By Elazar Abrahams
January is here, which means it’s time to speculate about the pop culture year ahead. What has the potential to be good? What’s going to bomb hard? Who will Chicago stunt cast as the next Roxie Hart? Only time will tell, but sometimes the speculation and waiting game can be just as fun as the actual releases. So without further ado, here are TV and City’s five most anticipated New York theater productions of 2024.
Teeth (begins February 21)
A Strange Loop wasn’t for everyone, but even if its themes of black queerness weren’t for you, the 2022 Best Musical winner can’t help but garner your admiration. Composer and lyricist Michael R. Jackson followed up Loop with last spring’s White Girl in Danger, a misunderstood masterpiece. The satirical sendup of soap opera tropes was maligned by critics, who failed to see Jackson’s genius and vision. Sure, the book was far too long and messy, trying to encompass so much in the typical two act structure, but New York’s stages need more original and unique voices on them, not some blockbuster film turned cash grab dance party. Jackson’s next project is assured to be very unique, and will definitely turn some heads in the process. Teeth, off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, is about an Evangelical Christian teen whose vagina bites. Yup.
Suffs (begins March 26)
I fell in love with Shaina Taub’s body of work immediately when I saw the Shakespeare musical As You Like It in Central Park in summer 2022. Since then I’ve devoured her albums, Joe’s Pub concerts, and her other musicals. Suffs, a musical about the women’s suffrage movement, might be her magnum opus. While it debuted off-Broadway to a mixed reception a few years ago, there’s been sufficient time to retool what didn’t work, and if the talented cast — including Hamilton’s Phillipa Soo and Come From Away’s Jenn Colella — stays attached, we could be looking at Suffs sweep at the Tonys this June. Taub is one of the strongest songwriters we have in theater right now, and mixed with the important subject matter of the fight for the right to vote, this musical could really be something special.
Cabaret (begins April 1)
I saw this immersive production, directed by Rebecca Frecknall, over in London, and it was simply transcendent. Cabaret is one of the best musicals ever, and this revival will totally transform the August Wilson Theatre into the Kit Kat Club, making audiences feel like they are actually stepping into 1930s Berlin. The bartenders, ushers, and other staff are all in character, and it makes the ‘Nazi twist’ of it all hit all the hard when you’ve been successfully disarmed by the charms of the party around you. Eddie Redmayne is set to play the Emcee, giving it his demented and unhinged all. Gayle Rankin, a relative unknown (although she was in GLOW!) is starring as the iconic Sally Bowles. All eyes will be on her to carry a large chunk of this heavy show.
Uncle Vanya (begins April 2)
Steve Carell starring in a Chekhov play. That’s all that really needs to be said to sell this to theater aficionados. But here are some more details. His co-stars include Alfred Molina, Allison Pill, and William Jackson Harper. The show is housed in Lincoln Center’s Beaumont Theater, arguably the best house in the city. And this new translation of the classic is being penned by Heidi Schreck, whose (nearly) one-woman show What the Constitution Means to Me cemented her as a playwright to watch. Buzz is building as you read this, make sure to grab your tickets early.
Mary Jane (begins April 2)
This play, from Manhattan Theatre Club, is just the perfect alignment of talent on stage and behind the curtain. I don’t know anything about the plot of Mary Jane, but I do know that it’s written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog, who last season gave us the sublime revival of A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain, and that it’s directed by Anne Kaufman, who helmed Sarah Silverman’s autobiographical comedy musical The Bedwetter, as well The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, an incredible revival of a heartbreaking Lorraine Hansberry script. Then in the lead role is Rachel McAdams making her Broadway debut. McAdams is one of the most underrated actresses in Hollywood, capable of the most hilarious roles (Mean Girls, Game Night) as well as the most intense and gritty (Disobedience, True Detective). I cannot wait to see her sink her teeth into live theater, especially with two of the top women in the industry. Catch me in the orchestra come April.
TV and City 