New York’s stages have long drawn talent from Hollywood, but this is shaping up to be an exceptionally starry season. Why? Producers have determined that limited-run plays with celebrities are more likely than new musicals to make money. And some musicals are also hoping big names will help at the box office. Here’s a sampling of stars onstage this season.
This Fall
★ ON BROADWAY ★
Mia Farrow
in ‘The Roommate’
Farrow, who made her stage debut when she was 18 and had a breakout role in the 1968 film “Rosemary’s Baby,” thought she was happily retired until she read the script for this Jen Silverman comedy about two women with not much in common other than their living quarters. Now, at 79, she’s returning to the stage, opposite the three-time Tony winner Patti LuPone, for what she says may be the last time. Now running at the Booth.
★ ON BROADWAY ★
Robert Downey Jr.
in ‘McNeal’
One of Hollywood’s most successful stars, Downey has a bevy of superhero movies under his belt (he played Iron Man) and an Oscar for “Oppenheimer” (he was the antagonist, Lewis Strauss). He’s making his Broadway debut in a new Ayad Akhtar play, portraying a famous novelist with a potentially problematic interest in A.I. Now running at the Vivian Beaumont.
★ ON BROADWAY ★
Daniel Dae Kim
in ‘Yellow Face’
Talk about meta! This is David Henry Hwang’s play about a play about a musical, sort of. Kim, known for “Lost” and the rebooted “Hawaii Five-0,” portrays a playwright named DHH (get it?) who mistakenly casts a white actor as an Asian character in a Broadway flop inspired by his own protests against the casting of a white actor as a Eurasian character in “Miss Saigon.” Previews begin Sept. 13 at the Todd Haimes.
★ ON BROADWAY ★
Jim Parsons
Katie Holmes
in ‘Our Town’
Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” first staged in 1938 and widely produced since, is among the greatest of American plays. Parsons, best known for television’s “The Big Bang Theory,” remembers studying the play in school, and when he got the chance to headline a sixth Broadway production, he thought, “I can’t pass up an opportunity to say these words.” He’ll play the stage manager; Holmes is Mrs. Webb; and Zoey Deutch makes her debut as Emily Webb. Previews begin Sept. 17 at the Ethel Barrymore.
☆ OFF BROADWAY ☆
Adam Driver
in ‘Hold On to Me Darling’
He’s served in the Marines, found success on television (“Girls”) and made it really big on film (“Star Wars”). A Juilliard grad, Driver has also done quite a bit of stage work; now he’s returning to play a narcissistic country singer whose life is jolted when he moves back home to Tennessee in this revival of Kenneth Lonergan’s 2016 play. Previews begin Sept. 24 at the Lucille Lortel.
★ on BROADWAY ★
Julianna Margulies
in ‘Left on Tenth’
In Delia Ephron’s memoir, she writes of finding love while coping with grief. She handpicked Margulies (“ER,” “The Good Wife,” “The Morning Show”) to play her onstage, joined by Peter Gallagher as the man who helps her heal. Previews begin Sept. 26 at the James Earl Jones.
★ ON BROADWAY ★
Kit Connor
Rachel Zegler
in ‘Romeo + Juliet’
This is a big year for “Romeo and Juliet” (finally!). Tom Holland just wrapped up a London production. Now come Connor (“Heartstopper”) and Zegler (“West Side Story”), both making their Broadway debuts as they lead a 37th (!) Broadway production of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy, this time with music by Jack Antonoff. Previews begin Sept. 26 at Circle in the Square.
★ on BROADWAY ★
Nicole Scherzinger
in ‘Sunset Blvd.’
Scherzinger, a member of the Pussycat Dolls, a winner of “Dancing With the Stars” and a judge on several television talent shows, has already won the Olivier Award in London for her riveting performance as a past-her-prime, desperate-for-a-comeback star in this raw revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Now she’s bringing her Norma Desmond to Broadway. Previews begin Sept. 28 at the St. James.
☆ Off Broadway ☆
Neil Patrick Harris
Jane Krakowski
Debra Messing
Constance Wu
in ‘Shit. Meet. Fan.’
A group of friends who have gathered for an eclipse party decide to play a revelatory game, putting phones on the table and reading all incoming texts and emails aloud. Needless to say, there are surprises. Originally a 2016 movie in Italy (“Perfect Strangers”), the story is now being reimagined for the stage by the playwright and director Robert O’Hara (“Bootycandy”). The players include Harris (“How I Met Your Mother,” and a Tony winner for “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”), Krakowski (“30 Rock,” and also a Tony winner), Messing (“Will & Grace”) and Wu (“Fresh Off the Boat”). Previews begin Oct. 10 at MCC.
