Some of the world’s biggest celebrities are taking center stage for the 2024-2025 Broadway season
Broadway's 2024-2025 season is going to be star-studded, with a some of the biggest stars of stage and screen treading the boards
Famous names include Robert Downey, Jr., Denzel Washington, Katie Holmes and Mia Farrow
They will lead a variety of plays and musicals, which will open before April 2025 in the lead-up to the 2025 Tony Awards
The lights on Broadway are going to be extra bright in the 2024-2025 season.
A plethora of the most popular celebrities of stage and screen are heading to The Great White Way, including Denzel Washington, George Clooney and Robert Downey, Jr. – the latter two who are making their Broadway debuts.
When it comes to leading ladies, the line-up is stacked with stage legends Audra McDonald and Sutton Foster returning to the scene, as well as the anticipated Broadway debut of Nicole Scherzinger.
And then there's Patti LuPone, who is starring in a new play with Mia Farrow. It'll be the three-time Tony winner’s first Broadway role since giving up her Equity Card.
Take a look at what's on the way:
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Cole Escola and Conrad Ricamora — Oh, Mary!
Comedian Cole Escola and How to Get Away With Murder star Conrad Ricamora bring their hit Off-Broadway play Oh, Mary to Broadway.
The production, which had its premiere at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Feb. 8, 2024, began previews June 26 at the Lyceum Theatre before opening on July 11. The show is scheduled for a limited 12-week engagement, concluding on Sept. 15.
Directed by Sam Pinkleton, the show is written by Escola, who stars as "a miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln” in their Broadway debut. The one-act play follows the former first lady in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 assassination.
Ricamora, who previously graced the Broadway stage in Here Lies Love and The King and I, stars as the former president with James Scully as Mary’s teacher, Bianca Leigh as Mary’s chaperone and Tony Macht as Mary’s husband’s assistant.
The synopsis reads, "Unrequited yearning, alcoholism and suppressed desires abound in this one act play that finally examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mrs. Lincoln through the lens of an idiot."
Tickets for Oh, Mary are now on sale.
Sutton Foster and Michael Urie — Once Upon a Mattress
Two-time Tony winnerSutton FosterandUgly BettyvetMichael Urieare returning to Broadway, leading the revival of the beloved Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer 1959 musicalOnce Upon a Mattress.
The production, which premiered with Sutton earlier this year as part of New York City Center's Encores! series, begins previews July 31 at the Hudson Theatre in New York City, with an opening night set for Aug. 12. The limited engagement is currently scheduled through Nov. 30.
After Broadway, the show will move to Los Angeles for a four-week engagement at Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre. Performances will take place there from Dec. 10 through Jan. 5, 2025.
Based on Hans Christian Andersen’sThe Princess and the Pea —with a book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer —Once Upon A Mattressfollows the charmingly brash Winnifred the Woebegone (Foster) as she competes for the hand of Prince Dauntless (Urie), after his demanding mother Queen Aggravain insisted he must marry a "true" princess before anyone else in their kingdom can marry.
EmmywinnerAmy Sherman-Palladino, who worked with Foster onBunheads, has adaptedOnce Upon a Mattressfor the upcoming Broadway revival. It will be directed by Tony nominee Lear deBessonet (Into the Woods), and feature choreography by Lorin Latarro (The Who’s Tommy).
Tickets forOnce Upon a Mattressare now on sale.
Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone — The Roommate
Acclaimed actress Mia Farrow and three-time Tony winner Patti LuPone will grace the Broadway stage in the new comedy play The Roommate.
The production is set to begin previews on Aug. 29 at Booth Theatre with an opening night on Sept. 12. The show, written by Jen Silverman, was first performed in 2015 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival in Kentucky.
The one-act play follows Sharon who finds her first-ever roommate in a woman named Robyn. The official synopsis teases that the two will "navigate the complexities of identity, morality, and the promise of reinvention."
Jack O’Brien serves as the director with design by Bob Crowley.
Both actresses are veterans of the stage, with Farrow last starring on Broadway in 2014’s Love Letters after playing roles in the 1999 revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s short-lived 1996 play Getting Away with Murder, among others.
