Yes, Glenn Close, Sally Field, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Bette Midler, and Cynthia Nixon are all returning to Broadway in Spring 2017, and Cate Blanchett and Danny DeVito are making their Broadway debuts. But Broadway is more than its divas and hunks.

The Spring 2017 season begins with a new play based on Chekhov and ends almost four months later with a new play based on Ibsen. Frequently revived plays by Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and Lillian Hellman are all back again, while the one play by August Wilson that was never produced on Broadway finally gets there. Pulitzer Prize winning playwrights Lynn Nottage and Paula Vogel make their Broadway debuts with serious new works that were hits Off-Broadway. And the 41st Broadway house is being inaugurated this season with a Sondheim revival.

Or, yet another way to look at the season, three big beloved Broadway musicals are back, and seven new musicals (four of them based on movies) are making their debuts.

Below are the plays and musicals opening on Broadway from January through April, 2017, going chronologically by opening dates. Things are likely to change — additions, subtractions, rescheduling — in the weeks and months ahead.

JANUARY

The Present

Theater: Ethel Barrymore

Playwright: Andrew Lipton

Director: John Crowley

First preview: December 17

Opening: January 8, 2017

Closing: March 19

Cast: Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh

A new play based on Anton Chekhov’s Platonov, with the action transposed to the 1990s.

website

Twitter feed: @thepresentbway

Buy tickets to The Present

Jitney

Theater: MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman

Playwright: August Wilson

Director: Ruben Santiago-Hudson

First preview: December 28, 2016

Opening: January 19, 2017

website

Tweeter feed: @MTC_NYC

website

Broadway premiere of Wilson’s first play, the only work from his The American Century Cycle never previously seen on Broadway. Set in the early 1970’s, the story follows a group of men who drive unlicensed cabs or jitneys.

Buy tickets to Jitney

February

Sunset Boulevard

Theater: The Palace

First Preview: February 2, 2017

Opening: February 9, 2017

Written by Christopher Hampton and Don Black (book/lyrics), and Andrew Lloyd Webber (music)

Director: Lonny Price

Cast: Glenn Close

Revival of the 1994 musical based on the 1950 Billy Wilder movie about a faded Hollywood silent film goddess who tries to make one last comeback. This production was seen in a spring 2016 revival in London.

website

@sunsetblvd

Buy tickets to Sunset Boulevard

Sunday in the Park With George

Theater; Hudson

First Preview: February 2, 2017

Opens: February 23

Closes: April 23

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; book by James Lapine

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford

Transfer of the New York City Center‘s fall 2016 concert version of the Pulitzer-winning 1984 musical about pointillist painter George Seurat.

@hudsonbway

website

Buy tickets to Sunday in the Park with George

March

Significant Other

Theater: Booth

Previews: February 14, 2017

Opens: March 2, 2017

Playwright: Joshua Harmon

Director: Trip Cullman

Cast: Gideon Glick, Barbara Barrie and Lindsay Mendez

Transfer of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2015 Off-Broadway hit about a gay bachelor looking for love in the big city.

@SignificantBway

website

Buy tickets to Significant Other

The Glass Menagerie

Theater: John Golden

Playwright: Tennessee Williams

Director: Sam Gold

First preview: February 14, 2017

Opening March 9, 2017

Cast: Sally Field, Joe Mantello, Finn Witrock, Madison Ferris

The eighth production of Tennessee Williams play on Broadway.

website

Buy tickets to The Glass Menagerie

Come From Away



Theater: Schoenfeld

Previews: February 18, 2017

Opens: March 12, 2017

Book, music and lyrics by the Canadian husband-and-wife team Irene Sankoff and David Hein.

Director: Christopher Ashley

Cast: Chad Kimball, Jenn Colella, Joel Hatch, Rodney Hicks and Caesar Samayoa.

New musical that explores the lasting connection forged between a group of travelers whose planes were diverted to a small Newfoundland town on Sept. 11, 2001.

