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Your Broadway Preview: Fall 2015 Edition

By: MARK BLANKENSHIP
Date: Sep 09, 2015
Have you noticed how many new marquees are going up and how many fresh show posters are filling the subway? That's because this fall on Broadway is especially busy, with 18 plays and musicals beginning performances between now and December. But don't fret! You can keep track of everything with this handy list, which gives you the basics on all the upcoming shows. And if you're a TDF member, don't forget to keep checking your offer page for discounted tickets to many of these productions. New seats are added all the time!

Dates and shows are subject to change.
Before you plan a trip, use TDF's show finder to guarantee that your preferred show is still scheduled to perform.

Shows in each category are listed in chronological order, based on their first performance.


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NEW MUSICALS

On Your Feet! (Marquis Theatre)

Previews October 5; Opens November 5

Using the songs that made her famous, this autobiographical jukebox musical charts the life and career of pop superstar Gloria Estefan. Expect scenes about her long-time marriage with husband Emilio and about the near-fatal bus accident that almost destroyed her life in the early 90s. Also expect to hear hits like "Conga", "Coming Out of the Dark", and this writer's personal favorite, "1-2-3."

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Allegiance (Longacre Theatre)

Previews October 6; Opens November 8

George Takei stars in this sweeping new musical about a Japanese-American family that is herded into a World War II-era internment camp. What's more, the story is based on what actually happened to Takei and his relatives. Diva lovers should note that the show co-stars Lea Salonga.

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School of Rock – the Musical (Winter Garden Theatre)

Previews November 9; Opens December 6

Andrew Lloyd Webber provides the score for this musical adaptation of the film about a wannabe musician who suddenly finds himself teaching a group of pre-teens how to rock. The book is by Julian Fellowes, who apparently wanted to get wild after writing all those episodes of Downton Abbey.

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NEW PLAYS

Thérèse Raquin (Studio 54)

Previews October 1; Opens October 29

Keira Knightley stars in this new stage adaptation of Émile Zola's groundbreaking novel and play about a woman who embarks on a disastrous affair. Widely considered one of the most important examples of naturalism, the story argues that social, environmental, and economic forces dictate our behavior as much as our individual characters. That intellectual framework results in some seriously passionate drama, proving that conceptual thinking is sexy.

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King Charles III (Music Box Theatre)

Previews October 10; Opens November 1

New Yorkers might remember Mike Bartlett's plays Cock and Bull, and now he's making his Broadway debut with a sharp drama that imagines the moment Prince Charles finally becomes the King of England. Elizabethans should note that the play is written in blank verse.

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China Doll (Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre)

Previews October 21; Opens November 19

Al Pacino stars in a new play by David Mamet. That may be all you need to know to get you interested. But here's a little more info, just in case: Pacino plays a billionaire who is about to retire, but as he's wrapping up things in his office, he takes a phone call that changes things.

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Misery (Broadhurst Theatre)

Previews October 22; Opens November 15

It's been a while since Broadway got an honest-to-god thriller, and director Will Frears says he's aiming for all-out chills in this stage adaptation of Stephen King's novel about an obsessive fan who holds her favorite author hostage. Laurie Metcalf and Bruce Willis star.

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Our Mother's Brief Affair (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre)

Previews December 28; Opens January 20, 2016

In the latest play from Richard Greenberg, a dying woman tells her children about a scandalous affair… that she may not have actually had. As the kids try to figure out what's true, their mother struggles to shape the way she is remembered. Linda Lavin will star.

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MUSICAL REVIVALS

Spring Awakening (Brooks Atkinson Theatre)

Now in previews; Opens September 27

Deaf West Theatre remounts this dark rock musical with a cast of both hearing and deaf performers. Through a mixture of sign language, singing, and speech, the company adds an extra dimension to the story about repressed 19th-century teenagers desperately trying to express themselves. At that time in Europe, sign language was forbidden, so every time it appears in this production, it symbolizes the oppression that warps the world.

Dames at Sea (Helen Hayes Theatre)

Previews September 24; Opens October 22

Oh no! Ruby is about to star in a Broadway show, but the theatre's going to be demolished! Hopefully, she can convince some sailors to help her stage the production on a battleship. Watch the hijinks ensue in this first-ever Broadway production of the feel-good 1968 musical.

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The Color Purple (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre)

Previews November 10; Opens December 10

Cynthia Erivo made waves when she starred in a British production of this musical based on Alice Walker's novel about a black woman finding her sense of self-worth in rural Georgia at the turn of the 20th century. She's hopping across the pond to star in the Broadway revival, with Academy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson also joining her in the cast.

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Fiddler on the Roof (The Broadway Theatre)

Previews November 20; Opens December 20

Danny Burstein stars as Tevye in the latest Broadway revival of this classic musical about a Jewish father attempting to maintain his family's sense of tradition as the outside world begins to influence their village in early twentieth-century Russia. Fun fact: Both this and The Color Purple are set at least partially in 1905. Start your critical analysis now!

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PLAY REVIVALS

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Fool For Love (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre)

Previews September 15; Opens October 8

One of Sam Shepard's most brutally poetic plays, Fool for Love finds two lovers in a hotel room on the edge of the desert, trying to outrun a ghost from their pasts who keeps showing up in the room. Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell star, recreating roles they played to great acclaim at Williamstown Theatre Festival last year.

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Old Times (American Airlines Theatre)

Previews September 17; Opens October 6

The Roundabout revives Harold Pinter's subtly menacing play about a pleasant visit among long-time friends that evolves into an unsettling argument about just how everyone met and whether they intend to do each other harm. Like so many Pinter plays, this one defies our typical sense of narrative logic to create a thick, choking sense of dread. Clive Owen, Eve Best, and Kelly Reilly star.

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The Gin Game (John Golden Theatre)

Previews September 23; Opens October 14

James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson star in a revival of this Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a friendly card game between nursing home friends that becomes unexpectedly ferocious after one of them wins hand after hand.

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Sylvia (Cort Theatre)

Previews October 2; Opens October 27

Annaleigh Ashford – recent Tony Award-winner and reigning funny woman of Broadway – stars as the title canine in A.R. Gurney's comedy-romance about a dog who both observes and help bring about a couple's mid-life crisis.

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A View from the Bridge (Lyceum Theatre)

Previews October 21; Opens November 12

Ivo van Hove, the renowned Belgian director known for exhilarating and experimental takes on canonical plays, sinks his interpretive teeth into Arthur Miller's classic about a Brooklyn man whose commitment to honor may tear his family apart.

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Noises Off (American Airlines Theatre)

Previews December 17; Opens January 14, 2016

Andrea Martin, Megan Hilty, Jeremy Shamos, Tracee Chimo, and Campbell Scott anchor this revival of Michael Frayn's cracking good farce about the backstage antics of an inept theatre company trying to put on a show. If you see this in the same week as Dames at Sea, you'll be forgiven for thinking theatre people don't know what's happening half the time.

MARK BLANKENSHIP