Broadway shows opening soon
Which Broadway shows are opening soon, and who is in them?
Eighteen Broadway productions have an announced opening night between 17 September 2026 and 31 March 2027. Among the names attached: Julia Roberts, Paul Rudd, and Sarah Paulson in Small Mouth Sounds, Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell in Much Ado About Nothing, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Ed Harris in Other Desert Cities, Billy Crystal in 860, and Rachel Zegler in Evita.
This is the mirror of Broadway shows closing soon: the same catalog, the same six-month window, pointed the other way. It is also the more useful of the two for planning, because almost every production below is playing before the date beside its name.
Who is in them?
An unusual number of screen names, and they cluster at the two ends of the window.
The autumn is led by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris, Allison Janney, Joe Keery, and Lily Rabe in one play — Other Desert Cities — and by Billy Crystal in his own, 860. Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell play Beatrice and Benedick for Jamie Lloyd, Bradley Whitford and Tom Blyth take on A Few Good Men, and Rosamund Pike arrives with Inter Alia from the West End.
The spring is denser still. Small Mouth Sounds puts Julia Roberts, Paul Rudd, Sarah Paulson, Martin Freeman, Greta Lee, and Isaac Powell into a six-hander — six names, six parts, one play — and Rachel Zegler brings her Olivier-winning Eva Perón to the Winter Garden in Evita.
The stage names are worth reading for too, and in several cases they are the draw: Patina Miller and Denée Benton in School Girls, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Kara Young in a new Dominique Morisseau play, Raúl Esparza in Galileo, Danny Burstein and Jessica Hecht in Awake and Sing!, Ledisi and Solea Pfeiffer in Wanted.
What does a name above the title actually guarantee?
Less than it looks like, and it is worth knowing which part is firm.
Star casting on Broadway is normally a fixed-term engagement rather than an open-ended one, so the performer who opens a show is frequently not the performer playing it eight months later. Several productions above are limited runs precisely because their lead is only available for a season.
And no ticket on Broadway guarantees a particular performer at a particular performance. Covers go on, and the production posts the change at the door. If you are booking around one name, the mechanics are in how a Broadway cast change works and standby vs. alternate vs. understudy — and the production’s own channels on the day are the only reliable source.
Casting above is as announced at the time of writing. For the productions opening furthest out, expect additions: Dolly has a director, a choreographer, and a Dolly Parton score, and no announced cast at all.
Why does the first preview matter more than the opening date?
Because the first preview is when you can actually go.
An opening night is the industry’s date. It is when the production freezes, when the reviews publish, and when the party happens. Tickets have by then been on sale for months and the show has been playing to paying audiences for weeks — a median of 24 days of them, across every Broadway production since 2010 .
So a show “opening in January” is usually a show you can see in December. Every entry above lists the first preview date for that reason, and what you give up by going early is covered in previews, opening night, and press night.
What counts as opening here
An announced opening night in the catalog, between 17 September 2026 and 31 March 2027.
Two kinds of entry are excluded. One-night events — a concert staging, a benefit — open and close on the same date, and putting them on a list of what is coming would suggest a run that was never planned. Productions with no announced opening date are also absent, including several that have announced a theatre and a season.
Limited engagements are included, which is why 860 and Now You See Me Live appear here and on the closing-soon list at the same time. A production that opens in October and closes in January is genuinely both, and a reader planning a trip needs to see it on both pages.
How long are these preview periods?
Mostly ordinary. Fifteen of the eighteen fall between two and a half and four and a half weeks, which is where the great majority of Broadway productions sit.
The two ends are the interesting part. Here There Are Blueberries previews for a week, which almost always means a production that has been fully staged somewhere else and is being installed rather than built. Dolly previews for more than six weeks, a length only 2% of Broadway productions reach — usually a large new musical that wants the time, and occasionally one that needs it.
The full distribution, with the methodology and the raw numbers, is in how long Broadway previews last.
What's on this list
How we chose
Broadway productions in the Theatreview catalog with a publicly announced opening night between 17 September 2026 and 31 March 2027. One-night concerts and benefit performances are excluded — they open and close on the same date, and listing them as shows you could plan around would mislead. Productions announced without an opening date are not listed, however firm the rumour. Dates and casting are as announced at the time of writing: openings move, casts change, and a few of both will before March.
Current as of .
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School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
Patina Miller, Denée Benton, Jasmine Amy Rogers, and Heather Alicia Simms lead Jocelyn Bioh's play, directed by Whitney White. Opens 28 September 2026 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, with previews from 8 September — a twenty-day preview period.
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Other Desert Cities
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris, Allison Janney, Joe Keery, and Lily Rabe, directed by John Benjamin Hickey. Opens 18 October 2026 at the Hudson Theatre after nineteen days of previews from 29 September. The catalog records a previous Broadway production at the Booth Theatre in 2011.
