Off-Broadway News & Features

Your guide to Off-Broadway shows in New York

New York City is famous for its Broadway shows, but its wealth of Off-Broadway shows is equally key to its status as a global theatre hub. In fact, some Off-Broadway hits are just as storied as Broadway's longest-running shows. Think Blue Man Group, which has played downtown since 1991 and now amazes audiences worldwide, or The Play That Goes Wrong, which followed up its Tony Award-winning Broadway run with an Off-Broadway transfer that's still going strong. Exciting theatre isn't just in the...

How 'White Girl in Danger' blends soap opera and social satire

It took 20 years for Michael R. Jackson to get A Strange Loop, his Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning musical that debuted on Broadway last year, to the stage. In a way, his latest Off-Broadway show, White Girl in Danger, is even longer in the making. Whereas A Strange Loop is based on personal and professional struggles from Jackson's early 20s, White Girl in Danger was born of something that's been in his life since childhood. Soap operas. "My mother and father both worked, so they would drop me...

New play 'The Comeuppance' to premiere off Broadway

Signature Theatre has added a new play to its spring season. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's The Comeuppance will run at the Pershing Square Signature Center from May 16 to June 25, replacing the playwright's previously announced production, Grass. Directed by Eric Ting, The Comeuppance is a dark comedy that centers on a self-proclaimed “Multi-Ethnic Reject Group.” They meet up to pregame before attending their 20-year high school reunion. Death looms over their gathering as they drink, play a...

'Bees and Honey' sets Off-Broadway cast

Casting has been set for Guadalís Del Carmen's Bees and Honey, the next play in MCC Theater's Off-Broadway season. Performances run from May 4 to June 11, with an opening night on May 22. The cast includes Maribel Martinez as Johaira and Xavier Pacheco as Manuel. Additionally, on the creative side, Bees and Honey featurs set design by Shoko Kambara, costume design by Devario D. Simmons, lighting design by Reza Behjat, sound design by Germán Martínez, original music by Dilson, and intimacy and...

'Titanique' extends again off Broadway

Their heart will go on, and so will their show! The hit Off-Broadway musical Titanique has extended for a third time, with tickets now available through September 10. Titanique is a parody retelling of James Cameron's Oscar-winning Titanic film. Celine Dion, who famously sang the film's theme song, "My Heart Will Go On," is a character in this show, and she takes audiences through her version of what happened to Jack and Rose aboard the fated ship. The musical is set to all Dion's greatest hits,...

'Seven Sins' by Company XIV to return off Broadway

Take another bite of the forbidden fruit! Company XIV's Seven Sins will return this spring for an encore run following its acclaimed premiere last year. Performances begin at Théâtre XIV, Company XIV's Brooklyn home, on March 31. Seven Sins is a burlesque retelling of the story of how Adam and Eve fell from grace in the garden of Eden. The show includes a series of variety acts — circus, dance, song, acrobatics, and more — inspired by the biblical tale and each of the seven deadly sins. Themed...

Drew Gehling joins 'Little Shop of Horrors' Off-Broadway cast

He is your dentist! Drew Gehling will join the cast of Little Shop of Horrors next week. Beginning March 14, he will assume the role of Orin Scrivello, D.D.S. from Tony Award nominee Bryce Pinkham. Gehling most recently appeared on Broadway as Jeff Bebe in Almost Famous, and his other best-known stage roles include Dr. Pomatter in Waitress and Bob Gaudio in Jersey Boys. In Little Shop of Horrors, Gehling will star alongside Euphoria's Maude Apatow as Audrey, Tony winner Matt Doyle as Seymour,...

New musical 'Rock & Roll Man' to premiere off Broadway this summer

Great balls of fire! A new musical about the life and career of Alan Freed will premiere off Broadway this summer. The show, titled Rock & Roll Man, begins performances on June 2 ahead of a June 21 opening night at New World Stages. Freed was a 20th-century disc jockey who became the first DJ to play music by Black artists on white-dominated radio stations and allowed musicians of various races to perform together for the first time in history. He also popularized dozens of now-iconic rock...

See new photos of Rachel Brosnahan, Oscar Isaac in 'The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window'

Take a look into the window! New photos have been released of The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, starring Rachel Brosnahan and Oscar Isaac, ahead of the show's official opening tonight. Lorraine Hansberry wrote The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, which premiered shortly after her most famous work, A Raisin in the Sun, but has seldom been revived since. This production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, directed by Anne Kauffman, is the first major New York revival in 50 years. Isaac (Star...

'Primary Trust' names complete Off-Broadway cast

Complete casting has been set for Primary Trust, a new play by Eboni Booth that continues Roundabout Theatre Company's spring season. Off-Broadway performances run from May 4 to July 2, with opening night on May 25. Joining the previously announced William Jackson Harper (Emmy nominee for The Good Place) as Kenneth and April Matthis (The Piano Lesson) as Wally’s Waiter are Eric Berryman (Atlanta) as Bert and Jay O. Sanders (Girl From the North Country) as Clay. Primary Trust centers on Kenneth,...