★ on BROADWAY ★
Michelle Williams
in ‘Death Becomes Her’
Williams is best known for her work with Beyoncé as a member of Destiny’s Child. In the past, she’s joined a few Broadway shows in progress; now for the first time she’s originating a role, as an enchantress with a powerful potion. Previews begin Oct. 23 at the Lunt-Fontanne.
☆ Off Broadway ☆
Kenneth Branagh
in ‘King Lear’
A Shakespeare veteran, Branagh has played Hamlet, Iago, Macbeth and more. Now he’s taking on one of the toughest — and greatest — roles, as Lear, the decompensating British monarch, in an intermissionless two-hour production (that’s short for “King Lear”!). Previews begin Oct. 26 at the Shed.
☆ Off Broadway ☆
Marisa Tomei
in ‘Babe’
Tomei, an Oscar winner for “My Cousin Vinny,” returns to the stage as an unsung music industry assistant whose long practice of putting up with sexist and credit-hogging behavior by her boss is challenged when a young woman with progressive ideals joins the office. Previews begin Oct. 29 via the New Group.
Spring 2025
☆ Off Broadway ☆
Brendan Fraser
in ‘Grangeville’
Fraser won an Academy Award last year for his performance in “The Whale,” a film written by Samuel D. Hunter, based on Hunter’s play of the same name. Apparently it was a good experience, because now Fraser has agreed to star in Hunter’s newest play, about two half brothers reconnecting as their mother ails. Previews begin Feb. 4 at the Signature Theater.
★ ON BROADWAY ★
Denzel Washington
Jake Gyllenhaal
in ‘Othello’
Washington, an Oscar and Tony winner with decades of experience performing Shakespeare onstage and onscreen, will return to Broadway in one of theater’s great tragedies, playing Othello, a military officer destroyed by jealousy. Gyllenhaal (“Brokeback Mountain,” “Road House”) will play the villain, Iago. Previews begin Feb. 24 at the Ethel Barrymore.
★ ON BROADWAY ★
Nick Jonas
in ‘The Last Five Years’
Even before he found fame in a band with his brothers, Jonas was a child actor. He made his Broadway debut as Little Jake in “Annie Get Your Gun,” and followed that with stints as Gavroche in “Les Misérables” and Chip in “Beauty and the Beast.” Now he’s returning to star opposite Adrienne Warren (a Tony winner for “Tina”) in the first Broadway production of Jason Robert Brown’s twisty two-hander about an unraveling marriage. Previews begin March 18 at the Hudson.
★ ON BROADWAY ★
David Hyde Pierce
in ‘The Pirates of Penzance’
Pierce, widely known for television’s “Frasier,” is a veteran stage actor who won a Tony Award in 2007. He’s returning in a reimagined classic, playing Major General Stanley (yes, the model of a modern major-general) in Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic operetta, with Ramin Karimloo as his foil, the Pirate King. The original was set on the coast of Cornwall, England; this revival is set in New Orleans. Previews begin April 4 at the Todd Haimes.
☆ OFF BROADWAY ☆
Christian Slater
Calista Flockhart
in ‘Curse of the Starving Class’
Buckle up — this Sam Shepard family drama is a wild ride. The Tate family is ever-hungry, literally and metaphorically. Slater (“Mr. Robot,” “Blink Twice”) plays the hard-drinking, prone-to-violence father, who has a tender scene with a lamb; Flockhart (“Ally McBeal,” “Feud”) is the not-so-maternal mother with unrealistic escape plans. Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza”) is their son, trying unsuccessfully to keep it together. A New Group production opening this winter.
★ ON BROADWAY ★
Kieran Culkin
Bob Odenkirk
Bill Burr
in ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’
David Mamet’s Pulitzer-winning play about unscrupulous (and foul-mouthed — this is Mamet, after all) real estate salesmen returns to Broadway for the fourth time, now with Culkin (“Succession”) as the successful hustler, Odenkirk (“Breaking Bad,” “Better Call Saul”) as an old-timer and Burr (best known for his stand-up comedy) as a resentful schemer. Opens next spring.
★ ON BROADWAY ★
George Clooney
in ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’
Two decades ago, Clooney co-wrote, directed and performed in a movie about the tensions between the pioneering television journalist Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, a crusading anti-Communist. Now he and the movie’s co-author, Grant Heslov, are adapting the film for the stage, and this time Clooney will star as Murrow (on film he played Fred Friendly, a CBS executive). This will be Clooney’s Broadway debut. Opens next spring.
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