With star-studded casting announcements dropping one after the other, this season in New York City is packed with celebrities, both on and Off-Broadway. To help you decide which stars you should see in person, and budget accordingly, Playbill has compiled a list of A-listers whose shows you can see right now and those who are set to hit the New York stage in the coming months. 

Many of the actors listed in this article are no strangers to the theatre, but are better known for their appearances in film, television, or music. And several are making their Broadway or Off-Broadway debuts. We've also included notable stars of the stage. Below are the many, many stars of the season. For ease of planning, we've divided these celebrities into three sections: Newly Announced, Currently Running, and Upcoming.

Currently Performing Stars

Darren Criss (Maybe Happy Ending)

Darren Criss seamlessly moves between the stage and screen. While he's a Golden Globe winner for American Crime Story and a former Glee cast member, he's also a beloved musical theatre performer—his credits include Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Little Shop of Horrors. But the current hit Broadway musical Maybe Happy Ending is Criss' first professional foray into an original stage musical; he plays a robot who learns how to love. And he earned a Tony for it. After playing the lead role of Oliver in the musical for almost a year, Criss will take a hiatus from the production August 31 and will return November 5.

As he told Playbill, Maybe Happy Ending has crossed off a big item on his bucket list: “​​Originate something that hasn't been done on Broadway yet...I can categorically say that this will be something that you have never seen the likes of before on a Broadway stage.”

Jonathan Groff (Just in Time)

Tony and Grammy winner Jonathan Groff's extensive list of Broadway credits include Spring Awakening, Merrily We Roll Along, and more, but those who aren't as tapped in to the Broadway scene may be more familiar with his screen (and voice) performances in Disney's Frozen or Fox's series Glee. 

Groff plays Bobby Darin in the new jukebox musical Just in Time. The immersive staging sees the theatre transformed into an intimate nightclub with a live, onstage big band. The show tracks Darin's life story and will see Tony winner Groff performing Darin's greatest hits, including "Beyond the Sea," "Splish Splash," and "Mack the Knife."

Plus, if you're a fan of The Sex Lives of College Girls on Max, then you'd know that its cast members are also singers: Broadway favorite Reneé Rapp has starred in all three seasons, and Gracie Lawrence, of the band Lawrence, joined the cast for the most recent one. Lawrence also currently stars opposite Groff in Just In Time. If you're a Lawrence fan and want to see the singer take on some American standards, you can catch her at the Circle in the Square Theatre until October 5.

Michelle Williams (Death Becomes Her)

Out of all the members of the '90s girl-group Destiny's Child, Michelle Williams is the one that has kept a foot in the theatre world. The new musical Death Becomes Her marks her fourth Broadway credit—she was last seen in 2018 in the Once On This Island revival. And this latest project leans fully into Williams' pop diva persona—she plays the beautiful and mysterious Viola Van Horn, who offers up an immortality potion. 

As Williams told Playbill opening night of the show: "I don't take any of it for granted at all. The fact that just a few years ago, we didn't know what the status of theatre would become, everything was shut down, every industry was shut down. So I take nothing for granted. I'm humbled to be on this stage."

Death Becomes Her is now running at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

James Corden, Neil Patrick Harris, Bobby Cannavale (Art)

Yasmina Reza's 1998 Tony Award-winning play Art will receive a very starry Broadway revival, starring Tony and Emmy-winning actors James Corden (The Late Late Show With James Corden) and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), and Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire). They will play three friends who argue over a painting. The revival, currently in performances at the Music Box Theatre, opens September 16. The limited engagement will run until December 21.

Leslie Odom, Jr (Hamilton)

He's going back to the room where it happens. Tony-winning Hamilton original cast member Leslie Odom, Jr. will return to the Broadway company of the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical in the fall. Odom, Jr., who won the 2016 Tony for creating the role of Aaron Burr in the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical, will again play Burr at the Richard Rodgers Theatre September 9–November 23. The stage and screen star was most recently on Broadway in a Tony-nominated turn in the 2023 revival of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch. Since his breakout role in Hamilton, the actor has been seen on screen in The Good Wife, Murder on the Orient Express, One Dollar, Only, Love in the Time of Corona, Central Park, Abbott Elementary, The Many Saints of Newark, and an Oscar-nominated performance in One Night in Miami… Odom, Jr. also hosted The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back on CBS and can be seen in the filmed TV version of Hamilton. Odom, Jr.'s return coincides with the musical's 10th Broadway anniversary.

