First Down - 2022 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 7

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is November 17, 2025 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed over the weekend.

The new cast members for the 2026 UK tour of the critically acclaimed, smash hit, supernatural thriller 2:22 A GHOST STORY have been announced, coming to Wolverhampton Grand Theatre in 2026.

The iconic rock musical Hair is back in a bold new Brazilian production directed by Charles Möeller and Claudio Botelho. Opening at São Paulo’s BTG Pactual Hall, the show celebrates the spirit of the 1960s counterculture — peace, love, and rebellion — through powerful anthems like Aquarius and Let the Sunshine In. With a cast of 30 led by Rodrigo Simas and Eduardo Borelli, this vibrant staging fuses rock, poetry, and raw emotion to explore freedom, identity, and protest in a turbulent era. Nearly six decades after its debut, Hair still pulses with youthful defiance and idealism, inviting audiences to sing, reflect, and feel the rhythm of a revolution that never truly ended.

Board of Trustees announced today that Courtney Sale, Nancy L. Donahue Executive Artistic Director, will step down from her role in January 2026. Courtney accomplished significant projects in her nearly six years with the company.

Next week, 54 BELOW will present some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond, including David Yazbek, Mary Porter, Maggie Solimine and more.

Joining Emmy and Tony Award-winner Billy Crudup and Olivier Award-winner Denise Gough are Billy Howle, Rosa Salazar, Simon Chandler, James Doherty, Misha Handley, Joshua Hill, Jonah Russell, Rebecca Lee and Tim Steed.

GableStage Theatre Company will present the regional premiere of Left on Tenth by Delia Ephron, running November 21–December 21, 2025, at the newly named Wolfson Family Theatre in the historic Biltmore Hotel.

Catch the 99th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 27, featuring Broadway acts and a dazzling lineup of floats and balloons!

Social media’s role on Broadway has been increasing over the last couple of years. Shows like The Great Gatsby and Maybe Happy Ending have been able to ride social media virality to either help overcome early struggles, or outperform expectations based on critical and awards reception.

The creators of PERFECT WORLD discuss how the true story of a brilliant young novelist who vanished in 1939 became the inspiration for their new musical, playing Nov. 1-9 at the El Portal Theatre.

OFC Creations Theatre has been a fixture of the Rochester, NY performing arts scene since 2005. After opening the 260-seat OFC Creations Theatre Center in 2020, OFC has continued to expand with the largest educational theater program for young actors in New York State, opening an immersive theatrical restaurant and cabaret performance venue in 2022.

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that screen and UK stage star Luke Evans will lead the cast and make his Broadway debut in the role of  “Frank-N-Furter” in the upcoming production of Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

My advice would be to don’t stop working on that thing. Whatever that writing project is. Feel free to become frustrated and put it away for a few weeks but keep it ticking away. I believe it’s immeasurably important for emerging writers - it is these spaces that shape the play, where mistakes can happen and solutions be found, without the pressure of a deadline or a looming opening night or financial stress. (On that note, we open 31 October at The Hampstead Theatre, please come?!)

Center Theatre Group is offering a slate of artistic programming that helps identify and support the next generation of great plays and playwrights. Learn more!

Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced that Sylvia Neil, Chair of its Board of Directors, will step down in May 2026. She will be succeeded by Craig C. Martin.

Here's my conversation with playwright Ankita Raturi about the genesis for the play and how she developed it as a comedy rather than a drama about a mother and son cross-country college tour.

Over the next few months, theatre is heading to Hollywood. To celebrate the release of movies like Blue Moon, Hedda, and more, BroadwayWorld has put together a guide to five new titles that are sure to appeal to Broadway fans. 

In June 2016, my mom and I went to New York during Tony Awards weekend. On the day of the telecast, we both walked all the way to the Beacon Theatre (where the ceremony was taking place) while rehearsal was going on

What did our critic think of ROMANTIC VISIONS at Jacobs Music Center? Conductor Rafael Payare showed why in a performance driven with his usual gymnastic vigor.

We’re thrilled to have the chance to speak with composer Bob Kelly, one of the creators behind Confessions: A New Musical, which is set to have a private industry reading in New York City on October 20. The musical is based on Tom Rastrelli’s memoir Confessions of a Gay Priest and explores the powerful intersection of faith, sexuality, and identity through the eyes of a Catholic priest confronting his truth.

Lyric Opera of Chicago has revealed that Sylvia Neil, Chair of its Board of Directors, will step down in May 2026. Learn more about the leadership transitions here!

bergenPAC has revealed two new shows for this season. Broadway star Jessica Vosk on Saturday, March 14, 2026 at 8 p.m. and more. See how to purchase tickets.

Nominated for 13 Tony Awards, the 2022 musical adaptation SOME LIKE IT HOT is a surprisingly delightful, hilariously fun, and gleefully silly musical comedy that also has an endearingly open-minded new twist that re-contextualizes the movie's main raison d'être into something more empowering and thoughtful. The infectiously joyful show's marvelous touring production—directed and choreographed with rousing, kinetic energy by Casey Nicholaw direct from its Broadway origins—continues performances at OC's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA through October 19, 2025.

As a dramatic soprano, Alexandra LoBianco is accustomed to performing some of the most challenging roles in the repertoire, including Leonore in “Fidelio,” with the Vienna State Opera and North Carolina Opera, Brünnhilde in “Die Walküre,” Minnie in “La fanciulla del West,” with Des Moines Metro Opera, and the title roles in “Turandot,” with Des Moines Metro Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and Maryland Lyric Opera, and “Aida” at Seattle Opera, to name but a few.

The New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) in San Francisco has announced that longtime collaborator Ben Villegas Randle will become its next Artistic Director in January 2026.