Check out the trends appearing throughout Broadway shows this fall
Every play and musical on stage this season is unique, but some share topics, themes, and details — find one that interests you, and get your tickets.
“Let me entertain you.” That famous line from Gypsy is an invitation that all 16 shows opening this fall on Broadway are sending out.
While each production is distinct, themes, motifs, and other elements overlap. As the 2024 season approaches, New York Theatre Guide looks ahead at trends – big picture and close-up – playing out on Broadway stages. If you’re keen on a certain trend, use our roundup to find your next great theatre experience!
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17 new shows are opening on Broadway this fall.
What are you in the mood to see on stage? Whatever you’re craving, New York City’s sweater-weather season has you covered every which way. As always, there's a mix of new comedies, dramas, and musicals, as well as bracing revivals of your favorite shows (Hello, Gypsy and Our Town).
Sixteen shows are set to open on Broadway this fall, a number on par with past years. That sampler includes five new musicals, two musical revivals, seven new plays, and three play revivals.
Stars will shine bright on Broadway.
Broadway is always illuminated by stars, and this fall is shaping up to be, well, lit in that regard. You don’t need a telescope to see them — just a ticket to the shows they’re in. Here's a quick rundown of this year's A-listers on stage — some of whom you can see right now.
- The Roommate features Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone.
- Yellow Face gives audiences face time with Daniel Dae Kim.
- Gypsy marks the return of six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald.
- Sunset Boulevard has Nicole Scherzinger ready for her close-up.
- Romeo + Juliet marks the Broadway debuts of Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler.
- All In: Comedy About Love by Simon Rich stars John Mulaney,
- Eureka Day gives Zoë Chao, Amber Gray, Jessica Hecht, Bill Irwin, and Thomas Middleditch a Broadway shot.
- Death Becomes Her comes to life with Megan Hilty, Jennifer Simard, Christopher Sieber, and Destiny's Child star Michelle Williams.
- Left on Tenth is led by Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher.
- Maybe Happy Ending lets Darren Criss step up as a robot.
- McNeal tickets marks the Broadway debut of Robert Downey Jr. alongside vets Melora Hardin, Andrea Martin, and Ruthie Ann Miles.
- Our Town is populated by Jim Parsons, Katie Holmes, Zoey Deutch, Richard Thomas, Ephraim Sykes, and Julie Halston.
- Swept Away has John Gallagher Jr., Stark Sands, Adrian Blake Enscoe, and Wayne Duvall riding its wave.
- Tammy Faye provides a pulpit for Christian Borle, Katie Brayben, and Michael Cerveris.
- A Wonderful World showcases James Monroe Iglehart as Louis Armstrong.
Fall 2024 Broadway trends
Check out more common themes in Broadway plays and musicals this season, and click on the link to each show name to get tickets.
Real deals
Fall shows offer chances to get a fresh perspective on real-life people and events, often set to music.
- The musical A Wonderful World celebrates the career of jazz legend Louis Armstrong.
- Tammy Faye follows the mind-blowing story of mascara-mad televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker (Brayben) and her husband Jim Bakker (Borle).
- For Swept Away, the folk-rock band The Avett Brothers found inspiration in a 19th-century British shipwreck.
- The memoirs of burlesque artist Gypsy Rose Lee inspired Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents’s beloved backstage musical Gypsy.
Original scores
This fall, be prepared to prick up your ears for songs you’ve likely never heard before. Three out of the five new musicals this fall feature new scores. Each show comes with its own distinct sound and song styles to help tell stories that are all over the map.
- Death Becomes Her — by Marco Pennette, Julia Mattison, and Noel Carey — is a comedy about the quest for, and perils of, immortality, based on the hit Meryl Streep/Goldie Hawn movie.
- Will Aronson and Hue Park’s Maybe Happy Ending is a robot romance.
- Tammy Faye, with songs by Elton John and Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears, takes on televangelism, scandal, and redemption with rock and (naturally) gospel-infused tunes.
- Additionally, Romeo + Juliet may not be a musical, but it features an original score by 11-time Grammy-winning musician/producer Jack Antonoff.
Family affairs
Families offer rich, diverse dynamics and conflicts that drive compelling stories and highlight universal themes of love, struggle, and growth. Look for family-driven plays and musicals all fall.
- Gypsy boasts a motherlode of family dysfunction — and the ultimate stage mom, Rose.
- Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet is fueled by one of theatre's most infamous family feuds.
- Leslye Headland’s Cult of Love welcomes you to the drama-filled Dahl house at Christmas.
- Sisters with a dying mother reunite in an English seaside town in Jez Butterworth’s The Hills of California.
- Brothers struggle for survival after a catastrophe at sea in Swept Away.
Timely topics
Broadway shows often reflect what’s going on beyond the Theatre District. Current talking points have been threaded into the fabric of various works this fall.
- Artificial intelligence: It’s all over the news today, sparking questions about its implications and potential dangers. The title character of Ayad Akhtar’s McNeal is an acclaimed writer whose interest in AI may prove to be problematic, and Maybe Happy Ending concerns two models of AI “Helperbots” whose relationship becomes, well, charged.
- Public health and individual freedom: In Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day, a case of the mumps forces the board of a private California elementary school that prides itself on inclusion to rethink the liberal in-house vaccine policy.
- Personal identity: Turn on the news, and this subject is everywhere. So of course it’s on Broadway. First seen in 2007 Off-Broadway, David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face has never been more timely with its take on the complexities of race and authenticity, inspired by real events.
Second chances
Life comes with ups and downs. It’s been said that rock bottom is a perfect place to turn around, regroup, and reboot. A number of shows this fall explore the notions of second chances and redemption.
- Drawn from her memoir, Delia Ephron’s play Left on Tenth covers the unexpected turns of life and rediscovering oneself amidst personal trials.
- Sunset Boulevard’s Norma Desmond is chasing a second act to her life.
- Jen Silverman’s The Roommate is a comedy about unexpected connections and the power of self-reinvention.
- Tammy Faye concerns a woman who went from rags to riches to ruin to life and career resurrection.
Life and death
Dramatic building blocks don’t get more basic – or essential – than life and death. As such, stories that go from the cradle to the grave loom large in plays and musicals this fall.
- In Sunset Boulevard, a movie star’s desire for cinematic immortality leads to disaster.
- Similarly, in Death Becomes Her, two friends’ pursuit of actual eternal life leads to laughs and some spectacular visual effects.
- An inter-family war leads to ruin in Romeo + Juliet.
- Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is a poignant reminder to appreciate life's small moments amid the inevitability of change and mortality.
- When their ability to survive hangs in danger after weeks at sea, the characters in Swept Away must confront their own mortality.
Keep up with the latest trends on Broadway by checking out a new show. Get Broadway tickets on New York Theatre Guide.
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