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860
Billy Crystal's solo play, which he wrote, directed by Scott Ellis. Opens 21 October 2026 at the Imperial Theatre, previewing from 1 October, and already has an announced final performance on 2 January 2027 — a limited engagement that will open and close inside this list's window.
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The Imaginary Invalid
Bill Irwin, Rachel Bloom, Dylan Baker, and Brooks Ashmanskas in Molière, directed by Brandon J. Dirden for Roundabout. Opens 22 October 2026 at the Todd Haimes Theatre after twenty-seven days of previews from 25 September, longer than most plays take.
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A Few Good Men
Bradley Whitford, Tom Blyth, and Krysta Rodriguez in Aaron Sorkin's play, directed by Michael Arden. Opens 29 October 2026 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, previewing from 8 October — a revival of a title that has been better known as a film than as a play for three decades.
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Wanted
Solea Pfeiffer, Liisi LaFontaine, Ledisi, and Luke James in a new musical by Angelica Chéri and Ross Baum, directed by Stevie Walker-Webb. Opens 8 November 2026 at the James Earl Jones Theatre with a twenty-four-day preview period from 15 October — almost exactly the Broadway median.
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Here There Are Blueberries
The documentary play by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, directed by Kaufman. Opens 9 November 2026 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre after previews from 2 November. Seven days is the shortest preview period on this list by some distance, and well under half the Broadway median.
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Now You See Me Live
A stage illusion show featuring the magicians Darcy Oake and James More. Opens 11 November 2026 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre and closes 3 January 2027. The catalog records no separate first preview, so this is an opening night rather than the end of a preview period — a common shape for a holiday-season limited engagement.
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Downstate
Thomas Sadoski, K. Todd Freeman, Francis Guinan, and Liza Colón-Zayas in Bruce Norris's play, directed by Joe Mantello. Opens 15 November 2026 at the Booth Theatre after twenty-nine days of previews from 17 October, at the long end for a play.
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The Fantasticks
Ruthie Ann Miles, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Kevin Del Aguila, and David Patrick Kelly, directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli. Opens 16 November 2026 at the Hayes Theater, previewing from 22 October — the Broadway debut of a musical whose original off-Broadway run is the longest of any musical anywhere.
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Much Ado About Nothing
Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell, directed by Jamie Lloyd. Opens 19 November 2026 at the Winter Garden Theatre, previewing from 31 October. Nineteen days of previews is short for a house that size, which usually indicates a production arriving already staged.
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Inter Alia
Rosamund Pike in Suzie Miller's play, directed by Justin Martin. Opens 1 December 2026 at the Music Box Theatre, previewing from 10 November. The catalog records a 2026 West End production at Wyndham's Theatre, which makes this a transfer rather than a first staging.
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Galileo
Raúl Esparza, Joy Woods, and Javier Muñoz in a new musical by Danny Strong, Zoe Sarnak, and Michael Weiner, directed by Michael Mayer. Opens 6 December 2026 at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre after twenty-six days of previews from 10 November — about the median for a musical.
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Awake and Sing!
Danny Burstein, Jessica Hecht, Jeremy Shamos, Micaela Diamond, and Will Pullen in the Clifford Odets revival, directed by Tyne Rafaeli. Opens 7 January 2027 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, previewing from 15 December — the second production on this list booked into that house inside four months.
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Dolly: A True Original Musical
Dolly Parton wrote the book, with Maria S. Schlatter, and the score; Bartlett Sher directs and Mandy Moore choreographs. No cast had been announced as of this list's date. Opens 19 January 2027 at the St. James Theatre, previewing from 7 December — forty-three days, the longest preview period here and in the small minority of Broadway productions that preview for more than six weeks.
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Mix and Master
Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Kara Young in a new Dominique Morisseau play, directed by Kamilah Forbes for Roundabout. Opens 27 January 2027 at the Todd Haimes Theatre after a twenty-two-day preview period from 5 January.
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Small Mouth Sounds
Julia Roberts, Paul Rudd, Sarah Paulson, Martin Freeman, Greta Lee, and Isaac Powell in Bess Wohl's play, directed by Joe Mantello — six screen names in a six-hander, and the densest casting on this list. Opens 18 March 2027 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre after twenty-eight days of previews from 18 February.
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Evita
Rachel Zegler as Eva Perón, in Jamie Lloyd's production transferring from London. Opens 25 March 2027 at the Winter Garden Theatre, previewing from 27 February — the second revival booked into that theatre within this window.
Sources
- Screen Stars You Can See on Broadway in the 2026–2027 Season Playbill Accessed
- Broadway Fall Preview 2026: A Guide to Every New Show Opening This Season Broadway.com Accessed
- Julia Roberts, Paul Rudd, Sarah Paulson, More Will Lead Small Mouth Sounds on Broadway Playbill Accessed
- Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing! — 2026–27 season Manhattan Theatre Club Accessed
- Mix and Master — 2026–2027 season Roundabout Theatre Company Accessed
- Theatreview production catalog Theatreview Accessed
