Between now and late April:
Glenda Jackson in ‘King Lear’
Country-house horror in ‘Beetlejuice’
‘Oklahoma!’ noir-est
Arthur Miller on criminals who get away with it
A Shakespeare sequel (now?)
Your requisite jukebox special — and a whole bunch more.
WELL, LET’S CALL IT 14 new productions — since five of Broadway’s big spring openings are revivals, three are transfers from Off Broadway, and everything almost always starts somewhere else.
SUNSHINE ON A CLOUDY DAY The cast of “Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations” at the Imperial Theater.
AIN’T TOO PROUD — THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS
At the Imperial, the latest jukebox musical (March)
“I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day/When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May.” The Temptations had their first hit with “My Girl” in early 1965. This show offers more than two dozen of the ones that followed, among them “Come See About Me,” “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” and the title number, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” So far, it’s played Berkeley, Toronto and L.A., where The Los Angeles Times criticized the book as “loose and conventional” but praised the music (“the attack, the smoothness, the masculine cool”). Jeremy Pope, direct from “Choir Boy,” plays Eddie Kendricks. Des McAnuff directs.
Imperial Theater, 249 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, ainttooproudthemusical.com. 2 hours 30 minutes. First preview: Feb. 28. Opening night: March 21. Open run.
GUILTY PLEAS Annette Bening, who hasn’t appeared on Broadway since “Coastal Disturbances” (1987), and Tracy Letts, a Tony Award winner for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “August: Osage County,” star as husband and wife in “All My Sons.”
ALL MY SONS
At the American Airlines, a classic drama revival (April)
Arthur Miller’s 1947 drama about guilt, responsibility and truth comes back to Broadway for the fourth time. (The last revival, in 2008, starred John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Katie Holmes.) Annette Bening and Tracy Letts play an American couple living, just after the end of World War II, with two enormous lies. They both know that the husband was guilty of shipping faulty airplane engine parts to the military, even though he avoided prison for the crime. They both want or pretend to believe that their soldier son, who went missing in action three years ago, is still alive. The production, directed by Gregory Mosher, also stars Benjamin Walker and Francesca Carpanini.
American Airlines Theater, 227 West 42nd Street, roundabouttheatre.org. First preview: April 4. Opening night: April 22. Limited run. Closes on June 23.
NOISE IN THE ATTIC Alex Brightman as the diabolical title character and Sophie Ann Caruso as a transplanted New York couple’s unhappy teenage daughter. in “Beetlejuice.“
BEETLEJUICE
At the Winter Garden, a musical based on a movie (April)
A New York City couple buy a charming country house, decorate it like an art-gallerist’s nightmare, force their emo-goth teenage daughter to move there with them — and soon find themselves haunted. Alex Brightman stars as Beetlejuice (or Betelgeuse, if you’re a stickler for astronomy-derived spelling), the monster upstairs, and Sophia Ann Caruso as the teenager, who is not on her parents’ side. (The 1988 movie starred Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder.) Kerry Butler and Rob McClure play the home’s old owners, who would like to continue residing there, even though they’re dead. The director is Alex Timbers, who did “Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson” and “Peter and the Starcatcher” and is on to “Moulin Rouge!” after this,. Music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect, the Australian songwriter. Book by Scott Brown and Anthony King.
Winter Garden Theater, 1634 Broadway (between 50th and 51st Streets), beetlejuicebroadway.com. First preview: March 28. Opening night: April 25. Open run.
IT TAKES ALL KINDS Stephanie Hsu, Will Connolly and friend in “Be More Chill,” which had a sold-out Off Broadway run last summer.
BE MORE CHILL
At the Lyceum, an original musical (March)
Imagine that you’re in high school again (or still). You are not popular, and therefore your life is hell. But there’s a Japanese pill you can take to change that. It’s actually a tiny computer chip that functions like a 24/7 life coach, guiding you to do the cool thing. Every single time. That premise — and a lot of internet promotion — made this musical a sold-out Off Broadway hit last summer. So did numbers like “Loser, Geek, Whatever,” “The Squip Song” and everybody’s favorite, “Michael in the Bathroom,” all by Joe Iconis. Now it’s back — on Broadway. When Ben Brantley reviewed it in The New York Times, he acknowledged his (relatively) advanced age and described the show as “one of those high-pitched dog whistles that only those under 25 can hear.” Stephen Brackett directed.
Lyceum Theater, 149 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, bemorechillmusical.com. 2 hours 30 minutes. First preview: Feb. 13. Opening night: March 10. Open run.
MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRIC Keri Russell and Adam Driver star in a revival of Lanford Wilson’s “Burn This.” After his brother, who is her dance partner, is killed, the two are brought together in grief.