LuPone made her Broadway debut in 1973. She's recently starred in the 2020 revival of Company and the 2017 play War Paint.
Notably, The Roommate will be LuPone’s first Broadway production since leaving the Actors’ Equity Association in late October 2022. At the time, she told PEOPLE that she believes they are the “worst union" after five decades as a member.
Tickets for The Roommate are now on sale.
Robert Downey Jr. — McNeal
Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. is set to make his Broadway debut at age 59 in Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar’s new play McNeal.
The production is set to begin previews on Sept. 5 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater with opening night on Sept. 30. The show will have a limited engagement through Nov. 24.
Downey Jr. will star as writer Jacob McNeal, who is a "perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature." The official synopsis states that the Oppenheimer actor's character "has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with artificial intelligence."
The production will be directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, whose recent credits include the 2018 revival of My Fair Lady and the 2023 play Pictures From Home.
Fans know Downey Jr. from his decades of film and television projects. His credits include playing Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the 1992 biopic Chaplin and the 2009 movie adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.
Tickets to McNeal are now on sale.
Daniel Dae Kim — Yellow Face
Daniel Dae Kim is returning to Broadway in the new play Yellow Face.
The production has its first preview set for Sept. 13 at the Todd Haimes Theatre ahead of its opening on Oct. 1. The show first played at Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 2007 before opening Off-Broadway at the Joseph Papp Public Theater.
Yellow Face is a semi-autobiographical story about a playwright who "protests yellowface casting in Miss Saigon, only to mistakenly cast a white actor as the Asian lead in his own play." The play is described as a "laugh-out-loud farce about the complexities of race,' in the official synopsis.
Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang wrote the script and Leigh Silverman — whose recent credits include Suffs and Violet — will direct. Henry Hwang’s previous work includes M. Butterfly and Soft Power.
Dae Kim made his Broadway debut in the 2015 Broadway revival in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I. On screen, he has starred in the popular television shows Hawaii Five-0 and Lost, as well as the movies Crash, Always Be My Maybe and Joy Ride.
Tickets for Yellow Face are now on sale.
Jim Parsons, Zoey Deutch and Katie Holmes — Our Town
Broadway's latest revival of Our Town has a stacked cast, featuring Jim Parsons, Zoey Deutch and Katie Holmes.
The anticipated production, directed by Kenny Leon, will play its first preview on Sept. 17 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The show will open on Oct. 10 for a limited run through Jan. 19, 2025.
Written by Thornton Wilder, the Pulitzer Prize-winning work follows everyday life in the village of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, as narrated by the stage manager.
Parsons — last seen on Broadway in the four-time Tony nominated work Mother Play, will portray the stage narrator — with Holmes as worrisome matriarch Mrs. Webb and Deutch in her Broadway debut as daughter Emily Webb.
The show first opened on Broadway in 1938 and has since been revived four times – the latest of which was in 2002 with the late Paul Newman.
Tickets for Our Town are now on sale.
Darren Criss — Maybe Happy Ending
Darren Criss heads back to Broadway in the new musical Maybe Happy Ending.
The production, which had its world premiere in 2016 in Seoul, Korea, is set to begin previews on Sept. 18 at Belasco Theatre ahead of its opening on Oct. 17.
Featuring a book by Will Aronson and Hue Park with music by Aronson and lyrics by Park, the musical will be directed by Tony winner Michael Arden — known for helming the 2023 revival of Parade and the 2016 Deaf West production of Spring Awakening, will direct.
The show follows two robots (called Helperbots)who have a chance encounter that leads to friendship and more.
Criss was last seen on Broadway in the 2020 revival of American Buffalo, opposite Sam Rockwell and Laurence Fishburne. Prior to that, the Glee star appeared in hit revivals of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He also did a turn in Off-Broadway’s long-running revival of Little Shop of Horrors with Evan Rachel Wood.
This is the Emmy winner’s first time originating a role in a Broadway production.
Tickets for Maybe Happy Ending are now on sale.
Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler — Romeo & Juliet
Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler will make their Broadway debuts in a new production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.
The production will begin previews on Sept. 26 at Circle in the Square Theatre with an opening night on Oct. 24. The limited run is set to end on Jan. 19.
