silverman (Suffs) at the helm.
Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theatre, New York City. Performances September 13 – November 24.
Our Town
Direct from every high school in America comes yet another revival of Thorton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Our Town, about the universal transience of life set in a small New England town at the turn of the 20th century. But before you roll your eyes, take a look at the cast, which features Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory, The Boys In The Band), Katie Holmes (All My Sons, Batman Begins), Richard Thomas (The Waltons), Michelle Wilson (Sweat), and Julie Halston (Tootsie). All of a sudden, a play that boasts no scenery is looking pretty flashy.
Barrymore Theatre, New York City. Performances September 17 – January 19
Sunset Boulevard
Former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger reprises her Oliver Award-winning performance in Sunset Boulevard, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sweeping musicalization of silent film star Norma Desmond. Unlike Glenn Close in the original 1994 production, Scherzinger won’t have a turban or grand staircase to descend; instead, relying on monochromatic scenic and video design and a decidedly stark point of view by director Jamie Lloyd. In a heated season of Broadway leading ladies, will Scherzinger emerge as “The Greatest Star of All”?
St. James Theatre, New York City. Performances begin September 28.
Romeo + Juliet
Heartstopper’s Kit Conner follows co-star Joe Locke’s recent Broadway debut in Sweeney Todd by tackling one of the most melancholy young lovers ever written: Romeo. But this Shakespearean classic promises a breath of fresh air (their last if you know how the story ends) thanks to director Sam Gold (Fun Home) and movement by Sonya Tayeh (Moulin Rouge! The Musical). Rachel Zegler, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story, appears opposite Conner as Juliet, along with some innovative casting that includes Sola Fadiran as both Capulet and Lady Capulet and Tommy Dorfman as the Nurse and Tybalt. “The youth are f**ked” — their words, not ours!
Circle in the Square Theatre, New York City. September 26 – January 19.
Tammy Faye
The metamorphosis of puppeteer-turned-pioneer televangelist-turned unlikely gay icon Tammy Faye Bakker Mesner has been a saga of biblical proportions and fodder for a musical ever since RuPaul’s Drag Race creators Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato turned their cameras on her for the 2000 documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye. With a score by recent EGOT-winner Sir Elton John, lyrics by Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, and Broadway debut by two-time Olivier Award-winner Katie Brayben, Tammy Faye looks like it could be having gays shouting Hallelujahs in the aisles at the Palace Theatre, a newly reopened Broadway house that — like the musical’s namesake — just got a huge facelift.
Palace Theatre, New York City. Performances begin October 19.
Death Becomes Her
Since its debut in 1992, the mother-of-all catfight film comedies starring Meryl Streep as a self-absorbed aging diva and Goldie Hawn as her acid-tongued arch enemy, feuding over a schlubby plastic surgeon (Bruce Willis) and immortal life, has been a queer cult classic. Megan Hilty (Smash) and Jennifer Simard (Company) star in the Streep/Hawn roles, with gay two-time Tony nominee Christopher Sieber (The Prom) in the Willis role. And to make it über queer-friendly, former Destiny’s Child member Michelle Williams steps into the role played on screen by Isabella Rossellini. Reports from the show’s out-of-town tryout say that Death Becomes Her will arrive on Broadway with every over-the-top campy moment from the movie intact.
Lunt Fontanne Theatre, New York City. Performances begin October 23.
Gypsy
Our favorite stage mother returns to Broadway for the sixth time. Audra McDonald steps into the role of Rose, originated by Ethel Merman and was subsequently performed by Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters, and Patti LuPone. But this Gypsy will likely have some cultural tension beyond its mother-daughter relationship as director George C. Wolfe (Rustin, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) reexamines the musical through a new lens. Will everything come up roses to secure McDonald a seventh Tony win?
Majestic Theatre, New York City. Performances begin November 21.
Off-Broadway
Forbidden Broadway
Gerard Alessandrini returns with another edition of Forbidden Broadway, the semi-perennial hot take on theater’s best — and worst. Originally planned for a Broadway run, the show bumped its production to a smaller Off-Broadway house, which may better serve the hijinks Alessandrini has been cooking up since its first iteration in 1982. Expect parodies of recent titles and talent, including Hell’s Kitchen, The Outsiders, Cabaret, The Wiz, and, of course, Merrily We Roll Along, along with silly impersonations of Patti LuPone, Eddie Redmayne, Daniel Radcliffe, Ariana DeBose, and Jeremy Jordan, among others.
Theater555, New York City. Performances August 30 – December 1.
Related*
Eddie Redmayne leads a dazzling & dangerous ‘Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club’
Eddie Redmayne delivers an elastic performance set in an immersive space that reimagines the Kander and Ebb musical for a new generation.
