Broadway 2012-13: Busiest but Dullest Season Ever?

Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox
in Jekyll and Hyde

With the definite announcement of the Broadway opening of Jekyll and Hyde, we almost have a complete list of the 2012-13 season. If everything comes off as planned there will be a total of 47 new productions, one of the largest in recent memory. There are only two productions which have announced intentions of opening before the Tony deadline without having secured a theater or dates (The Miss Firecracker Contest, The Velocity of Autumn). However, it seems there's a dearth of worthy new plays, with no strong candidate emerging as a contender for the Tony. Many have already shut down including The Anarchist, The Performers, Grace, and Dead Accounts. Lucky Guy is the most anticipated non-tuner, mainly because double-Oscar winner Tom Hanks is headlining.



Among musicals, it's a similarly weak field with all the new shows having already closed (Bring It On, Chaplin, Scandalous, A Christmas Story). All of the stronger original productions are in the future with Kinky Boots, Hands on a Hard Body, Motown, and Matilda generating good buzz. Revivals are the strongest at the box office with Glengarry earning back its investment and Golden Boy and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf winning bravos.

Here's a breakdown for the whole season:

NEW PLAYS
Ann
The Anarchist
The Assembled Parties
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Dead Accounts
Grace
I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers
Lucky Guy
The Nance
The Other Place (previously produced Off-Broadway)
The Testament of Mary
The Velocity of Autumn (theatre and dates TBA)

NEW MUSICALS
Bring It On
Chaplin
A Christmas Story
Hands on a Hard Body
Kinky Boots
Matilda
Motown the Musical
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Scandalous: The Life and Times of Aimee Semple MacPherson

PLAY REVIVALS
The Big Knife
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cyrano de Bergerac
An Enemy of the People
Glengarry Glen Ross
Golden Boy
Harvey
The Heiress
The Miss Firecracker Contest (theater and dates TBA)
Orphans
The Trip to Bountiful
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

MUSICAL REVIVALS
Annie
Fela!
Elf the Musical
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Pippin
Pump Boys and Dinettes

SPECIALTIES
Frankie Valle and the Four Seasons on Broadway
Lewis Black: Running on Empty
Manilow on Broadway
Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth

Too bad they eliminated the Special Event category at the Tonys, this would have been the one time Barry Manilow could have KOed Mike Tyson.