B'way Update: The Return of Scott Rudin

Banished producer Scott Rudin says 
he's gone through therapy, made apologies,
 and plans toreturn to Broadway.

According to the New York Times, producer Scott Rudin is planning a return to Broadway following a long absence due to his abusive behavior with subordinates. Rudin stepped away from producing on stage and film in 2021 after articles in the Hollywood Reporter and New York magazine alleged his verbal abuse, bullying, throwing objects, pushing assts. from a moving car, smashing a computer on an assistant's hand and firing an assistant for bringing him the wrong kind of muffin. He also resigned from the Broadway League and withdrew from the Broadway revival of The Music Man as well as from five A24 films including Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once, and  Alex Garland's Men. He has won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and 18 Tony Awards. Rudin states he has undergone therapy and apologized publicly and to certain individuals. 

Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock
in Little Bear Ridge Road at Steppenwolf.
Credit: Michael Brosilow

In the Times article, Rudin states he plans to produce Little Bear Ridge Road by Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, Grangeville) in the fall. The play will star Laurie Metcalf, following the play's premiere last year at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Company, directed by Tony winner Joe Mantello. The play, set as most of Hunter's works are in Idaho, centers on an estranged aunt and nephew settling the estate of their brother and father at the start of the COVID 19 pandemic. In the spring, Rudin will reunite Metcalf and Mantello as star and director for David Hare's new play Montauk. A revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is planned for the 2026-27 season to star Nathan Lane and Metcalf with Mantello directing. Such a production with Lane, Metcalf and Mantello was announced in 2020, but the pandemic shut down theaters and another Salesman with Wendell Burton came to Broadway from London after the theaters re-opened. (Presumably, Metcalf will have more time for the stage now that The Conners is ending its seven-season run on ABC.)

Rudin also intends to present Cottonfield by Bruce Norris (Clybourne Park, Downstate) and directed by Robert O'Hara (Shit. Meet. Fan.) on Broadway in the fall of 2025. (Side note: The New York magazine article from 2021 says that Rudin pulled out of the Broadway production of Clybourne Park and two other Norris plays when the actor-playwright withdrew from a Rudin-produced HBO pilot.) There will also be an Off-Broadway production of Wallace Shawn's What We Did Before Our Moth Days, directed by Andre Gregory, Shawn's co-star from My Dinner With Andre.

Broadway/Off-Broadway/Awards Season Calendar
Spring 2025
March 30--The Swamp Dwellers (TFANA/Polonsky Shakespeare Center)
March 31--Glengarry Glen Ross (Palace)
April 2--Lortel Award nominations announced
April 3--Good Night and Good Luck (Winter Garden)
April 3--Threepenny Opera (BAM/St. Ann's Warehouse)
April 3--Humpty Dumpty (Chain Theater)
April 5--BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical (Broadhurst)
April 6--The Last Five Years (Hudson)
April 6--I'm Assuming You Know David Greenspan (Atlantic Stage 2)
April 8--Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman)
April 7--Becoming Eve (NYTW/Abrons Arts Center)
April 10--Smash (Imperial)
April 14--John Proctor Is the Villain (Booth)
April 15--Macbeth in Stride (BAM)
April 16--Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp. (Public) 
April 17--Bowl EP (Vineyard Theater/National Black Theater)
April 21--Floyd Collins (LCT/Vivian Beaumont)
April 22--Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Marquis)
April 22--Drama League Award nominations (NYPL)
April 22--Grief Camp (Atlantic Theater Company)
April 23--Just in Time (Circle in the Square)
April 23--Hold Me in the Water (Playwrights Horizons)
April 24--Pirates: The Penzance Musical (Roundabout/Todd Haimes Theater)
April 25--Outer Critics Circle nominations announced (Museum of Broadway)
April 27--Real Women Have Curves (James Earl Jones)
April 27--Dead Outlaw (Longacre)
April 30--Drama Desk Nominations announced
May 1--Tony Nominations announced
May 4--Lortel Awards (NYU Skirball)
May 12--Outer Critics Circle Award winners announced
May 13--The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse (New Group/Signature Center)
May 14--Lunar Eclipse (Second Stage/Signature Center) (Previews begin, opening TBA)
May 14--Bistro Awards (Gotham Comedy Club)
May 16--Drama League Awards (Ziegfeld Ballroom)
May 18--Bus Stop (CSC/NAATCO/Transport Group)
May 19--Lights Out: Nat "King" Cole (NYTW)
May 20--Goddess (Public Theater)
May 22--Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony
May--Eurydice (Signature Theater)

