Below is a calendar of New York theater opening* in November, including Tom Hanks starring in a play he co-wrote, Kristin Chenoweth in one of two musicals by Stephen Schwartz, Patrick Page and Kara Young in two different plays by Rajiv Joseph, Aaron Tveit and Lea Michele in a revival of a musical by half of ABBA, and the Muppets at long last making their Broadway debut, albeit only in a supporting role. (They’re not the only puppets this month!)
Two of the six shows on Broadway in November are romantic comedies (although one of them is for just one night.)
Martyna Majok See November 5
November 9
November 11
November 13
November 16
November 18
November 12 and 20
November 20
November 22
The first week of November includes Election Day, but the entire month is replete with political dramas of all stripes, including an account of international climate change politics starring Stephen Kunken (November 3), a satire of the Obama years (November 6), a reimagining of Sophocles Oedipus as a modern political thriller starring Mark Strong and Lesley Manville (November 13), and the setting of the power struggles in Shakespeare’s Richard II in Manhattan, starring Michael Urie (November 10.) Less overtly (but just as potently) political: a revival of Martyna Majok’s play about a group of immigrant women in an illegal basement in Queens (November 5), Nazareth Hassan’s look at authoritarian power in a theater company (November 20), and the New York debut of Xhloe and Natasha’s paranoid 1950s housewife absurdist clown play (November 22)
The calendar below is organized chronologically by opening date*, or first performance, but we must consider the dates subject to change, thanks to the continuing vagaries of COVID-19, and the normal challenges and serendipity of live theater.
Each title below is linked to a relevant website.
Color key: Broadway: Red 🟥. Off Broadway: Blue 🟦. Off Off Broadway: Green 🟩.
Digital or Hybrid Theater: Yellow 🟨 Theater festival: Orange 🟧. Immersive/site-specific: Silver ⬜️ . Concert/cabaret 🎶 Puppetry: Brown 🟫 Opera: Purple🟪 Outdoors:🌲Free (or “choose what you pay”) 🆓
November 2
🟦Reunions (New York City Center Stage II)
A musical adaptation of two one-act plays. The first “The Twelve Pound Look” based on the play by J.M. Barrie takes place in Downton Abbey-era London, where Harry Sims is about to be knighted when the past catches up with him. In “A Sunny Morning” based on the play by Spain’s prolific Quintero Brothers, the action takes place in a park in Madrid where the hope of love springs eternal, even among septuagenarians.
Through December 14
🟦Messy White Gays (The Duke)
In this gay comedy by Drew Droege, it’s Sunday morning in Hell’s Kitchen. Brecken and Caden have just murdered their boyfriend and stuffed his body into a Jonathan Adler credenza. Unfortunately, they’ve also invited friends over for brunch.
Through Jan 11
November 3
🟦Kyoto (Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater)
The play dramatizes the 1997 conference in Japan that led to the Kyoto Protocol, the first unanimous agreement by the nations of the world on climate change, despite obstacles thrown up by American oil lobbyist and master strategist Don Pearlman, portrayed by Stephen Kunken in a reprise of his acclaimed performance in England.
Through November 30
November 5
🟦Queens (MTC at New York City Center Stage I)
A reimagining of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Martyna Majok’s play that’s set in an illegal basement apartment in Queens, where multiple generations of immigrant women fight to launch a new life. When a young Ukrainian woman comes searching for the mother who abandoned her years ago, she forces a reckoning with the impossible choices the women made to survive
Through November 30
November 6
🟦44 The Musical (Daryl Roth Theater)
A satire about the halcyon days of the Obama administration as seen through the eyes of his discombobulated veep, Joe Biden, with music, lyrics and book by a former Obama campaign staffer Eli Bauman (“NBC’s Maya & Marty”).
Oct 14 – Dec 7
🟩 Mikey Maus in Fantasmich! (The Brick)
In this play by Hannah Kallenbach, an unruly Mikey Maus goes on a bender at Epcot and (accidentally) desecrates the Magic Kingdom of Heaven. This dismal fall from grace lands Mikey Maus in a Times Square purgatory, hustling tourists for cash – and trying to make a comeback.
Nov 6 – 22
November 9
🟥The Queen of Versailles (St. James Theater)
Stephen Schwartz’s musical, which reunites him with his Wicked star Kristen Chenoweth, is based on the 2012 documentary about socialite Jacqueline Siegel, whose plan to build a mansion in Florida to rival the 17thcentury French palace went awry.
🟦The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire (Vineyard)
In this play written by Anne Washburn (“Mr Burns A Post-Electric Play”), an intentional community somewhere in foggy Northern California tries to live off the land and keep an unsteady world at bay – until one of their own dies unexpectedly.
through December 5
November 10
🟦Richard II (Red Bull at Astor Place Theater)
Michael Urie stars in this reimagining by Craig Baldwin of Shakespeare’s history play set in 1980s Manhattan.
Oct 29 – November 30
🟥Moonstruck (Music Box Theater)
A starry one-night only benefit reading of John Patrick Shanley’s Oscar-winning screenplay
November 11
🟥Rob Lake Magic (Broadhurst)
Illusionist Rob Lake enlists Kermit the Frog and other Muppets
Through January 18
🟦The Baker’s Wife (Classic Stage Company)
This 1976 musical with a score by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) and a book by Joseph Stein (Fiddler on the Roof) never made it to Broadway. Set in a small French village, the story follows a baker and his young wife whose marriage—and the harmony of the town—is tested when temptation leads to unexpected romantic entanglements. It is based on the film La Femme du Boulanger by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono.
