Plan a two-show day with these Broadway double features

Discover our curated pairings of plays and musicals with common themes, genres, and details — particularly those that go together in ways you might not think of.

Gillian Russo
Written byGillian Russo

If you're coming into the city for Broadway, you might look to pack in more than one show. But where do you start? Maybe you're planning to see a popular must-see like Wicked or Hamilton, and you want to check out something else while you're here, but you don't know what you might like.

Sure, there are the obvious pairings of hit musicals and plays: Hamilton and Six are both high-energy, modernized retellings of history. Moulin Rouge! The Musical and & Juliet are scored with chart-topping pop hits you've definitely sung karaoke to. Stranger Things: The First Shadow and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are special-effects-heavy stage installments of blockbuster screen series.

But to make your itinerary a little more unique, we've curated recommendations for less obvious double features. There are even a few triple features, if you want to plan, say, a two-show Saturday followed by a Sunday matinee. Even though each duo or trio has a common thread, the individual shows span genres, giving you a small yet rich taste Broadway's variety of offerings. And with our New York Theatre Sale running through October 8, with tickets up to 40% off more than 70 events, now's the perfect time to plan out all the shows on your must-see list.

Get New York Theatre Sale tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Summary

  • This roundup recommends 11 pairings or trios of plays and musicals with thematic connections
  • Tickets to these Broadway and Off-Broadway shows are on sale during the New York Theatre Sale through October 8
11.

The Mira Sorvino duo: Chicago and Romy & Michele: The Musical

10.

The creative genius duo: MJ The Musical and House of McQueen

9.

The strangers in a strange land duo: Little Bear Ridge Road and Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

8.

The "who cares if it’s technically for kids" trio: Aladdin, The Lion King, and Rob Lake with the Muppets

7.

The timeless and timely duo: Ragtime and Liberation

6.

The living dead trio: Death Becomes Her, Operation Mincemeat, and Beetlejuice

5.

The robots with feelings duo: Maybe Happy Ending and Marjorie Prime

4.

The old friends duo: Art and Waiting for Godot

3.

The "one myth, two ways" duo: Hadestown and Moulin Rouge! The Musical

2.

The scene-stealing monsters duo: Beetlejuice and Stranger Things: The First Shadow

1.

“The Winner Takes It All” duo: Mamma Mia! and Chess

1.

“The Winner Takes It All” duo: Mamma Mia! and Chess

ABBA's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, who wrote most of the disco-pop group's enduring hits, are most closely associated with Broadway thanks to the sunny rom-com Mamma Mia! — but they scored another musical, too. That would be Chess, a darker drama about people caught in a game of love, loyalty, and power amid an American-Soviet chess match. Both shows are having their first revivals this fall, making you, the audience, the winners who can take it all (in).

Get Mamma Mia! tickets now.

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

“The Winner Takes It All” duo: Mamma Mia! and Chess

2.

The scene-stealing monsters duo: Beetlejuice and Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Some performers get little stage time, but make a big impact. The same can be true for creatures. A massive striped sandworm makes a few memorable cameos in the musical adaptation of Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice — it's on its third Broadway run), while the spider-like Mind Flayer descends upon the stage in a climatic moment in Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a stage prequel to Netflix's sci-fi series. It's a scream.

Get Beetlejuice tickets now.

Get Stranger Things: The First Shadow tickets now.

The scene-stealing monsters duo: Beetlejuice and Stranger Things: The First Shadow

3.

The "one myth, two ways" duo: Hadestown and Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Hadestown is a retelling of the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, setting their love story to folk and jazz music. But did you know it's not the only show inspired by those fabled lovers? Moulin Rouge! The Musical's Christian and Satine are inspired by multiple pairs of star-crossed lovers, including Orpheus and Eurydice. And instead of a jazzy score, their tale is set to dozens of chart-topping pop hits, just like in Baz Luhrmann's hit film.

Get Hadestown tickets now.

Get Moulin Rouge! The Musical tickets now.

The "one myth, two ways" duo: Hadestown and Moulin Rouge! The Musical

4.

The old friends duo: Art and Waiting for Godot

Old friends can talk to each other about anything — or can they? In two celebrity-led Broadway plays, that depends. One is Waiting for Godot, starring real-life old friends Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter (otherwise known as Bill & Ted) as two men probing life's deep questions while waiting for a third friend to arrive. Prefer your conversations between friends more comical? See Yasmina Reza's Art, with James Corden, Bobby Cannavale, and Neil Patrick Harris as a trio of pals whose debate over the worth of a plain white painting gets hilariously heated.

Get Waiting for Godot tickets now.

Get Art tickets now.