2025

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Sugar Daddy

Summer 2025

June 1--Drama Desk Awards (NYU Skirball)

June 2--Theater World Awards (Theater TBA)

June 8--Tony Awards (Radio City Music Hall)

June 11--Angry Alan (Studio Seaview)

June 12--Call Me Izzy (Studio 54)

June 24--Trophy Boys (MCC Theater)

Aug. 14--Mamma Mia (Winter Garden)

Aug. 21--Twelfth Night (Public Theater/Delacorte)

Fall 2025

Nov. 10--Queen of Versailles (St. James)

Archduke (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

Cottonfield

Initiative (Public)

Little Bear Ridge Road

Oedipus (Roundabout/Studio 54)

Punch (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman)

The Seat of Our Pants (Public)

Saturday Church (NYTW)

Waiting for Godot

Winter 2025-26

Chinese Republicans (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

Monsters (MTC/ City Center)

What We Did Before Our Moth Days

2026

Dolly: An Original Musical

Spring 2026

Fallen Angels (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

The Lost Boys (Palace)

Montauk

The Rocky Horror Show (Roundabout/Studio 54)

2026-27

Death of a Salesman

Private Lives

Future--Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death; Beaches the Musical; Beat Street; Black Orpheus; Coal Miner's Daughter; Come Fall in Love--The DDLJ Musical; Crazy Rich Asians; The Devil Wears Prada; Ella: An American Miracle; Eurovision Song Contest; Everybody's Talking About Jamie; Fahrenheit 451; Fire and Rain: The James Taylor Musical; Frida, the Musical; Game of Thrones; Get Happy; The Griswolds' Broadway Vacation; High Noon; Imitation of Life; The Interestings; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; The Karate Kid; La La Land; The Mousetrap; Nancy Drew and the Mystery at Spotlight Manor; The Nanny; The Normal Heart/The Destiny of Me; Pal Joey; Particle Fever; Purple Rain; The Queen's Gambit; Rear Window; The Secret Garden; Sing Street; Slumdog Millionaire; Soul Train; Studio 54; Working Girl.

2024-25 Broadway Season Breakdown

New Plays

All In: Comedy About Love by Simon Rich

Cult of Love

Good Night and Good Luck

The Hills of California

Job 

John Proctor Is the Villain

Left on Tenth

MCNEAL

Oh, Mary!

Purpose

The Roommate

Stranger Things: The First Shadow

New Musicals

Boop! The Betty Boop Musical

Buena Vista Social Club

Dead Outlaw

Death Becomes Her

Just in Time

Maybe Happy Ending

Operation Mincemeat

Real Women Have Curves

Redwood

Smash

Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends

Swept Away

Tammy Faye

A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical

Play Revivals

English

Eureka Day

Glengarry Glen Ross

Home

Othello

Our Town

Romeo and Juliet

Yellow Face

Musical Revivals

Elf the Musical

Floyd Collins

Gypsy

The Last Five Years

Once Upon a Mattress

Penzance! The Pirate Musical

Sunset Boulevard

Solos/Specialties

The Picture of Dorian Gray

2025-26 Broadway Season Breakdown

New Plays

Call Me Izzy

Cottonfield

Little Bar Ridge Road

Montauk

Oedipus

Punch

New Musicals

Dolly: An Original Musical

The Lost Boys

Queen of Versailles

Play Revivals

Fallen Angels

Waiting for Godot

Musical Revivals

Mamma Mia!

The Rocky Horror Show