Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

So you want to catch a few Broadway shows? Time Out New York's theater critics offer the perfect short list of the most exciting plays, musicals and revivals on Broadway.

By David Cote

Ann

Photograph: Digital Legacy

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now:

Ann
Annie

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now:

Annie
The Book of Mormon

Photograph by Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now:

The Book of Mormon
Breakfast at Tiffany's

Photograph: Nathan Johnson

Breakfast at Tiffany's
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now:

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Chicago

Photograph: Jeremy Daniel

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now:

Chicago
Cinderella

Photograph: Carol Rosegg

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now:

Cinderella
Hands on a Hardbody

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now:

Hands on a Hardbody
Jersey Boys

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now:

Jersey Boys
Kinky Boots

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now:

Kinky Boots
The Lion King

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

The Lion King
Lucky Guy

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now:

Lucky Guy
Mamma Mia!

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

Mamma Mia!
Manilow on Broadway

Photograph: Bruce Glikas

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

Manilow on Broadway
Mary Poppins

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

Mary Poppins
The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Newsies

Photograph: Deen van Meer

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

Newsies
Nice Work if You Can Get It

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

Nice Work if You Can Get It
Once

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

Once
The Other Place

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

The Other Place
The Phantom of the Opera

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

The Phantom of the Opera
Rock of Ages

Photograph: Paul Kolnik

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

Rock of Ages
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Photograph: Jacob Cohl

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Photograph: Michael Brosilow

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Wicked

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now

Wicked

Ann

Photograph: Digital Legacy

Best Broadway shows: musicals, plays and revivals to see now:

Ann

Each year, about 13 million locals and tourists take in Broadway shows at the city’s 40 Broadway theaters. Not all those venues are located on Broadway or even in the theater district—roughly, 41st Street to 52nd Street and Sixth Ave to Eighth Ave. For example, Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater can be found a little north on 65th Street. But by and large, Broadway is home to some of the New York’s most historic, gorgeous houses. Many of these lavish jewel boxes were built around the turn of the last century, with some more contemporary ones springing up in the 1970s and ’80s.

Each Broadway season brings a new wave of megamusicals, plays and starry revivals. Some might boast gold from the Tony Awards. At the height of the fall and spring seasons, be sure to bookmark our Theater homepage and check regularly for reviews and ticket deals. Broadway tickets do not come cheap, of course. Nosebleed seats at Jersey Boys might go for $62, but premium seats at The Book of Mormon go as high as $477. The savvy consumer can find discount tickets, or you can purchase seats directly through Time Out New York. As far as getting there, check the venue information with each show below. Now hurry—the curtain’s about to rise!

Ann

Price band: 3/4

Lone Star State Governor Ann Richards (1933–2006) is the subject of Holland Taylor's solo tribute, which premiered in Galveston, Texas, two years ago. Exploring this charismatic, flamboyant political animal, Taylor goes in search of the woman behind the big hair and down-home twang.

Vivian Beaumont Theater (at Lincoln Center) 150 W 65th St, at Broadway
Tue Jun 18 - Sun Jun 30

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Annie

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4

James Lapine’s revival of this beloved rags-to-riches musical (starring Lilla Crawford as a spunky orphan, Katie Finneran as her slatternly foe and the capital Anthony Warlow as her billionaire rescuer) is grimmer in tone than the 1977 original. But darned if Annie doesn’t still recharge

The Assembled Parties

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4
Critics choice

Theater review by Adam Feldman. Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (Broadway). By Richard Greenberg. Dir. Lynne Meadow. With Jessica Hecht, Judith Light, Jeremy Shamos. 2hrs 30mins. One intermission. Richard Greenberg’s elegantly moving The Assembled Parties is somewhere between a slice of life and a slice

Samuel J. Friedman Theatre 261 W 47th St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave
Tue Jun 18 - Sun Jul 28

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The Book of Mormon

Rated as: 5/5
Price band: 3/4

If theater is your religion, and the Broadway musical your particular sect, it’s time to rejoice. This gleefully obscene and subversive satire is one of the funniest shows to grace the Great White Way since The Producers and Urinetown. Writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone of

