Here are our top picks of New York plays and musicals to check out in August 2025, including the first new shows to kick off the 2025-26 fall Broadway season.
August is the prime time to soak up some last sun rays on the beach or get away with your family before school starts back up again. But it's also a great time to go to the theatre! The new Broadway season kicks off in earnest in the fall, so now is a great time to catch a bucket-list show you've been meaning to see or venture off Broadway to discover something entirely new.
Below, we've rounded up the new Broadway and Off-Broadway shows premiering in August, plus hit shows playing their final performances this month, so get your theatre tickets to these now! August is also a great time to start planning your fall itinerary. Once you've got your August tickets lined up and are ready to look ahead, check out the Broadway shows this fall and snag your seats now.
Get tickets to a New York show on New York Theatre Guide.
Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride
Call Me Izzy
Art
Hamilton
Purpose
John Proctor Is the Villain
Mamma Mia!
Duke & Roya
Ava: The Secret Conversations
Twelfth Night
Josh Sharp's ta-da!
Morgan Bassichis: Can I Be Frank?
Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride
"Roastmaster General" Jeff Ross is making his Broadway debut, peeling back the layers of his life and family in a new solo comedy show. Don't worry, there are still plenty of roasts (including of audience members who volunteer), but also thoughtful yet funny meditations on the lives and losses that have shaped Ross over the years.
Call Me Izzy
Catch six-time Emmy Award winner Jean Smart on Broadway through August 24 only! In the title role of Jamie Wax's poignant drama, Smart plays a resilient woman in an abusive marriage who harbors a secret talent for poetry. It could be her ticket out — but it's also her biggest curse.
Get Call Me Izzy tickets now.
Art
What is art, anyway? Bobby Cannavale, James Corden, and Neil Patrick Harris play three friends asking that same question in this comedy-drama about three friends, one of whom buys an expensive, all-white painting and sparks a heated debate.
Get Art tickets now.
Hamilton
History has had its eyes on Hamilton for 10 years. On August 6, Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical phenomenon celebrates its 10th Broadway anniversary at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Even if you don't go that exact day, there's no better time to get yourself in the room where it happened and see the hip-hop musical about Founding Father Alexander Hamilton that turned the world upside down.
Get Hamilton tickets now.
Unlock your exclusive guide, full of the best attractions, food, free events and more.
Regularly named one of the city’s best bagel shops, the unassuming Liberty Bagels is the perfect spot to get a classic NYC breakfast sandwich.
One of the world’s largest stores, Macy’s is a sight to behold, especially when it’s decked out for the holidays.
Purpose
Don't miss your last chance to see the 2025 Tony Award winner for Best Play and Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner. Take your seat at a family dinner gone haywire: Secrets, skeletons, and plenty of drama erupt among the members of the politically prominent Jasper family in gasp-worthy and hilarious fashion.
Get Purpose tickets now.
John Proctor Is the Villain
Before John Proctor Is the Villain becomes a movie, you're going to want to say you saw this buzzy show live. Cruel Summer's Chiara Aurelia currently stars in the play about five teenage girls for whom coming of age, their English class unit on The Crucible, #MeToo, and pop music end up on a collision course and make them rethink their own heroes and villains. Get tickets through September 7 only!
Get John Proctor Is the Villain tickets now.
Mamma Mia!
Mamma mia, here we go again! The ultimate feel-good musical is back in the theatre where its long-running original Broadway production began. The story of bride-to-be Sophie's plan to find her real dad — by reuniting three of her mom's past lovers just before the wedding — is as fun as ever, set to ABBA hits like "Dancing Queen," "Voulez Vous," and "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)."
Get Mamma Mia! tickets now.
Duke & Roya
Catch Jay Ellis and Stephanie Nur in this thrilling romance before August 24! On an army base in war-torn Kabul, hip-hop artist Duke and Afghan interpreter Roya spark an instant connection that puts them in danger and challenges everything they know. Can their love survive it all?
Get Duke & Roya tickets now.
Ava: The Secret Conversations
See Oscar nominee Elizabeth McGovern play one of the most celebrated old Hollywood actresses in history: Ava Gardner. McGovern also wrote the play, which explores the electric interactions between Gardner and Peter Evans, the journalist who adapted her life story into the memoir Ava: The Secret Conversations.
Twelfth Night
Shakespeare in the Park is back with a star-studded Twelfth Night, featuring Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, and more in a hilarious story of tangled romantic misunderstandings. All tickets to Shakespeare in the Park productions at the newly renovated Delacorte Theater are free, with various online and in-person distribution channels across all five boroughs.
Josh Sharp's ta-da!
Ta-da! Presenting actor and comedian Josh Sharp (Dicks: The Musical), premiering his hilarious solo show ta-da! at the Greenwich House Theater. With the help of 2,000 PowerPoint slides, Sharp shares stories ranging from his childhood obsession with magic to his coming out in adulthood to his experiences with death, all with clever wordplay and endearing energy.
Get ta-da! tickets now.
Morgan Bassichis: Can I Be Frank?
In an attempt to prove they can think about others besides themself, queer comedian Morgan Bassichis centers Can I Be Frank? around a groundbreaking comic from the 20th century: Frank Maya. Bassichis attempts to revive Maya’s legacy while hilariously exploring the endless queer search for fame and father figures — and for laughter in dark times.
Get Can I Be Frank? tickets now.
