Editor's Top 5 Picks for January 2020 on Broadway and Beyond

Here's a guide to our theatrical highlights of the month...

Happy New Year to all our readers from all of us here at the New York Theatre Guide! Bring on the roaring twenties, we say, and bring on a fresh decade of delights on the Great White Way! But before we get to our top five picks for this month, January is traditionally that time of the year when we have to say a sad goodbye to a plethora of Broadway productions, who all face their final curtains, and we'd like to take this opportunity to encourage you to catch them before it's too late...

Which Broadway shows are closing this month?

- The UK's mentalist megastar takes a final bow in his Broadway debut solo show Derren Brown: Secret at the Cort Theatre.

Derren Brown: Secret Tickets are available now for performances through January 4, 2020.

- After almost four years at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, the hit musical Waitress, now starring "American Idol" and "Smash" favorite Katharine McPhee, puts in its final shift at the diner.

Waitress Tickets are available now for performances through January 5, 2020.

- As the holidays come to a close, so too does the delightful, immersive, new stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol, starring "House of Cards" standout Campbell Scott, at the Lyceum Theatre.

A Christmas Carol Tickets are available now for performances through January 5, 2020.

- The Broadway premiere of Tootsie, with its Tony Award-winning star Santino Fontana, struts its stuff one last time at the Marquis Theatre.

Tootsie Tickets are available now for performances through January 5, 2020.

- Fans of young demi-god Percy Jackson take note! The Lightning Thief strikes the Longacre Theatre for a final time.

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical Tickets are available now for performances through January 5, 2020.

- A final blast in the snow? The wintry spectacle that is Slava's Snowshow bows out at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

Slava's Snowshow Tickets are available now for performances through January 5, 2020.

- Catch The Illusionists before they disappear! Magic of the Holidays enchants audiences for a final time at the Neil Simon Theatre.

The Illusionists: Magic of the Holidays Tickets are available now for performances through January 5, 2020.

- The Broadway premiere of Tommy Kail, Anthony Veneziale & Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hip Hop comedy improv group freestyle love supreme drops its final beats at the Booth Theatre.

freestyle love supreme Tickets are available now for performances through January 12, 2020.

- Catch Tony, Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Mary-Louise Parker in the gripping drama The Sound Inside at Studio 54.

The Sound Inside Tickets are available now for performances through January 12, 2020.

- The controversial and thought-provoking new drama Slave Play ends its acclaimed run at the Golden Theatre.

Slave Play Tickets are available now for performances through January 19, 2020.

- The Tony Award-winning 'Best Revival of a Musical' Oklahoma! will sing out "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" one last time at the Circle in the Square Theatre.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! Tickets are available now for performances through January 19, 2020.
 

So, there you have it, folks! A massive total of 11 Broadway productions come to a close this month, but, of course, they will be making way for a whole host of new, exciting shows in the next couple of months. As always, we'll keep you posted here at the New York Theatre Guide. Now, let's "Ring out the old, Bring in the new" with our Top 5 picks for January 2020 on Broadway and beyond...

- The Return of one Laura Linney

Four-time Tony Award nominee Laura Linney returns to tread the Broadway boards from January 4. The stage and screen favorite is set to reprise the titular role in Manhattan Theatre Club's American premiere of My Name is Lucy Barton at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, having previously starred in her UK stage debut engagement (and a special return engagement) at the Bridge Theatre in London to great acclaim. Based on Elizabeth Strout's best-selling novel, this haunting one-woman show follows Lucy Barton, who wakes after an operation to find her estranged mother at the foot of her bed... or does she? An official opening is set for January 15.

My Name is Lucy Barton Tickets are available now for performances from January 4 through February 29, 2020.

- A Soldier's Play finally on the Great White Way!

Better late than never, folks! Finally, Charles Fuller's milestone work A Soldier's Play, which won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Drama following its Off-Broadway premiere in 1981, will celebrate its first-ever Opening Night on Broadway on January 21. Kudos to Roundabout Theatre Company for bringing the acclaimed murder mystery (set in a Louisiana Army base in 1944) to the Great White Way and for enlisting Tony Award winner Kenny Leon to helm this star-studded production at the American Airlines Theatre. The cast is led by three-time Tony Award nominee David Alan Grier, two-time Golden Globe nominee Blair Underwood, Nnamdi Asomugha and Jerry O'Connell.

A Soldier's Play Tickets are available now for performances through March 15, 2020.

- Something Grand on the Horizon...

On January 23, Second Stage Theater's Broadway premiere of Grand Horizons, written by Bess Wohl and directed by Leigh Silverman, celebrates its official opening at the Hayes Theater. Exploring the growing trend of 'grey divorce,' this new comic drama centers on Bill (played by Emmy Award winner James Cromwell) and Nancy (Tony Award winner Jane Alexander), who have been married for fifty years... until Nancy suddenly decides she wants out, launcing the family into a crisis. The high-profile cast also includes Broadway favorites such as Tony Award nominee Ashley Park, Tony Award winner Priscilla Lopez, and Michael Urie, alongside television favorites Maulik Pancholy and Ben McKenzie, making his Broadway debut!

Grand Horizons Tickets are available now for performances through March 1, 2020.

- Upcoming Cast Changes on Broadway

The Great White Way welcomes a handful of new and familiar faces this month, so here's a quick run-down of who to catch in what, where and when... Tony Goldwyn is set to stand in for John Benjamin Hickey and cover the role of Henry Wilcox in The Inheritance at the Barrymore Theatre from January 5, as Hickey departs to direct the upcoming Broadway revival of Plaza Suite, starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker. "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" standout Erika Jayne will make her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre from January 6. Likewise, social media darling Cameron Dallas will celebrate his Broadway debut as "heartthrob" Aaron Samuels in Mean Girls at the August Wilson Theatre from January 14. In addition, "Transparent" star Alexandra Billings is set to make history from January 20 when she becomes the first openly trans actor to play the role of Madame Morrible in the musical phenomenon that is Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre. And finally, "Rent: Live" standout and "Dancing with the Stars" winner Jordan Fisher will return to Broadway from January 28, assuming the titular role in smash hit Dear Evan Hansen and waving through the windows of the Music Box Theatre.

Tickets to all these Broadway productions can be accessed through our Broadway Tickets page.

- It's Time for BroadwayCon!

 Our final pick for January 2020 is the return of BroadwayCon to New York City, where die-hard Broadway aficionados from across the globe will once again gather under the same roof and geek out 'till their hearts are content! The 2020 installment is scheduled to run from January 24 through January 26 at the New York Hilton Midtown and is set to showcase "spotlights" on some of the best that Broadway has to offer, including Beetlejuice, SIX, and Moulin Rouge! The Musical, among many others. Stay tuned to the New York Theatre Guide for full details in the coming weeks!

And that wraps it up for this month's top picks, folks. We'd like to wish all you Broadway fans a fantatsic 2020 and many a happy day on the Great White Way!