Off-Broadway shows to see this fall

Explore the wide world of plays and musicals beyond Broadway's 41 venues, and discover must-see Off-Broadway theatre all across New York City this fall.

Fall in New York brings a snap in the air and a crackle in the theatres, where Off-Broadway stages come alive. New musicals and plays, bold revivals, fresh voices — you can discover all that at venues all over the city, not just on Broadway.

The fall 2025 season offers a thrilling mix of what makes Off-Broadway essential: surprise, urgency, and the electric promise of something never seen before just around the corner. Learn about major Off-Broadway musicals and plays opening this fall below, and get tickets.

Get tickets to Off-Broadway shows on New York Theatre Guide.

Musicals off Broadway this fall

Off-Broadway is famous as a place where new musicals and revivals can grow into big hits. Look no further than Little Shop of Horrors, whose hit revival, off Broadway since 2019, is a prime example. This fall brings a mix of fellow revivals, original shows, and fresh takes on favorites.

Masquerade

The Phantom of the Opera just got more intimate — and yes, the famous chandelier is along to light the way. Created by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Richard Stilgoe, and Charles Hart and directed by Diane Paulus, this immersive take on the long-running Broadway hit about a mysterious figure who haunts the Paris Opera — and those that sing there — transports audiences into a four‑story, interactive retelling.

Performances begin: July 31

Check back for information on Masquerade tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Saturday Church

Adapted from the hit indie film of the same name and featuring songs by Sia and Honey Dijon, Saturday Church follows Ulysses, a New York teen torn between his church life and an underground LGBTQ+ youth sanctuary. There, he embraces identity, faith, and vogue and finds a place to truly belong. Fat Ham Pulitzer winner James Ijames and the film's screenwriter and director Damon Cardasis team up on the script for the show, which stars Tony winners J. Harrison Ghee and Joaquina Kalukango and more.

Performances begin: August 27

Check back for information on Saturday Church tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Mexodus

Hamilton isn't the only hip-hop-driven history lesson in town. Created and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, the show explores the untold story of enslaved African Americans who fled south to Mexico for freedom, rather than north via the Underground Railroad.

Performances start: September 9

Get Mexodus tickets now.

Oratorio for Living Things

First seen off Broadway in 2022, Heather Christian’s immersive, genre-defying musical piece blends classical oratorio, gospel, folk, and experimental sound. The work features a choir and meditates on time, science, and the human spirit.

Performances start: September 30

Check back for information on Oratorio for Living Things tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Romy & Michele: The Musical

Nothing like reconnecting with classmates a decade after graduation to inspire hilarity — and resume padding (“We invented Post-its!”). So it goes for the title besties in the hit 1997 movie Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion, starring Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow. The leads of the musical adaptation, created by original screenwriter Robin Schiff and composer/lyricists Gwendolyn Sanford and Brandon Jay, are to be announced.

Performances start: October 14

Get Romy & Michele: The Musical tickets now.

44 - The Musical

Relive the presidency of Barack Obama — as Joe Biden kinda-sorta remembers it. This satirical musical is created and directed by former Obama campaign staffer Eli Bauman, who takes audiences on a wild ride through the 44th president's administration and all the eccentric people in his orbit.

Get 44 - The Musical tickets now.

The Seat of Our Pants

First off, great title. This new musical by Ethan Lipton follows the resilient Antrobus family as they survive 5,000 years of history, just as in Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1942 absurdist drama The Skin of Our Teeth, which the show is based on. The stacked cast includes Ruthie Ann Miles, Shuler Hensley, Damon Daunno, and Micaela Diamond.

Performances start: October 24

Check back for information on The Seat of Our Pants tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Bat Boy: The Musical

First seen off Broadway in 2001, the cult-favorite show wings its way back with its pulsing pop-rock score and a ridiculously star-stacked cast. Floyd Collins Tony nominee Taylor Trensch stars as the half-bat, half-boy creature found in a cave and adopted by a kind family, only to be bitten by small-town intolerance. Alex Timbers, a two-time Tony winner with a knack for dark comedy, directs.

Performances start: October 29

Get Bat Boy: The Musical tickets now.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

You have to love a show that celebrates O-D-D-B-A-L-L-S — and when you get right down to it, that includes pretty much everyone. With songs by William Finn and a book by Rachel Sheinkin, the show follows quirky middle schoolers competing in a spelling bee, revealing personal struggles and dreams — and a “magic foot.” The cast announced so far includes Glee’s Kevin McHale and Kimberly Akimbo Tony nominee Justin Cooley.

