Benj Pasek, Shaina Taub, Joshua Harmon Musical Unorthodox Will Make World Premiere in Boston

Benj Pasek (Dear Evan Hansen), Shaina Taub (Suffs), and Joshua Harmon (Prayer for the French Republic) have written a new musical together, Unorthodox, that will make its world premiere in 2027 at Boston's Huntington Theatre, part of the company's newly announced 2026-2027 season. The work, adapted from Deborah Feldman's memoir, features a score by Pasek and Taub and a book by Harmon, the trio's first project together.

Performances will run April 29-May 30, 2027, with Jordan Fein (London's current Into the Woods) at the helm.

The work tracks two parallel stories, with 17-year-old Devoiri facing an arranged marriage in the Hasidic Satmar community of Brooklyn and, 60 years earlier, her grandmother Fraida arriving in America at roughly the same age to start a new life. The musical follows as one decides to join the devout world while one realizes she wants to leave.

"We are close friends who had been searching for something to write together. When we discovered this story, we knew it was the one we wanted to tell, as it's full of complex characters in extraordinary circumstances making impossible choices," say Pasek, Taub, and Harmon in a joint statement. "Collaborating on this show has been a genuine joy, we are grateful to The Huntington for the chance to see it realized, and eager to share it with audiences!"

"Every once in a blue moon, a true theatrical event comes along. And if you’re especially lucky, it also marks the birth of something thrilling, meaningful, and true. The joining of musical theatre visionaries Benj Pasek and Shaina Taub with one of our great living playwrights, Joshua Harmon, collaborating for the first time together to create a musical adaptation of Unorthodox is one such moment," adds Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco. "What they’ve crafted is an urgent, intimate, and soul-stirring story of two women discovering who they are and what world they want to forge for their children. I have no doubt this extraordinary new musical will resonate far beyond our walls, and you’ll be able to say you experienced it here first."

The upcoming season also includes a world premiere bow for Mfoniso Udofia's Adia & Clora Snatch Joy, the conclusion of the nine-work Ufot Family Cycle. This latest work features music for a cappella voices (composed by Michael Ellis Ingram), centering on Clora Abernathy as a stranger arrives and inspires both "to wholly experience desire, pleasure, and joy as grow-ass women," per press notes. The work features a book, libretto, and lyrics by Udofia, and will be directed by Awoye Tempo, performing November 24-December 13.

The Massachusetts' company newly revealed season also includes new stagings of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Pulitzer- and Tony-winning Purpose, directed by Josiah Davis and performing September 10-October 11; Aaron Sorkin's stage adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Greco and performing October 8-November 8; and Talene Monahon's Meet the Cartozians, directed by Greco and running February 18-March 21, 2027, in a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

The theatre will also host an evening of songs from Taylor Mac and Matt Ray's queer rock opera Bark of Millions October 15-18, presented by ArtsEmerson; and Teatro La Plaza's Edinburgh Fringe hit Hamlet, written and directed by Chela De Ferrari and performing March 4-7.

Season tickets are available at HuntingtonTheatre.org. Single tickets will go on sale in late spring and early summer.