13 Broadway Debuts to Look Out For This Fall | Playbill

Lists 13 Broadway Debuts to Look Out For This Fall Newcomers to Oscar winners make their Main Stem debuts this fall season. Here are 13 of them to watch!
Bruce Glickas/FilmMagic, Joseph Marzullo/WENN,Monica Simoes, JOE VILES/FOX, FX Networks

The fall season on Broadway has already begun, but we are taking a look at who is about to make their debuts on the Great White Way. Read more below about 13 newcomers to Broadway.

Nick Kroll and John Mulaney in Oh, Hello on Broadway

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/fa3edcf8516ee60bc5eac60d89b5f89c-lfp-1535-2.jpg
John Mulaney and Nick Kroll Luke Fontana

The Oh, Hello Show originated on Comedy Central and is now coming to Broadway, debuting comedians Nick Kroll and John Mulaney on the Great White Way. The duo’s alter egos, Gil Faizon (Kroll) and George St. Geegland (Mulaney), are opinionated, 70-something, native New Yorkers who oftentimes say “Oh, hello” in unison. Mulaney is best known for his work as a writer on Saturday Night Live and was the creator and star of the Fox sitcom Mulaney, a semi-autobiographical series which aired from October 2014-February 2015. Kroll is best known for his role as Rodney Ruxin in the FXX comedy series The League and for creating his Comedy Central series Kroll Show. Oh, Hello on Broadway is described as “Gil and George’s memoir for the stage” and begins performances October 10 at the Lyceum Theatre.

Denis Arndt in Heisenberg

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/76fccced88d4551ba77ec32b2e63c731-heisenberg-03-hr.jpg
Denis Arndt and Mary-Louise Parker Joan Marcus

Denis Arndt has multiple film and television credits to his name, including L.A. Law, Annie McGuire, Basic Instinct, Grey’s Anatomy, Past Life, Boston Legal, 24 and Providence, but Heisenberg will mark his Broadway debut. When the Simon Stephens play premiered Off-Broadway, Arndt replaced actor Kenneth Welsh to star opposite Mary-Louise Parker; following a sold-out run, the work—about a woman who unexpectedly kisses a much older and unknown man amidst the bustle of a crowded London train station—was announced to transfer to Broadway. Arndt was nominated for a 2016 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play for his performance in Heisenberg.

Anthony Rosenthal in Falsettos

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/67d57454171fbd96ba740233d110586c-cnwblsvwyaa9vcx.jpg
Anthony Rosenthal Emma Mead

In an A-list cast, including Stephanie J. Block, Christian Borle, Andrew Rannells, Tracie Thoms, Brandon Uranowitz and Betsy Wolfe, young actor Anthony Rosenthal will make his Broadway debut when Falsettos returns to New York City. The actor, who was seen on tour with Newsies, will play Marvin’s (Borle) son Jason. Prior to being cast in Falsettos, Rosenthal was part of the children’s ensemble in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of A Christmas Story, the Musical.

Birgitte Hjort Sørensen and Elena Kampouris in Les Liaisons Dangereuses

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/100fe108404debc15f24934c9e2ae971-unknown.jpeg
Birgitte Hjort Sørensen

Birgitte Hjort Sørensen is no stranger to the stage, having played Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago in Copenhagen and on the West End, but Les Liaisons Dangereuses will mark her first time on Broadway. The Danish actress made her debut on the television series The Eagle in 2005 and garnered attention as journalist Katrine Fønsmark in the television political drama Borgen. Eighteen-year-old actress Elena Kampouris is best known for playing Allison Doss in the 2014 film Men, Women & Children and Maya Decker in the series American Odyssey. You may also have seen her in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, in which she played the daughter of Nia Vardalos and John Corbett’s characters from the original film.

Josh Groban and Denee Benton in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/61e5da24e2dd4b1848e7452ffaae149c-151205artcometper-76072.jpg
Denée Benton in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 Gretjen Helene Photography

Both stars of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 will make their Broadway debuts come October 18, when the show begins previews at the Imperial Theatre. One is a three-time Grammy nominee and a multi-platinum recording artist named Josh Groban; the other is a 24-year-old, fresh-faced actress named Denée Benton. Groban has always been very vocal about his love for Broadway and the theatre community (his dog is even named Sweeney, after our favorite serial killing barber!) and will play Pierre in the Broadway incarnation of Great Comet. Benton, who was seen on tour with The Book of Mormon, joined the project when it took shape at Boston’s American Repertory Theatre; at that time, the show’s original star, Phillipa Soo, had plans to star in one of the biggest musicals of the decade, Hamilton. It should also be noted that the show marks the Main Stem debuts of composer Dave Malloy and director Rachel Chavkin.

Will Roland and Kristolyn Lloyd in Dear Evan Hansen

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/9e6c5a659d11f88338a452d76965aec1-dearevanhansen-meetandgreet-hr-0689.JPG
The cast of Dear Evan Hansen Monica Simoes

Will Roland and Kristolyn Lloyd play Evan Hansen’s friends (well, acquaintances really, considering Evan is known as the school’s social outcast) in Dear Evan Hansen. Roland, who previously shared the stage with leading actor Ben Platt in Joe Iconis’ The Black Suits, has been with the project since it debuted at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., playing the quick-witted family friend Jared Kleinman. Lloyd, who garnered attention for her performance as Grace in Off-Broadway’s Invisible Thread, boarded the musical as overachiever Alana when it transferred to New York City’s Second Stage. Both make their Broadway debuts in featured roles when Evan Hansen hits Broadway.

Kristen Anderson-Lopez with In Transit

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/7b5b7e846fb6c59f29d6a6ab26965301-unknown-1.jpeg
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

Though her husband, Robert Lopez, won Tony Awards for both of his Broadway projects—Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon—Anderson-Lopez’s songs have not yet played the Great White Way. People around the world still know her name, since she co-wrote the score for the hit Disney film Frozen and won an Academy Award for the song “Let It Go.” This season, she is a co-writer alongside James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth on the a cappella musical In Transit, which follows an aspiring actress, a fledgling financier, a street-savvy beatboxer, a cab driver and others as they find their way in New York City.

Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh in The Present

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/d540ca7de6617032385c711ed8d0e8e1-001.jpg
Cate Blanchett and the cast of The Present Sydney Theatre Company

Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh, who co-starred in the STC production of Uncle Vanya, reunited for The Present, a new adaptation of Anton Chekhov's unfinished first play, at Sydney Theatre Company, where it made its world premiere in 2015. The play, which has also been known as Platonov, Wild Honey, Fatherlessness and The Disinherited, was announced to transfer to Broadway with its stars, who will make their Broadway debuts when it begins performances December 17 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Andrew Upton adapted the work and reset it in the mid-1990s. Blanchett received Academy Awards for her performances in The Aviator and Blue Jasmine. Roxburgh has been seen in films such as Moulin Rouge!, Van Helsing and Sanctum, among others.

Michael Gioia is the Features Manager at Playbill.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PlaybillMichael.

 
Today’s Most Popular News:
 X

Blocking belongs
on the stage,
not on websites.

Our website is made possible by
displaying online advertisements to our visitors.

Please consider supporting us by
whitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.
Thank you!