Buena Vista Social Club posted its Broadway closing notice, Operation Mincemeat and The Rocky Horror Show pushed their end dates well into 2027, and seven productions opened Off-Broadway in four nights, from Waiting for Lefty on Monday to 2:22 – A Ghost Story on Thursday. Here is the New York week from October 30 to November 6, with links to our full reports.
Openings
Thursday, November 5, brought three Off-Broadway openings in one night. Danny Robins’s 2:22 – A Ghost Story reached the Lucille Lortel Theatre after its West End and Los Angeles runs, with Jasmine Cephas Jones, Finn Jones, Anna Camp and Martin Marquez; the critics agree that the final twist works and that the sound design is loud enough to warrant earplugs, and disagree on whether any of it is actually frightening (2:22 reviews; the first production photos). Nick Payne’s The Unbelievers had its American premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club’s New York City Center – Stage I, where the reviewers are united on Lauren Ambrose and divided on the play built around her (The Unbelievers reviews). At The Public, Fiasco Theater’s revival of Susan Glaspell’s The Verge gives Miriam Silverman notices that credit her with the evening’s energy, though fewer critics are persuaded that the staging makes the case for the 1921 play (The Verge reviews).
The week started on Monday, November 2, with Waiting for Lefty at Classic Stage Company, the first production Steven Pasquale has directed; the folk songs by Yeller Tooth are admired across the board, and the split is over whether they open up Odets or bury him (Waiting for Lefty reviews; opening-night photos). Slanted Floors opened its Manhattan transfer at the Astor Place Theatre the same night (first photos from Astor Place). On Tuesday, Rope inaugurated The New Group’s new home at the Theater at St. Clement’s, with a cast the critics like in an adaptation whose suspense they argue about (Rope reviews), and Richard Nelson’s We’ll See opened at The Public on election night, which is also the night the play is set; longtime followers of the Apple family welcome the reunion, while newcomers find the stakes low (We’ll See reviews; production photos).
Also reviewed this week: New York City Center’s gala In the Heights, where nearly every notice goes to Ishmael Gonzalez’s Sonny (In the Heights reviews), and The Kick Inside, the thirteen-writer experiment at HERE Arts Center (The Kick Inside reviews). Our roundup for Irish Rep’s The Hairy Ape now holds thirteen reviews, the late ones from Exeunt NYC, amNewYork and Blogcritics all siding with Jon Beavers’s admirers (The Hairy Ape reviews). Opening-night pictures came from I Became We at the Atlantic (I Became We photos) and from Love Me at SoHo Playhouse, which plays its last performance on November 22 (Love Me photos).
Closings and extensions
Buena Vista Social Club will close at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on January 17, 2027, after 96 weeks and 767 performances. Read against the rest of the week’s news, the notice is less a retreat than a change of venue for the money: the musical is playing in four places at once, from the national tour to companies in Puerto Rico and Mexico City, the producers say the Broadway run is on schedule to recoup, and a West End production follows in 2027 (Buena Vista Social Club to close).
Two long runs went the other way. Operation Mincemeat has extended for the twelfth time and now plays the Golden Theatre through July 4, 2027, a long way from the 16-week booking it opened on (Operation Mincemeat extends), and The Rocky Horror Show has added thirteen weeks at Studio 54, its fourth extension, to run through May 30, 2027 (Rocky Horror extends). Maybe Happy Ending has opened booking at the Belasco through April 11, 2027, as it approaches two years on Broadway (the new Maybe Happy Ending block).
Off-Broadway, The Heart adds a week at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre, to December 13 (The Heart extends), and Slam Frank stays at the Orpheum through January 4, 2027, with late-night Saturday shows added (Slam Frank extends). Degenerates ends its Playwrights Horizons run on November 8 and comes back to the larger Judith O. Rubin Theater from December 22 to January 24 (the Degenerates encore), and Eddie Grey’s CIRC returns to The Tank for seven performances, December 1–7 (CIRC encore). For families, Violet’s Magic Glasses has four performances left at 92NY (the last dates).
Casting
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child brings in its eighth Broadway company at the Lyric on November 10: Tom Felton stays as Draco Malfoy through January 3, and Rupert Grint takes over as Ron Weasley from February 2 (the Year 8 company). Derek Klena becomes Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby at the Broadway Theatre on December 5, the night after Ryan McCartan’s last performance (Klena as Gatsby), and the first photos of Hannah Cruz as Audrey, opposite Ethan Slater, are out from Little Shop of Horrors at the Westside (Hannah Cruz first look).