Chicago

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4

This John Kander–Fred Ebb–Bob Fosse favorite—revived by director Walter Bobbie and choreographer Ann Reinking—tells the saga of chorus girl Roxie Hart, who murders her lover and, with the help of a huckster lawyer, becomes a vaudeville star.—David Cote

Cinderella

Rated as: 3/5

The 1957 made-for-TV Rodgers and Hammerstein musical finally makes it to the Broadway stage. Playwright Douglas Carter Beane gives the book a makeover, and the production stars Laura Osnes in the title role and Santino Fontana as her prince. Mark Brokaw directs the fairy-tale enchantment.

Broadway Theatre 1681 Broadway, at 53rd St
Tue Jun 18 - Tue Dec 31

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I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers

Rated as: 3/5
Price band: 3/4

Theater review by Adam Feldman. Booth Theatre (Broadway). By John Logan. Dir. Joe Mantello. With Bette Midler. 1hr 15mins. No intermission. “Kiddies, is there anything more sublime than hosting 12 of your nearest and dearest for an evening of good chat?” asks Bette Midler, pitching camp as the

Booth Theatre 222 W 45th St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave
Tue Jun 18 - Sun Jun 30

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Jersey Boys

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4

Broadway musical does right by the jukebox with this behind-the-music tale, presenting the Four Seasons’ energetic 1960s tunes (including “Walk Like a Man” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry”) as they were intended to be performed.

Kinky Boots

Price band: 3/4
Critics choice

Squeaky-voiced ’80s pop star Cyndi Lauper makes her Broadway debut—behind the scenes. She's composer-lyricist for this musical adaptation of the 2005 English movie about a man trying to save his father’s shoe factory, and the drag diva whose unshod feet fire his imagination. Lauper crafts

Al Hirschfeld Theatre 302 W 45th St, between Eighth and Ninth Aves
Tue Jun 18 - Sun Jan 5

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The Lion King

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4

Director-designer Julie Taymor surrounds the Disney movie’s mythic plot and Elton John–Tim Rice score with African rhythm and music. Through elegant puppetry, Taymor populates the stage with a menagerie of African beasts; her staging has expanded a simple cub into the pride of Broadway.

Lucky Guy

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 4/4
Critics choice

Theater review by David Cote. Broadhurst Theatre (see Broadway). By Nora Ephron. Dir. George C. Wolfe. With Tom Hanks. 2hrs. One intermission. I never knew Mike McAlary. I never read Mike McAlary. For me, in the ’90s, the only time I touched the grubby Daily News or New York Post was browsing a

Broadhurst Theatre 235 W 44th St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave
Tue Jun 18 - Wed Jul 3

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Macbeth

Rated as: 3/5
Price band: 3/4

Theater review by David Cote. Ethel Barrymore Theatre (see Broadway). By William Shakespeare. Dir. John Tiffany and Andrew Goldberg. With Alan Cumming. 1hr 45mins. No intermission. The scariest and one of the goriest of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Macbeth naturally lends itself to horror-movie tropes.

Ethel Barrymore Theatre 243 W 47th St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave
Tue Jun 18 - Sun Jul 14

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Mamma Mia!

Rated as: 3/5
Price band: 3/4

Mamma mia, here it goes again. And again and again. New York theater has seen a lot of jukebox musicals blip in and out of existence like mayflies in springtime, but Mamma Mia! is one Broadway show that endures. Chalk it up to the combination of ABBA’s perennially infectious songs—the sugar rush

Matilda

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4
Critics choice

Theater review by David Cote. Shubert Theatre (see Broadway). Book by Dennis Kelly. Music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. Dir. Matthew Warchus. With ensemble cast. 2hrs 35mins. One intermission. Adults are divided on the subject of children in the delectably sweet and nasty musical Matilda. Some, like

Shubert Theatre 225 W 44th St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave
Tue Jun 18 - Sun Dec 15

