Broadway

Sempre viva! The words, uttered ominously in the 1992 movie [*Death Becomes Her*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/34895-death-becomes-her-on-broadway), mean always alive. It’s fitting, as this hilarious cautionary tale about chasing eternal youth is [getting revitalized on Broadway](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatre-news/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-death-becomes-her-on-broadway) as a musical by Marco Pennette (book) and Julia Mattison and Noel Carey (music and...

All the 'Death Becomes Her' movie moments we hope to see on stage

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The 1992 film starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn has numerous iconic lines and terrifyingly funny, supernatural scenes fans will look out for in the musical.

[*Elf The Musical*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/8279-elf-the-musical-tickets) has named the complete cast for its limited holiday run on Broadway, with performances running from November 9 to January 4 only at the [Marquis Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/venues/marquis-theatre).

As previously announced, Tony Award nominee [Grey Henson](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/grey-henson) will play Buddy the Elf, and Oscar nominee and SAG Award winner [Sean...

'Elf The Musical' completes Broadway cast

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Find out who is joining the previously announced Tony Award nominee Grey Henson and Oscar nominee Sean Astin in the limited-run Christmas show in New York.

If you’re taking a magic carpet ride to NYC to see [*Aladdin*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/105-disneys-aladdin-tickets) on Broadway, why not go for a theme and make a whole day out of *Aladdin*? Fans of the classic 1992 movie, about a street urchin who falls for a strong-willed princess, might want to explore more Disney attractions, soar above the city like on a magic carpet ride, or discover Middle Eastern art and food like that of the fictional world of Agrabah.

Check out our...

Make a day out of 'Aladdin' in New York City

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Experience a whole new world not just at the beloved Disney musical, but across New York, with activities for *Aladdin* fans as thrilling as a magic carpet ride.

We don't sit on a throne of lies! Academy Award-nominated actor [Sean Astin](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/sean-astin) will make his Broadway debut in [*Elf The Musical*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/8279-elf-the-musical-tickets) this winter, performing in the limited holiday engagement at the Marquis Theatre from November 9 to January 4 only.

With a decades-long screen career under his belt, Astin is known for his roles as Mikey Walsh in *The Goonies*, the...

Sean Astin to make Broadway debut in 'Elf The Musical'

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The Oscar-nominated actor will join Grey Henson in the limited-run revival of the holiday musical, adapted from the Christmas film starring Will Ferrell.

Accio actors! [*Harry Potter and the Cursed Child*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/13709-harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-tickets) has named new Broadway casting, with multiple principal and ensemble cast members joining the play at the [Lyric Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/lyric-theatre) on November 12.

New to the *Harry Potter and the Cursed Child* cast are Matthew James Thomas as Harry Potter, Sarah Killough as Ginny Potter, Alex Serino as Albus Potter,...

'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' names new Broadway cast

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The stage sequel to J. K. Rowling's book and film series celebrated its sixth anniversary at Broadway's Lyric Theatre, and new actors will join in November.

Following an award-winning run in London's West End, *Succession*'s [Sarah Snook](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/sarah-snook) will take her one-woman production of [*The Picture of Dorian Gray*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/15368-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-on-broadway) to Broadway in March 2025 at a theatre and dates to be announced. The production will mark her Broadway debut.

Snook first performed *The Picture of Dorian Gray* in London's West End from February...

Sarah Snook to make Broadway debut in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' in 2025

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The *Succession* star won an Olivier Award in London's West End for starring in the one-person stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde's classic novel.

The circus is leaving town. [*Water for Elephants*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/34684-water-for-elephants-on-broadway) has set a Broadway closing date of December 8 at the [Imperial Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/imperial-theatre). At the time of closing, the show will have played 326 total performances.

*Water for Elephants* began as a 2006 bestselling novel by Sara Gruen, telling the story of a young man named Jacob Jankowski who runs away with the circus...

‘Water for Elephants’ to close on Broadway

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The musical adaptation of the bestselling 2006 novel by Sara Gruen opened at the Imperial Theatre and received eight Tony Award nominations in 2024.