Manhattan Theatre Club has a new director for David Hare’s Montauk, with Jonathan Kent taking over from Daniel Sullivan, who is retiring after 55 years; Laura Linney still leads the spring world premiere (Kent to direct Montauk). Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson bring the Scottish chamber musical A History of Paper to Stage 42 for 13 weeks from February 12, 2027, Henderson’s New York stage debut (A History of Paper). Norbert Leo Butz, Elizabeth Stanley and Beth Malone are among the company of a Grand Hotel workshop now in its second week (the Grand Hotel workshop), and new work got its readings: Clark Gregg and Dylan Baker in Michael O’Keefe’s The Fifth Horseman (The Fifth Horseman), The Sad Truth About Country Songs in Brooklyn on November 14 (the Brooklyn reading) and Perpetual Sunshine & the Ghost Girls with Kuhoo Verma on November 12 and 13 (the Perpetual Sunshine company).
Money, honors and recordings
Broadway grossed $29,572,284 across 33 productions in the week ending November 1, according to the Broadway League, 12.7 percent below the same week last season; two fewer shows were running than a year ago, when 35 took $33,880,998, which accounts for part of the gap (the week’s grosses). Outside the city, John Mellencamp’s Small Town was projected to take about $2.34 million at Ogunquit Playhouse by its November 1 closing, which the Playhouse says is the highest gross for a five-week production in its history (Small Town’s record). The Tony Awards have renewed with CBS through 2032, and the 80th ceremony is set for June 13, 2027 (the Tonys deal).
Sam Norman and Eliza Randall win the $75,000 Fred Ebb Award, presented on December 7 at 54 Below (the Fred Ebb Award), and Brooke Shields will be honored at the Broadway Dreams 20th-anniversary gala on December 14 (Shields to be honored). On the benefit calendar: The Outsiders company remixes its own score for Broadway Cares at the Laurie Beechman on November 11 (The Outsiders: Remix), PAC NYC’s family benefit is built around the December 13 matinee of A Christmas Carol (the PAC NYC benefit), and Your Arms Too Short to Box With God marks 50 years with two free concerts at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on December 10 (the anniversary concerts).
For the ticket-minded, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play began previews at the Broadhurst on November 4 with $49 lottery and rush seats (how to get them). On record, Cats: The Jellicle Ball released its first single while the full album waits for a new date (the Cats single), David Yazbek puts out a Dead Outlaw EP on November 16 (the Yazbek EP), Night Side Songs arrives on CD and vinyl on November 20 (Night Side Songs on vinyl), and Jordan Fisher leads the concept EP of Coal: A New American Musical, due December 11 (the Coal EP).
Around the country
American Conservatory Theater opens the world premiere of The Bad News Bears: A Musical in San Francisco on February 26, 2027, with Taran Killam and Bonnie Milligan (The Bad News Bears), and the Goodman has cast its Chicago premiere of John Proctor Is the Villain, January 23 to February 21 (the Chicago company). Annie is back at Goodspeed, where it began, for a 50th-anniversary run through December 27 (Annie at Goodspeed); La Jolla has extended GRIM to December 13 (first look at GRIM); and Boston’s Huntington stages Adia & Clora Snatch Joy, the last play of Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot cycle, from November 24 (the Huntington company).
The holiday season on the road: Kevin Cahoon leads Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show at The Old Globe from November 20 (Cahoon at the Globe), Asolo Rep’s Singin’ in the Rain begins previews in Sarasota on November 18 (Asolo first look), and George Street Playhouse plays 2 Pianos 4 Hands December 1–20 (2 Pianos 4 Hands). Arena Stage has completed its 2026/27 season with the East Coast premiere of Brokeback Mountain among the last three titles (the Arena season).
Coming up
On Broadway, Here There Are Blueberries opens at the Barrymore on November 9, after a preview week that brought historian Rebecca Erbelding onstage on the first night (the first preview) and nineteen Holocaust survivors to the house on Thursday (the survivors’ visit). Second Stage’s The Fantasticks opens at the Hayes on November 16 (first look; 8 things you might not know about The Fantasticks).
Off-Broadway, The Visitors opens at Second Stage on November 9, The King’s Critique at the Pershing Square Signature Center on November 12 (production photos) and Christina Anderson’s the ripple, the wave that carried me home at Playwrights Horizons on November 18 (first look). In Brooklyn, Emma Rice’s Tristan & Yseult is at St. Ann’s Warehouse through November 22 (Tristan & Yseult first look).
The holiday shows start arriving later in the month: New York City Ballet’s The Nutcracker from November 27 (NYCB’s season), A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House from November 24 (its 14th season), That Tap Dance Show at Theater555 from November 28 (That Tap Dance Show) and Axis Company’s Seven in One Blow from December 4 (its 25th year). Our holiday shows guide has the full list. Further downtown, the Gene Frankel Theatre Festival brings 29 premieres from November 30 (the festival), Theater for the New City has Garry Batson’s Ill Winds from November 28 (Ill Winds), and HERE Arts Center has filled in its 2026–27 season (the HERE season).
Planning ahead? See which shows are closing soon and which are opening soon on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and how this week’s ticket lotteries and rush work.
