Weather Girl
Where: St. Ann’s Warehouse
When: Through October 12
What It Is: In an age of climate catastrophe, are weather reporters charming news folk, or harbingers of the apocalypse? In Weather Girl, a California anchor navigates the eroticism, paradoxes, and political minefields of her changing industry.
Know Before You Go: This production comes straight from the producers of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, promising a hearty helping of absurdity and emotional heft.
Kyoto
Where: Lincoln Center
When: Previews begin October 8
What It Is: In 1997, United Nations leaders from around the world descended on Kyoto, Japan, to try to come to an agreement that would ensure climate consciousness for another generation. In this acclaimed production fresh from a West End run, Good Chance Theatre Artistic Directors and playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson have dramatized the tense conference.
Know Before You Go: Billed as a fast-paced political thriller, Kyoto is a play for the villain era, narrated by an oil industry lobbyist.
The Other Americans
Where: Anspacher Theater
When: Through October 26
What It Is: A Colombian-American laundromat owner in Queens is in the midst of trying to save his failing family business when his son returns from a mental health facility, adding yet another layer of tension to this slice of life production about the intricacies of achieving the American dream.
Know Before You Go: Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo is the lead here, directed by the Tony Award-winning Ruben Santiago-Hudson.
Waiting for Godot
Where: Hudson Theater
When: Through January 4
What It Is: Does anyone else remember the Seinfeld joke, “It’s a show about nothing!” That’s pretty much the synopsis of this Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter-led tragicomedy about two friends mulling over life and its many mysteries.
Know Before You Go: The canonical Samuel Beckett play is this time directed by Tony- and Olivier-winning Jamie Lloyd. It’s also heavily noted in promotional materials that Reeves and Winter are “real life friends!” so expect no shortage of buddy comedy onstage here.
Lacrima
Where: BAM
When: Opening October 22
What It Is: The Brooklyn Academy of Music is transformed into a bustling Parisian atelier in this play about the eight months it takes to design a wedding dress for the Princess of England. Craftspeople, all sworn to secrecy, navigate personal dramas, professional tensions, and physical wear and tear in pursuit of perhaps one of our most coveted ritual objects.
Know Before You Go: The experimental production from director Caroline Guiela Nguyen is running for less than a week next month, so hurry to the box office if you’re hoping to catch a glimpse.
Let’s Love!
Where: Linda Gross Theater
When: Through November 9
What It Is: There’s an epic team-up of oddballs happening here. Let’s Love comes to this off-Broadway locale by way of playwright Ethan Coen, with Aubrey Plaza and Chris Bauer in the lead.
Know Before You Go: The show consists of three acts, each exploring the dark, confounding, and all-consuming aspects of love. Plaza described the production as “brutal,” in a new clip from the theater.
House of McQueen
Where: The Mansion
When: Through November 2
What It Is: There will never be anything quite like a McQueen runway ever again. But this new play, produced by the late designer’s nephew, Gary McQueen, hopes to evoke that singular atmosphere on the stage. House of McQueen follows the designer from his East London origins to eventual global fame.
Know Before You Go: The show also inaugurates a new off-Broadway space, the Mansion, with a nonlinear series of scenes that illuminate various points in McQueen’s life—from a BBC interview with his mother to his unofficial wedding ceremony.
Nothing Can Take You From the Hand of God
Where: The Peter Jay Sharp Theater
When: Opening October 2
What It Is: A best-selling author is enjoying the reception to a new book about growing up gay in the evangelical South when she is confronted by the woman she claims to have had an affair with—the narrative, the latter claims, is entirely false.
Know Before You Go: Severance actor Jen Tullock is in the lead here; she also co-authored the play with Frank Winters. A slew of cameras and looping systems extend the performance into the digital realm, pushing the bounds of what audiences expect to see when they enter the theater.
Chess
Where: Imperial Theater
When: Opening October 15
What It Is: As two of the world’s premier chess players battle it out—one American and one Soviet at the height of the Cold War—a woman is caught between them.
Know Before You Go: Chess is a blockbuster of a musical. Lea Michele is in the lead, with Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher. ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus composed the score with EGOT winner Tim Rice. Tony winning director Michael Mayer, a frequent collaborator of Michele’s, is set to direct.
ART
Where: Music Box Theater
When: Through December 21
What It Is: What can we say about this play that isn’t summed up by it starring James Corden, Neil Patrick Harris, and Bobby Cannavale? Or its tagline, “Good friends, bad taste”?
Know Before You Go: This is the first Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza’s Tony-winning play, in which three men debate the merits of a pricey painting. As they puzzle over what constitutes “real art,” their longstanding relationships and points of contention also get put up for discussion.
And Then We Were No More
Where: Ellen Stewart Theatre
When: Through November 2
What It Is: In the near future, a lawyer is advocating for their client, deemed “beyond rehabilitation.” The prisoner is set to be executed in a new device designed to end life “without pain.” Suddenly, the lawyer finds themself navigating a justice system seemingly devoid of justice.
Know Before You Go: The show stars actor Elizabeth Marvel and is penned by relatively green playwright Tim Blake Nelson, known for his acting work in the likes of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
This World of Tomorrow
Where: The Shed
When: Opening October 30
What It Is: At the end of the 21st century, a scientist finds himself disenchanted with what we’ve made of society. In a feat of time travel, he returns again and again to one day during the 1939 New York World’s Fair in Queens to try and find where we went wrong.
Know Before You Go: The one and only Tom Hanks stars in this new play, co-authored with James Glossman and directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon.
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