Shakespeare's romantic tragedy follows two star-crossed lovers embroiled in a family feud. The production will be directed by Tony winner Sam Gold, who previously helmed revivals of King Lear and Macbeth by the famed playwright, with movement by Sonya Tayeh and music by Grammy Award winner Jack Antonoff.
Connor is known for his role as Nick Nelson in the Netflix adaptation of Alice Oseman's Heartstopper and for playing young Elton John in 2019's Rocketman.
Meanwhile, Zegler nabbed a Golden Globe Award for her debut film role as María in Steven Spielberg's 2021 version of West Side Story. She has gone on to star in Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
The actress also made an appearance on Ben Platt’s summer Broadway residency to perform "She Used to Be Mine" from the hit musical Waitress.
Tickets for Romeo & Juliet are now on sale.
Nicole Scherzinger — Sunset Boulevard
Nicole Scherzinger will make her Broadway debut as Norma Desmond in the 2024 revival of Sunset Boulevard.
The show is set to have its first preview on Sept. 28 at St. James Theatre before officially opening on Oct. 20. The production, directed by Jamie Lloyd, previously played on the West End for a limited 16-week run with Scherzinger in the same role.She was given a prestigious Olivier Award for her performance.
With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, the show follows the romance between movie star Norma and screenwriter Joe Gillis as she attempts to have a Hollywood comeback.
The puss*cat Dolls alum made her West End debut in the 2014 revival of Cats – which earned her a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. She went on to lend her voice to the 2016 animated movie Moana and the NBC live production of Annie in 2021.
Scherzinger also starred as a judge on numerous talent competition television shows, including The X Factor, America’s Got Talent and The Masked Singer.
She told PEOPLE in September 2023 that she was hesitant to take the role before speaking with director Lloyd due to her preconceived idea of the work."I was like, 'Are you crazy? Are you mad?' I didn’t get it, because I only ever had Glenn Close in my mind — and Gloria Swanson in the old film," she said at the time. "He was like, 'Don’t watch the movie, don’t listen to anybody else, just read the lines and listen to the music.' And when I did, I just fell in love with Norma. I didn’t realize that this is the role that I’ve been waiting to play all my life. We’re doing a completely different, new interpretation."
Tickets for Sunset Boulevard are now on sale.
Megan Hilty, Jennifer Simard and Michelle Williams — Death Becomes Her
Megan Hilty and Destiny’s Child alum Michelle Williams will return to Broadway in the new musical adaption of Death Becomes Her.
The production, which premiered at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago in April, is set to begin previews on Oct. 23 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre before officially opening on Nov. 21.
Death Becomes Her is based on Robert Zemeckis’ 1992 fantasy comedy starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Isabella Rossellini. The musical features direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli; music and lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey; and a book by Marco Pennette.
The musical follows actress Madeline Ashton and her frenemy Helen Sharp as their "world is suddenly turned upside down by Viola Van Horn, a mysterious woman with a secret that’s to die for," per the official synopsis.
Hilty, best known for her Broadway roles in Wicked, 9 to 5: The Musical and Noises Off, plays Madeline with longtime Broadway standout Jennifer Simard as Helen and Williams as Viola. All three actresses are reprising their roles from the Chicago production.
Grammy winner Williams made her Broadway debut in the 2003 revival of Aida and has gone on to star in Chicago and the 2018 revival of Once on This Island.
Tickets for Death Becomes Her are now on sale.
Audra McDonald — Gypsy
Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald returns to Broadway in the new revival of Gypsy.
Directed by George C. Wolfe, the production is set to begin previews on Nov. 21 at Majestic Theatre with an opening night on Dec. 19.
The show features music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents. It tells the story of real-life burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee and her haughty stage mother Rose. The work includes musical theater standards such as "Some People," "All You Need is the Girl" and "Rose’s Turn."
McDonald will be the first Black woman to play Rose on stage or screen, following acclaimed portrayals by Ethel Merman, Tyne Daly, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone.
The actress previously starred in Broadway productions of Carousel; Ragtime; Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed; and Ohio State Murders.
Tickets for Gypsy are now on sale.
Zoë Chao — Eureka Day
Zoë Chao is heading to the Main Stem in the Broadway premiere of Eureka Day.