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Motown—The Musical

Rated as: 3/5
Price band: 3/4

Theater review by Adam Feldman. Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (Broadway). Book by Berry Gordy. Music and lyrics by various writers. Dir. Charles Randolph-Wright. With Brandon Victor Dixon, Valisia LeKae. 2hrs 40mins. One intermission. Motown—The Musical left my eyes tired. For half of the show, they were

Lunt-Fontanne Theatre 205 W 46th St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave
Tue Jun 18 - Mon Dec 30

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The Nance

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4
Critics choice

Theater review by David Cote. Lyceum Theatre (see Broadway). By Douglas Carter Beane. Dir. Jack O’Brien. With Nathan Lane. 2hrs 30mins. One intermission. Douglas Carter Beane has a million great jokes in him, but only a few good plays. The Nance, a heartfelt period piece about coded and censored

Lyceum Theatre 149 W 45th St, between Sixth and Seventh Aves
Tue Jun 18 - Sun Aug 11

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Newsies

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4

Since Disney opened Beauty and the Beast on Broadway in 1994, the mighty mouse has been a reliable source of long-running musicals…just not every time. Take Tarzan and The Little Mermaid (please). However, the family-friendly entertainment giant can still turn out hits. Witness the ongoing

Once

Rated as: 3/5
Price band: 3/4

Who would have guessed that a shoegazing indie flick set in Dublin would form the basis of a Broadway hit musical? But that’s what happened with the extraordinary Once, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for best new musical (and seven other Tonys). Originally released in 2005, Once is

The Phantom of the Opera

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic, bombastic musical goes on. Directed by Harold Prince, Phantom is lavish and engaging enough to draw tourists more than two decades into its run. Although the score often strikes a cheesy 1980s synth-pop note, the spectacle and romance remain more or less intact.

Pippin

Rated as: 5/5
Price band: 3/4
Critics choice

Theater review by Adam Feldman. Music Box Theatre (Broadway). Book by Roger O. Hirson. Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Dir. Diane Paulus. With Matthew James Thomas, Patina Miller, Rachel Bay Jones. 2hrs 30mins. One intermission. Ladies and gentlemen, step right up to the greatest show of the

Music Box Theatre 239 W 45th St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave
Tue Jun 18 - Sun Jan 5

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Rock of Ages

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4

Even if you never grew a mullet or banged your head to Quiet Riot, this insanely fun mixtape musical will hit your retro sweet spot. A parade of pop and metal ballads fits beautifully with Chris D’Arienzo’s self-mocking book. It’s Urinetown for the I Love the ’80s crowd.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Rated as: 3/5
Price band: 3/4

The woe-plagued, $75 million musical based on the Marvel superhero ends its long, strange journey (grisly injuries, Julie Taymor fired, 183 previews) as a moderately enjoyable show that is still a hotchpotch of rock, circus and romantic comedy. You care about Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson more,

The Trip to Bountiful

Rated as: 5/5
Price band: 3/4
Critics choice

Theater review by David Cote. Stephen Sondheim Theatre (see Broadway). By Horton Foote. Dir. Michael Wilson. With Cicely Tyson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Vanessa Williams. 2hrs 20mins. One intermission. Cicely Tyson may be small of frame and advanced in years, but she can still bust clear through a wall.

Stephen Sondheim Theatre 124 W 43rd St, between Sixth Ave and Broadway
Tue Jun 18 - Sun Sep 1

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Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4
Critics choice

Theater review by David Cote. John Golden Theatre (see Broadway). By Christopher Durang. Dir. Nicholas Martin. With David Hyde Pierce, Kristine Nielsen, Sigourney Weaver. 2hrs 30mins. One intermission. Maybe I was trapped in an Ivanov-like funk when I reviewed Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

John Golden Theatre 252 W 45th St, between Seventh and Eighth Aves
Tue Jun 18 - Sun Aug 25

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Wicked

Rated as: 4/5
Price band: 3/4

This musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz addresses surprisingly complex themes, such as standards of beauty, morality and, believe it or not, fighting fascism. Thanks to Winnie Holzman’s witty book and Stephen Schwartz’s pop-inflected score, Wicked soars. Currently, the cast