Broadway Buying Guide: November 11, 2024- Audra McDonald returns in GYPSY

Looking for the best deals on Broadway shows? Welcome to our new weekly guide to the most popular shows listed on BroadwayWorld.

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This Week's Top Broadway Shows 

1) Gypsy Buy Tickets - According to The New York Times, “Audra McDonald has become to the American theater what Meryl Streep is to film — a star of unstinting polish and versatility. Ms. McDonald embosses any production in which she appears with a good-value guarantee.” GYPSY reunites George C. Wolfe, whom The New Yorker calls “a titan of the American theatre,” with Audra McDonald, after their collaboration on the 2016 Tony-nominated production of Shuffle Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed. The Tony Awards Administration Committee recently announced that this June, George C. Wolfe will receive the 2024 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre. Since GYPSY premiered on Broadway in 1959, starring Ethel Merman, many of the greatest performers in Broadway history have taken on the iconic role of “Rose”: Angela Lansbury in 1974, Tyne Daly in 1989, Bernadette Peters in 2003, and Patti LuPone in 2008. Now… it’s Audra’s turn.

2) Hamilton Buy Tickets from: $124 - History has its eyes on Hamilton. It's been almost one decade since this non-stop phenomenon arrived on Broadway, and there is no sign of it slowing down anytime soon. Hamilton is a groundbreaking musical that has made history in redefining the American musical theater landscape by telling the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. 

3) Sunset Boulevard Buy Tickets from: $70 - West End and Broadway director Jamie Lloyd (Cyrano de Bergerac, Evita) reimagines one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best-loved musicals – based on the Billy Wilder film - for a whole new generation. Famed movie star Norma Desmond (Nicole Scherzinger) has been cast out of the Hollywood limelight. Living in a suffocating world of dreams, memories and regrets, a chance encounter with screenwriter Joe Gillis may be her only hope — unless their volatile affair destroys them both…

4) Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club Buy Tickets from: $74 - Willkommen. Bienvenue. Welcome to the Kit Kat Club. Home to an intimate and electrifying new production of CABARET. Experience this groundbreaking musical like never before. The denizens of the Kit Kat Club have created a decadent sanctuary Inside Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre, where artists and performers, misfits and outsiders rule the night. Step inside their world. This is Berlin. Relax. Loosen up. Be yourself. London’s hottest ticket arrives on Broadway this Spring with Academy® and Tony Award® winner Eddie Redmayne reprising his Olivier Award-winning performance as the Emcee, and introducing Gayle Rankin as the Toast of Mayfair, Sally Bowles. CABARET has music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Joe Masteroff – based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood.

5) Wicked Buy Tickets from: $124 - Before Dorothy, before the flying house, and before the yellow brick road, there was Elphaba and Galinda.​ Wicked, the untold story of the witches of Oz, has captivated audiences on Broadway for over 20 years, offering a fresh perspective on the classic Wizard of Oz tale.​Based on the book by Gregory Maguire, the musical centers on the unlikely friendship between Elphaba, a misunderstood young woman born with green skin, and Glinda, a popular and ambitious girl who embraces the spotlight. 

6) Swept Away Buy Tickets from: $52 - When a violent storm sinks their whaling ship off the coast of New Bedford, Mass., the four survivors face a reckoning: how far will they go to stay alive? And can they live with the consequences? With music and lyrics from The Avett Brothers (“America’s Biggest Roots Band,” Rolling Stone), whose 2004 “Mignonette” was inspired by an 1884 shipwreck and the struggle of four men to survive, SWEPT AWAY is an electrifying, soul-stirring new musical exploring how facing tragedy can open the door to forgiveness… if only we’ll let it.

7) & Juliet Buy Tickets from: $58 - Shakespeare's greatest tragedy gets a rewrite in a new musical that has audiences feeling the love. Now in its third year on Broadway, & Juliet is a musical dance party that will dare you not to sing along.  What's it all about? What if Juliet didn't die? That should almost be the start of the play! & Juliet is a multi-generational story of self-discovery, empowerment and love, imagining what would happen next if Juliet hadn't ended it all over Romeo, and got a second chance at life and love - on her terms.