The production is set to begin previews on Nov. 25 at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre with an opening on Dec. 16. The show had its world premiere in Berkeley, California ahead of its Off-Broadway run the next year, followed by its London premiere in 2022 starring Helen Hunt.
Written by Jonathan Spector, the show follows the board of directors at a private elementary school in California as they argue over vaccines during a mumps outbreak. "As cases rise, the board realizes with horror that they’ve got to do what they swore they never would: make a choice that won’t please absolutely everybody," the official synopsis teases.
Anna D. Shapiro will direct the play, which also stars Amber Gray, Jessica Hecht, Bill Irwin and Thomas Middleditch.
In addition to The Afterparty, Chao has starred in television shows The OA, Living With Yourself, Love Life and Party Down. The actress also held roles in the Netflix romantic comedy Your Place or Mine and the Amazon original Somebody I Used to Know. She is set to star in the anticipated movie adaptation of Nightbitch later this year, alongside Amy Adams.
Learn more about Eureka Day on the official website.
Bernadette Peters — Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends
Broadway legend Bernadette Peters is returning to The Great White Way in a tribute to the late Stephen Sondheim.
The production is set to begin previews on Mar. 25, 2025 at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre with direction by Matthew Bourne and Julia McKenzie. The musical previously ran on the West End in 2023, following a gala performance at the Sondheim Theater in London in 2022.
Peters has been part of all three productions, while theater veteran Lea Salgona — who also star in the Broadway run — joined the cast in the West End. Additional casting is to be announced.
"Celebrate one of Broadway’s true icons with this legendary theatrical event! Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends is an irresistible celebration of the master himself," the official synopsis reads.
Two-time Tony winner Peters has starred in several of Sondheim’s works on the Broadway stage including the original productions of Into the Woods and Sunday in the Park With George, as well as revivals of Gypsy, Follies and A Little Night Music.
Learn more about Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends on the official website.
David Hyde Pierce — The Pirates of Penzance
Frasier alum David Hyde Pierce returns to Broadway in an anticipated revival of The Pirates of Penzance.
The production will begin previews on April 4, 2025 at the Todd Haimes Theatre with an opening set for April 25, 2025. The limited run is expected to conclude on June 22, 2025.
The revival, said to be a jazz-inspired take on the classic, is directed by Scott Elis with choreography by Warren Carlyle — both of whom worked on the 2019 revival of Kiss Me, Kate.
Adapted by Rupert Holmes with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W.S. Gilbert, the show follows a pirate ship that docks in New Orleans. "With the tongue-twisting Major-General, the rabble-rousing Pirate King, newly-imagined young lovers, daring daughters, footloose pirates and fleet-footed police, there's a shipload of musical comedy delights on board to dazzle first-timers and G&S aficionados alike," the synopsis teases.
This is the first revival to hit the Main Stem in over 40 years.
Pierce will star in the production alongside Ramin Karimloo, who was last seen on Broadway in the 2022 revival of Funny Girl.
The four-time Emmy Award winner has graced the Broadway stage several times throughout his career, starring in revivals of Monty Python's Spamalot and Hello, Dolly. He originated the role Lieutenant Frank Cioffi in the Broadway musical Curtains, which earned him a Tony Award in 2007.
Tickets for Pirates of Penzance are now on sale.
Peter Gallagher and Julianna Margulies — Left on Tenth
Peter Gallagher and Julianna Margulies return to Broadway in the new romantic play Left on Tenth.
The production is set to begin previews on Sept. 26 at James Earl Jones Theatre, with an opening night on Oct. 23.
The work is directed by five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman with a script by New York Times bestselling author Delia Ephron — who previously teamed up with her sister Nora Eprhon in 2008 to pen the Off-Broadway play Love, Loss, and What I Wore.
Based on the author’s memoir of the same name, the work follows Delia as she reconnects with a man from her past.
Gallagher has accumulated numerous credits on stage and screen, known for his work on the television shows The O.C., Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Grace and Frankie. He also starred in the film American Beauty, which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award.
On Broadway, the actor earned his first Tony Award nomination for his role in Long Day’s Journey into the Night and went on to star in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, the 2001 revival of Noises Off opposite Patti LuPone and the 2015 revival of On the Twentieth Century with Kristin Chenoweth.
