FEATURE: 2020 Spring Season Preview
As far as seasons go, Broadway follows the same pattern climate change has wrought upon the City of New York: a fall and a spring without a winter.
With January and February historically being the hardest months of the year for the box offices of commercial theatrical productions, it’s no surprise that the first three Broadway openings of this “spring” season were mounted by the three non-profit theatre companies with dedicated Broadway houses.
Following two hit engagements in London in 2018 and 2019, Laura Linney stars in “My Name is Lucy Barton” (read my review), which opened January 15th at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and runs through February 29th; a solo piece adapted from the eponymous book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout, it’s become one of the hottest tickets in Manhattan Theatre Club history, despite mixed reviews (mine included).
Charles Fuller’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning “A Soldier’s Play” (read my review) finally made its Broadway debut, opening January 21st at Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre. An easy critic’s pick for me, this murder mystery set among a platoon of black soldiers on a segregated army base during World War II is masterfully written, directed, and performed, marking one of the best Broadway productions for Roundabout in recent memory. It closes March 15th.
And playwright Bess Wohl presented her third new play in New York in just six months with “Grand Horizons”, a funny, shocking, and painfully honest look at marriage, family, and love that opened January 23rd at Second Stage Theater’s Helen Hayes Theatre and runs through March 15th.
Recent Off-Broadway highlights include Simon Stone’s adaption of “Medea” at BAM, starring Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale; Kathryn Hunter’s star turn in Shakespeare’s rarely seen “Timon of Athens” at Theater for a New Audience; Ruth Negga’s take on “Hamlet” in the Gate Theatre Dublin’s production at St. Ann’s Warehouse; Daniel Zaitchik’s charming new musical “Darling Grenadine” (read my review) at Roundabout Underground; and “Emojiland: The Musical” at The Duke.
Looking ahead, here is overview of everything else in store for this spring season:
Broadway
In addition to the three plays that have already opened, the spring season on Broadway will feature four new plays, five play revivals, six new musicals, and three musical revivals.
New Plays
After a 2017 premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Tracy Letts’s new comedy “The Minutes”, set in a city council meeting of a small town, finally comes to Broadway following a long tease (opens March 15th; runs through June 14th at the Cort Theatre). Martin McDonagh’s “Hangmen”, a devilishly dark comedy set on the day hanging is abolished in Britain, returns to New York following sold out runs at the Atlantic Theater Company and on the West End (read my review from 2018). I look forward to seeing it again (opens March 19th; runs through July 18th at the Golden Theatre).
“The Lehman Trilogy” dramatizes the rise and fall of the Lehman brothers, immigrants from Bavaria whose business triggers the largest financial crisis in history 163 years later; Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley, and Ben Miles play generations of characters in this epic, time-traversing play that was a sensation in London and at the Park Avenue Armory in 2019 (read my review) (opens March 26th; runs through June 28th at the Nederlander Theatre); and Debra Messing stars in “Birthday Candles” for Roundabout Theatre Company, a new play by Noah Haidle that examines a century of one woman’s life, punctuated by birthdays (opens April 21st; runs through June 21st at the American Airlines Theatre).
Play Revivals
All five play revivals this spring will open within three weeks of each other in April. First up is Laurie Metcalf and Rupert Everett in the fourth revival of Edward Albee’s 1962 marriage drama “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, directed by Joe Mantello (opens April 9th; runs through August 2nd at the Booth Theatre). Next, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick star in the first revival of Neil Simon’s 1968 marriage comedy “Plaza Suite”, directed by John Benjamin Hickey (opens April 13th; runs through July 12th at the Hudson Theatre).
Sam Rockwell, Laurence Fishburne, and Darren Criss will lead the third revival of David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” (opens April 14th; runs through July 12th at the Circle in the Square Theatre), while Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse will reprise their roles in the Broadway premiere of Paula Vogel’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning play “How I Learned to Drive” at Manhattan Theatre Club (opens April 22nd; runs through June 7th at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre), and Second Stage presents the first revival of Richard Greenberg’s Tony Award-winning Best Play “Take Me Out”, about a professional baseball player who comes out of the closet (opens April 23rd; runs through June 14th at the Helen Hayes Theatre).
