Party of One: Broadway’s Solo Show Takeover

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Broadway has a long history of one-person shows, including many that have been added to the canon in this century.  Seeing one actor powerfully create a whole world on stage can be an exceptional experience. Of course, one handers are hardly one-person projects; while there may only be one actor on stage, they are collaborating with an entire team of creatives, designers, and behind-the-scenes personnel to bring a show to life. 

In order to captivate the audience, an actor undertaking a one-person show must be truly at the top of their game—ready to transform and dedicate an extreme amount of energy to carrying an entire performance on their shoulders. The talent and dedication required from an actor starring in a one-person show is often moving in and of itself. 

Right now, there are several notable one-person shows playing both on and off-Broadway, including Daniel Radcliffe in the Broadway premiere of the new play Every Brilliant Thing, Sean Hayes in the thriller The Unknown, Wallace Shawn re-creating his own earlier work in The Fever, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson in an immersive revival of Tru. (A decade ago, Ferguson brought a different one-man show to Broadway; Fully Committed by Becky Mode was a non-stop roller coaster ride about an actor whose survival job is answering the phone at a popular restaurant.)

Like The Fever, Shawn’s examination of class and privilege based on a personal experience of falling ill in a foreign country, a number of significant one-person plays are either autobiographical or performed by their own playwright—or both. About 30 one handers have premiered on Broadway since the 21st century began, and several fall into this category. 

Beloved actor Billy Crystal regaled Broadway audiences with tales from his childhood in his one-man show 700 Sundays for several months from 2004-2005 and then again from 2013-2014. Based on his own memoir focused on the limited time Crystal spent with his father, who died when he was a teenager, 700 Sundays was a nostalgic and moving sell-out production that was filmed for HBO—turning a real-life experience into a book that became a play that became a screen production. 

Another autobiographical take on youth came from Chazz Palminteri, whose one-man A Bronx Tale debuted on Broadway to acclaim in 2007. This is not to be confused with the musical adaptation of the same title which opened on the same block, 48th Street, nine years later. Palminteri’s tale of getting mixed up in organized crime as a kid first premiered in New York off-Broadway in its one-man play version, was adapted into a 1993 film featuring Palminteri playing a major role other than himself, and eventually became a Broadway musical with book by Palminteri, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater.   

Currently back on Broadway in the full-cast play Giant, John Lithgow spent 2018 on Broadway in his Stories By Heart, which he wrote and starred in. Another memoir-based piece, Stories by Heart shared with audiences tales from Lithgow’s childhood, this time with influential short stories by other writers mixed in. As in both 700 Sundays and A Bronx Tale, the central character’s father was a main emotional focus of the show.

One of the reigning kings of the art form of the one-person show, John Leguizamo came to Broadway in 2011 with Ghetto Klown and in 2017 with Latin History For Morons. The two extraordinary new pieces continued Leguiamo’s legacy of opening audience members’ eyes to elements of Latin American culture and history. The actor and writer’s career has included many Broadway and off-Broadway triumphs in the one hander genre, from his Broadway debut with Freak (1998) to the popular Sexaholix (2001).  

Another master of the art form, with two one-man triumphs on Broadway in the 21st century is Mike Birbiglia. Birbiglia’s shows, which skate between hysterically funny and deeply serious, include Broadway’s The New One (2018), a take on parenthood and the journey to get there and The Old Man & The Pool (2022), about health and aging. 

Like Leguizamo and Birbiglia, Colin Quinn is an undisputed expert in the art of the one-man show, having written and performed seven of them about topics encompassing world history, race relations, and modern politics. Quinn’s Long Story Short hit Broadway in 2010 and was filmed for television. While a number of autobiographical one-person shows wind up not being performed much other than by their original artist, Long Story Short has gone on to be performed by other actors in other languages all over the world. 

While autobiographical one-person plays on Broadway have historically been an art form dominated by men, the iconic Carrie Fisher defied this trend to debut her Wishful Drinking in 2009. Based on Fisher’s memoir, Wishful Drinking thrilled audiences as the original Princess Leia took center stage to recreate tales from her childhood as the offspring of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, her time catapulting to stardom with Star Wars, and her journey with mental health.  

Also memoir-based was the 2022 Walking With Ghosts, performed by Gabriel Byrne and adapted from his book about growing up working class in Ireland and making it in show business. As with many of these true one-person shows, Byrne transformed into real-life people from his past in order to recreate stories that happened to him and share them with Broadway audiences. 