BURN THIS
At the Hudson, a drama’s first revival (April)
Anna is a dancer whose roommate and dancing partner, a young gay man, has just died in an accident with his lover. Pale is the dead man’s straight brother, a restaurant manager from New Jersey who seems much more colorful, savage and dangerous than that would suggest. They meet, bond over their grief and go all Stanley-and-Blanche on us. Adam Driver and Keri Russell take over the roles played by John Malkovich and Joan Allen on Broadway three decades ago. Lanford Wilson, who died in 2011, wrote it. Michael Mayer is directing.
Hudson Theater, 141 West 44th Street, 855-801-5876, burnthisplay.com First preview: March 15. Opening night: April 16.
GARY: A SEQUEL TO TITUS ANDRONICUS
At the Booth, an original sequel (April)
When Shakespeare’s bloody revenge tragedy “Titus Andronicus” ends, the stage is littered with dead bodies. Someone has to clean things up, and Nathan Lane and Andrea Martin star as servants in ancient Rome who are assigned the job. And it’s a comedy. Written by Taylor Mac (“A 24-Decade History of Popular Music”). Directed by George C. Wolfe. We couldn’t even tell you how many Tonys these people have won in total. [[UPDATE: Andrea Martin has had to drop out of the production because of injuries. Kristine Nielsen steps into her role, and Julie White joins the cast in Ms. Nielsen’s former role.]]
Booth Theater, 222 West 45th Street, garyonbroadway.com. First preview: Rescheduled to March 11. Opening night: April 11.. Limited run. Closes on Aug. 4.
YE WHO ENTER HERE Patrick Page as Hades and Amber Gray as Persephone in “Hadestown.”
HADESTOWN
At the Walter Kerr, a musical based on a concept album based on a Greek myth (April)
The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as a folk opera. When it ran at the New York Theater Workshop downtown in 2016, the Times critic Charles Isherwood hailed its inventive staging and “continually beguiling score.” Since then, it’s had a limited London run, which ended in January. There are both new and old faces in the cast: Patrick Page as Hades, Amber Gray as Persephone, Reeve Carney as Orpheus, Eva Noblezada as Eurydice and André De Shields as Hermes The script, by Anaïs Mitchell, is directed by Rachel Chavkin (“Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812”).
Walter Kerr Theater, 219 West 48th Street, hadestown.com. First preview: March 22. Opening night: April 17.
HILLARY AND CLINTON: PRIMARILY A COMEDY
At the Golden, an original play based on real life and politics (April)
The behind-the-scenes story of that time Hillary Rodham Clinton ran a presidential campaign and didn’t win. In 2008, that is. The story is a look at gender roles and marriage in politics — and isn’t the Clintons’ 43-year-plus marriage the most intriguing aspect of all? There are few sure things on Broadway, but with Laurie Metcalf as Hillary, John Lithgow as Bill and Joe Mantello directing, this production looks exceptionally promising. The script is by Lucas Hnath, who gave us “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” so it’s a reunion with his leading lady too.
John Golden Theater, 252 West 45th Street, hillaryandclintonbroadway.com. First preview: March 16. Opening night: April 18. Limited run. Closes on July 21.
STRONG EDITING (That’s an inside New York Times joke) Bertie Carvel as the youngish Rupert Murdoch in “Ink.”
INK
At the Friedman, an original drama based on real life and newspapering (April)
First, you have to imagine Rupert Murdoch as young. In 1969, when he bought The Sun, a failing London newspaper, and turned it into a tabloid sensation, he was a practically boyish 38. This is a London production from Almeida Theater, and Bertie Carvel (in photo), who originated the role of Murdoch there, will star here too, directed by Rupert Goold. What did the British critics think? In 2017, The Guardian called it a “gripping piece of theater” and a “first-rate play” that “pins down a pivotal moment in newspaper history.” Jonny Lee Miller plays the unusual editor whom Murdoch hires. The playwright is James Graham, who did “King Charles III.”
Samuel J. Friedman Theater, 261 West 47th Street, manhattantheatreclub.com. First preview: April 2. Opening night: April 26. Limited run. Closes on June 9.
SHARPER THAN A SERPENT’S TOOTH Glenda Jackson, who turns 83 in May, in the title role of “King Lear.” She did the play in London in 2016.
KING LEAR
At the Cort, a Shakespearean revival (April)
Glenda Jackson’s stage comeback (after a couple of decades in politics) is going pretty well. Broadway audiences adored her in “Three Tall Women” last spring, and so did Tony voters, who gave her the award for best actress in a play. Now she’s back, at 82, to play Shakespeare’s raging elderly monarch who has less than ideal relationships with his three daughters. Gender hardly seems to matter here (did you see Elizabeth Marvel’s commanding Brutus at Shakespeare in the Park?). When Jackson did the role in London in 2016, reviews and their headlines proclaimed her “magnificent,” “unnerving and unforgettable,” making “a triumphant return.” No reason to expect less here. Sam Gold is the director. The supporting cast isn’t bad either: Jayne Houdyshell, Ruth Wilson, John Douglas Thompson, Pedro Pascal. and the aforementioned marvelous Ms. Marvel.