8) Chicago Buy Tickets from: $75 - Set amidst the razzle-dazzle decadence of the 1920s, Chicago is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago's slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today's tabloids. A true New York City institution, Chicago is the longest running American musical in Broadway history.

9) Left on Tenth Buy Tickets from: $74 - LEFT ON TENTH is a true story about love, hope, and the wonder of second chances. When she least expects it, Delia Ephron, best-selling novelist and screenwriter of You’ve Got Mail, makes a surprising connection with a man from her past and falls into her own romantic comedy. As their immediate spark blossoms into a love story that seems to defy all odds, Delia’s life takes an unexpected turn. LEFT ON TENTH tells the messy, beautiful truth about getting older while feeling young, as it celebrates two people with the courage to rewrite their futures and open their hearts again.

10) Hadestown Buy Tickets from: $62 - After almost five years on Broadway, the train to hell is still going. Ever wonder how the world could be? Find out in Anaïs Mitchell’s hit musical, Hadestown. Directed by the innovative Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown is a love story for today, and always. What’s the show about? In Hadestown, a song can change your fate. Hadestown intertwines two mythic Greek tales - that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and of King Hades and his wife Persephone. 

This Week's Top Off-Broadway Shows

1) Drag: The Musical Buy Tickets from: $48 - In DRAG: The Musical, two Drag Houses, both alike in indignity, vie for supremacy in a wig-snatching journey of fashion, family, and forgiveness. After a bitter split, two estranged queens bring their already simmering tensions to a boiling point when they open competing clubs. In this queen-eat-queen tale of spite and survival, there’s only one rule: No Lip Synching Allowed. Entertainment Weekly calls it, “drag at its best” and BroadwayWorld raves, “They hit the ball out of the park. Rowdy fun with the glamor of a Broadway musical.” The “epic cast of drag, theater, and LGBTQ+ icons” (Entertainment Tonight) features Alaska Thunderf*ck (through 1/11/25), Jujubee, Jan Sport, Lagoona Bloo, J. Elaine Marcos and features New Kids on the Block’s, Joey McIntyre (through 11/24/24).

2) The Big Gay Jamboree Buy Tickets from: $43 - From the Oscar-nominated producer of BARBIE and the delulu creator of the Off-Broadway hit TITANIQUE comes THE BIG GAY JAMBOREE, a big new musical comedy that’s pushing the envelope…and the gay agenda. Help! Stacey’s fallen into a musical and she can’t get out. Last night, she got a little bit blackout drunk. This morning, she woke up in some b*tch ass Music Man world where everybody keeps bursting into song & dance, and where gay still just means happy. Maybe it’s a dream. Maybe it’s an allergic reaction to her birth control. Or maybe it’s Maybelline (don’t sue us! sponsor us? we’ll talk later). But if Stacey’s truly trapped inside a Golden Age musical, there’s only one way out: sing out! Or find the stage door. Whatever gets the most applause. Starring one of Vanity Fair’s “brightest stars of New York theatre” and the world’s second favorite Celine Dion, Marla Mindelle, The Big Gay Jamboree is here to make you laugh, make you cry laughing, and make you laugh crying.

3) The Devil's Disciple Buy Tickets from: $47 - Gingold Theatrical Group brings a thrilling adventure-comedy to New York for the first time in 18 years! G.B. Shaw’s electrifying play, set against the backdrop of the American Revolution, is a timely reminder of democracy’s fragility. With a colorful cast of characters, Shaw challenges us to stand up for our beliefs and actively engage in our community. This highly-charged production arrives just in time for the Presidential election, making it a must-see for anyone who values freedom and justice.

4) Teeth Buy Tickets from: $37 - *Teeth* is a sharp tale of revenge and transformation that tears through a culture of shame and repressed desire one delightfully unhinged song at a time. The musical follows Dawn O’Keefe, an evangelical Christian teen struggling to be an exemplar of purity amongst her community of fellow Promise Keeper Girls. Her stepbrother, Brad - alienated by his repressive upbringing in the community led by his fanatical Pastor father and intrigued by the online camaraderie of the Truthseeker men’s support group—is haunted by an indelible incident from his and Dawn’s past. As Dawn’s desires become tested and twisted by the men in her life, she discovers a deadly secret not even she understands: when men violate her, her body bites back—literally. Crackling with irrepressible desire and ancient rage, *Teeth* is a dark horror comedy conjuring the legend of one girl whose sexual curse may also be her salvation.