The hit London musical *Operation Mincemeat* will transfer to Broadway this spring, beginning performances at the [Golden Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/venues/golden-theatre) on February 15 ahead of a March 20 opening.

Based on a true story, *Operation Mincemeat* is a farcical thriller musical set in 1943, when Allied forces successfully launched a covert operation involving a stolen corpse to mislead German forces during World War II.

The *Operation Mincemeat* musical premiered...

'Operation Mincemeat' to open on Broadway this spring

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The hit show, which won the 2024 Olivier Award for Best New Musical in London earlier this year, will begin performances at the Golden Theatre in February.

[*& Juliet*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/25598-and-juliet-tickets) on Broadway will welcome multiple new cast members, including social media star Charli D'Amelio, who performs in the hit musical at the [Stephen Sondheim Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/stephen-sondheim-theatre) from October 29 to January 19 only.

D'Amelio will play the ensemble role of Charmain, making her Broadway debut. She is best known as a dancer on social media, having become the most...

New '& Juliet' Broadway casting announced, including Charli D'Amelio

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The dancer and TikTok star will make her Broadway debut in the critically acclaimed pop musical, performing at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre for a limited time.

Whether you’re an avid Michael Jackson fan or a music lover, [*MJ The Musical*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/23379-mj-the-musical-tickets) on Broadway is for you. Set during rehearsals for his 1992 Dangerous World Tour, the musical unravels his singular career and complex creative process, all to the tune of his biggest hit songs.

But this award-winning show is far from the only NYC attraction for Jackson fans to check out. Why not make a whole day out of seeing MJ: the Musical?...

Make a day out of 'MJ The Musical' in New York City

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Explore music landmarks, learn smooth dance moves, and even visit the site of one of the King of Pop's music videos — check out our *MJ*-themed guide to the city.

The show is going on at [*Topdog/Underdog*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/25558-topdog-underdog-tickets) on Broadway, and you can see for yourself. New photos have been released of the 20th-anniversary production of Suzan-Lori Parks's Pulitzer-winning play ahead of its official opening on October 20.

Emmy Award winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Tony nominee Corey Hawkins star as two brothers locked in a power battle. Lincoln works as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator, Booth wants to be a three-card monte card shark, and neither truly respects the other's hustle. Forced to live together as adults due to poverty and bad luck, their tensions soon explode as they struggle to survive, whatever it takes.

See photos below of Abdul-Mateen and Hawkins in *Topdog/Underdog*, at the [Golden Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/golden-theatre) through January 15.

[Get *Topdog/Underdog* tickets now.](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/25558-topdog-underdog-tickets)

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*Photo credit: Marc J. Franklin*

See photos of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins in 'Topdog/Underdog' on Broadway

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Children under 4 are not permitted in the theatre.

Topdog/Underdog on Broadway - NYC

Genre: Play

Topdog/Underdog on Broadway

Topdog/Underdog on Broadway - Hero

Topdog/Underdog on Broadway - NYC Product Media

122 Topdog Underdog Broadway Production Photos 2022 HR Final Credit Marc J Franklin

TDUD Video

Topdog/Underdog

*Topdog/Underdog* is a play about Lincoln and Booth, named after the 16th president and his assassin. Their father chose these names as a joke, but Lincoln ends up becoming an Abraham Lincoln impersonator at an arcade.

Lincoln used to run the street con Three-card monte, and wannabe pro Booth pressures him to get back in the game. Lincoln refuses, and brotherly quibbling gives way to real resentment as they rehash old wounds.

Topdog/Underdog had its world premiere at The Public Theater in 2001, starring Jeffrey Wright as Lincoln and Don Cheadle as Booth. Parks won an Outer Critics Circle Award, and Wright and director George C. Wolfe won Obie Awards. *Topdog/Underdog* transferred to Broadway the next year, with rapper Mos Def as Booth.

The original 2002 Broadway production received widespread praise and two Tony Award nominations, including Best Play. Parks also became the first Black woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. 

Suzan-Lori Parks’s shows include *The America Play*, *Urban Zulu Mambo*, *Fucking A*, and the Pulitzer-nominated *Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3* and *In the Blood*. Her work is most often seen at The Public Theater, where she was the master writer chair.

