Now that September is here, the pace of openings both on and off Broadway is picking up greatly. Here are a dozen shows opening in the next two months that caught my eye.
On Broadway, there are many more revivals than new works:
Manhattan Theatre Club is bringing Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy School Girls: Or, the African Mean Girls Play, an off-Broadway hit in 2017, to the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre starting September 8th. (Here’s a link to my review of the 2017 production: https://gotham-playgoer.blogspot.com/2017/11/school-girls-or-aftrican-mean-girls-play.html.)
Roundabout Theatre Company presents Tony winner Bill Irwin starring in his own adaptation of Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid at the Todd Haines Theatre starting September 25.
On September 29, Jon Robin Baitz’s 2011 play, Other Desert Cities, begins previews at the Hudson Theater, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris and Allison Janney. That’s a play I reacted to quite differently the two times I saw it (https://gotham-playgoer.blogspot.com/2012/01/other-desert-cities-revisited.html). With this cast, I’m tempted to see it yet again.
Lincoln Center Theater has revived Aaron Sorkin’s 1989 hit, A Few Good Men, with Bradley Whitford leading the cast.
A hit in London, Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing comes to the Winter Garden Theatre starting October 31st starring Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell.
In a musical revival with a twist, The Fantasticks finally arrives on Broadway, regendered to be about two mothers and their two sons, at Second Stage’s Hayes Theatre on October 25th.
As for new shows, here are two of note:
Billy Crystal returns to Broadway in 860, a one-man show about the loss of his home in the Palisades fire, starting October 1st at the Imperial Theatre.
And, finally, the only new Broadway musical soon to open is Wanted, about Mary and Martha Clarke, two outlaws on the run in 1890’s Texas. With no names I recognized among the creators or the cast, this is truly a dark horse. Previews start October 15th.
Off Broadway, Greenwich House Theater is presenting a limited-run revival of Marin Ireland’s semi-autobiographical play Pre-Existing Condition about moving forward after a life-altering relationship. It was a New York Times Critic’s pick in its earlier production. The leading role will be played by a different actress each week, including Lupita Nyong’o, Phillipa Soo, Susannah Flood and Edie Falco. Previews begin September 1st.
Vineyard Theater presents the one-man show In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat, written and performed by Roger Guenveur Smith, beginning September 9th.
Starting September 29th. The Public Theater is presenting Ryan J. Haddad’s Good Time Charlie, which Playbill describes as a “multigenerational story of gay men growing up, falling in love, and cherishing the arts.”
The Public is also presenting the North American premiere of the musical The Curious Case of Benjamin Button after a West End run. Previews begin on October 8.
These twelve shows vividly illustrate the variety and vitality of the New York theater scene. There should be something here for just about every theatergoer.
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