Performances start: November 7

Get The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee tickets now.

Plays off Broadway this fall

Off-Broadway is a natural habitat for exciting new plays and revivals: dramas, comedies, solo works, you name it. Fall 2025 is filled with theatrical color in the plays department.

House of McQueen

Bridgerton's Luke Newton stars in the title role, alongside Tony nominee Emily Skinner as his mother, in Darrah Cloud’s stage take on fashion designer Alexander McQueen. The story charts his journey from early aspirations to founding his fashion house — and all the trauma and creativity along the way.

Performances start: August 19

Get House of McQueen tickets now.

The Brothers Size

Set in the Louisiana bayou country, Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play explores mythic‑infused sibling bonds and the tense struggle between brotherly duty and desire for freedom. André Holland stars.

Performances start: August 30

Get The Brothers Size tickets now.

Prince Faggot

Straight from its extended, sold-out run at Playwrights Horizons, Jordan Tannahill's Prince Faggot leaps to Studio Seaview for an encore run. Directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury, the play imagines Prince George at Oxford falling in love with another man. That’s the starting point for this daring and dramatically dynamic dive into queer identity that also seizes inspiration from the lives of the invaluable ensemble cast.

Performances start: September 11

Get Prince Faggot tickets now.

The Other Americans

Emmy winner John Leguizamo doubles up as author and star in his play about Nelson Castro, a Colombian American laundromat owner in Queens whose life is spinning out of control thanks to business issues and personal secrets that won’t stay hidden. Ruben Santiago‑Hudson directs the play’s New York premiere.

Performances start: September 11

Check back for information on The Other Americans tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Caroline

Chloë Grace Moretz stars in this world-premiere play as Maddie, who must turn to her long-estranged mother for help, risking exposing her daughter Caroline to the very pain that caused their estrangement. Tony Award winner David Cromer directs the work by Preston Max Allen.

Performances start: September 12

Get Caroline tickets now.

Weather Girl

The forecast calls for a climate-change apocalypse with a mix of comedy and self-realization in Brian Watkins’s solo show, arriving at Brooklyn's St. Ann's Warehouse following a 2024 run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Julia McDermott stars as Stacey, a California weather presenter whose personal life has turned into something of a wildfire.

Performances start: September 16

Get Weather Girl tickets now.

The Least Problematic Woman in the World

Written and performed by social media star Dylan Mulvaney, this solo memoir takes audiences on a raw, satirical, autobiographical journey through Mulvaney's rise to TikTok fame, gender transition under public scrutiny, and self‑discovery through a mix of music, comedy, and performance.

Performances start: September 20

Get The Least Problematic Woman in the World tickets now.

Weer

Comedian and actress Natalie Palamides sets her solo play at a timely moment: New Year's Eve 1999. Expect her clowning experience to come in handy as she plays both members of a couple in a fight: the left side of her body as the man, the right as the woman. The show, which Palamides also directs, reopens the renovated Cherry Lane Theatre in New York following an acclaimed 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival run.

Performances start: September 20

Check back for information on Weer tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Let’s Love!

Confusion and companionship are two main ingredients in this trio of one-act comedies by Ethan Coen. The production marks the Oscar-winning filmmaker's return the Atlantic Theater Company after his 2008 series of three playlets, Almost an Evening, was staged by Neil Pepe, the same director of Let’s Love!

Performances start: September 25

Get Let’s Love! tickets now.

Oh Happy Day!

Ain’t No Mo playwright and star Jordan E. Cooper boldly wades into Noah’s Ark territory in this new play set during a birthday BBQ in Laurel, Mississippi. In this take that explores themes of faith, forgiveness, and generational trauma, an estranged son (played by Cooper) returns home and is tasked by God to save his fractured family before a biblical flood. Gospel songs are by Grammy winner Donald Lawrence.

Performances start: October 2

Check back for information on Oh Happy Day! tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Messy White Gays

Brecken and Caden are about to have friends over for brunch, but they're out of limes. Oh, and they just murdered their throuple-mate and hid his body in a credenza. Chaos ensues in this new dark comedy play written by and starring Drew Droege (Titanique).

Performances start: October 6

Get Messy White Gays tickets now.

Kyoto

The December 1997 UN climate summit in Japan sets the scene for co-authors Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson’s political thriller. The story follows Don Pearlman (Steven Kunken), an American oil lobbyist and lawyer who loudly opposed emissions limits during the Kyoto negotiations. Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin (Stranger Things: The First Shadow) co-direct this hit play from London.