*Topdog/Underdog* is the only one of Parks’s plays to appear on Broadway. She also wrote the book for the 2012 Broadway musical adaptation of *The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess*.

## What to Watch For

- The production marks the 20th anniversary of *Topdog/Underdog*, which had its Broadway premiere in 2002.
- *Topdog/Underdog* is a loose variation on the biblical legend of Cain and Abel, the human race's first brothers according to the Bible.
- The character of Lincoln is a variation on a character from Parks’s earlier work *The America Play*. That show features a Black gravedigger whose second job is as a Lincoln impersonator, and he charges a penny to let people reenact the president's assassination with him.
- A *Topdog/Underdog* companion album was released in 2002. In addition to original music from Mos Def and Jeffrey Wright, the album includes music by DMX, James Brown, Wu-Tang Clan, and more.
- Corey Hawkins has been on Broadway twice before, receiving a Tony nomination for *Six Degrees of Separation*. He more recently appeared in the big screen adaptations of *In the Heights* and *The Tragedy of Macbeth*. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is making his Broadway debut in *Topdog/Underdog*. He's best known for his Emmy-winning performance in HBO's *Watchmen*.
- Suzan-Lori Parks is busy this season. In addition to *Topdog/Underdog* on Broadway, her shows *Plays for a Plague Year* (a compilation of works she wrote during the pandemic) and *The Harder They Come* (a new musical) are going up off Broadway at The Public Theater.

Topdog/Underdog - NYC - TodayTix

Suzan-Lori Parks's Pulitzer-winning play&nbsp;Topdog/Underdog&nbsp;has its first Broadway revival in fall 2022, starring Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Get &nbsp;Topdog/Underdog&nbsp;tickets on New York Theatre Guide now.

## What is *Topdog/Underdog* about?

Topdog/Underdog&nbsp;is a play about two brothers, loosely based on the biblical brothers Cain and Abel. These two, Lincoln and Booth (so named by their father as a joke), had a harsh childhood and are still struggling with an equally harsh adulthood. Booth is out of work and uses his shoplifting skills to provide for himself and Grace, the woman he's trying to woo. He lives with Lincoln, who has a scamming skill of his own: he's a three-card Monte expert. However, he swore off that and now works as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator at an arcade, providing the household's only true income.Their cohabitation, after Lincoln's wife left him, was supposed to be temporary, but poverty forces the brothers to remain together. Throughout the course of the play, they clash as they discuss their own struggles with racism, romance, and work, until their relationship reaches a breaking point. As Parks herself has said of the play,&nbsp;Topdog/Underdog&nbsp;is about the effect of outside expectations of who a person can become, and "what it means to be family and, in the biggest sense, the family of man, what it means to be connected with somebody else."

## When does *Topdog/Underdog* take place?

Parks only lists the setting as "here" and the time as "now." The vague setting suggests that these brothers' struggle isn't unique to a specific place or time period, but that people still undergo their struggles today.

The premiere of&nbsp;Topdog/Underdog&nbsp;in New York took place off Broadway at <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/public-theater" target="_blank">The Public Theater</a> in 2001. Marvel Cinematic Universe star Don Cheadle and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/angels-in-america-a-gay-fantasia-on-national-themes" target="_blank">Angels in America</a>&nbsp;star Jeffrey Wright played the brothers, and George C. Wolfe directed. He also led the next two productions: at the <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theaters/ambassador-theatre" target="_blank">Ambassador Theatre</a> on Broadway in 2002 and at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2003; both these productions featured Wright and rapper Mos Def in Cheadle's place.Topdog/Underdog&nbsp;was met with critical and awards success; it made Parks the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002. (She was previously nominated for her play In the Blood, and had written 15 plays, won a MacArthur Genius Grant, and received a Guggenheim fellowship by the time she won for Topdog/Underdog.) The play also won&nbsp;an Outer Critics Circle Award for Playwriting and got Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations. Wright and Wolfe won Obie and&nbsp;Outer Critics Circle Awards for their work. In 2018, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/31/theater/best-25-plays.html" target="_blank">The New York Times named&nbsp;Topdog/Underdog&nbsp;the best American play</a> since Tony Kushner's 1993&nbsp;magnum opus,&nbsp;Angels in America.The two stars of&nbsp;Topdog/Underdog&nbsp;on Broadway in 2022 have lauded careers on stage and screen. Hawkins is known for his Tony-nominated stage role in&nbsp;Six Degrees of Separation,&nbsp;and for screen roles like&nbsp;Benny in In the Heights, Dr. Dre in&nbsp;Straight Outta Compton, and Heath in The Walking Dead.&nbsp;Abdul-Mateen won an Emmy Award for his role as Cal Abar on&nbsp;Watchmen, and he's also played acclaimed roles like&nbsp;Black Manta in&nbsp;Aquaman&nbsp;and Bobby Seale in&nbsp;The Trial of the Chicago 7.Get tickets to&nbsp;Topdog/Underdog&nbsp;on Broadway,&nbsp;on sale now.