Ghost of John McCain
You’d think that during this election cycle, the last place you’d want to end up is anywhere near Donald Trump. And yet, that’s the premise for Ghost of John McCain, a world premiere musical that thrusts the late Senator from Arizona into an afterlife he never expected when he finds that “heaven” is inside Trump’s brain. There, he encounters a “Greek Chorus” of iconic figures, including Hillary Clinton, Roy Cohn, Eva Perón, Lindsey Graham, George W. Bush, Tiffany Trump, Grizabella from CATS, Barack Obama, Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, Eric Trump, Clint Eastwood — and now Kamala Harris — who rebel against the former President’s relentless demands for affirmation.
Soho Playhouse, New York City. Performances begin September 3.
The Big Gay Jamboree
The title says it all! Marla Mindelle, the queer creator of Titaníque, returns with The Big Gay Jamboree. Fans of 1940s Golden Age musicals will drool over the new comedy, which follows Stacey, who, after blacking out from 18 Jägerbombs, wakes up blurry-eyed in the most terrifying (or fabulous, if you’re a theater queen) place of all: an Off-Broadway musical. Will there be singin’ in the rain? We can only hope, but one thing’s for sure: Mindelle knows comedy and has a voice to ring through the rafters — and that’s a bandwagon we can hop on.
Orpheum Theatre, New York City. Performances begin September 14.
Hold On To Me Darling
Hold my beer, Yoda. Tony and Oscar-nominated actor Adam Driver (Girls, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens) is set to star in an Off-Broadway revival of playwright Kenneth Lonnergan’s 2016 play Hold On To Me Darling. The tragicomedy (something Lonergan does better than any other living playwright) features Driver as a narcissistic country singer so convinced with his connection to everyday folk that after the death of his mother, he abandons superstardom to rejoin the simple life.
Lucille Lortel Theatre, New York City. September 24 – December 22.
DRAG: The Musical
The gift that keeps on giving! DRAG: The Musical won the 2023 Queerties Award for Live Theater for its Los Angeles premiere, and the show has continued to gain traction ever since. A recent reboot has paved the way for an Off-Broadway run. Written by Alaska Thunderf*ck, multi-platinum songwriter Tomas Costanza, and Ashley Gordon, expect everything you love about drag — and a plot. Spencer Liff directs and choreographs with an all-star cast that includes Jujubee, Lagoona Bloo, New Kids on the Block’s Joey McIntyre, and Nick Adams. Hold onto your wigs; it’s going to be a bumpy night!
New World Stages, New York City. Performances begin September 30.
Related*
Spencer Liff on punking out Elle Fanning, his leather obsession & the secret to drag queen choreo
Liff is currently starring in “Reefer Madness: A New Musical” at The Whitney Theater in Los Angeles.
Teeth
Audience members will squirm in the commercial transfer of Playwrights Horizons’ surprise spring 2024 hit, Teeth, a dark comedic musical with a score by Anna K. Jacobs (Pop) and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop), who co-wrote the book with Jacobs. Based on the cult 2007 film of the same name, Teeth tells the story of Dawn, a good Christian Promise Keeper from the fictional midwest town of Eden who has a secret — her vagina is equipped with teeth that spring into action if perpetrated unwillingly. Think Saved meets Little Shop of Horrors, and you get the idea.
New World Stages, New York City. Performances begin October 16
King Lear
Brush up on your Shakespeare. We’ll have to wait until the spring for the Broadway revival of Othello starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, but in the meantime, Bard bad boy Kenneth Branagh tackles the title role in King Lear. Set in “the barbarous landscape of Ancient Britain,” expect this Lear to deliver a master class as the award-winning actor and director completes the trifecta of Shakespeare’s greatest roles, including Hamlet and Macbeth.
The Shed, New York City. Performances October 26 – December 15.
Regional Theater
Velour: A Drag Spectacular
With nearly 400 RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni scattered across the globe, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for a queen to stand out from the crown. Unless you’re Sasha Velour. The Season Nine winner’s unique artistry and performance style have amassed a dedicated audience, many of whom are flocking to sunny San Diego for Velour’s new collaboration with theatermaker Moisés Kaufman (The Laramie Project), Velour: A Drag Spectacular. Velour flies above the stage, swaps in and out of more than a dozen costumes, and harkens back to their earliest gender-expansive memories.
La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego. Performances through September 15.
Related*
A harnessed Sasha Velour flies through the air with the greatest of ease
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner and “We’re Here” star Sasha Velour aims high in her new live show, “Sasha Velour: A Drag Spectacular.”
