Roundabout's 2024-2025 Season Will Include New Orleans-Style PIRATES OF PENZANCE with Ramin Karimloo and David Hyde Pierce, YELLOW FACE Starring Daniel Dae Kim, and More

Roundabout Theatre Company has just announced the 2024-2025 season on Broadway and Off-Broadway, including initial casting. Under the leadership of Interim Artistic Director Scott Ellis, Roundabout’s new season marks the first in its newly renamed home on Broadway, the Todd Haimes Theatre (formerly the American Airlines Theatre).

“In planning the season—my first as Interim Artistic Director—it was important to me to remain steadfast to Roundabout’s mission, and to Todd’s vision for this extraordinary company. I believe this line-up is one that he would have been proud of, as we bring together a group of exceptional artists to stage these works—both classic and new. I am thrilled the season Will Close with our jazz-infused, New Orleans-style production of The Pirates of Penzance—which began as a small in-house reading before the pandemic, then further developed in benefit concert last season, and which Todd was passionately committed to producing,” notes Scott Ellis.

Roundabout is thrilled to welcome back many returning artists as part of the 2024-2025 season, including: Tony nominee & Obie winner Leigh Silverman, director of Violet on Broadway, and On the Exhale for Roundabout Underground; Outer Critics Circle Award nominee Meghan Kennedy, whose work was first seen in the Roundabout Underground (Too Much Too Much Too Many), and later in the Laura Pels Theatre (Napoli, Brooklyn); Obie Award winner Whitney White, an Associate Artist with Roundabout, having started in 2017 as a Roundabout Directing Fellow; Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes, whose musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was produced by Roundabout in 2012; music director Joseph Joubert, following Caroline, or Change, and Violet; and Tony Award winner Warren Caryle, whose work has been seen often in collaboration with Scott Ellis, including Kiss Me, Kate, She Loves Me, On the Twentieth Century, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Pulitzer Prize & Obie winner Sanaz Toossi makes her Broadway debut in 2024 with her play, English—which was first seen as part of the Roundabout Underground Reading Series in 2019. It was later scheduled for the Roundabout Underground in Fall 2020; when the pandemic upended the planned production, Roundabout collaborated with Atlantic Theater Company for an Off-Broadway production at the Linda Gross Theater in 2022. The play went on to win an Obie Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama that year. Obie winner Knud Adams returns to direct—most recently having staged Primary Trust last season—also making his Broadway debut.

Artists making their Roundabout Theatre Company debuts in the 2024-2025 season include: SAG Award winner Daniel Dae Kim, Tony Award winner & Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang, Tony & Obie Award winner and 2010 MacArthur Foundation Fellow David Cromer, Outer Critics Circle Award winner Bess Wohl, and Tony & Olivier Award nominee Ramin Karimloo and Tony, Emmy & SAG Award winner David Hyde Pierce—both of whom starred in Roundabout’s 2022 benefit concert performance of The Pirates of Penzance.

2024-2025 SEASON LINE-UP

YELLOW FACE

September 2024 at the Todd Haimes Theatre on Broadway Starring Daniel Dae Kim
By David Henry Hwang
Directed by Leigh Silverman

Tony Award ® winner and three-time Pulitzer finalist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) will make his Roundabout debut with the Broadway premiere of Yellow Face, his hilarious is-he-or-isn’t-he comedy of identity, show business, and (perhaps) autobiography. Starring Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) as “DHH” and directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman (Violet).

Inspired by real events, the playwright’s fictionalized doppelgänger protests yellowface casting in Miss Saigon, only to mistakenly cast a white actor as the Asian lead in his own play. This Obie Award-winning and Pulitzer finalist play is a laugh-out-loud farce about the complexities of race.

THE COUNTER

September 2024 at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre
A Roundabout-Commissioned World Premiere by Meghan Kennedy
Directed by David Cromer

Every morning at the local diner in a small town, a waitress refills a regular’s coffee. An unlikely friendship develops and keeps him coming back for more. But when he asks for a shocking favor, it brings to light both of their deepest secrets. The Counter is a funny, surprising, and moving meditation on the everyday connections that can change our lives.

After the success of Too Much, Too Much, Too Many and Napoli, Brooklyn, playwright Meghan Kennedy debuts her next Roundabout commission, The Counter. Directed by Tony Award® winner David Cromer (The Band’s Visit).

ENGLISH

December 2024 at the Todd Haimes Theatre on Broadway
By Sanaz Toossi
Directed by Knud Adams
Broadway Premiere of the Atlantic Theater Company & Roundabout Theatre Company production

Roundabout brings English, by Sanaz Toossi, home to Broadway, after its world premiere co-production with Atlantic Theater Company. Knud Adams (Primary Trust) once again directs this Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the universal foibles of language and miscommunication.

The comedy unfolds in an Iranian classroom where adult English learners practice for their proficiency exam. As they leapfrog through a linguistic playground, their wildly different dreams, frustrations, and secrets come to light. Can they overcome the limits of language to discover what they really want to say?

