New York City stages are gearing up for a starry fall, with Robert Downey Jr. making his Broadway debut, Marisa Tomei and Jane Krakowski doing new plays, Adam Driver and Kenneth Branagh leading revivals, and Audra McDonald and Nicole Scherzinger stepping into two of the juiciest roles that musical theater has to offer. The overall abundance — on and Off Broadway — is cheering: Even away from the sparkle of celebrity, there are plenty of tempting shows by plenty of artists we’d be lucky to be in the room with.
Broadway
‘McNEAL’ Robert Downey Jr. makes his Broadway debut in this new drama by the Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar (“Disgraced”), playing an esteemed novelist with a potentially dicey interest in artificial intelligence. This Lincoln Center Theater production, directed by Bartlett Sher, has a cast that includes Andrea Martin and Ruthie Ann Miles; Downey appears both live onstage and in a two-dimensional “metahuman digital likeness.” (Sept. 5-Nov. 24, Vivian Beaumont Theater)
‘THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA’ Jez Butterworth and Sam Mendes had a hit with their last Broadway collaboration, “The Ferryman.” Now they’ve teamed up for this time-toggling Butterworth play about four English sisters whose mother raised them in the 1950s to have showbiz dreams, and who return home in the 1970s as she is dying. Laura Donnelly, a star of “The Ferryman,” leads the capacious cast. (Sept. 11-Dec. 8, Broadhurst Theater)
‘YELLOW FACE’ David Henry Hwang’s 2007 satire stars Daniel Dae Kim (“Lost”) as a fictional version of the playwright, navigating anti-Asian racism in the theater and culture, while — whoops — mistakenly casting a white actor in an Asian role. In 2018, The New York Times named this comedy one of the 25 best American plays of the previous 25 years. Leigh Silverman directs this Roundabout Theater staging. (Sept. 13-Nov. 24, Todd Haimes Theater)
‘OUR TOWN’ Kenny Leon brings Thornton Wilder’s microcosmic drama back to Broadway, starring Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory”) as the Stage Manager. Zoey Deutch and Ephraim Sykes play the young lovers, Emily Webb and George Gibbs, with Richard Thomas and Katie Holmes as Mr. and Mrs. Webb; Billy Eugene Jones and Michelle Wilson as Dr. and Mrs. Gibbs; and Julie Halston as Mrs. Soames. (Sept. 17-Jan. 19, Barrymore Theater)
‘SUNSET BOULEVARD’ Nicole Scherzinger reprises her blistering London performance as the onetime Hollywood star Norma Desmond in Jamie Lloyd’s radically unfusty rethink of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical. Making striking use of live video, and a powerful case that Norma has by no means faded, Scherzinger, Lloyd and the revival all scooped up trophies at this year’s Olivier Awards. (From Sept. 28, St. James Theater)
‘LEFT ON TENTH’ Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher star in this romantic comedy by Delia Ephron, who with her sister Nora wrote a classic of the genre, the 1998 movie “You’ve Got Mail.” Directed by Susan Stroman, the play is adapted from Ephron’s 2022 memoir of the same name, about falling in love again after her husband’s death. (Sept. 26-Feb. 2, James Earl Jones Theater)
‘ROMEO + JULIET’ Kit Connor (Netflix’s “Heartstopper”) and Rachel Zegler (Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”) play the impetuous, star-crossed, adolescent lovers in this revival of Shakespeare’s bloody tragedy. Directed by Sam Gold (“An Enemy of the People”), who puts his contemporary stamp on the classics, it has music by Jack Antonoff and movement by Sonya Tayeh (“Moulin Rouge!”). (Sept. 26-Feb. 16, Circle in the Square Theater)
‘A WONDERFUL WORLD: THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG MUSICAL’ James Monroe Iglehart, a Tony winner for “Aladdin,” plays the title role in this new show about the jazz trumpeter and vocalist, which has a book by Aurin Squire (“The Good Fight”) and songs from Armstrong’s repertoire. Christopher Renshaw directs. (From Oct. 16, Studio 54)
‘MAYBE HAPPY ENDING’ Robot neighbors in Seoul meet cute and tumble into romance in this musical comedy by Will Aronson and Hue Park, starring Darren Criss and Helen J Shen. The critic Jesse Green called the show “Broadway-ready” when he saw its U.S. premiere, with a different cast, in Atlanta in 2020. Michael Arden (“Parade”) directed that production and stages this one, too. (From Oct. 16, Belasco Theater)
