Fall Preview 2023 | Playbill

Playbill proudly presents our special 2023 Fall Preview. Here, we take a deep dive into some of the most anticipated shows coming up in NYC. The short versions of these articles appear in our September print Playbill, but be sure to read the much longer versions below for more backstage stories, and original photography. Check back here as the month progresses for exclusive video performances.


Video: See Madison Kopec Sing 'Unlikely Animals' From How to Dance in Ohio
Vi Dang

Video: See Hadestown's Newest Eurydice, Solea Pfeiffer, Sing 'Flowers'
Vi Dang

Hey, Old Friend: Lindsay Mendez Returns to Broadway With Merrily We Roll Along
Photo by Joan Marcus, Graphic by Vi Dang

After 3 Decades, Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman's Harmony Is Finally on Broadway
Photo by Julieta Cervantes, Graphic by Vi Dang


Leslie Odom, Jr. and Kara Young Continue the Story for Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee
Photo by Kareem Black, Graphic by Vi Dang

Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells Are Ready to Make You Laugh With Gutenberg! The Musical!
Photo by Mandee Johnson, Graphic by Vi Dang


How Jocelyn Bioh Is Balancing a Broadway Play, and a Newborn
Photo by Joshua Bright, Graphic by Vi Dang


Broadway Shows Opening Fall 2023

Purlie Victorious

First Preview: September 7, 2023
Opening Date: September 27, 2023

Leslie Odom, Jr. returns to Broadway for the first time since his Tony Award-winning performance in Hamilton.

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch is the rousing, laugh-filled comedy by Kennedy Center honoree Ossie Davis that tells the story of a Black preacher’s machinations to reclaim his inheritance and win back his church. Directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon (A Raisin in the Sun, Fences, Topdog/Underdog), this inspiring and delightful comedic masterpiece became the source material for the beloved hit musical, Purlie.


Jaja’s African Hair Braiding

First Preview: September 12, 2023
Opening Date: October 3, 2023

Welcome to Jaja’s bustling hair braiding salon in Harlem where every day, a lively and eclectic group of West African immigrant hair braiders are creating masterpieces on the heads of neighborhood women. During one sweltering summer day, love will blossom, dreams will flourish and secrets will be revealed. The uncertainty of their circumstances simmers below the surface of their lives and when it boils over, it forces this tight-knit community to confront what it means to be an outsider on the edge of the place they call home.


Melissa Etheridge: My Window

First Preview: September 14, 2023
Opening Date: September 28, 2023

Known for her confessional lyrics and raspy, smoky vocals, Melissa Etheridge has lit up airwaves and arenas across the world for more than two decades with instant classics like “I'm the Only One,” “Come to My Window,” “I Want to Come Over,” and more. Melissa Etheridge: My Window is an intimate experience like never before, inviting theatergoers into an exhilarating evening of storytelling and music. From tales of her childhood in Kansas to her groundbreaking career highlights – with all of life’s hits and deep cuts between – Etheridge opens her heart and soul on stage to fearlessly dazzle audiences of all generations.


Gutenberg! The Musical!

First Preview: September 15, 2023
Opening Date: October 12, 2023

THE ORIGINAL STARS OF THE BOOK OF MORMON ARE TOGETHER AGAIN!
Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells are back on Broadway, putting on a show together because they just love each other so damn much. This hilarious new musical tells the story of Bud and Doug, two best pals putting on a show together because they just love each other so damn much. It’s art imitating life imitating art! And the critics just love it so damn much. Get your tickets now to GUTENBERG!



Merrily We Roll Along

First Preview: September 19, 2023
Opening Date: October 10, 2023

Spanning three decades in the entertainment business, Merrily We Roll Along charts the turbulent relationship between composer Franklin Shepard and his two lifelong friends — writer Mary and lyricist & playwright Charley. An inventive cult-classic ahead of its time, Merrily We Roll Along features some of Stephen Sondheim’s most celebrated and personal songs. Maria Friedman first directed the musical at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory – a production that subsequently transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre, where it garnered the most five-star reviews in West End history before going on to win the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival.


I Need That

First Preview: October 13, 2023
Opening Date: November 2, 2023

Danny DeVito returns to Roundabout Theatre Company following his Tony Award nominated turn in Arthur Miller’s The Price, alongside his daughter, Lucy DeVito, and Ray Anthony Thomas in this deeply human new comedy from Theresa Rebeck (Bernhardt/Hamlet).


Harmony

First Preview: October 18, 2023
Opening Date: November 13, 2023

Berlin, 1927.

Six remarkably talented young men form a singing group who become international sensations: The Comedian Harmonists. They sell millions of records, star in major motion pictures, and play the biggest theaters around the world. By 1935, they were never heard from again. What happened? That’s the extraordinary true story of Harmony.

Harmony features an original score by Tony®, Grammy® and Emmy® Award winner Barry Manilow with lyrics and book by long-time collaborator and Drama Desk Award winner Bruce Sussman.

Directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Warren Carlyle (The Music Man, Hello Dolly!), this timely and captivating rags-to-riches story lost to history comes to dazzling life with a sensational cast of Broadway favorites, including Sierra Boggess (The Phantom of the Opera), Julie Benko (Funny Girl), and Chip Zien (Into the Woods).


Spamalot

First Preview: October 31, 2023
Opening Date: November 16, 2023

The Tony Award®-winning Best Musical that set Broadway back 1,000 years returns!

Spamalot, the musical comedy lovingly ripped off from the film classic, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, returns to Broadway for the first time ever, following a record-breaking sold-out run at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.



Fallen Angels

First Preview: November 6, 2023
Opening Date: November 6, 2023

Sparkling, dizzying, and deliciously potent, Noël Coward’s Champagne-fresh comedy of bad manners shocked and delighted audiences in its 1925 premiere. Now Emmy nominee Rose Byrne and Tony winner Kelli O’Hara head a star-studded cast to bring Coward’s unmatched wit to life once again, for one night only, under the direction of Roundabout Interim Artistic Director Scott Ellis.


How to Dance in Ohio

First Preview: November 15, 2023
Opening Date: December 10, 2023

The new musical How to Dance in Ohio – inspired by Alexandra Shiva’s Peabody Award-winning documentary of the same name – will open on Broadway this fall at the Belasco Theatre. Reprising their roles from the world premiere engagement at Syracuse Stage, in the parts of the real-life autistic young adults featured in the HBO documentary, are a cast of seven autistic actors, all making their Broadway debuts.


Appropriate

First Preview: November 29, 2023
Opening Date: December 18, 2023

Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (An Octoroon) and Drama Desk Award winner Lila Neugebauer (The Waverly Gallery, 2ST’s Mary Page Marlowe) invite you to one helluva reunion in the darkly comic American family drama, Appropriate, starring Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Award winner Sarah Paulson.


Prayer For The French Republic

First Preview: December 19, 2023
Opening Date: January 9, 2024

Prayer for the French Republic, written by Drama Desk Award winner Joshua Harmon and directed by Tony Award winner David Cromer, comes to Broadway following Manhattan Theatre Club’s highly acclaimed, twice-extended, sold-out world premiere at New York City Center – Stage I. MTC commissioned this play, which was the winner of the 2022 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play.


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