New Musicals by Betty Who, Laurence O’Keefe, Nell Benjamin and More Set for The Festival

Seven new musicals will be showcased during The Festival's Previews of New Musicals program taking place at 2:00pm on Saturday, August 15 on the Broadway Direct Main Stage. The program, which will be hosted by NY1’s Frank DiLella, will showcase an exclusive sneak peek of selections from the new works, all in various stages of development, performed by Festival performers or performers currently attached to the projects. The complete list of new musicals can be seen below.

Additionally, it was announced today that a limited number of lottery tickets for The Festival are now available through the Festival Digital Lottery powered by Broadway Direct. Fans can enter to win limited single day passes for $59 (Friday and Sunday) or $89 (Saturday) inclusive of all fees.

The lottery is now open and will close at 9am ET on Monday, August 3. Once the lottery closes, winners will be notified within minutes and will have three hours to claim and pay for tickets. Additional standby winners will be drawn at 12pm and 3pm ET on August 3.  The number of passes awarded by the lottery are subject to availability. Limit one entry per person per each festival day and limit of two passes per entry. To enter and for more specifics, please visit https://lottery.broadwaydirect.com/show/the-festival-kingston/.

As previously announced The Festival will take place at Hutton Brickyards Riverfront Hotel + Venue in Kingston, New York. The first-of-its-kind celebration of Broadway’s greatest hits and brightest stars will feature three days of non-stop musical theater performances and activations from August 14 – 16, 2026.

Autopilot

Book, Music and Lyrics by: Lexi Weakley, additions by Jeremy Jacobs
Directed by: Matt DiCarlo (Moulin Rouge, Associate Director)

Performers: Zal Owen (Harmony), Clair Rachel Howell (Wicked), Rachel Simone Webb (&Juliet), Laura Stracko (Suffs Tour), Jacob Jackson (Office! A Musical parody), Cecily Dowd, Christian McQueen (Anastasia Tour), Will Riddle

Autopilot isn’t just a phrase we use to describe going through the motions—it’s often a survival mechanism. Inspired by a moving true story, “Autopilot” follows Betty, whose inner turbulence is too much to navigate - until she finds the strength to confront her emotions and chart a new course. For more information, please visit www.autopilotmusical.com.

BLUDLINE: A Hip-Hop Odyssey

Book, Music and Lyrics by: Fermin Suero, Jr. & Pete White

Performers: Fermin Suero, Jr., Pete White (music director: Kinky Boots West End, Les Mis 25th Anniversary US & UK tour), Alaman Diadhiou (La Cage Aux Folles, City Center), Taylor Fagins, Ladibree, Safa

BLUDLINE: A Hip-Hop Odyssey reimagines Homer's epic through live Hip-Hop and R&B as Trojan War hero Odysseus battles monsters and temptations to reach home, while his son Telemachus must find his own strength in the shadow of a father who may never return.

BLUDLINE is the recipient of the prestigious 2026 Richard Rodgers Award, a Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Pipeline Arts Foundation Grant (Grand Prize) and will be featured in the 2026 NAMT festival this fall. For more information, please visit https://www.bludlineodyssey.com.

Huzzah!

Produced by: No Guarantees Productions
Book, Music and Lyrics by: Nell Benjamin (Mean Girls, Legally Blonde) and Laurence O’Keefe (Legally Blonde)
Directed by: Annie Tippe
Performers: Liisi LaFontaine (Moulin Rouge West End, Dream Girls West End), Cailen Fu (Mean Girls)

Huzzah! takes audiences to the Kingsbridge Midsummer Renaissance Faire, where two sisters are working to save the family business from financial ruin. When they gamble the payroll to hire the greatest swordsman on the whole Ren Faire circuit, will things go fair or foul at the Faire?

Love Somebody

Produced by: Halcyon Theatricals (Hal Luftig, Cathy Dantchik, and Kevin Connor)
Book by: Rehana Lew Mirza and Mike Lew
Music and Lyrics by: Betty Who
Performer: Betty Who

A musical that takes the competing, the wit and the vinegar of Mean Girls, the anxiety and betrayals of Dear Evan Hansen and the endless strategizing of Netflix’s “Sex Education:” who is getting it and who isn’t. 

Sam has written a musical, Ros didn’t like it and said so in the school newspaper.