5) We Live in Cairo Buy Tickets - Inspired by the young Egyptians who took to the streets amidst the throes of the Arab Spring, We Live in Cairo follows six student activists using their street art, photography and song to overthrow a regime older than they are. Winner of the Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater, this soaring new musical from Jonathan Larson Grant winners and NYTW Usual Suspects Daniel & Patrick Lazour journeys from the jubilation of the Tahrir Square protests through the aftermath of the years that followed. As escalating division and violence lead to a military crackdown, the young revolutionaries of Cairo must weigh the cost of how—or even whether—to keep their dreams of change alive. Obie Award winner and NYTW Usual Suspect Taibi Magar (The Half-God of Rainfall) directs.

6) The Dead, 1904 Buy Tickets - James Joyce’s novella, The Dead, describes a holiday gathering on January 6, 1904, the Feast of the Epiphany, in the Dublin home of two elderly sisters, Kate and Julia Morkan, and their niece, Mary Jane. At the party are students, friends, a celebrated tenor, a lost alcoholic, and the couple, Gabriel and Gretta Conroy. Over the course of an evening, there are conversations, music, dancing, and dining. There are speeches and disagreements – polite and impolite – and when it is all over Gabriel learns something about his wife that changes his sense of who she is and who they are to each other, of what it actually means to be alive, and to be dead. This exquisite recreation of James Joyce’s haunting story was the most sought-after theatrical event of New York’s 2016 and 2017 holiday seasons. We relish the opportunity to welcome you again, or for the first time.

7) Strategic Love Play Buy Tickets - After matching online, two strangers—Heléne Yorke (“The Other Two”) and Michael Zegen (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)—meet in real life. The vibe is off, and the conversation is a mess. Yet something is keeping them in their seats. What begins as a typical date off the apps spirals into something unexpected in a bold new production of Strategic Love Play, the show that sold out in London and took the Edinburgh Fringe by storm. From “Succession” writer Miriam Battye and director Katie Posner comes the New York debut of the award-winning, razor-sharp “comedic tour de force” (The Guardian) that The Evening Standard calls “as gripping as a friend’s rapid-fire texts from a disastrous first date."

8) Little Shop of Horrors Buy Tickets from: $74 - Seymour is a down-on-his-luck florist with a crush on his co-worker Audrey. When he discovers a mysterious – and voracious – plant, suddenly Seymour and Audrey are thrust into an epic battle that will determine the fate of the entire human race. Little Shop of Horrors made its highly-anticipated return home to Off-Broadway, in an intimate new production directed by Michael Mayer that offers an unprecedented opportunity to get close — maybe too close — to an incredible plant with an insatiable appetite.

9) Walden Buy Tickets from: $44 - Theatrical rising star and O’Neill finalist Amy Berryman brings us an “intelligent, soulful drama” (The Guardian) about how vast the space can be between two people. In the near future, Stella and her fiancé, Bryan, are waiting at their remote cabin for Stella’s estranged twin sister, Cassie. Raised by their astronaut father to be NASA scientists, the twins have taken different paths: Cassie has just returned from a successful moon mission, while Stella has left NASA behind. When they reunite, old conflicts reignite, forcing the sisters to choose between staying on Earth or pursuing a future in space, as humanity’s fate hangs in the balance. Directed by Tony Award®️ nominee Whitney White (Jaja's African Hair Braiding), Walden is a thrilling and engrossing new play that wrestles between the gravitational pulls of duty and desire.

10) Gatz Buy Tickets from: $250 - Ahead of the centennial of The Great Gatsby’s publication and more than a decade after its original Obie and Lortel Award-winning engagements, Elevator Repair Service’s *GATZ* returns to The Public for a thrilling and final New York City encore of the acclaimed production. One morning in the office of a mysterious small business, an employee finds a copy of The Great Gatsby in the clutter of his desk. He starts to read it out loud and doesn’t stop. At first his coworkers hardly notice. But after a series of strange coincidences, it’s no longer clear whether he’s reading the book, or the book is transforming him.