New Musicals
After seasons of name brand movies being adapted for the stage, only two new musicals this spring are based on films—may it be a trend!
Following a sold-out run at the Public Theater, “Girl from the North Country” features an original story by Conor McPherson set in a Depression-era boarding house in Duluth, Minnesota and using the songbook of Bob Dylan as a soundtrack (read my review) (opens March 5th at the Belasco Theatre). “Six”, an original pop music concert about the six wives of King Henry VIII of England, arrives on Broadway following sensational runs in London, Chicago, and A.R.T in Cambridge (read my review from London) (opens March 12th at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre). Prepare for this show to be a fan favorite.
The writing team behind “Memphis” have reunited to tell the story of Princess Diana of Wales in “Diana”, which had its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in 2019, starring Jeanna De Waal (opens March 31st at the Longacre Theatre). The 1993 blockbuster “Mrs. Doubtfire” heads to Broadway following a run in Seattle; Rob McClure takes on the title role famously created by Robin Williams, with a book and score by the team behind “Something Rotten!”, and director Jerry Zaks at the helm (opens April 5th at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre).
And the other screen-to-stage adaptation this spring is the lightning fast transfer of “Sing Street”, a mostly play with music by Enda Walsh about an Irish teen boy band in the 1980s, which premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in December (read my review) (opens April 19th at the Lyceum Theatre).
The musical I am most intrigued to see is “Flying Over Sunset”, which makes its premiere on Broadway under the auspices of Lincoln Center Theater; this original new musical by Tom Kitt, Michael Korie, and James Lapine (who also directs) imagines Cary Grant (Tony Yazbek), Clare Boothe Luce (Carmen Cusack), and Aldous Huxley (Harry Hadden-Paton) on an acid trip together in the 1950s. If that description doesn’t pique your interest, I can’t help you. Renowned tap dance choreographer Michelle Dorrance makes her theatrical debut as choreographer (opens April 16th at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre).
Musical Revivals
For the first time in years, this spring Broadway will welcome a trio of musical revivals with real heft. First up is Belgian auteur Ivo van Hove’s modern take on “West Side Story” featuring all new choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, new orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick for a 25 piece orchestra, and heavy use of video. Set in the present and featuring a young and racially-diverse cast, expect van Hove to employ his signature tension-filled, explicit, and sparse techniques of theatremaking. If the box office during previews is any indication, this production is on pace to be a certified hit (opens February 20th at the Broadway Theatre).
Two imports from London may give “West Side Story” a run for its money, if not the coveted Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. A re-imagined 50th anniversary production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s landmark musical “Company” features a gender-swap for the lead character, and several other clever re-writes; Katrina Lenk stars as “Bobbie”, alongside Patti LuPone, and an ensemble cast featuring some of the best musical theatre talent in America; Marianne Elliott directs (opens March 22nd at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre).
And Roundabout Theatre Company will host the acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre production of Jeanine Tesori and Tony Kushner’s 2004 musical masterpiece “Caroline, or Change”, which made a splash on the West End in 2018 (read my review). Get used to hearing the name Sharon D. Clarke; she stars as Caroline Thibodeaux, a black maid working in the Lake Charles, Louisiana home of a Jewish family in 1963 as she grapples with the changing world around her. This is probably my favorite musical (opens April 7th; runs through June 28th at Studio 54).