Christian has fallen for Ros, but Ros is not interested in a relationship – and certainly not with a jock. Ros is struggling with her own identity and is not ready to take on another. Sam is forced to hunt for the key to unlock Ros’s heart and connect her with Christian. That search and the discovery of the riches that Ros’s heart holds forces Sam to confront her cynicism and discover that she herself has connected with Ros.  In this reversal of the Cyrano triangle, a young woman takes charge.

Regency Girls

Produced by: Robyn Goodman, Josh Fiedler, Nicole Hudson
Book by: Jennifer Crittenden and Gabrielle Allan
Music by: Curtis Moore
Lyrics by: Amanda Green (Hands on a Hardbody)
Directed by: Josh Rhodes (Spamalot)
Costumed By: David Reynoso

Performers: Isabelle McCalla (Schmigadoon, Water for Elephants, The Prom), Krystina Alabado (Mean Girls)

Elinor Benton is in a predicament: she’s pregnant, unmarried, and living in 19th-century England. What’s a young woman to do? Facing certain ruin, she gathers up her ride-or-dies and sets off on the ultimate road trip to find the one woman who might offer a chance to change her fate. This epic journey transforms each of them as they try to shape their own futures.

Regency Girls features a book by Emmy Award winners Jennifer Crittenden & Gabrielle Allan (“Veep,” “Seinfeld,” “Scrubs”), lyrics by two-time Tony and GRAMMY nominee Amanda Green (Mr. Saturday Night, Bring It On: The Musical), and music by three-time Emmy nominee Curtis Moore (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), with direction and choreography by Josh Rhodes (Spamalot!). For more information please visit https://regencygirlsmusical.com.

Someday Soon

Produced by: Amy Langer and David Schwartz - Lead, Tony Award winner Cody Lassen (Spring Awakening, Indecent) - Executive Producer
Book by: Emmy Award nominee Neena Beber (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Music and Lyrics by: Jeremy Lloyd-Styles and Jocelyn Mackenzie of the band Pearl and the Beard
Directed by: Tony Award nominee Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Ragtime, 2009 Revival)

Performers: Jocelyn Mackenzie, Jeremy Lloyd-Styles, Delaney Brown (Jagged Little Pill, 1st National), Lana Schwartz (Rutka), Ayden Weinstein (Rutka)

Someday Soon is a bold new indie-rock musical inspired by the unforgettable true diary of fourteen-year-old Rutka Laskier. Funny, romantic, rebellious, and unmistakably fourteen, Rutka wants what every teenager wants: friendship, first love, and the chance to dream about tomorrow. But living inside a Nazi-occupied ghetto, where the world is trying to erase her, even ordinary dreams become acts of courage. Through an unlikely friendship across the divide, Rutka risks everything on a secret plan to preserve her diary so that her story will live on and impact the future.

Featuring a deeply moving book by Neena Beber (Writer and Executive Producer of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) and a soaring indie-rock score by Jocelyn Mackenzie & Jeremy Lloyd-Styles of the band Pearl and the Beard, Someday Soon is a powerful contemporary theatrical experience that captures the urgency, humor, longing, resistance, and fierce hope of a teenage girl determined to make her life matter.  The musical premiered at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park under its original title, Rutka, continued its development at the Rhinebeck Writers' Retreat, and will debut as Someday Soon in Fall 2027, Directed by Tony Award nominee Marcia Milgrom Dodge. For more information please visit www.somedaysoonmusical.com.

Star Machine

Produced by: Vandalia Entertainment, Hollee Temple, Gideon Temple
Book by: Hollee Temple & John Temple
Music and Lyrics by: Hank Temple & Gideon Temple
Directed by: Hank Temple & Gideon Temple

Performers: Nadia Richardson, Avery Fahey, Sydney Quildon (The Book of Mormon), Jeffery Walker, Danny Feldman, Tristan Altobelli, Amy Nicole, Patrick Higgins (West Side Story, Spielberg 2021), Derek Bedell, Monique Churchill, Samantha Marchena

In this new comedy by The Temple Family, Star Machine follows Jaz and Nikki, ambitious sisters who land on an outrageous TV talent show. Infused with early 2000s pop energy, Star Machine is a reflection on ambition that poses universal questions about the creative life. How does an artist define success? And in the end, is the journey actually the destination? For more information, please visit https://starmachinemusical.com.

A limited amount of single day general admission tickets to The Festival are now available for purchase. For more information, please visit BroadwayFest.com.

Need more Broadway Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...