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter (Waiting for Godot)

Party on dudes! The upcoming Broadway revival of Waiting for Godot will reunite Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure film stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter for a new production of the Samuel Beckett play, directed by Jamie Lloyd (of the current similarly star-led Sunset Boulevard revival ). Performances will begin September 13 at the Hudson Theatre ahead of a September 28 opening night. The limited engagement will continue through January 4, 2026.

Reeves will play Estragon opposite Winter's Vladimir, with additional casting to be announced. The production will mark Reeves' Broadway debut (though he does support theatre behind-the-scenes, as a board member of the Brooklyn theatre company The Bushwick Starr). Winter previously appeared on Broadway as a child, playing John Darling in the 1979 Sandy Duncan-led Peter Pan.

Aubrey Plaza (Let's Love!)

Parks and Recreation fan favorite Aubrey Plaza returns to the New York stage in Let's Love! this fall (in 2023, she starred in an Off-Broadway revival of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea). Let's Love! is written by Oscar winner Ethan Coen (Fargo, No Country for Old Men). It's a trio of one-acts, that explores, according to press notes, "love in all its miserable glory." Let's Love! will run at Off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company September 25–November 9.

Kristin Chenoweth (The Queen of Versailles)

It's a Wicked-ly delightful reunion! Tony winner (and original Glinda) Kristin Chenoweth is collaborating with composer Stephen Schwartz on a new musical: The Queen of Versailles. Chenoweth will play real-life socialite Jackie Siegel who, with her husband David (played by F. Murray Abraham), try to build a lavish estate in Florida...during the 2008 financial crisis. Lindsey Ferrentino writes the book. The musical will play the St. James Theatre, with previews beginning October 8 ahead of a November 10 opening night. And with Chenoweth and Idina Menzel both on Broadway around the same time (more on that below), we couldn't be happier!

Mira Sorvino (Chicago)

Mira Sorvino, who won the Academy Award as well as Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, National Board of Review, and New York Film Critics Circle awards for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite, is making her Broadway debut this fall in the Tony-winning revival of Chicago. 

The actress, recently seen as Rosemary in the Starz series Shining Vale and in Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story: Impeachment, stepped into the role of Roxie Hart on September 15 for a limited engagement through November 2 at the Ambassador Theatre.

John Leguizamo (The Other Americans)

John Leguizamo's The Other Americans opened September 25 at Off-Broadway's Public Theater. Leguizamo is starring as Nelson Castro, a Colombian-American laundromat owner in Queens grappling with a failing business and buried secrets.

The Public is presenting the play in association with Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage, where the piece premiered. The complete cast (with the exception of Flores and Hernández) are reprising their performances from that run.

Chloë Grace Moretz (Caroline)

Chloë Grace Moretz is starring in MCC Theater's upcoming world premiere of Caroline, penned by Preston Max Allen (We Are the Tigers) and directed by Tony winner David Cromer (Dead Outlaw; Good Night, and Good Luck).

Performances began Off-Broadway at MCC Theater’s Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater September 12 ahead of an official opening September 30. The limited engagement is currently scheduled through October 19.

The new play follows Maddie, who is forced to seek the help of her long-estranged mother and finds herself unable to shield her daughter Caroline from the circumstances that fractured their family.

Sarah Hyland (Just in Time)

Modern Family star Sarah Hyland takes over the role of Connie Francis in the Bobby Darren biomusical Just in Time beginning October 8. Hyland, an actor of the stage and the screen, has recently performed in The Great Gatsby and Little Shop of Horrors, showing that Hyland has just as much theatrical talent to offer as she does on television.

Hyland succeeds the role from Tony nominee and music artist Gracie Lawrence, who originated the role last spring, earning a Tony nomination for her performance.

Madeline Brewer and Thomas Doherty (Little Shop of Horrors)

The Handmaid's Tale Emmy nominee Madeline Brewer has taken on the role of Audrey in the hit Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors—making her New York stage debut at the Westside Theatre.

