The 10 Best Broadway Shows to See in 2025

It’s tempting to hunker down during the frigid days of January and February, but this season things are pretty hot on Broadway. 

While George Clooney doesn’t arrive until spring, winter theater audiences can see Denzel Washington on stage, taking on the Shakespeare tragedy “Othello” along with Jake Gyllenhaal. Idina Menzel returns to the stage in the new musical “Redwood” and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jimmy Fallon join a rotating cast in a show of vignettes called “A Comedy About Love.”

Finally,  fans of the HBO hit Succession will find two of the show’s stars on Broadway: Sarah Snook (Shiv Roy) does all the characters in a new adaptation of  “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” while Kieran Culkin (Roman Roy) appears in the latest revival of “Glengarry Glen Ross.” I’d brave the cold for any of the shows below, which are opening now through March.

“All In”

Hudson Theatre, 141 W. 44th St.; allinbroadway.com

A rotating cast of some major names stars in this limited-run offbeat production, subtitled “A Comedy About Love.” Lin-Manuel Miranda appears Jan. 14 through Feb. 16, and Jimmy Fallon from Jan. 28 to Feb. 2. Others who will pop in and out before the show ends on Feb. 16 — portraying everything from pirates to puppies — include Chloe Fineman, Annaleigh Ashford and Hank Azaria. Abigail and Shaun Bengson will sing live every night, performing songs from the album “Magnetic Fields.”

 “English”

Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St.; roundabouttheatre.org

Playwright Sanaz Toossi honors her Iranian heritage with this comedy set in a classroom near Tehran where four adult students, hoping for a better life, prepare for their proficiency exams in English. The play, which won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize, focuses on the intricacies of language and miscommunication. Reviewing the play when it ran at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre last February, the Los Angeles Times wrote that it is “wrought with emotional delicacy” as it “examines what is lost and what is gained in the acquisition of a foreign language.”

 “Redwood”

Nederlander Theatre, 208 W. 41st St.; redwoodmusical.com

The world has seen a lot of Idina Menzel in recent months, what with all the excitement over the movie “Wicked.” The actress, who won a Tony for the musical in 2004, hasn’t been on Broadway since “If/Then” in 2014. Now she’s back in a new original musical that she conceived along with director Tina Landau. It’s about a successful businesswoman who, after a life-altering event, leaves everything behind and goes searching for herself in a forest of majestic redwoods.

“Ghosts”

Mitzi Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center, 165 W. 65th St.; lct.org

Irish playwright Mark O’Rowe takes on the 1881 Henrik Ibsen classic, described as a “moral thriller that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go.” The play, in its original version, takes on hot-button topics like venereal disease, incest, and euthanasia, but where O’Rowe goes with his adaptation remains to be seen.

 “Operation Mincemeat”

John Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th St.; operationbroadway.com

Fresh from London, this is an outrageously funny story of an unlikely spy mission that just maybe won World War II. Based loosely on real events, the screwball farce tells the story of a group of British intelligence officers who devise a plan to distract the Nazis from invading Sicily. Most of the hijinks center around a corpse disguised as a British pilot and, yes, there was a 2021 movie about pretty much the same thing and by the same name. The show won best new musical at the Olivier Awards (Britain’s Tonys).

“Buena Vista Social Club”

Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 W. 45th St.; buenavistamusical.com

The music of Havana comes to Broadway in this musical that’s based on the Grammy-winning album. The show tells the story of a group of young musicians who started out in the 1950s. Torn apart by the revolution, they reunite 40 years later to make one of the greatest albums of all time. You’re going to want to get up and dance.

 “Othello”

Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 W. 47th St.; othellobway.com

Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal take on one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. Washington, who returns to Broadway for the first time since the revival of “The Iceman Cometh” in 2018, plays the doomed Moor, while Gyllenhaal, last seen on the New York stage in 2019 (“Sea Wall/A Life”), plays the villainous officer who attempts to convince Othello of his new wife’s infidelity.

“Purpose”

Helen Hayes Theater, 240 W. 44th St.; purposeonbroadway.com

Phylicia Rashad (who played Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show) makes her Broadway directing debut with this new play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (“Appropriate”). The work, commissioned by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, where it ran last year, is about an influential Black family, important in politics and civil rights. The Chicago Tribune called the play “a brilliant moralistic satire.”  

 “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th St.; doriangrayplay.com

There are 26 roles in this adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic Faustian novel about a man who sells his soul to remain young. Sarah Snook plays all of them. Reviewing her performance in London (she won an Olivier), Variety noted that the actress made use of her deliciously plotting Succession character Shiv’s “gleaming sense of entitled ambition.” 

“Glengarry Glen Ross”

Palace Theatre, 160 W. 47th St.; glengarryonbroadway.com

David Mamet’s Pulitzer-winning play about a bunch of ruthless, cutthroat real estate agents gets its fourth Broadway production this winter.  Another Succession star, Kieran Culkin, will share the stage with Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad), making his Broadway debut. Director Patrick Marber told Playbill that the original production in 1983 “blew my young soul away,” adding that “it was one of the reasons I wanted to work in theater.”

Broadway Revivals

City Center is at 131 W. 55th St.; NYCityCenter.org

One of New York’s great theatrical treasures is the Encores! series at City Center. Since 1994, it has presented short runs of shows not revived often — sometimes with great success. The Encores! 1996 presentation of “Chicago” transferred to Broadway, where the show is still running. The series opens this season with “Urinetown” (Feb. 5-16), a musical satire built around the idea that the public is being forced pay to use restrooms. Jordan Fisher, Taran Killam (Saturday Night Live), and Keala Settle star. Next up is “Love Life” (March 26-30) and “Wonderful Town” (April 30-May 11).