Margulies is known for her work on the small screen, having played Carol Hathaway in the NBC medical drama series ER for over six years. She also held roles in The Good Wife and The Sopranos, and currently stars in the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show.The actress made her Broadway debut in the original cast of Festen in 2006.
Learn more about Left on Tenth on the official website.
George Clooney — Good Night, and Good Luck
George Clooney is set to make his Broadway debut in the new play Good Night, and Good Luck as both an actor and writer.
The show, directed by Tony winner David Cromer, is set to have its first preview in spring 2025 with additional details to come.
Based on their 2005 film of the same name, Good Night, and Good Luck is co-written by Clooney and Grant Heslov.
In the movie, Clooney played news producer Fred Friendly in the story about CBS news journalist Edward R. Murrow working to expose Senator Joseph McCarthy wrongdoings during his Senate investigation.
The two-time Oscar winner has a plethora of screen credits, including starring in the NBC medical drama ER for five years, as well as holding roles in the movies Batman & Robin, Out of Sight and the Ocean’s movie franchise.
Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren — The Last Five Years
Nick Jonas and Tony winner Adrienne Warren are set to star in the first-ever Broadway production of The Last Five Years.
The production is set to premiere in spring 2025 with direction by Whitney White. The musical first premiered at Chicago's Northlight Theatre in 2001 followed by an Off-Broadway production starring Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott.
Featuring a book, music, and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, the musical follows the demise of a relationship between a rising novelist named Jamie (Jonas) and a struggling actress named Cathy (Warren), across two different timelines. His perspective is told in chronological order from when the couple first got together, while hers is told in reverse from the end of their marriage.
Jonas was last seen on Broadway in 2023, when he did a five-day residency with his band, the Jonas Brothers. He also starred in the 2001 revival of Annie Get Your Gun, the 2002 revival of Beauty and the Beast, the 2010 revival of Les Misérables and the 2012 revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Meanwhile, Warren originated the role of Tina Turner in Tina, the musical based on the music icon's life, for which she earned a Tony Award. The actress made her Broadway debut in the musical adaptation of Bring It On in 2012 and later starred in the 2016 musical Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed.
Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal — Othello
Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhall return to Broadway in spring 2025 in a new production of William Shakespeare's Othello.
Tony Award winner Kenny Leon is directing the work after having previously directed the 2023 production of Hamlet for New York City’s Shakespeare in the Park.
Othello will feature Washington as the title character, a general of the Venetian army, with Gyllenhaal as Iago — a man seeking revenge against the commander.
Washington starred in N.Y.C. productions of Shakespeare's Coriolanus and The Tragedy of Richard III at The Public Theater in 1979 and 1990 respectively. He had his Broadway debut in 1988’s Checkmates before going on to star as Troy Maxson in the 2001 revival of August Wilson’s play Fences, for which he received a Tony Award. The actor also starred in the 2005 Broadway production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Gyllenhaal, on the other hand, made his Broadway debut in 2014’s Constellations and later starred in the 2017 revival of Sunday in the Park with George and the 2019 production of Sea Wall/A Life — the latter of which nabbed him a Tony nomination.
Learn more about Othello on the official website.
Idina Menzel — Redwood
Stage and screen star Idina Menzel returns to Broadway to appear in the new musical Redwood, which she also co-conceived.
The production will begin previews on Jan. 24, 2025 at Nederlander Theatre ahead of its opening on Feb. 13, 2025, after having its world premiere at California’s La Jolla Playhouse in February.
Written and directed by Landau, Redwood will feature music by Kate Diaz with lyrics by Diaz and Landau. Additional contributions are by Menzel.
The show is described as "a transportive new musical about one woman’s journey into the precious and precarious world of the redwood forest" that "explores the lengths — and heights — one travels to find strength, resilience and healing."
The Tony winner made her Broadway debut in the original cast of Jonathan Larson’s hit rock musical Rent (which also played at the Nederlander Theatre) before going on to star in the original Off-Broadway cast of The Wild Party and originating the role of Elphaba in Wicked.
She also voices Elsa in the Disney animated movie Frozen and its sequel.
Learn more about Redwood on the official website.
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