Brewer, seen as Sally Bowles in the West End revival of Cabaret, is joined by Thomas Doherty (Harry Hook in the Descendants franchise) as Seymour.

André De Shields (Tartuffe)

Tony Award winner André De Shields (Hadestown) is leading a new intimate Off-Broadway revival of Moliére's Tartuffe. Offered to just 100 guests per performance, the revival transforms House of the Redeemer on Manhattan's East Side through November 23.

The classic satire, first performed in 1664, follows the titular Tartuffe (De Shields) as he misrepresents himself as poor for his own gain, and the outing of his deceit. Keaton Wooden will direct the upcoming revival, which will feature Ranjit Bolt's translation of Moliére's French original. The production is the latest in a growing trend of Moliére revivals Off-Broadway—the fall will see a new version of Tartuffe by Lucas Hnath and starring Matthew Broderick at New York Theatre Workshop.

Dylan Mulvaney (The Least Problematic Woman in the World)

Dylan Mulvaney's hit 2024 Edinburgh Fringe solo show Faghag, now rechristened The Least Problematic Woman in the World, is running Off-Broadway through October 19.

Mulvaney has written and stars in the autobiographical work, tracking her tumultuous life from being a Catholic school kid to becoming a trans TikTok icon. The work was well-reviewed by Playbill at last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Upcoming Stars

Jane Krakowski (Oh, Mary!)

Tony-winning stage and screen star Jane Krakowski will be the next niche cabaret star of Broadway's Oh, Mary! at the Lyceum Theatre, with a limited, eight-week engagement running October 14–December 7.

Krakowski got her start on Broadway, making her Broadway debut in 1987's Starlight Express before making appearances in Grand Hotel, Company, and Once Upon a Mattress, among others. She won a Tony Award for her work as Carla in 2003's Nine, a performance that notably featured Krakowski singing "A Call From the Vatican" while descending from the top of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in a sensual and acrobatic silks routine. Just three years later, she became the hilariously vain Jenna Maroney on NBC's cult favorite series 30 Rock, and she's made the bulk of her career on the screen ever since. Her most recent Broadway return was as Ilona in the 2016 revival of She Loves Me, which earned Krakowski a Tony nomination.

She will star opposite Emmy nominee Cheyenne Jackson (Julie and the Phantoms) as Mary's Teacher and Tony nominee John-Andrew Morrison (A Strange Loop) as Mary's Husband.

Ariana DeBose (The Baker's Wife)

Ariana DeBose won an Academy Award for her performance in the West Side Story film, though she was known as a Broadway triple threat well before that, as an original cast member in Hamilton and a Tony nominee for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. After spending the past few years doing screen work, including in the television series Schmigadoon!, DeBose returns to the stage in The Baker's Wife, running at Off-Broadway's Classic Stage Company October 23-December 14—about a baker and his wife who turns a provincial French village upside down. The upcoming production will mark the first full-scale NYC production of the 1976 Stephen Schwartz-Joseph Stein musical The Baker’s Wife, which famously closed before it officially opened on Broadway.

Tom Hanks (This World of Tomorrow)

Off-Broadway's The Shed has added a world premiere play from Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and James Glossman to its upcoming season. This World of Tomorrow, based on Hanks' short stories, will play the company's Griffin Theater beginning October 30 and continuing through December 21. Tony winner Kenny Leon will direct.

Two-time Academy Award winner Hanks will also star in the work, playing Bert Allenberry, a scientist from the future who travels through time to 1939's World's Fair in Queens, New York, in search of true love. The story comes from a collection of Hanks' short stories that was published in 2017. Hanks is best known for his screen work in such titles as Sleepless in Seattle, Big, Apollo 13, and Forrest Gump. He made his Broadway debut in 2013's Lucky Guy, earning a Tony Award for his performance. This upcoming performance will be his first New York stage performance in more than a decade, in a play whose cast also includes Tony winners Kelli O'Hara and Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

Aaron Tveit and Lea Michele (Chess)

Heaven help our hearts, because Chess is returning to Broadway at last, stacked with an all-star cast. The cult-favorite musical has not officially graced the Broadway stage (save for a few one-night-only concerts) since its premiere in 1988, which ran for just two months. The show will previews October 15 at the Imperial Theatre, with opening night set for November 16. The Imperial was also the home of the original production of Chess in 1988.. The cast will be led by Tony winner Aaron Tveit as Freddie Trumper and Glee's Lea Michele as Florence Vassey.

