Broadway may slow down in the summer, but the Off-Broadway scene is as busy as ever, with cool theater to see in the hot-weather months. From starry plays to outdoor Shakespeare and a buzzy, sexy parody of a pop-culture phenomenon, these are the shows you don’t want to miss.
Giulia, The Poison Queen of Palermo, Perelman Performing Arts Center
Now playing through August 2
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jennifer Nettles both writes and plays the title role in this new musical that puts a feminist spin on the exploits of a real-life poisoner of powerful men in 17th-century Italy. Visionary director Mary Zimmerman (Metamorphoses) stages the show, which has been wowing audiences with its standout score since it opened in July.
The Saviors, Atlantic Theater Company
Now playing through August 15
Writer Bubba Weiler burst onto the scene last year with Well, I’ll Let You Go, his quirky, affecting drama featuring a cast of New York’s character-actor all-stars. This summer, Weiler reunites with director Jack Serio for his latest, about two altar boys and their life-changing encounter with a young man who takes sanctuary in their church.
The Winter’s Tale, Delacorte Theater
Now playing through August 23
Shakespeare under the stars is always a highlight of a New York summer, especially when it features a star-studded cast led by Raúl Esparza and Lily Rabe. Tony-winning Broadway veteran Daniel Sullivan directs this surprising story of jealousy and redemption, tinged with magic and featuring the Bard’s most famous stage direction: “Exit, pursued by a bear.”
Birthright, MCC Theater
Now playing through August 23
The Tony-winning writer of Eureka Day, Jonathan Spector, returns with a resonant new play that follows a group of Jewish American friends over nearly 20 years. With Spector’s characteristic sensitivity, the play looks head-on at the contemporary Jewish American experience in a story that starts in 2006, when six youths meet on a Birthright trip, through to 2024, as these longtime friends wrestle with their differences in the wake of the attacks of October 7.
Label•Less, The Duke on 42nd St
Now playing through August 29
Drew Lachey, the former 98 Degrees member and Dancing With the Stars alum, teams up with his wife, Lea Lachey, to create and stage an inclusive, dance-and-drama portrait of young-adult life. With songs cowritten by Drew, choreography by Lea, and direction from the two of them, this revue-style show aims to break through barriers and remind us all of our shared humanity.
The Whoopi Monologues, Lincoln Center Theater
Now playing through August 30
Back in 1984, an unknown performer named Whoopi Goldberg launched her career with a virtuosic one-woman show in which she played an array of thought-provoking comic characters. Now a new revival sees a cast of stars, including screen favorite Kerry Washington and Tony winners Kara Young and Kecia Lewis, put their own spin on those roles under the sure-handed direction of Whitney White (Liberation).
Shifters, Cherry Lane Theatre
Now playing through August 30
An acclaimed romantic drama from London gets a New York showcase with Shifters, which arrives Off-Broadway starring its lauded original cast. Heather Agyepong and Daniel Ezra paint a tender portrait of Black love in this time-hopping tale of adults coming together to renegotiate a teenage attraction they thought they’d left behind.
Broad Strokes, Lucille Lortel Theatre
Now playing through September 25
This new show from rising comedy star Cat Cohen chronicles the thirtysomething performer’s real-life ordeal of suffering from an unexpected stroke in 2023, leading to a diagnosis of a congenital heart condition. She recounts it all with her signature combination of wild songs and confessional humor in a production directed by Broadway regular Alex Timbers (Moulin Rouge! The Musical) and produced by the team that gave the world Oh, Mary!.
Disruptions, Pershing Square Signature Center
Now playing through September 27
A cast of notables led by John David Washington, Conrad Ricamora, and Elizabeth Stanley star in a new play that raises timely questions about technology’s grip on us all. In this unsettling thriller, Washington plays a hotshot tech entrepreneur who offers his friends a taste of his latest project: an ultracomplicated new algorithm that he promises will make their major life decisions better than they can.
Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody, The Culture Club
Now in performances through November 1
The hottest TV series of the winter becomes the buzziest Off-Broadway show of the summer with this fast-paced, lovingly campy send-up of Heated Rivalry, the queer hockey romance that was an instant sensation when it hit the small screen late last year. More than just riding the TV show’s coattails, the musical has won over critics and audiences alike with a tuneful score and a comic sensibility that’s at once sharp, raunchy, and sweetly romantic.
And don’t miss these long-running Off-Broadway hits, now in their final weeks:
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, New World Stages
Now playing through September 6
Spelling Bee is a sweetly funny musical about misfit middle-schoolers vying for spelling-bee supremacy has been revived in a popular Off-Broadway staging with a stellar cast of stage and screen faves, including Jasmine Amy Rogers, Jon Cryer, Kevin McHale, and, in the coming weeks, Alex Newell. Adding to the fun: the regular inclusion of celebrity cameos joining the comic shenanigans as guest spellers.
Heathers, New World Stages
Now playing through November 8
This razor-sharp adaptation of the murderously funny screen comedy has proven a big hit with audiences who have turned out in droves — and sometimes in costume — for this story of two high school rebels killing off the popular kids one by one, all told with a combination of dark humor and surprising heart. See Heathers Off-Broadway before it hits the road on a national tour next year.