Lackawanna Blues (2021) was Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s depiction of his vibrant community during a childhood in western New York in the 1950s and 1960s. The play with music first premiered off-Broadway, like many of the other entries on this list, before becoming one of the first Broadway productions to reopen after the covid pandemic shutdown. One-person plays gained a new distinction during the covid reopening era; they were more frequently produced all over the world since infection and subsequent canceled performances were less likely with one performer than with a group on stage.

Part of a new generation of one-person play makers, Alex Edelman stunned audiences with his sold out run of Just For Us on Broadway in 2023. An incisive exploration of anti-Semitism based on Edelman’s own experiences, Just For Us is among the one handers that have been awarded a Special Tony Award.

The main trend for one-person shows other than autobiography is the transformation into a prominent real-life human from recent history. Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s current foray into the one hander world features him as writer and personality Truman Capote in a revival of Tru, which originally starred Robert Morse when it landed on Broadway in 1989. As far as Broadway ventures of this century, we have seen stars metamorphose into legendary composers like George Gershwin, political leaders like Golda Meir, and influential writers like Mark Twain. 

In 2013, Broadway audiences delighted in the opportunity to see Bette Midler take the stage as the eccentric and successful Hollywood agent, Sue Mengers in I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers. The play by John Logan dramatizes Mengers’ relationships with her clients including Barbra Streisand while also delivering Hollywood history with humor and import. Midler took on the role, her first time doing a run of a play on Broadway and her big return to the Great White Way after 33 years.

Also a show business tale, George Gershwin Alone (2001) starred Hershey Felder as the genius composer who died tragically young but not before penning some of the greatest music of the Great American Songbook. Felder also wrote the piece which was a play but of course featured songs written by George and Ira Gershwin. 

Other than show business, the most common topic for one handers based on historic figures was politics. 2003’s Golda’s Balcony found Tovah Feldshuh playing almost 500 performances as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. The play by William Gibson chronicled much of Meir’s life with a focus on her leadership during a pending nuclear threat. 

Laurence Fishburne’s portrayal of Judge Thurgood Marshall inspired Broadway audiences in 2008. The aptly titled Thurgood was written by George Stevens Jr. and shared the life story of the Supreme Court’s first Black justice. The play also dramatized Marshall’s work with Brown v. Board of Education. 

In a striking moment in Broadway history, Hal Holbrook returned to play the titular character in Mark Twain Tonight! in 2005, having first brought the piece to Broadway in 1966! Audiences had the opportunity to witness Holbrook portraying the literary master after he first originated the role 39 years earlier. Holbrook had also played a return engagement in 1977, and in addition to writing and starring in the piece, he directed it as well. 

Also chronicling the life and work of a literary giant was The Mystery of Charles Dickens. This 2002 one-hander starring Simon Callow was written by Peter Ackroyd and based on character Dickens originally created. The powerful play dramatizes the intersection between Dickens’ life and the lives of his characters, from Scrooge to Fagin. Scrooge also came to life in a one-person Broadway engagement of A Christmas Carol. In 2001, Patrick Stewart performed all of the roles in this iconic Dickens tale, which Stewart adapted himself for the stage. 

Several of Broadway’s newest one handers chronicle important moments in history, with intersections of stories about politics, identity, race, religion, social justice, and health. Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All sadly closed on opening night in 2003; the Martin Tahse-penned play was based on the novel by Allan Gurganus about Civil War history and the memories of those of the South. The 2003 Pulitzer and Tony Award-winner I Am My Own Wife is a masterwork by Doug Wright about a transgender woman who survived Nazi Germany. Primo (2005) brought to the stage the work of Primo Levi, a chemist and memoirist who survived the Holocaust and wrote about it. The 2006 tour-de-force Bridge & Tunnel was written and performed by Sarah Jones who played a slew of diverse characters of different races and backgrounds who all make up the New York City community. The 2013 run of The Testament of Mary brought to life the story of Mary, mother of Jesus, giving her own interpretation of the crucifixion and its ramifications. My Name is Lucy Barton (2020), based on the Elizabeth Strout novel and adapted for the stage by Rona Munro, depicts a woman experiencing a health crisis and coming to terms with her traumatic past. 

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