The show had its world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in summer 2015,

website

@wecomefromaway

Buy tickets to Come From Away

The Price

Theater: Roundabout’s American Airlines

Playwright: Arthur Miller

Director: Terry Kinney

First preview: February 16, 2017

Opening: March 16, 2017

Cast: Danny DeVito, Jessica Hecht, Tony Shalhoub, John Turturro

website

Tweeter feed: @RTC_NYC

website

A revival of the 1968 drama about two estranged brothers who reunite to sell their the remainder of their parents’ estate.

Buy tickets to The Price

Miss Saigon

Theater: Broadway

Previews: March 1, 2017

Opens: March 23, 2017

Written by Claude-Michel Schönberg (music), Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg (lyrics), Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg (book)

Director: Laurence Connor

Cast: Jon Jon Briones and Eva Noblezada

An American soldier named Chris marries Kim in Vietnam before departing for the US. Three years later, he returns to find Kim still alive and raising Tam, a boy he fathered. With the Viet Cong closing in on the city and two women wanting the only place in his heart, Chris has big decisions to make.

@MissSaigonUS

website

Buy tickets to Miss Saigon

Sweat

Theater: Studio 54

First previews: March 4, 2017

Opens: March 26, 2017

Playwright: Lynn Nottage

Director: Kate Whoriskey

Cast: Carlo Albán, James Colby, Khris Davis, Johanna Day, John Earl Jelks, Will Pullen, Miriam Shor, Lance Coadie Williams, and Michelle Wilson

Broadway transfer of the hit Public Theatre production of Nottage’s drama about blue-collar workers in a Pennsylvania town at the turn of the millennium.

Twitter: @SweatBroadway

website

My review of Sweat off-Broadway

Buy tickets to Sweat

APRIL

The Play That Goes Wrong

Theater: Lyceum

First preview: March 9, 2017

Opens: April 2, 2017

Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields

Director: Mark Bell

Cast: Matthew Cavendish, Bryony Corrigan, Rob Falconer, Dave Hearn, Henry Lewis, Charlie Russell, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields, Greg Tannahill, and Nancy Zamit.

Olivier Award-winning comedy about an amateur university production that goes hopelessly awry

Twitter: @BwayGoesWrong

website

Buy tickets to The Play That Goes Wrong

Amelie

Theatre: Walter Kerr

First preview: March 9, 2017

Opens: April 3, 2017

Written by Dan Messé (music), Nathan Tyson (lyrics), Craig Lucas (book)

Director: Pam MacKinnon

Cast: Phillipa Soo and Adam Chanler-Berat

A musical adaptation of the 2001 film, which starred Audrey Tautou as a shy waitress with a wild imagination.

@AmelieBroadway

website

Buy tickets to Amelie

Present Laughter

Theater: St. James

Target Previews: Early spring 2017

Opening: April 5, 2017

Playwright: Noël Coward

Director: Moritz von Suelpnagel

Cast: Kevin Kline

Revival of the 1940s comedy about the tribulations of a popular matinee idol.

website

@laughteronbway

Buy tickets to Present Laughter

War Paint



Theater: Nederlander

Previews: March 7, 2017

Opening: April 6, 2017

Writers: Book by Doug Wrights; music and lyrics by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie

Director: Michael Grief; choreographer: Christopher Gattelli

Cast: Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole

Musical based on the rivalry of cosmetics titans Helena Rubenstein (LuPone) and Elizabeth Arden (Ebersole)

Premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in summer 2016.

website

@warpaintmusical

Buy tickets to War Paint

Oslo

Theater: Vivian Beaumont

Previews: March 23, 2017

Opens: April 13, 2017

Playwright: J.T. Rogers

Director: Bartlett Sher

Cast: Jennifer Ehle, Daniel Jenkins, Jefferson Mays and Daniel Oreskes

Transfer of Lincoln Center Theater’s Off-Broadway production of the play about the top-secret, high-level meetings between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that culminated in the signing of the historic 1993 Oslo Accords.

My review of “Oslo” Off-Broadway

website

@LCTheater

Buy tickets to Oslo

Groundhog Day

Theater: August Wilson

Previews: March 2017

Opening: April 17, 2017

Music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, book by Danny Rubin

Director: Matthew Warchus

Cast: Andy Karl

A musical adaptation of the 1993 Bill Murray film about a cynical Pittsburgh TV weatherman who is sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, PA, when he finds himself caught in a time loop, forced to repeat the same day again and again…and again. Will he ever unlock the secret and break the cycle?