Through December 14
November 12
🟦Archduke (Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theater)
Rajiv Joseph’s play casts Gavrilo Princip and his fellow revolutionaries in a new light. Best remembered as the man who started World War I by assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Princip is pictured here as part of a ragtag group of teenage dreamers. Featuring Patrick Page and Kristine Nielsen.
Through December 21
November 13
🟥Oedipus (Roundabout’s Studio 54)
Mark Strong and Lesley Manville star in Robert Icke’s new modern interpretation of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex as a political thriller. Itcomes to Broadway after a run in London’s West End.
🟦The Seat of our Pants (Public Theater)
Ethan Lipton’s musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Skin of Our Teeth tells the story of the Antrobus family, who have been alive for 5,000 years but live in the same existential dread as the rest of us. Directed by Leigh Silverman
Through November 30
⬜️Dirty Books (Baited Breath)
An immersive look at censorship and book banning. Written and directed by Mara Lieberman (one of Time Out’s “50 Amazing People Changing the World”), previews begin November 7 as the inaugural production at the new Bated Breath Theater near Union Square in Manhattan.
🟫Jump Start (La MaMa)
Puppet artists get a chance to showcase their works in progress in the La MaMa Puppet Series. Featuring works-in-progress from Deniz Khateri, Leah Ogawa, Sarah Finn, Amanda Card, William PK Carter.
November 13 – 16
November 16
🟥Chess (Imperial Theater)
Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele, and Nicholas Christopher star in this revival of the musical composed by ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, last on Broadway in 1988: It’s America versus Russia at the World Chess Championship, where the espionage and romance are as complicated and exhilarating as the game itself. For the two players and the woman torn between them, everything—personal, professional, and political—is at risk
November 17
🟦The Twenty-Fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (New World Stages)
A 20th anniversary revival of this Tony winning musical by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin
November 7 – February 15
November 18
🟦This World of Tomorrow (The Shed)
Tom Hanks stars in a play that Hanks co-wrote, directed by Kenny Leo, about a disillusioned scientist at the end of the twenty-first century who embarks on a mission to return to one special day at the 1939 New York World’s Fair in Queens, rewinding time over and over again in pursuit of something no machine can replicate: true love. The sizable cast includes Kelli O’Hara, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Jay O. Sanders
Through December 21
🟦Meet the Cartozians (Second Stage at Signature)
In this play by Talene Monahan directed by David Cromer, an Armenian Americans fights for legal recognition in the 1920s,while a century later, his descendant fights for followers and a competent glam team.
Through December 7
🟦Practice (Playwrights Horizons)
Nazareth Hassan’s painfully hyperreal comedy, which illustrates the gradual seduction of power, tells the story of an avant-garde auteur’s performance piece, assembling a company of actors to live together in an old Brooklyn church to make a play about themselves.
Through December 7
November 20
🟥 Two Strangers Carry A Cake Across New York (Longacre Theater)
Sam Tutty and Christiani star as 1. Pitt Dougal, an impossibly upbeat Brit who has just landed in New York City for the first time to attend the wedding of the father he’s never met, and 2. Robin, the sister of the bride and a no-nonsense New Yorker with a lot of errands to run—including picking up the groom’s estranged son from the airport. These two strangers begin their journey together, navigating New York City, secrets, and second chances.
Starting November 1
🟦Gruesome Playground Injuries (Lucille Lortel)
Nicholas Braun (“Succession”) and Kara Young (“Purpose”) star in this revival of Rajiv Joseph’s play that charts the magnetic connection between two childhood friends drawn together through pain, accidents, and unseen wounds of the heart.
November 7 – December 28
🟦Initiative (Public Theater)
Else Went’s five-hour play charts the intertwined lives of seven teens from 2000-2004, as they become friends and more than friends, wrestle with their potential, face incalculable loss, and struggle to find their way in (and get out of) “Coastal Podunk, California.”
November 4 – 30
🟩La Comedia Divina (The Divine Comedy) (La MaMa)
Dario D’Ambrosi’s adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy for Teatro Patologico explores the challenges faced by people with disabilities, especially those with mental health conditions.
November 20 – 23
🟫Osni the Flare (La MaMa)
A puppet ballet about the origins of fire, whien Osni embarks on a quest to safeguard an apple tree from the imminent winter chill, but is beckoned by a loon into a blue canoe that drifts deep into a cavernous world.
November 20 – 23
November 22
🟦What If They Ate The Baby? (Soho Playhouse)
Xhloe and Natasha, the New York-based absurdist clown duo who have been stars of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival four years running, bring their award-winning ominous 1950s satire to New York. When housewife Dottie shows up at neighbor Shirley’s door to return a casserole dish, everything is absolutely picture perfect, until those footsteps upstairs and gritted smiles suggest something more sinister may be going on. My take on the duo.
November 19 – December 22
*Opening Night
This selection of works of theater is organized chronologically by opening night, but includes the dates when a show’s run starts (if it starts in November) and ends (when available.)
Opening night is usually not the same as the first performance on Broadway and Off-Broadway (although it is the same for festivals and most Off-Off Broadway shows ) For Broadway and Off-Broadway, there is usually a “preview period” that can last days or weeks, sometimes months. But professional reviews are forbidden from being published until opening night, which is why I organize this calendar by opening night (when it exists and when I can find it) rather than first performance, as a way to support the continuing relevance of theater reviewing. (Those shows that begin in November but don’t officially open until December will be listed in November’s calendar.)
Check out my article: What is Broadway Opening Night? How it’s changed, why it matters.
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