Fall is here, and with it, a new season of theatre. Welcome to the 2025–2026 season! As you're looking through the roster of upcoming shows, it may be overwhelming and the names of the artists may be unfamiliar. But luckily, those of us at Playbill have our ears to the ground, and can tell you which shows we are particularly excited for—either because we saw a previous version or because it comes with healthy buzz due to the storytelling.
As you make your show-going calendar for the next few months, be sure to add these five new plays and musicals to your list.
Mexodus
I like to joke that most of what I know, I learned through musicals—such as when Dead Outlaw taught me about the wild life (and death) of Elmer McCurdy or when Hamilton taught me so much about the Founding Fathers in two-and-a-half hours. Mexodus promises to be another one of those musicals, based on real-life accounts of enslaved Africans who escaped slavery, not by going to the north but traveling to the south, to Mexico. They probably didn't teach you that in high school history. Created and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, Mexodus had prior productions regionally and received rave reviews. Plus, it's produced by Audible Theater Off-Broadway, who (after producing Dead Outlaw and Laura Benanti's Nobody Cares) is establishing itself as a musical producer to watch. Take a listen to one of the songs from Mexodus here, and if you're intrigued, get down to the Minetta Lane Theatre.
Mexodus will begin performances Off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre September 9, with an opening of September 18. It will close October 11. Click here for tickets.
Liberation
Bess Wohl's powerful play Liberation had a well-received run Off-Broadway earlier this year. And I was in the audience sobbing my eyes out. The play, based on Wohl's own personal journey, follows a woman who attempts to figure out why her mother, who led a feminist group in the 1970s, gave all that up to become a wife and mother. And in the process she asks the question most of us have been asking lately: How did we get into this current mess? But with the performance of that ensemble cast, including a soul-baring one by Susannah Flood, Liberation is a powerful, cathartic experience for anyone who's felt like screaming lately. See the play, be comforted.
Liberation will begin performances October 8 on Broadway at the James Earl Jones Theatre, with an opening night October 28. Click here for tickets.
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
For those wanting a musical with an entirely original concept, and not based on anyone's life or an album, you're in luck: Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) is coming to Broadway. I've heard rumbles about this musical ever since it first premiered in the West End to rave reviews, and then was well-received when it made its American premiere at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Written by a team unknown to American audiences, Jim Barne and Kit Buchan, the conceit of the show is in its very clear title: Two people who have never met, but are going to the same wedding, are tasked with getting the wedding cake to the event. Hilarity, and romance, and some very charming songs, ensue. As a fan of rom-coms, once I read that the Time Out New York review called the musical "an updated Richard Curtis movie," I was onboard. After all, sometimes (like cake), you just want something a little sweet.
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) will begin performances November 1 on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre, with an opening night November 20. Click here for tickets.
Marjorie Prime
Marjorie Prime is not technically a new play; I first saw it 10 years ago when it ran Off-Broadway. But it is making its Broadway debut this season, a well-deserved turn for the thought-provoking and emotional play (which was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist) by Jordan Harrison. The play follows 86-year-old Marjorie (played by Broadway veteran June Squibb), whose memory is fading, so she depends on her robotic caretaker (who looks like her deceased husband and is played by Christopher Lowell) to remind her about her life. Meanwhile, her daughter (Cynthia Nixon) struggles to come to terms with her mother's impending death. The play works on multiple levels: as an unsparing look at end of life and what we leave behind, and as a piece of science fiction that asks if technology can truly replace humans. In short, this play may have been written a decade ago, but it also feels disturbingly current. This one will linger in your mind and heart after you've seen it; it's stuck in my brain for the past 10 years.
Majorie Prime will begin performances November 20 on Broadway at the Hayes Theater, with an opening night December 8. Click here for tickets.
Queens
Like Marjorie Prime, Queens is not a new play. I first saw Martyna Majok's drama—about a group of newly arrived immigrant women arriving to New York—in 2018. But for this new version at Manhattan Theatre Club's Off-Broadway space, Majok (who wrote the stunning Broadway play Cost of Living) has done major rewrites on the play. I'm excited to see how much it has changed since I last saw it, but I also know what to expect: stirring dialogue, wry humor, and an achingly human portrayal of people that society (and American culture) tend to overlook. Considering the current political climate, especially around immigrants, I expect Queens to be devastating. And if you're not in the theatre to feel some big feelings, what is even the point?
Queens will begin performances Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club's New York City Center space October 15, with an opening night November 5. Click here for tickets.
Click here for upcoming Broadway and Off-Broadway shows.
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