‘TAMMY FAYE’ The makeup. The outfits. The tears. The televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker was nothing if not over the top — a perfect subject for a glittery biomusical. With a score by Elton John and Jake Shears and a book by James Graham, Katie Brayben reprises her Olivier-winning turn in the title role, opposite Christian Borle as Jim Bakker and Michael Cerveris as Jerry Falwell. Rupert Goold directs. (From Oct. 19, Palace Theater)
‘SWEPT AWAY’ Inspired by the true story of three starving survivors of a 19th-century shipwreck who killed and ate a fourth, this new musical is set to songs by the folk-rock band the Avett Brothers. Directed by Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening”), with a book by John Logan (“Moulin Rouge!”), the show has scenic design by Rachel Hauck (“Hadestown”). (From Oct. 29, Longacre Theater)
‘DEATH BECOMES HER’ Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard play friends turned rivals in this musical adaptation of the 1992 Meryl Streep-Goldie Hawn comedy about the terror of aging, the pursuit of beauty and the trouble with acquiescing when a sorceress (Michelle Williams) offers a potion that brings eternal youth. Directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli. (From Oct. 23, Lunt-Fontanne Theater)
‘CULT OF LOVE’ Second Stage leans right into holiday-season angst with this drama by Leslye Headland (“The Acolyte,” “Russian Doll”) about a dysfunctional clan gathering for Christmas in Connecticut, where their emotional dramas are leavened with carol singing. Trip Cullman, who staged the play last winter at Berkeley Rep, directs. (Nov. 20-Feb. 16, Helen Hayes Theater)
‘EUREKA DAY’ In Jonathan Spector’s sharp social satire, a mumps outbreak at an ultra-precious private elementary school in Northern California exposes the rift between vaccine advocates and skeptics, challenging the board’s unctuous commitment to valuing each community member’s perspective equally. Anna D. Shapiro (“August: Osage County”) directs an ensemble that includes Amber Gray, Jessica Hecht, Bill Irwin and Thomas Middleditch. (Nov. 25-Jan. 19, Samuel J. Friedman Theater)
‘GYPSY’ Grabbing the baton first handed off by Ethel Merman, Audra McDonald plays the formidable Momma Rose in the fifth Broadway revival of Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim’s exalted 1959 musical about a vaudeville stage mother and her daughters: June, the favorite child, and Louise, who becomes the burlesque stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. George C. Wolfe directs, with choreography by Camille A. Brown. (From Nov. 21, Majestic Theater)
Off Broadway
‘SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED’ A loner planning a trip back in time places an ad seeking a travel partner, and a fledgling journalist responds. In Ryan Miller and Nick Blaemire’s musical reimagining of the 2012 indie film, Taylor Trensch (“Dear Evan Hansen”) plays the Mark Duplass role opposite Nkeki Obi-Melekwe (“Tina”) in the Aubrey Plaza part. Lee Sunday Evans directs. (Sept. 17-Oct. 20, BAM Strong Harvey Theater)
‘THE COUNTER’ Anthony Edwards (“ER”), Susannah Flood (“Life & Beth”) and Amy Warren star in this new play by Meghan Kennedy about a friendship that takes root between a waitress at a small-town diner and one of her regulars. David Cromer directs for Roundabout Theater Company. (Sept. 19-Nov. 17, Laura Pels Theater)
‘GOOD BONES’ James Ijames, a Pulitzer Prize winner for his “Hamlet” riff, “Fat Ham,” turns his gaze on gentrification and community, displacement and belonging, in this new play about a woman who moves back to her old block in the city where she grew up, hires a young contractor from the neighborhood and sets about renovating a house. Saheem Ali directs. (Sept. 19-Oct. 13, Public Theater)
‘HOLD ON TO ME DARLING’ This contemplative comedy by Kenneth Lonergan (“This Is Our Youth”) stars Adam Driver as an exceedingly famous, inordinately wealthy, absurdly cosseted country music singer who reacts to his mother’s death by moving back to his Tennessee hometown, in pursuit of simplicity and realness. The cast also includes Heather Burns and Frank Wood; Neil Pepe directs. (Sept. 24-Dec. 22, Lucille Lortel Theater)