The Muppets (Rob Lake Magic with Special Guests The Muppets)

Yes, you read that right. The Muppets are finally coming to Broadway, but not all on their own. Magician Rob Lake will play a holiday run at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre beginning October 28 and opening November 6—and he's invited the furry puppet gang to join him as his special guests. The limited run will continue through January 18, 2026.

The Muppets have previously starred in stage shows at Disney theme parks, though a Broadway debut has proved elusive. A project was reportedly in the works for them to star in their own show led by Tony-winning director Alex Timbers as far back as 2013, though that show never materialized. Lake is not yet revealing which Muppets audiences can expect to see in the upcoming Broadway show, other than Kermit the Frog and "some of his friends."

Mark Strong and Lesley Manville (Oedipus)

British screen stars Mark Strong (Kingsman: The Secret Service) and Lesley Manville (The Crown) will play husband and wife (among other relations) in Oedipus. The production by Robert Icke won two 2025 Olivier Awards when it ran last year in the West End, including Best Actress for Manville and Best Revival of a Play. Performances will begin at Studio 54 beginning October 30. Opening night will be November 13.

Kevin McHale (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee)

Between Lea Michele, Kristin Chenoweth, and Kevin McHale, Glee fans are going to have a good time in New York this fall. McHale will star in an Off-Broadway revival of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee alongside a cast of up-and-coming musical theatre talent: Philippe Arroyo, Autumn Best, Leana Rae Concepcion, Justin Cooley, Matt Manuel, and Tony nominee Jasmine Amy Rogers. The musical follows middle schoolers who compete in a spelling bee. The show begins performances November 7 and opens November 17 at New World Stages.

Tom Felton (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child)

Tom Felton, who played Harry Potter’s arch-nemesis Draco Malfoy in all eight Harry Potter films, will reprise the role in Broadway's Harry Potter and the Cursed Child this fall. Felton will return to the role for the first time in nearly 15 years beginning November 11 at Broadway's Lyric Theatre for a limited 19-week engagement through March 22, 2026. Felton, who will be making his Broadway debut, will be the first actor from the original Harry Potter film to join the stage production, which takes place 19 years after the end of the original series.

June Squibb, Cynthia Nixon, Danny Burstein, and Christopher Lowell (Marjorie Prime)

The cast is set for the upcoming Broadway premiere of Jordan Harrison's Marjorie Prime. Second Stage Theater is bringing the 2015 Pulitzer finalist work to its Helen Hayes Theater beginning November 20, ahead of a December 8 opening night.

Academy Award nominee June Squibb (Eleanor the Great) will star in the title role, sharing the stage with Tony Award winners Danny Burstein (Gypsy) and Cynthia Nixon (The Gilded Age), and Christopher Lowell (Promising Young Woman). The play is about a woman who uses a computer holographic system to bring back AI versions of the deceased. It first premiered Off-Broadway in 2015, with a different cast, though it seems now is a perfect time for a revisit considering the rise of AI.

Matthew Broderick, Bianca Del Rio, David Cross (Tartuffe)

The place to be this fall is New York Theatre Workshop, for its production of Molière’s classic farce Tartuffe, with a very starry cast. Tony winner Matthew Broderick (The Producers) will lead the cast as the morally bankrupt Tartuffe, a charlatan who claims to be an upstanding citizen who infiltrates a wealthy family. The cast will also include Emmy Award winner David Cross (Arrested Development) as Orgon, Obie Award winner Emily Davis (Is This A Room) as Mariane, RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Bianca del Rio as Mme Pernelle, Tony Award nominee Amber Gray (Hadestown) as Elmire, Obie Award winner Ryan Haddad (Dark Disabled Stories) as Damis, 2025 Tony Award winner Francis Jue(Yellow Face) as Cleante, Tony Award winner Lisa Kron (Fun Home) as Dorine, and Emmy Award nominee Ike Ufomadu (Ziwe) as Valére. The play, in a new version by Lucas Hnath (A Doll's House, Part 2) will begin previews November 28 ahead of a December 16 opening night.

