The 5 Most Anticipated Broadway Shows of Spring 2025

TheaterMania’s editor-in-chief tells you the shows he’s most looking forward to seeing.

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January 6, 2025

After a summer and fall that saw unexpected hits like Oh, Mary! and quick departures like Swept Away, we’ve officially begun the march to the 2025 Tony Awards. Between now and April, we’ll get 14 new plays and musicals and a handful of revivals vying for the attention of Broadway ticket buyers. Here are the five I’m most excited to see.

New York Music Photographer — Natalie Venetia Belcon and Julio Monge in the Atlantic Theatre Company production of *Buena Vista Social Club*
(© Ahron R. Foster)

1. Buena Vista Social Club
Previews: February 21
Opens: March 19
Schoenfeld Theatre

This exhilarating new musical tells a mythologized history of the Grammy-winning album, spotlighting a group of overlooked instrumentalists who come together to record iconic Cuban songs. Against the backdrop of 1950s Havana’s political upheaval, the two-hour show features 14 irresistible songs that will have you dancing in the aisles as the company performs effervescent choreography by Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck. Featuring a knockout performance by the extraordinary Natalie Venetia Belcon, it first dazzled audiences in 2023 at the Atlantic Theater Company, and I can’t wait to visit the Buena Vista Social Club again.

JOHN 0007V KeyArtReveal 1080x1080 v2 (1) — Key art for *John Proctor Is the Villain*
(handout image)

2. John Proctor Is the Villain
Previews: March 20
Opens: April 14
Booth Theatre

Kimberly Belflower’s dark comedy has become a regional hit, following a group of teenagers in Georgia as they study The Crucible and challenge Arthur Miller’s classic at every turn while navigating their own coming-of-age struggles. Directed by Tony winner Danya Taymor (The Outsiders), the production stars Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) and carries the rebellious spirit of Spring Awakening, ushering a fresh generation of young voices to the Great White Way.

Monsoon Jinkx 3035 web by Timothy Greenfield Sanders — Jinkx Monsoon
(© Timothy Greenfield Sanders)

3. Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Previews: April 4
Opens: April 24
Haimes Theatre (formerly the American Airlines Theatre)

Look past the oddly structured title and you’ll get a new take on Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, featuring a book by Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) and orchestrations by Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters that reset the operetta in the French Quarter of New Orleans. In the works for a while now, the to-die-for cast is led by Ramin Karimloo as the Pirate King, Jinkx Monsoon as Ruth, and David Hyde Pierce as the very model of a modern major-general.

DEAD OUTLAW 0117 — Andrew Durand and Jeb Brown in the Audible production of *Dead Outlaw*
(© Matthew Murphy)

4. Dead Outlaw
Previews: April 12
Opens: April 27
Longacre Theatre

After a hit off-Broadway run, the reigning Best Off-Broadway Musical winner of 2024 is set to bring its rebellious spirit uptown. The story of a ne’er-do-well whose corpse becomes an inadvertent celebrity, it’s got a kick-ass score from David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, a book by Itamar Moses that’s too crazy to be made up, and typically sensitive direction from David Cromer. They haven’t announced a cast yet, but if Andrew Durand and especially Thom Sesma transfer, you’re looking at two potential Tony winners.

Dorian Gray FIRST LOOK 0110 RT (1) — Sarah Snook in *The Picture of Dorian Gray*
(© Marc Brenner)

5. The Picture of Dorian Gray
Previews: March 10
Opens: March 27
Music Box Theatre

Succession Emmy winner Sarah Snook stars alongside Sarah Snook, Sarah Snook, and Sarah Snook in this shocking Oscar Wilde adaptation that questions both the bounds of theater and reality itself. Snook plays all 26 characters opposite cameras at her every move to create a dazzling and disorienting star turn that set London ablaze, and will surely do the same in New York.