‘VLADIMIR’ Erika Sheffer, the daughter of Soviet émigrés, set her best known play, “Russian Transport,” in her native Brooklyn. Moscow is the setting for her new play, the story of a journalist covering Vladimir Putin’s nascent regime in a nation growing ever more dangerous. Norbert Leo Butz and Francesca Faridany star in Daniel Sullivan’s premiere production for Manhattan Theater Club. (Sept. 24-Nov. 10, New York City Center Stage I)
‘BAD KREYOL’ Dominique Morisseau (“Skeleton Crew”) wraps up her multiyear Signature Theater residency with this new play set in Port-au-Prince. There two cousins with conflicting world views — Gigi (Pascale Armand), who is Haitian, and Simone (Kelly McCreary), who is Haitian American — revive their connection, spurred by their grandmother’s dying wish. A co-production with Manhattan Theater Club, it’s directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene. (Oct. 8-Dec. 1, Pershing Square Signature Center)
‘WE LIVE IN CAIRO’ The youthful idealism of the Arab Spring, powered as it was by a social media tsunami, inspired this musical by the brothers Daniel and Patrick Lazour, which follows a half-dozen student activists through the hopeful Egyptian uprising of 2011 and into a time of greater repression. Taibi Magar, who staged the show’s prepandemic premiere, directs. (Oct. 9-Nov. 24, New York Theater Workshop)
‘SHIT. MEET. FAN.’ Robert O’Hara (“Bootycandy”) is both writer and director of this satire, based on the Paolo Genovese film “Perfect Strangers,” in which friends gather for drinks and a dangerous game: sharing every new email, text and call that comes in on their smartphones — out loud. The cast includes Jane Krakowski, Neil Patrick Harris, Debra Messing, Billy Magnussen, Garret Dillahunt, Genevieve Hannelius, Tramell Tillman and Constance Wu. (Oct. 10-Nov. 17, MCC Theater)
‘GIVE ME CARMELITA TROPICANA!’ Soho Rep says goodbye to its longtime home in TriBeCa with this premiere by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, whose “Appropriate” won this year’s Tony for best play, and Alina Troyano, the veteran performance artist whose alter ego is the outrageous Carmelita Tropicana, this show’s star. The premise: Troyano wants to kill Tropicana. Jacobs-Jenkins (a character in the play, portrayed by an actor) tries to buy her. Eric Ting directs. (Oct. 23-Dec. 1, Soho Rep)
‘KING LEAR’ Kenneth Branagh takes on Shakespeare’s vain and crumbling Lear, who in apportioning his kingdom among his daughters disowns the one who truly loves him. Directed by Branagh, Rob Ashford and Lucy Skilbeck, with a supporting cast of recent Royal Academy of Dramatic Art graduates, this production ran in London last fall. (Oct. 26-Dec. 15, the Shed)
‘BABE’ In this play by Jessica Goldberg (“Parenthood”), which had a lauded premiere in Los Angeles in 2022, Marisa Tomei stars as Abby, a music producer with a long, illustrious track record as the right-hand woman to Gus, whose decidedly old-school way of operating rouses the ire of a young new female employee against them both. Scott Elliott directs for the New Group. (Oct. 29-Dec. 22, Pershing Square Signature Center)
‘THE BLOOD QUILT’ History, family and inheritance are threaded through this play by Katori Hall (“The Mountaintop”), in which four adult sisters in fresh mourning for their mother return to their family home, on an island off the coast of Georgia, and make a quilt in her memory. Lileana Blain-Cruz (“The Skin of Our Teeth”) directs. (Oct. 30-Dec. 29, Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater)
‘RAGTIME’ The tumultuous change of early 20th-century American society is at the heart of E.L. Doctorow’s novel, and of the sprawling musical that Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens and Terrence McNally made of it. Lear deBessonet’s starry Encores! cast includes Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, Brandon Uranowitz and Shaina Taub, taking a break from her Broadway show, “Suffs,” to play Emma Goldman. (Oct. 30-Nov. 10, New York City Center)
The post 28 Broadway and Off Broadway Shows to See This Fall appeared first on New York Times.