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Summer 2024 NYC Theatre Guide: Broadway, Off-Broadway & Outdoors
What's new onstage in NYC this summer? We've got the full list!
By: Sidney Paterra Jul. 05, 2024
There's nothing like summer in the city! Summer 2024 in New York City will bring with it plenty of new Broadway, off-Broadway, and outdoor productions to take in this June, July, and August. Let BroadwayWorld be your guide!
ON BROADWAY:
Oh, Mary!
Now running at the Lyceum Theatre
Plot: Oh, Mary! stars Escola as a miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Unrequited yearning, alcoholism and suppressed desires abound in this one act play that finally examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mrs. Lincoln through the lens of an idiot.
Why to See It: The Broadway run comes following a sold out, twice extended world premiere run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Written by and starring Cole Escola and directed by Sam Pinkleton, the New York Times Critic’s Pick will only run through September 15, 2024.
Job
Now running at the Hayes Theatre
Plot: Jane, an employee at a big tech company (you know the one), has been placed on leave after becoming the subject of a viral video. She arrives in the office of a crisis therapist – Loyd – determined to be reinstated to the job that gives her life meaning.
Why to See It: Job originally premiered Off-Broadway at SoHo Playhouse in fall of 2023. It subsequently transferred to the Connelly Theatre for a second standing-room-only run. Job was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle’s John Gassner Award for playwright Max Wolf Friedlich.
Once Upon a Mattress
Running at the Hudson Theatre
Previews Begin: July 31, 2024
Opening Night: August 12, 2024
Plot: An uproarious update of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Princess and the Pea,” Once Upon A Mattress sets an unapologetic free spirit loose in a repressed kingdom, reveling in Winnifred’s ability to charm and transform with willpower, honesty, and a little bit of help from her friends.
Why to See It: On the heels of its record-breaking, sold-out run at New York City Center’s Encores! earlier this year, Tony Award winner Sutton Foster will lead the Broadway cast, reprising her acclaimed performance as Winnifred the Woebegone, hailed by The New York Times as “perfectly goofy, and imprinted with an ebullient, joyful relish in the very act of performance.”
COMING TO BROADWAY IN FALL 2024
OFF-BROADWAY:
Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Now running at the Perelman Performing Arts Center
This production will be a radical reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic dance musical Cats based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. Inspired by the Ballroom culture that roared out of New York City over 50 years ago and still rages on runways around the world, it is staged as a spectacularly immersive competition directed by Zhailon Levingston and PAC NYC Artistic Director Bill Rauch, with all new Ballroom and club beats, runway ready choreography, and an edgy eleganza makeover. Come one, come all, and celebrate the joyous transformation of self at the heart of Cats and Ballroom culture itself.
Dark Noon
Now running at St. Ann's Warehouse
Dark Noon is a subversive reimagining of the history of the American West through a carnivalesque vision of the genre that glorified it: the Western. They say history is written by the victors. In Dark Noon, history is told by the vanquished. Dark Noon envisions U.S. history as equal parts grotesque, horrifying, and profound. On an open stage amidst the red dirt of the prairie, the skeleton of a pioneer town is erected in real time by a dynamic cast of seven South African actors. Mahlangu, Biering, and the company collaborated to develop a High Noon-referencing romp through American history via an outsider's view of Hollywood westerns.
Pre-Existing Condition
Now running at the Connelly Theatre
Pre-Existing Condition, written by Tony Award nominee Marin Ireland and directed by Maria Dizzia, is a play exploring the challenges, shared community, and everyday indignities of learning to move forward after a life-altering, harmful relationship. The production will star, in the rotating role of “A,” Emmy Award winner Tatiana Maslany from June 18-June 20, Julia Chan from June 21-June 22, Tony Award nominee Maria Dizzia from June 24-July 2, Tony Award winner Deirdre O’Connell from July 3-July 6 and July 15-20, and Tavi Gevinson from July 24-August 3.
N/A
Now running at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre
Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe return to the stage as two congresswomen, generations apart in this new play about power, politics, and the perilous path to progress. N/A is a whip smart battle of wills -- and wits – between N, the first woman Speaker of the House, and A, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Inspired by real people and events, this riveting two-hander illuminates the person whom many consider the most powerful woman in American history…and the once-in-a-generation political talent who defied her.
Clowns Like Me
Now running at the DR2 Theatre
In his deeply personal and universally resonant one-man show, seasoned actor and master storyteller Scott Ehrenpreis tells his humorous yet profound story of living with mental illness. Like, lots of mental illness. Clowns Like Me fearlessly confronts the challenges of living with autism spectrum disorder, OCD, bipolar disorder, social anxiety, and depression, weaving a tale that is as heartbreaking as it is inspiring. Through his journey, Scott uncovers a remarkable truth: the stage becomes his sanctuary, a place where, if only for a few hours, he can emerge from the shadows of his struggles into the spotlight of empowerment and self-expression.