Carrie Coon (Bug)

Emmy nominee Carrie Coon, best known for The Gilded Age and The White Lotus, returns to the Broadway stage in the fall, starring in a play written by her husband, Tracy Letts. This isn't the first time the two have worked together; they starred opposite each other in the 2012 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. So Gilded Age fans can get their fix as they wait for season four of the series, as Coon returns to the stage in this disturbing comedy about a woman who falls into madness when she takes up with a much younger man. Bug performances December 17, with a January 8, 2026 opening, at Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Michelle Williams, Tom Sturridge (Anna Christie)

Off-Broadway institution St. Ann's Warehouse will produce a new production of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, starring Emmy Award-winning actor Michelle Williams and Tony-nominated actor Tom Sturridge, and directed by Tony winner Thomas Kail. The production will run November 25, 2025-February 1, 2026.

Williams will play the title character, a reformed prostitute. The last time screen actor Williams was on stage was in Blackbird in 2016 (actor Williams is not to be confused with pop star Michelle Williams, who is currently on Broadway in Death Becomes Her). Sturridge takes over for the previously announced Mike Faist, who had to depart the production; Sturridge plays the lead in Netflix's The Sandman and has performed on Broadway in Sea Wall/A Life, Orphans, and 1984.

Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle (Proof)

Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) and Academy award nominee Don Cheadle (Crash) will make their Broadway debuts spring 2026 in the first-ever New York revival of David Auburn’s Tony- and Pulitzer-winning play Proof. Directed by Tony winner Thomas Kail (Hamilton), Proof will play a strictly limited engagement at a Shubert theater to be announced, with preview performances beginning March 31, 2026, ahead of an April 16 opening night.

Proof tells the story of the daughter of a recently deceased mathematician who must fight to prove the authorship of a landmark proof that is discovered among her father's papers, while also dealing with her father's legacy of genius and mental illness.

Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Dog Day Afternoon)

Yes chef! Dog Day Afternoon, a new play from Pulitzer winner Stephen Adly Guirgis (Between Riverside and Crazy), will make its Broadway debut in spring 2026, with Emmy-winning The Bear stars Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach starring. Dates and a theatre are to be announced.

The true crime story, which previously inspired the 1975 film of the same name, centers on a 1972 Brooklyn bank robbery gone wrong that turns into a hostage situation. Bernthal will play Sonny Amato to Moss-Bachrach's Sal DeSilva. Frank Pierson wrote the 1975 film, adapting P.F. Kluge's Life magazine article "The Boys in the Bank." Warner Bros., which released the film, is producing the upcoming stage play, though it doesn't appear to be a direct adaptation of Pierson's screenplay.

Rose Byrne (Fallen Angels)

Spring 2026 will see a new production of Noël Coward’s comedy Fallen Angels at the Todd Haimes Theatre, directed by Scott Ellis and starring Tony winner Kelli O'Hara (The King and I) and Emmy nominee Rose Byrne (Damages). Though Byrne is known primarily for screen work, she has done theatre before—notably in a Medea at Brooklyn Academy of Music opposite her real-life husband Bobby Cannavale. Dates are TBA

Taraji P Henson and Cedric “The Entertainer” (Joe Turner's Come and Gone)

Oscar, Tony, and Emmy nominee Taraji P. Henson (The Color Purple) and six-time NAACP Image Award winner Cedric “The Entertainer” will star in a Broadway revival of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone on Broadway next year.

Directed by Golden Globe and four-time Emmy winner Debbie Allen, the Wilson classic will open in spring 2026 at a Shubert theatre to be announced. Additional casting and creative team members will be announced at a later date.

Renée Elise Goldsberry (The Balusters)

Tony Award winner (and original Hamilton star) Renée Elise Goldsberry makes her return to Broadway after a decade in David Lindsay-Abaire's new play, The Balusters, set to play spring 2026 at the Friedman Theatre. 

The play centers on a small-town neighborhood association experiencing some big drama—namely, the concept of installing a new stop sign on the neighborhood's most bucolic block. Though Goldsberry has a new album out and has sung on the television series Girls5Eva, expect her to show up her dramatic and acting chops in this new play.

Playbill will continue to update this list as more stars, and the theatres they're playing in, are announced. 

Also, click here for upcoming Broadway shows and here for upcoming Off-Broadway shows.