Performances start: October 8

Check back for information on Kyoto tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Art of Leaving

Three couples of different generations are all grappling with the same question: What should a marriage look like? But their wildly different answers clash in a mess of chaotic comedy. They also force the couples to reckon with, when they can't agree, whether to hold on or let go.

Performances start: October 10

Check back for information on Art of Leaving tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Did You Eat?

Sounds like a question your mom might ask, no? Zoë Kim makes a dramatic meal of her fraught relationship with her mother in this autobiographical solo show about Korean American identity, love, and self-acceptance. The show previously ran at the renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Performances start: October 14

Check back for information on Did You Eat? tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Queens

In an illegal basement apartment in Queens, immigrant women cross paths as a young Ukrainian searches for the mother who abandoned her. Anna Chlumsky, Marin Ireland, and Julia Lester are among the cast of Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok’s persistently topical drama, first seen off Broadway in 2018.

Performances start: October 14

Check back for information on Queens tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Archduke

Hadestown Tony Award nominee Patrick Page stars in Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph's Archduke, which puts a world-changing historical figure in a whole new light. Before he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and kickstarted World War I, Gavrilo Princip was a young man battling illness, searching for purpose, and chasing down opportunity — in the wrong places.

Performances start: October 23

Check back for information on Archduke tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Meet the Cartozians

If the title recalls a certain family and reality TV show, that’s intentional in Talene Monahan’s cross-generational play. The story follows two Armenian Americans: one fighting for legal recognition in the 1920s, the other seeking followers and a glam team a century later. In-demand director David Cromer is at the helm.

Performances start: October 29

Check back for information on Meet the Cartozians tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Practice

Nazareth Hassan’s comedy focuses on a charismatic, avant-garde auteur who gathers actors to live in an old Brooklyn church and create a play about themselves. Now what? Answers come as the play explores power and what it costs to belong.

Performances start: October 30

Check back for information on Practice tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

This World of Tomorrow

Co-written by Oscar winner Tom Hanks, who also stars, and James Glossman, the play follows scientist Bert Allenberry, who’s consumed by a longing for the past — and true love. Using time travel, he repeatedly returns to a pivotal day at the 1939 New York World’s Fair in Queens. The time-hopping tale feels cinematic, and we can’t wait to see how director Kenny Leon’s production, also starring Tony winner Kelli O'Hara, handles it.

Performances start: October 30

Check back for information on This World of Tomorrow tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Initiative

Else Went’s coming-of-age drama traces the intertwined lives of a group of teenagers in, as they call it, “Coastal Podunk, California,” from 2000 to 2004. First loves, sexuality, identity, ambition, and grief are all in the mix in this five-hour epic (six on Saturdays, with a dinner break). Emma Rosa Went, the author’s creative partner and spouse, directs.

Performances start: November 4

Check back for information on Initiative tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

A Christmas Carol

Bank on Charles Dickens’s chestnut about a cold-hearted miser to warm the holiday season. Adapted by Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and directed by Matthew Warchus (Matilda), this take on the tale of Scrooge’s hauntings and rehabilitation began in London and, in 2021, won five Tonys for its Broadway debut. Bless us everyone, indeed, as it returns off Broadway to PAC NYC.

Performances start: November 23

Check back for information on A Christmas Carol tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Anna Christie

Emmy Award winner Michelle Williams stars in the title role in Eugene O’Neill’s 1921 play about a former prostitute who reunites with her estranged father and falls for a strapping sailor. When her past is revealed, the stakes rise higher in this drama about second chances. Hamilton Tony winner (and Williams’s husband) Thomas Kail directs.

Performances start: November 25

Check back for information on Anna Christie tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Tartuffe

Matthew Broderick and David Cross lead Lucas Hnath’s take on Molière’s satirical comedy. A pious fraud seeks to deceive a wealthy man to gain power, wealth, and marry his daughter — but the family sees through Tartuffe’s hypocrisy. Also in director Sarah Benson’s cast: Bianca del Rio, Francis Jue, Amber Gray, and Ryan Haddad.

Performances start: TBD

Check back for information on Tartuffe tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire

Anne Washburn sets her new play in an off-the-grid Northern California intentional community, where the sudden death of a member has unexpected consequences. Steve Cosson, who collaborated with the playwright on Mr. Burns, A Post‑Electric Play, directs.

Performances start: TBD

Check back for information on The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Top image credit: Kyoto in London. (Photo by Manuel Harlan)