Topdog/Underdog - NYC - New York Theatre Guide

Find dates and book tickets to see the show Topdog/Underdog on Broadway at Golden Theatre from New York Theatre Guide.

Topdog/Underdog on Broadway Tickets | Golden Theatre | New York Theatre Guide

See why The New York Times called Suzan-Lori Parks's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece *Topdog/Underdog* the best American play of the last 25 years. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins star as feuding brothers Lincoln and Booth in this story of survival and hustle. Get tickets to see whether they can overcome the odds in this theatrical power struggle.

Ages 13+. Children under 4 are not permitted in the theatre.

Stereophonic on Broadway - NYC [29539]

Stereophonic on Broadway

The Golden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located on 252 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan, New York. A captivating intimate space, it is part of the renowned Shubert Organization. The theatre with its freshly gleaming gold leaf interior, hence the name 'Golden', is a visual treat. Opened in1927, it initially operated with the name 'Theatre Masque', and steadily transformed into a hub of important plays. The theatre doesn't just stand as a symbol of glitz and glamour, its history is steeped in culture. It has held acclaimed performances of 'Angels in America' in 1993 and 'The Normal Heart' in 2011.

**How to get to the Golden Theatre**

The Golden Theatre is easily accessible. If commuting by subway, take the N/Q/R/W train to 42nd Street/Times Square station, the 1 train to 50th Street Station or the B/D/F/M train to 47-50th Streets/Rockefeller Center. Plenty of buses serve 45th street, where the theatre is located. Commute by car is also feasible, with ample parking facilities in and around Times Square. Do remember, New York streets get busy; leaving ample time for travel is always a good idea.


Golden Theatre - NY

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Golden Theatre

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Designed by Herbert J. Krapp for Irwin Chanin, the John Golden Theatre officially opened as the Theatre Masque on February 24, 1927 with the play *Puppets of Passion*. The Golden Theatre was purchased by impresario John Golden in 1937, who renamed the theatre after himself.

The building was used as a cinema in the late 1940s and 1950s before the Shubert Organization purchased and restored it to traditional theatre usage. The exterior of the Golden Theatre was used in the film adaptation of *A Chorus Line*.

## How to get to the Golden Theatre on Broadway

The Golden Theatre, on 45th Street between Eighth Avenue and Broadway, is closest to the 42nd Street - Port Authority subway stop on the A, C, or E line. The theatre is also accessible by bus, with the closest stops being 8th Ave/W 46th St. on the M20 and M104 lines; 7th Ave/W. 44th St. on the M104 line; and 8th Ave/W 43rd St. on the M20, M104, and M34A-SBS line.

Golden Theatre - New York Theatre Guide

The John Golden Theatre opened in 1927, designed by Herbert J. Krapp. It was acquired by John Golden in 1937 and later by the Shubert Organization. Located on 45th Street, it's accessible via subway and bus.

Golden Theatre - TodayTix

Golden Theatre Seating Plan - NYC - Stereophonic

The Golden Theatre, located on 252 West 45th Street in New York, is an iconic Broadway theatre renowned for its gold leaf interior and history of acclaimed performances.

See photos of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins in 'Topdog/Underdog' on Broadway

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