Produced in London in summer 2016.

website

@Groundhogdaybwy

Buy tickets to Groundhog Day

Six Degrees of Separation

Theater: Barrymore

Target Opening: April 2017

Playwright: John Guare

Director: Trip Cullman

Cast: Allison Janney and John Benjamin Hickey

Revival of the 1990 drama about a young con man who is embraced by wealthy New Yorkers after passing himself off as Sidney Poitier’s son.

website

@SixDegreesBway

Buy tickets to Six Degrees of Separation

Indecent

Theater: Cort

Opening: April 18, 2017

Playwright: Paula Vogel

Director: Rebecca Taichman

Cast: TBA

A behind-the-scenes look at the true story of the controversial 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch’s “God of Vengeance” — “a play seen by some as a seminal work of Jewish culture, and by others as an act of traitorous libel,” in part because of its lesbian lovers.

My review of Indecent Off-Broadway

website

@IndecentBway

Buy tickets to Indecent

The Little Foxes

Theater: MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman

Playwright: Lillian Hellman

Director: Daniel Sullivan

First preview: March 29, 2017

Opening: April 19, 2017

Closing:

Cast: Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon

The fifth Broadway production of the 1930 drama about a ruthless Southern belle.

website

Buy tickets to The Little Foxes

Hello, Dolly

Theater: Shubert

Authors: Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, book by Michael Stewart

Director: Jerry Zaks, choreographer Warren Carlyle

First preview: March 13, 2017

Opening: April 20, 2017

Closing:

Cast: Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce

website

Tweeter feed: @HelloDollyBway

The fifth Broadway production of the 1964 musical about a matchmaker who sets out to find a match for herself at the turn of the 20th century.

Buy tickets to Hello, Dolly

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Theater: Lunt-Fontanne

First Preview: March 28, 2017

Opening: April 23, 2017

Written by David Greig (book), Marc Shaiman (music & lyrics), Scott Wittman (lyrics), Roald Dahl (novel)

Director: Jack O’Brien

Cast: Christian Borle as Willy Wonka

When Charlie wins a golden ticket to the weird and wonderful Wonka Chocolate Factory, it’s the chance of a lifetime to feast on the sweets he’s always dreamed of. But beyond the gates astonishment awaits, as the five lucky winners discover not everything is as sweet as it seems.

website

@CharlieOnBway

Buy tickets to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Anastasia

Theater: Broadhurst

First Preview: March 23, 2017

Opening: April 24, 2017

Music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, book by Terrence McNally

Director: Darko Tresnjak

Cast: Christy Altomare, Derek Klana, Ramin Karimloo, Mary Beth Peil, John Bolton, and Caroline O’Connor

Inspired by the 1997 film about a young woman who may be the last surviving member of the Russian royal family. The score includes songs from the movie, including the Oscar- nominated “Journey to the Past,” plus an entirely new score from the Tony Award-winning team.

The musical had its world premiere at Hartford in 2016.

website

@AnastasiaBway

Buy tickets to Anastasia

Bandstand

Theater: Bernard Jacobs

First Preview: March 31, 2017

Opening: April 26, 2017

Music by Richard Oberacker and book and lyrics by Robert Taylor and Richard Oberacker

Director/Choreographer: Andy Blankenbuhler

Cast: Laura Osnes and Corey Cott

This “big-band musical” chronicles a mismatched band of WWII veterans who join forces to compete in a radio contest.

The show debuted in 2015 at Paper Mill Playhouse

website

@BandstandBway

Buy tickets to Bandstand

A Doll’s House, Part 2

Theater: Golden

First Preview: April 1, 2017

Opening: April 27, 2017

Playwright: Lucas Hnath

Director: Sam Gold

Cast: Laurie Metcalf, Chris Cooper, Jayne Houdyshell, Condola Rashad.

Sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s play, following up after Nora has left her husband and children.

website

@DollsHousePart2

Buy tickets to A Doll’s House, Part 2

Also check out my monthly calendar of theater openings, which includes Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway.

Full 2016-2017 Broadway season, including my reviews of the shows that have opened.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Reddit

Email

Print



Like this: Like Loading...