DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS, HELL'S KITCHEN & More Lead Top Off-Broadway Shows for October
Each month we're rounding up 10 off-Broadway recommendations for audiences not to miss!
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Oct. 01, 2023
What's happening off-Broadway? BroadwayWorld is helping you pick what to see next by rounding up our top recommended theatre each month. Coming up off-Broadway this October is a campy, sexy twist on a classic story, a world premiere musical, and more.
Hell's Kitchen
October 24-December 10, 2023
Grammy Award-winning artist Alicia Keys and Pulitzer Prize finalist playwright Kristoffer Diaz bring their exhilarating coming-of-age musical HELL’S KITCHEN to The Public this fall.
In a cramped apartment hanging off the side of Times Square, 17-year-old Ali is desperate to get her piece of the New York dream. Ali’s mother is just as determined to protect her daughter from the same mistakes she made. When Ali falls for a talented young drummer, both mother and daughter must face hard truths about race, defiance, and growing up. Ali feels trapped, until the sound of a neighbor playing piano opens the door to an unexpected friendship and a radically different future.
Choreographed by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown and directed by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, HELL’S KITCHEN is an unforgettable new show featuring both newly created music and the soulful, iconic songs of New York’s own Alicia Keys.
Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors
New World Stages
Now through January 7, 2024
Drac is back and he’s ready to take a bite out of the Big Apple! DRACULA, A Comedy of Terrors is a Bram-new comedy that New Yorkers can really sink their teeth into. Filled with clever wordplay and anything-goes pop culture references, it’s a 90-minute, gender-bending, quick-changing, laugh-out-loud reimagining of the gothic classic, perfect for audiences of all blood types.
In the treacherous mountains of Transylvania, a meek English real estate agent takes a harrowing journey to meet a new and mysterious client, who also just happens to be the most terrifying and ferocious monster the world has ever known: Count Dracula! As famed female vampire hunter Jean Van Helsing and company chase Drac from Transylvania to the British countryside to London and back, their antics are guaranteed to increase your pulse and cause bloodcurdling screams—of laughter.
The Gardens of Anuncia
Begins previews October 18, 2023
THE GARDENS OF ANUNCIA is a new musical by Michael John LaChiusa, directed and co-choregraphed by Graciela Daniele.
Originally developed and produced at The Old Globe, THE GARDENS OF ANUNCIA is inspired by the early life story of an icon of the American stage: Broadway legend Graciela Daniele. Anuncia (Priscilla Lopez) tends the garden of her country house as she reflects on her life, looking back on her girlhood in Juan Perón’s Argentina and paying homage to the family of women whose love and sacrifices allowed her to become an artist. This funny, poignant, and beautiful musical features a beguilingly romantic and tango-infused score filled with the exuberant sounds of women reveling in the joys of being alive. THE GARDENS OF ANUNCIA marks the fifth collaboration between Graciela Daniele and Michael John LaChiusa at Lincoln Center Theater following Hello Again (1994), Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1995), Marie Christine (1999), and Bernarda Alba (2006).
Scene Partners
October 26, 2023 - December 3, 2023
Winter, 1985. 75-year-old Meryl ditches ice-cold Milwaukee for sunny Los Angeles, hell-bent on becoming a movie star. She’s got big dreams, a little money, and a whole lot of nerve. But will the world ever know her for who she really is? Starring two-time Academy Award® winner Dianne Wiest as Meryl, and directed by Tony Award® -winning director Rachel Chavkin (HADESTOWN; NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812), John J. Caswell, Jr.’s (WET BRAIN; Vineyard’s Paula Vogel Playwriting Award) SCENE PARTNERS is a wildly theatrical, hilarious and genre-twisting gallop through the experience of a woman reborn.
Artificial Flavors
October 22, 2023- November 19, 2023
Created and directed by Steve Cosson. In a novel collaboration between humans and AI, Artificial Flavors turns the hot topic of artificial intelligence into a theater experience like nothing else. Knowing that the stories we tell ourselves shape and influence what happens in society, what will happen when many of those stories are computer generated? Hosted by The Civilians' Artistic Director Steve Cosson, parts of the show are generated live by the latest AI programs and immediately performed, creating an entirely different show every night.
The evening culminates with an original musical in which the performers roll with the punches, nimbly adjusting to every bizarre plot twist and oddly phrased original song the AI throws their way to surprising and hilarious effect.
Artificial Flavors is a fascinating evening of barely-controlled chaos that you won't want to miss.
I Can Get It For You Wholesale
October 10, 2023 - December 03, 2023
It’s 1937 in New York City’s Garment District, and shipping clerk Harry Bogen (Tony-winner Santino Fontana) would love to sell you a bill of goods. In this dark musical comedy, Bronx-born Harry must choose between the comfort of community and his own ambitious dreams. He’ll have to do whatever it takes to get ahead, and even more to stay there. Better watch your back – sewing needles can be sharp. Last seen on Broadway in 1962, I Can Get It For You Wholesale showcases memorable Harold Rome tunes, including the iconic “Miss Marmelstein,” and a book based on his own novel by Jerome Weidman. CSC’s production features a reimagined book by his son, John Weidman (Assassins), helmed by director Trip Cullman (Choir Boy).
emiliomadrid_4711(1).jpg "DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS, HELL'S KITCHEN & More Lead Top Off-Broadway Shows for October")
Little Shop of Horrors
Now playing
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.
Poor Yella Rednecks
City Center Stage 1
October 10, 2023 - November 26, 2023
Qui Nguyen, the wildly inventive playwright (and screenwriter for Marvel and Disney) known for his use of pop culture, pop music and puppetry, reunites with his frequent director, May Adrales, for this funny, sexy and brash new play. A young Vietnamese family attempts to put down roots in Arkansas, a place as different from home as it gets. A mom and dad balance big hopes and low-wage jobs, as old flings threaten to pull them apart. It all makes for a bumpy road to the American dream. From the world of Nguyen’s Vietgone, with its comic book and action movie influences, comes a play that melds a deeply personal story with the playwright’s trademark, killer humor. The New York Times hails the writer’s work as “culturally savvy comedy,” and this production shows you why.
Covenant
The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre
October 05, 2023 - December 03, 2023
When a struggling guitarist returns to his small Georgia town a blues star, rumors begin swirling that he may have made a deal with the devil to attain his musical genius. Before long, however, it becomes clear he's not the only one with a secret. A mythic and suspenseful new play that delivers one devilish twist after another, York Walker's Covenant explores the power of belief and the thin line between rumor and truth. Tiffany Nichole Greene directs.
Stereophonic
Playwrights Horizons
October 06, 2023 - November 19, 2023
David Adjmi’s Stereophonic zooms in on a music studio in the mid-1970s, where an up-and-coming rock band recording a new album finds itself suddenly on the cusp of superstardom. Will the ensuing pressures spark their breakup — or their breakthrough? Featuring original music by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, this intimate, electric play mines the agony and the ecstasy of creation.
Videos