Cort Theater, 138 West 48th Street, telecharge.com. First preview: Feb. 28. Opening night: April 4. Limited run. Closes on July 7.
TOO DAMN HOT Kelli O’Hara (seen here playing Vanna White) tops the cast of the newest revival of “Kiss Me, Kate.”
KISS ME, KATE
At Studio 54, a musical comedy revival (March)
The last Broadway revival of “Kiss Me, Kate” was 20 years ago? Really? Seems like yesterday, with Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Now Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase play Lili Vanessi and Fred Graham, the battling ex-spouses starring opposite each other in a touring production of “The Taming of the Shrew.” All the great Cole Porter songs (“So in Love,” “Wunderbar,” “Too Damn Hot,” “Brush Up Your Shakespeare”) are here, and Scott Ellis directs. When the original production opened in 1948, Brooks Atkinson wrote in The Times: “Occasionally, by some baffling miracle, everything seems to drop gracefully into its appointed place in the composition of a song show, and that is the case here.” This is its third Broadway revival.
Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street, roundabouttheatre.org., 2 hours 30 minutes. First preview: Feb. 14. Opening night: March 14.. Limited run. Closes on June 2.
EVERYTHING’S UP-TO-DATE! From left, Mary Testa (Aunt Eller), Patrick Vaill (Jud), Rebecca Naomi Jones (Laurey) and Damon Daunno (Curly) in “Oklahoma!”
RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN’S
“OKLAHOMA!”
At Circle in the Square, a musical revival (April)
I really wish the phrase “It’s not your grandfather’s — whatever” were not so overused, because it’s never been more true than in this production, which started at Bard Summerscape in 2015 and had a knockout run at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn last fall. We all know that “Oklahoma!” is about a pretty farm girl who falls for a cute, curly-haired farm boy who buys her picnic-basket goodies at the community’s box social and has to deal with a not-so-nice hired hand before everybody can sing the title song at the end with beaming smiles and infinite hope. This version goes dark, very dark. The production, Ben Brantley wrote in The Times, provides “a stark illumination that allows these homesteaders we once thought were so wholesome no place to hide.” What’s thrilling, he added: “You feel it was always here, waiting to be excavated.” The cast is led by Damon Daunno as Curly, Rebecca Naomi Jones as Laurey and Patrick Vaill as Jud (played with “great sensitivity and quaking instability,” said The New Yorker), supported by the Broadway wonder Mary Testa as Aunt Eller. Daniel Fish directs, making his Broadway debut. New York magazine called it a “charged, scary production.” Oh, and Time magazine officially named it the theatrical event of the year.
Circle in the Square Theater, 1633 Broadway (between 50th and 51st Streets), oklahomabroadway.com. First preview: March 19. Opening night: April 7. Limited run. Closes on Sept. 1
TELL THE CAMERAMAN TO PULL BACK Santino Fontana as an actor who gets the best job ever when he pretends to be a woman in “Tootsie.”
TOOTSIE
At the Marriott Marquis, a musical based on a movie (April)
Remember how Dustin Hoffman’s character Michael Dorsey in the movie “Tootsie” (1982) learned so much about himself and gender roles and humanity? Fuhgedaboudit in this new musical. As Steven Oxman wrote in Variety, when the show did its Chicago “tryout” last fall, what we have now is “a nearly full-on satirical take on the narcissistic male ego.” The other substantive change: Michael, the temperamental actor now played by Santino Fontana, doesn’t snag a great role on a daytime soap; he’s cast in a Shakespearean-inspired Broadway musical. He makes quite an impression as Juliet’s nurse. Music and lyrics are by David Yazbek (“The Band’s Visit”); the book is by Robert Horn (who once wrote comedy material for Dame Edna); Scott Ellis directed. And we’re so looking forward to seeing Julie Halston as the producer.
Marriott Marquis Theater, 1535 Broadway (210 West 46th Street, entrance through hotel) , tootsiemusical.com. 2 hours 40 minutes. First preview: March 29. Opening night: April 23. Open run.
DEBATE STAR Heidi Schreck playing her teenage self, now at the Hayes Theater.
WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME
At the Hayes, a solo-ish show (March)
Here’s a little of what pressnights.com had to say about Heidi Schreck’s show when it ran at New York Theater Workshop last year: “Schreck is charming as a teenager who’s really more interested in witches, theater and Patrick Swayze than the federal government. But winning the debate could mean some scholarship money. So she talks a lot about Amendment 14 (which has things to say about American citizenship) … At times it feels as if we’re all students again, being tricked by clever theater people into learning something. But by God, it’s done well and the young Heidi has some stories to share — many of which speak to the role of women in the 200+ years the Constitution has been in effect. Her great-great-grandmother was a mail-order bride who died at 36 of melancholia.”
Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street, constitutionbroadway.com. 1 hour 30 minutes (no intermission). First preview: March 16. Opening night: March 31. Limited run. Closes on June 9.
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