LIBERATION

January 2025 at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre World Premiere by Bess Wohl
Directed by Whitney White

From Tony Award® nominee Bess Wohl (Grand Horizons) comes Liberation, directed by Roundabout’s inaugural directing fellow and Associate Artist, Whitney White (If I Forget, Marvin’s Room).

It's 1970: somewhere in Ohio, six women meet on a basement basketball court, determined to shake up their lives and change the world. Fifty years later, one of their daughters tries to understand where things fell apart. A provocative, wildly theatrical world premiere that poses vital questions about friendship, legacy, and the true meaning of liberation.

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

April 2025 at the Todd Haimes Theatre on Broadway Starring Ramin Karimloo, David Hyde Pierce
Music by Arthur Sullivan and Libretto by W.S. Gilbert
Adaptation by Rupert Holmes
Orchestrations by Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters
Music Direction by Joseph Joubert
Choreographed by Warren Carlyle
Directed by Scott Ellis

Ramin Karimloo and David Hyde Pierce lead the crew as the “The Pirate King” and “W.S. Gilbert & Major General” in this must-see Roundabout reimagining of The Pirates of Penzance. Scott Ellis (Doubt; Kiss Me, Kate) directs and

Warren Carlyle (Harmony; Kiss Me, Kate) choreographs with a hilarious new adaptation by Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), musical direction by Joseph Joubert (Caroline, or Change), and orchestrations by Joubert and Daryl Waters (Memphis).

Gilbert & Sullivan’s pirate ship docks in New Orleans in this jazzy-bluesy vision of the crowd-pleasing classic, in an outrageously clever romp sizzling with Caribbean rhythms and French Quarter flair. With the tongue-twisting Major-General, the rabble-rousing Pirate King, newly imagined young lovers, daring daughters, footloose pirates and fleet-footed police, there's a shipload of musical comedy delights on board to dazzle first-timers and G&S aficionados alike.

One additional production for Roundabout Underground will be announced at a later date. Further information including dates, casting, creative team, and single ticket on-sale dates for all the productions will also be announced soon.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for Roundabout’s 2024-2025 Season will be available first as part of Roundabout’s subscription series next month by calling 212.719.1300, online at roundabouttheatre.org/2024-2025-season or in person at the Todd Haimes Theatre (227 West 42nd Street) and the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street). Individual tickets will go on sale at a later date.

BIOGRAPHIES

Daniel Dae Kim (DHH, Yellow Face) is an actor, director, producer, and social advocate widely known for his work in ABC’s “Lost,” CBS’s “Hawaii Five-O,” Netflix’s “Stowaway”, and Disney’s “Raya And The Last Dragon.” Though his career is highlighted by work in every medium, it’s the stage that has kept him busy of late.

He just returned from London’s West End, where he performed in My Favorite Things: The Rodgers and Hammerstein Anniversary Concert, with Audra McDonald, Patrick Wilson, Aaron Tveit and other theater luminaries. Earlier this fall, he also joined the cast of the critically acclaimed Peter Pan Goes Wrong for a limited engagement at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. He also just completed an audio version of David Henry Hwang’s play Yellowface for Audible that his production company, 3AD, produced, and in which he starred. Daniel made his Broadway debut in 2017 as the King of Siam in Lincoln Center’s 2017 production of The King and I, having also played the role at the Royal Abert Hall in London in 2009. Over the course of his theater career, he has worked with New Yorks Public Theater, Theater For A New Audience, East West Players (where he performed in Golden Child written by David Henry Hwang), Pan Asian Rep, NAATCO, among others. New York is also where Daniel received his training, earning his MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

On screen, this February, Kim will star as the villainous Fire Lord Ozai in the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, for Netflix. Also in 2024, Daniel will head to South Korea to star in a new spy series that he and his company will produce for Amazon Studios. Currently, Kim can be seen on streaming platforms in BJ Novak’s FX series, “The Premise,” Nat Geo’s “The Hot Zone: Anthrax,” and Apple TV+’s “Roar.” As a producer, Kim and 3AD executive produce the series “The Good Doctor,” currently shooting its seventh season on ABC, as well as 2023’s multi-award-winning documentary feature film, Bad Axe.

Kim’s advocacy for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is longstanding. His testimony in front of Congress helped lead to the passage of the “Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act,” and he currently serves on the White House Commission for Asian American, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. He also serves on the Board of Gold House, with whom he partners, along with the Asian American Foundation, on the Sunrise Collective, the first ever official AAPI centered House at the Sundance Film Festival.