Empire
Now running at New World Stages
Told through the lens of three generations of dreamers and doers spanning New York City in the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and the Bicentennial Year of 1976, this original story shines new light on one of history’s greatest feats of will and desire. With a desperate city pinning its hopes on this seemingly impossible project, only skyscraper-high levels of grit and determination could keep it climbing. In EMPIRE, audiences will take the thrilling ride to the sky with the brave Mohawk Skywalkers, industrialist visionaries, and can-do immigrants, all of whom had the guts to go up when everyone else was down.
Six Characters
Now running at the Claire Tow Theatre
When some trifling citizens storm a renowned cultural center where they’re not meant to be, all hell breaks loose. Wigs go flying. Wounds get opened. An archive explodes. Will the audience make it out alive? Abolition takes on fresh meaning in SIX CHARACTERS, Phillip Howze’s new play on power, belonging, and the institutions we build.
Someone Spectacular
Now running at the Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre
Once a week, six recently bereaved strangers gather for group therapy. It’s a stable routine — until one day, their grief counselor is inexplicably MIA. The group’s typical session quickly goes off the rails, offering an open-ended meditation on loss, with revelations that are at once beautiful, funny, and heartbreaking. Domenica Feraud’s newest play examines the complicated emotions that accompany grief, while exploring universal and personal truths that are sure to stay with you for a lifetime.
OUTDOORS:
Mobile Unit's The Comedy of Errors
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS will be performed in English and Spanish at outdoor sites in collaboration with The New York Public Library and Bryant Park and as part of the “Backyard at Hudson Yards presented by Wells Fargo” series at Hudson Yards. The Mobile Unit will also pop up at public plazas and parks across the five boroughs in partnership with NYC Parks as well as other key Public Theater partners.
Go Public! Movie in the Parks
Free Outdoor Screenings of THIRTEEN’S Great Performances on PBS capture of 2019’s
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, directed by Kenny Leon. Throughout June, July, and August, in partnership with NYC Parks’ and The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment’s Movies Under the Stars program, and The WNET Group, we'll offer free screenings of THIRTEEN’s Great Performances on PBS Shakespeare in the Park performance of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING in several parks across all five boroughs. These events will be free for all to attend.
- June 29 – Prospect Park (Brooklyn)
- July 11 – J. Hood Wright Park (Manhattan)
- July 17 – McCarren Park (Brooklyn)
- July 24 – Brooklyn War Memorial (Brooklyn)
- August 2 – Faber Park (Staten Island)
- August 3 – Flushing Meadows Park (Queens)
- August 12 – Central Park, Frisbee Hill (Manhattan)
- August 20 – Washington Square Park (Manhattan)
- August 29 – Baisley Park (Queens)
- September 6 – Bronx Park (Bronx)
Broadway in Bryant Park
Broadway in Bryant Park is back! The 2024 program will bring the best of Broadway together for free performances for six consecutive Thursdays on the Bryant Park stage, located at 6th Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets. Lawn seating is first-come, first-serve. New Yorkers and visitors to the Big Apple are invited to come at 11 a.m. every Thursday with performances from the very best of Broadway running from 12:30 p.m. EST - 1:30 p.m. EST. The summer 2024 line-up will include perforamances from the casts of The Outsiders, Hell's Kitchen, Tommy, Water for Elephants, Back to the Future, and more.
New York Classical Theatre's Henry IV
Thought to be written between 1596 and 1598, this production is a blending of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2. The plays chronicle the civil strife during the reign of King Henry IV and the rise of young Prince Hal, who, under the tutelage of Sir John Falstaff, will become one of England’s most beloved rulers, Henry V.
Directed and adapted by Burdman, performances will take place through June 30 in Central Park (Central Park West & West 103rd Street), July 2-7 in Carl Schurz Park (East 87th Street & East End Avenue), and July 9-14 in Battery Park and Castle Clinton (Battery Place & Broadway). This production will be the only Shakespeare to appear in Central Park this summer. All performances are free and open to the public.
Lincoln Center's Summer for the City
This year’s festival features new commissions and a wide variety of programming bringing together thousands of artists from across the world in celebration of the multitude of cultural histories and stories that live within the city.
Through August 10 Lincoln Center’s campus transforms into a welcoming oasis where neighbors and New Yorkers from across the city can gather, relax, participate in performances, enjoy expanded food offerings at the Lincoln Center Night Market, and even play outdoor games. The outdoor spaces are designed by Visual Director Clint Ramos and inspired by flora and fauna of the American prairie, with greenery and plants by Donyale Werle Design, lighting designs by Andrew Grant, and projection designs by Zachary Borovay.
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