The Normal Heart
With LGBTQ+ rights continuing to be challenged across the nation, Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart — nearly 40 years old — still feels relevant in its searing portrayal of queer resilience. Winner of three Tony Awards when it finally arrived on Broadway in 2011, Chicago’s Redtwist Theatre returns the work to its intimate roots in an up-close-and-personal production that examines the early days of the AIDS crisis and the playwright’s harrowing experience as a gay activist.
Redtwist Theatre, Chicago. Performances August 22 – September 29.
Dragon Lady
Queer multihyphenate Sara Porkalob, who made headlines in 2022 during their Broadway debut in the gender-flipped 1776 revival, is about to make waves in LA when they bring their highly personal one-hander Dragon Lady to the Geffen Playhouse this September. The musical, written by Porkalob, centers around their Filipina immigrant grandmother Maria on her 60th birthday, when, according to tradition, she tells her life story to her family. In addition to playing Maria, Porkalob embodies a dozen-plus other characters and sings familiar karaoke tunes with personalized lyrics, tracing the story of Maria’s life.
Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles. Performances September 4 – October 6.
Into the Woods
Sondheim’s most-produced musical, Into the Woods, is about to get shrunk. Chicago’s Kokandy Productions (a Queerties 2024 Live Theater nominee), dedicated to raising the profile of storefront musical theater in The Windy City, will present a downsized production of the fairy tale tuner. With an orchestra reduced to two pianos and a cast of 12 (half of them doubling roles), this version promises to focus on “the intimate and immersive nature of the show, capturing the desperate need to be seen, to be remembered and to gather together to share (and receive) a good story.”
Chopin Theatre, Chicago. October 10 – December 22
The Golden Girls Meet the Skooby Don’t Gang: The Mystery of the Haunted Bush
The worlds of 80s sitcoms and 70s Saturday morning cartoons collide when Windy City camp theater troupe Hell in a Handbag Productions ends its 22nd season by bringing together two beloved parodies into one Halloween tale, The Golden Girls Meet the Skooby Don’t Gang: The Mystery of the Haunted Bush. Rose’s nephew Fred is coming for a visit with his amateur sleuth friends, Daffy, Velva, Skaggy, and their dog Skooby. Though Rose is excited, she’s also hiding the real motive for inviting them: she’s being haunted by a big, scary bush – or is it a tree?
Hell in a Handbag Productions. Chicago, October 10 – November 3.
London Theater
Slave Play
Buckle up, London! The provocative and boundary-pushing Slave Play by queer wunderkind Jeremy O. Harris (who reappears as eccentric fashion designer Grégory Elliott Duprée in season three of Emily in Paris) is shaking up the West End. This sizzling, controversial exploration of queer relationships, race, sex, and power dynamics in America has already set Broadway on fire, snagging a record-breaking 12 Tony nods. Now, it’s crossing the pond to challenge and captivate British audiences. But will the Brits (whose ancestors transported millions of Africans to their colonies) see themselves in the mirrors of designer Clint Ramos’ set?
Noel Coward Theatre, London. Performances through September 21.
Buyer & Cellar
What’s a struggling gay actor in LA to do when he gets fired as the mayor of Toontown in Disneyland? Work as the sole employee in a faux mall set up in the basement of Barbra Streisand’s Malibu home. It turns out that Babs is quite the organized hoarder, and her subterranean digs house a lot of pretty expensive, valuable, and esoteric stuff that she occasionally likes to visit. Rob Madge (who almost made it to Broadway last season in their My Son’s a Queer, (But What Can You Do?) stars in the hilarious one-hander Buyer & Cellar. (Fun fact: Michael Urie, currently appearing on Broadway in Once Upon a Mattress, originated the role.)
King’s Head Theatre, London. Performances September 18 – October 19.
The Devil Wears Prada
Kamala Harris, who’s digging the country out of a black hole of despair with a rousing campaign to become our next President, turned heads wearing a coconut brown pantsuit at this week’s DNC. The moment harkens back to one of our favorite film scenes of all time, in which Meryl Streep, as fashion icon Miranda Priestly, schools Anne Hathaway’s character about cerulean blue. The moment lives on in director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell’s latest endeavor, The Devil Wears Prada, which features music by Elton John and stars Vanessa Williams as the frosty fashion editor-in-chief.
Dominion Theatre, London. Performances begin October 24.
Feeling nostalgic about past productions? Tap dance down memory lane with a look at last season’s Broadway musicals:
Related*
Shirtless greasers, lesbian rockers & pansexual wizards: How queer are this season’s Broadway musicals?
Most of this season’s Broadway musicals left LGBTQ+ narratives at the stage door—Queerty pries it open to discover our favorite queer moments.
Woody
Very good run down, Queerty! Well done.