The old friends duo: Art and Waiting for Godot

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09:00

Breakfast at Liberty Bagels

Regularly named one of the city’s best bagel shops, the unassuming Liberty Bagels is the perfect spot to get a classic NYC breakfast sandwich.

10:00

Macy’s Herald Square

One of the world’s largest stores, Macy’s is a sight to behold, especially when it’s decked out for the holidays.

5.

The robots with feelings duo: Maybe Happy Ending and Marjorie Prime

If you love movies like Wall-E and Big Hero 6, then these two futuristic Broadway shows will tug at your heartstrings (heart-wires?). The 2025 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Maybe Happy Ending follows two obsolete, humanoid robots who spark an unexpected romance, and Marjorie Prime sees an elderly woman turn to an AI version of her late husband to relive her memories with him.

Get Maybe Happy Ending tickets now.

Get Marjorie Prime tickets now.

The robots with feelings duo: Maybe Happy Ending and Marjorie Prime

6.

The living dead trio: Death Becomes Her, Operation Mincemeat, and Beetlejuice

An unusual trend emerged in the 2024-25 Broadway season: musical comedies involving corpses. There's Death Becomes Her, in which two frenemies take a potion that gives them eternal youth but stops their heartbeats, and Operation Mincemeat, about a daring WWII operation that hinged on disguising a dead body as an Allied soldier. Both are still alive on Broadway alongside Beetlejuice, another macabre comedy in which poltergeists and more undead beings reign supreme.

Get Death Becomes Her tickets now.

Get Operation Mincemeat tickets now.

Get Beetlejuice tickets now.

The living dead trio: Death Becomes Her, Operation Mincemeat, and Beetlejuice

7.

The timeless and timely duo: Ragtime and Liberation

For better or worse, some shows age like wine as their themes become more resonant in step with America's sociopolitical landscape. The 1998 musical Ragtime, back on Broadway following a 2024 Off-Broadway concert staging, is one such show, exploring class differences, racism, and social change in early-1900s New York — and suggesting the progress that still has yet to be made. Similarly, Bess Wohl's award-winning play Liberation, also straight from off Broadway, examines what progress has and hasn't been made since the 1970s feminist movement.

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Get Liberation tickets now.

The timeless and timely duo: Ragtime and Liberation

8.

The "who cares if it’s technically for kids" trio: Aladdin, The Lion King, and Rob Lake with the Muppets

You're never too old to feel like a child again, as evidenced by the enthusiastic online response from people finding out the Muppets would make their Broadway debut in 2025. They're starring alongside illusionist Rob Lake in a magic-and-comedy show running only for the holiday season — the perfect time to indulge in some childlike cheer. And of course, the Disney musicals Aladdin and The Lion King are timeless favorites both for kids and kids-at-heart who grew up with the animated films.

Get Aladdin tickets now.

Get The Lion King tickets now.

Get Rob Lake Magic with Special Guests The Muppets tickets now.

The "who cares if it’s technically for kids" trio: Aladdin, The Lion King, and Rob Lake with the Muppets

9.

The strangers in a strange land duo: Little Bear Ridge Road and Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Sometimes, an unexpected circumstance leads to an unlikely connection. That's the common thread in two wildly different new shows this fall. The Laurie Metcalf-led drama Little Bear Ridge Road sees an aunt and her estranged, gay nephew inch toward a newfound relationship as they sort out the aftermath of a family death, while Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) is a musical rom-com about two previously unacquainted wedding guests — a no-nonsense New Yorker and a cheery, visiting Brit — who bond en route to the big event.

Get Little Bear Ridge Road tickets tickets now.

Get Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) tickets now.

The strangers in a strange land duo: Little Bear Ridge Road and Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

10.

The creative genius duo: MJ The Musical and House of McQueen

It's one thing to relive an iconic artist's heyday and their greatest hits; it's another to dive into their mind and discover how they became an icon in the first place. MJ The Musical frames the King of Pop's songs in the context of his meticulous creative process, while the play House of McQueen shows how fashion designer Alexander McQueen built himself up from scrappy beginnings that informed his daring, provocative designs.

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Get House of McQueen tickets now.

The creative genius duo: MJ The Musical and House of McQueen

11.

The Mira Sorvino duo: Chicago and Romy & Michele: The Musical

Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino is making her Broadway debut as murderess Roxie Hart in Chicago this fall — at the same time a musical adaptation of her cult-favorite movie Romy & Michele's High School Reunion, about best friends who invent fake careers to impress their former classmates, makes its world premiere off Broadway. Maybe Sorvino will see it on her day off!

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Get Romy & Michele: The Musical tickets now.

The Mira Sorvino duo: Chicago and Romy & Michele: The Musical