Expect Numerous Broadway-Bred Luminaries To Be Treading the Boards This Fall

If the 2024-25 season brought a number of A-list movie stars to Broadway, this fall’s lineup is packed with performers best known and loved for their work in theater. Broadway-bred luminaries will be in abundant supply, from Kristin Chenoweth — starring in a new work by the “Wicked” composer/lyricist, Stephen Schwartz — to Lea Michele and Aaron Tveit, scheduled to appear in a new revival of the musical “Chess.” Film fans can look forward to Keanu Reeves making his debut here, as Robert Downey Jr. and George Clooney did last fall and spring, respectively. Also, the months ahead will bring Broadway bows from two major playwrights whose talents have been showcased off-Broadway and in regional theater and film. Here’s a brief rundown of what’s in store. (Dates and other production details are subject to change.)“Art” Three more beloved stage actors with substantial screen credits — Bobby Cannavale, James Corden, and Neil Patrick Harris — return to Broadway in a revival of Yasmina Reza’s Tony Award-winning comedy, translated from French by Christopher Hampton, in which friends clash over a minimalist painting. Theater vet Scott Ellis directs, and Kid Harpoon, known for his collaborations with Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus, provides original music. (Previews begin August 28, opens September 16)“Punch” Two-time Olivier Award-winning playwright James Graham’s adaptation of “Right fromWrong,” Jacob Dunne’s autobiographical account of youthful violence, tragedy, and redemption, arrives at New York after receiving acclaim at London. The Broadway cast includes a two-time Tony Award winner, Victoria Clark. (September 9, September 29)“Waiting for Godot” Mr. Reeves steps into the boots of one of Samuel Beckett’s iconic hobos, Estragon; Alex Winter, a stage and screen veteran, is cast as Vladimir, his partner in inertia, under the direction of Jamie Lloyd, a Brit known for his mix of minimalism and bombast, most recently on view in last year’s U.K.-based revisiting of the musical “Sunset Boulevard.” (September 13, September 28) “Ragtime” Lear de Bessonet’s first season as artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater opens with her lavishly praised production of Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty, and Lynn Ahrens’s musical adaptation of the E.L. Doctorow novel, following three diverse families in early 20th century America. Ms. de Bessonet has retained members of her New York City Center staging last year, among them Broadway favorites Caissie Levy, Joshua Henry, and Brandon Uranowitz. (September 26, October 16)“Little Bear Ridge Road” Playwright Samuel D. Hunter, one of this century’s greatest chroniclers of the American West, and of human frailty and resilience in general — one of his plays, “The Whale,” became a film that won Brendan Fraser an Academy Award — finally makes his Broadway bow with this study of an estranged nephew and aunt. Two-time Tony winners Laurie Metcalf and Joe Mantello respectively star (with Micah Stock) and direct. (October 7, October 30)“Beetlejuice” The musical concocted from Tim Burton’s comically creepy screen hit will enjoy its third run on Broadway, in a 13-week “resurrection” helmed by original director Alex Timbers. (Performances begin October 8)“Liberation” Bess Wohl’s acclaimed look at second-wave feminism, inspired by the playwright’s mother, arrives following an off-Broadway run earlier this year, with rising director Whitney White and the original cast in tow. (October 8, October 28)Kristin Chenoweth, center, and the cast of ‘The Queen of Versailles. Valerie Terranova“The Queen of Versailles” Ms. Chenoweth returns to Broadway in a new musical by the man who gave her the role of Glinda in “Wicked”: Mr. Schwartz, whose credits also include such classics as “Pippin” and “Godspell,” as well as Oscar-winning film work. Here the composer/lyricist has teamed with playwright Lindsay Ferrentino to adapt the titular documentary tracing the rise and fall of computer engineer-turned-beauty queen-turned-billionairess Jackie Siegel and her husband, David, played by F. Murray Abraham. (October 8, November 9)“Chess” Ms. Michele, a “Spring Awakening” and “Glee” alumna who made a triumphant comeback in a revival of “Funny Girl,” is back again, this time in the Cold War-era cult musical, scored by ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus — who first conceived it as an album — with a new book by Danny Strong. Mr. Tveit and Nicholas Christopher respectively play American and Soviet chess masters who also become rivals in love, with Michael Mayer, who guided Ms. Michele’s Fanny Brice, directing. (October 15, November 16)“Rob Lake Magic with Special Guests The Muppets” Mr. Lake, an illusionist known for his appearances on “America’s Got Talent,” will be joined by an old-school superstar, Kermit the Frog, and fellow Muppets for a holiday season engagement. (October 28, November 6)“Oedipus” Venerated British actors Mark Strong and Lesley Manville (in her Broadway debut) lead this London-based production of a new adaptation of Sophocles’s tragedy, created and directed by Robert Icke, noted for his adventurous new takes on classics ranging from “The Oresteia” to “1984.” (October 30, November 13)“Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)” This original musical comedy follows a wide-eyed Brit who travels abroad to see his estranged father get remarried. It arrives in our city itself after runs at London and at Cambridge’s American Repertory Theater. Olivier Award winner Sam Tutty makes his Broadway debut as the lad; “King Kong” and “A Bronx Tale” alumna Christiani Pitts plays the other stranger. (November 1, November 20)“Marjorie Prime” Jordan Harrison’s hypnotic and prophetic account of an elderly widow maintaining a relationship with her late husband through mid-21st century technology was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2015, and was adapted for the screen two years later. Now it brings Mr. Harrison, whose thoughtful and haunting plays also include “Log Cabin” and “The Amateurs,” to Broadway for the first time. The cast includes Cynthia Nixon, Danny Burstein, and, in the title role, June Squibb. (November 20, December 8)“Bug” The marvelous Carrie Coon, known to TV fans for her star turns in “The White Lotus” and “The Gilded Age,” returns to Broadway in a blistering play about infestation, surveillance, and paranoia, written nearly 30 years ago by her husband, Tracy Letts, the Pulitzer Prize winner (and her cast mate in a Tony-winning revival of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”). Acclaimed director David Cromer helms the Steppenwolf Theatre Company-based production, which marks the play’s Broadway premiere. (December 17, January 8)

Expect Numerous Broadway-Bred Luminaries To Be Treading the Boards This Fall

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