Ramin Karimloo (The Pirate King, The Pirates of Penzance) Tony Award, Olivier Award nominee, Theatre World Award winner. Ramin recently reprised the role of The Phantom in a new production of The Phantom of the Opera in Italy & Monte Carlo following his critically acclaimed run as Nicky Arnstein in Funny Girl on Broadway. He will next be seen playing Gomez Adams in The Addams Family at the London Palladium. Broadway & Off: Gleb Vaganov in Anastasia; Jean Valjean in Les Miserables (Tony Award Nomination); Archibald Craven in The Secret Garden (Lincoln Center); White Rabbit Red Rabbit (Westside Theater); Anatoly in Chess (Kennedy Center). West End, London & More: Jean Valjean in Les Miserables; King Arthur in Camelot (London Palladium), Shams in Rumi: The Musical (London Coliseum), Anatoly in Chess in Concert (Umeda Arts Theatre, Osaka & Tokyo International Forum), Judas in Jesus Chris Superstar in Concert (Theatre Orb, Tokyo), Doctor Zhivago in Doctor Zhivago Concert (London Palladium & Cadogan Hall ), Che in Evita (Theatre Orb, Tokyo & Vancouver Opera), Tom in Murder Ballad (Arts Theatre, London), Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, Phantom in Love Never Dies (West End), Prince of Broadway (World Premiere), Chris in Miss Saigon (West End), Jean Valjean & Enjolras in Les Miserables (West End), Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard. Film/TV: “Holby City” (BBC1), “Jesus: His Life” (History Channel), “Life’s Too Short” (BBC), “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “The Spa” (Tiger Aspect Productions), The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall: 25th Anniversary, Les Miserables in Concert: 25th Anniversary & more. Ramin has toured the world performing concerts both as a solo artist and with his band and has released 5 solo records on Sony Records. @raminkarimloo raminkarimloo.com

David Hyde Pierce (W.S. Gilbert & Major General, The Pirates of Penzance) is an Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor and director currently appearing in Stephen Sondheim’s final musical, Here We Are, at The Shed. Additional Off-Broadway credits include The Visitor at The Public, Adam Bock’s A Life, Richard Greenberg’s The Maderati, Mark O’Donnell’s That’s It Folks! and John Kander and Greg Pierce’s musical, The Landing. Broadway acting credits include Hello, Dolly! (Tony nomination), The Heidi Chronicles, Spamalot, Curtains (Tony Award), Accent on Youth, La Bête, and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Tony nomination). He directed Brian Hargrove and Barbara Anselmi’s musical It Shoulda Been You on Broadway, Vanya and Sonia at the Mark Taper Forum, David Lindsay-Abaire’s Ripcord for MTC, and a gangster-themed The Importance of Being Earnest at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Film credits include Bright Lights, Big City, Crossing Delancey, Little Man Tate, Sleepless in Seattle, Wolf, Nixon, Isn't She Great, Wet Hot American Summer, Full Frontal, Down With Love, A Bug's Life, Osmosis Jones, Treasure Planet, and The Perfect Host. Television credits include Norman Lear's political satire “The Powers That Be,” Dr. Niles Crane on “Frasier” (Emmy, SAG Awards), and Paul Child on “Julia,” currently streaming on MAX.

Scott Ellis (Director, The Pirates of Penzance) is the Interim Artistic Director of Roundabout Theatre Company. Broadway credits include: Take Me Out (2022 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play); Tootsie (2019 Tony Award nomination), Kiss Me, Kate; She Loves Me (2016 Tony Award nomination); On the Twentieth Century; You Can’t Take It With You (Tony nomination); The Elephant Man; The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Tony nomination); Harvey; Curtains (Tony nomination); The Little Dog Laughed (Drama League Award nomination); Twelve Angry Men (Tony nomination); The Man Who Had All the Luck; The Rainmaker; 1776 (Drama Desk Award and Tony nominations); Picnic (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination); Company; A Month in the Country; and Steel Pier (Tony nomination). Off-Broadway credits include Dada Woof Papa Hot; The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin; Gruesome Playground Injuries; Streamers; Good Boys and True; Entertaining Mr. Sloane; Flora, the Red Menace (Drama Desk nomination); And the World Goes ’Round (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards), and The Waverly Gallery. His television credits include: “Julia,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Closer,” “Weeds” (executive producer), “30 Rock,” (Emmy Award nomination for Best Director), and “Modern Family.”

Roundabout Theatre Company celebrates the power of theatre by spotlighting classics from the past, cultivating new works of the present, and educating minds for the future. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills that mission by producing familiar and lesser-known plays and musicals; discovering and supporting talented playwrights; reducing the barriers that can inhibit theatergoing; collaborating with a diverse team of artists; building educational experiences; and archiving over five decades of production history.

Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays and musicals on its five stages: Broadway’s American Airlines Theatre, Studio 54 and Stephen Sondheim Theatre, and Off-Broadway’s Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre.

Roundabout Theatre Company has been working to prioritize and actively incorporate anti-racism, equity, diversity, inclusion, and accountability throughout the institution. Read more about the company’s progress and timeline at edi.roundabouttheatre.org.

Roundabout productions are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

Roundabout’s upcoming 2023-2024 productions include: Jonah by Rachel Bonds, directed by Danya Taymor; Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley, directed by Scott Ellis; and Home by Samm-Art Williams, directed by Kenny Leon. The 2024-2025 season includes Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang, directed by Leigh Silverman; The Counter by Meghan Kennedy, directed by David Cromer; English by Sanaz Toossi, directed by Knud Adams; Liberation by Bess Wohl, directed by Whitney White; and The Pirates of Penzance by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, adapted by Rupert Holmes, choreographed by Warren Carlyle, directed by Scott Ellis.