Off-Broadway
As always, the Off-Broadway (and Off-Off etc.) season contains way too many productions to list, but below are some of the highlights of the spring:
For Artistic Director Jack Viertel’s final season, the Tony Award-honored Encores! series at New York City Center will feature the long-awaited New York return of Jerry Herman’s “Mack and Mabel” (February 19th-23rd), Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner’s “Love Life” (March 18th-22nd), which has never even received a cast recording, and a revised version of Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan’s “Thoroughly Modern Millie” (May 6-10th)
Signature Theatre presents Lauren Yee’s “Cambodian Rock Band” (February 4th-March 15th), about a Khmer Rouge survivor returning to Cambodia for the first time in thirty years, and Katori Hall’s “The Hot Wing King” (February 11th-March 22nd) set at the annual “Hot Wang Festival” in Memphis, Tennessee
Transport Group will mount a revised version of the 1960 Meredith Wilson musical “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” (February 8th-April 5th) at the Abrons Arts Center, starring Beth Malone, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, and featuring a book and new lyrics by Dick Scanlan
The Vineyard Theatre presents Lucas Hnath’s latest play “Dana H.” (February 11th-March 22nd), the true story of his mother’s kidnapping as told by her own words
MCC Theater presents “All the Natalie Portmans” (February 13-March 15th), a new coming of age comedy by C. A. Johnson, and the highly-anticipated return of playwright Jocelyn Bioh (“School Girls”) with “Nollywood Dreams”, a new romantic comedy set amid the “Nollywood” film industry of Lagos, Nigeria in the 1990s (March 19th-April 26th)
“Unknown Soldier” (February 14-March 29th), the late-composer Michael Friedman’s musical about a woman’s journey to unearth the secrets buried in her family’s past, will receive a production at Playwrights Horizons
Clubbed Thumb presents a return engagement of “Tumacho” (February 17th-March 14th), a play with songs by Ethan Lipton, directed by Leigh Silverman
New York Theatre Workshop will welcome Celine Song’s “Endlings” (February 19th-March 29th) about a trio of elderly Korean female deep divers, directed by Sammi Cannold; the premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok’s “Sanctuary City” (March 4th-April 12th); and a new adaption of Chekov’s “Three Sisters” (dates TBA) directed by Sam Gold and starring Greta Gerwig and Oscar Isaac
In Brooklyn, Theater for a New Audience will present Will Eno’s latest play “Gnit” (March 7th-29th) and a revival of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” (April 25th-May 24th), BAM will host The Old Vic’s production of Duncan MacMillan’s “Lungs” (March 25th-April 19th) starring Claire Foy and Matt Smith, and St. Ann’s Warehouse will welcome a return engagement of “The Jungle” (April 2nd-May 10th) about the eponymous refugee camp in Calais, France (listen to my podcast interview with playwright Joe Robertson)
Lincoln Center Theater is presenting a new opera adaption of Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Intimate Apparel” (February 27-May 3rd) with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and a libretto by Nottage; Bartlett Sher directs
And Classic Stage Company has assembled a boffo cast for a revival of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s 1990 musical “Assassins” (April 2nd-May 17th), featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Tavi Gevinson, Andy Groteluschen, Judy Kuhn, Steven Pasquale, Ethan Slater, Will Swenson, Wesley Taylor, and Brandon Uranowitz; John Doyle directs
Other Noteworthy Goings On
The blessing and curse of covering culture in New York is that there are five things to do and see every night of the week. Beyond Broadway and Off-Broadway, below is a short list of other noteworthy performances and events I’m looking forward to this spring:
A new production of Handel’s “Agrippina” at the Met Opera (February 6th-March 7th)
Screenings of “The Wiz” (February 28th) and “Ziegfeld Follies” (May 15th) at the New York Historical Society
Molly Pope at Joe’s Pub (March 16th)
The New York Pops’ “Movie Night” celebrating the scores of John Williams at Carnegie Hall (March 27th)
The “Project Broadway” series at Symphony Space (March 30th-April 6th)
Bizet’s “Carmen” presented by MasterVoices at Jazz at Lincoln Center (April 2nd)
MCC Theater’s “Miscast” 2020 (April 6th)
Bill T. Jones’ new dance piece “Deep Blue Sea” at the Park Avenue Armory (April 14th-25th)
Leah Sprecher’s “Everything’s Coming Up Barbara” at the Green Room 42 (April 19th)
The Martha Graham Dance Company at New York City Center (April 22nd-26th)
Kelli O’Hara (May 12-17th) and Beth Leavel (May 24-25th) at Feinstein’s 54Below
Parsons Dance at the Joyce Theater (May 19th-31st)
If you’ve made it this far, are you exhausted or exhilarated? I’m a healthy bit of both. Here’s to a great spring!
