Off-B'way Update: Sean Hayes; New Group

Sean Hayes 
will star in The Unknown
at Studio Seaview.

Tony, Emmy and SAG winner Sean Hayes (Will and Grace, Good Night, Oscar) will return to the New York stage in The Unknown, a solo play by Obie winner David Cale (Lillian, Deep in a Dream of You), at Studio Seaview with previews beginning Jan. 31, 2026, opening on Feb. 12 for a limited run through April 12. Tony nominee Leigh Silverman (Suffs, Violet) directs. Hayes plays a blocked writer retreating to an isolated cabin only to discover he may not be alone.

Director Leigh Silverman said, “David Cale is a masterful storyteller and I am thrilled to be embarking on our third collaboration with The Unknown. We are joined by the charismatic, dynamic Sean Hayes, an imaginative design team and visionary producers and I can’t wait to share this enthralling show with audiences.”

Playwright David Cale said, "I'm thrilled by the inspired pairing of the brilliant Sean Hayes with my solo thriller, and to be collaborating again with the great Leigh Silverman."

New Group Season: In other Off-Broadway news, The Group has announced in 2026 season and its new permanent home. The company which has been presenting its work in various venues including the Signature Theater Pershing Center, will now take up residence at the theater at St. Clement's, having signed a 30-year lease with the church. The company will present Preston Cowder's Bocking (summer 2026), Adam Rapp's Jackals (fall 2026) and Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine (winter 2026).

Milo O'Shea and Billie Whitelaw in 
the film version of The Adding Machine (1969)

Bocking is a sex farce about two parents called to the principal's office for their bedroom behavior. Jackals  is set in a pandemic-blighted Middle American city in the not-so-distant future. Single mother Orla must choose between a better life for herself or her 14 year old, whose ticket out may be the only commodity left: his immune system. The Adding Machine, a satirical fantasy, premiered in 1923 and concerns Mr. Zero who is replaced at his accounting job by a machine and acts out violently. Milo O'Shea, Billie Whitelaw, and Phyllis Diller starred in the 1969 movie version. A musical version opened Off-Broadway in 2008.

2025-26 Broadway/Off-Broadway Calendar
Fall 2025
Nov. 17--The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (New World Stages)
Nov. 17--Meet the Cartozians (Second Stage/Signature Center)
Nov. 18--This World of Tomorrow (Shed)
Nov. 18--Practice (Playwrights Horizons)
Nov. 20--Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) (Longacre)
Nov. 20--Initiative (Public)
Cottonfield
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Sugar Daddy

Winter 2025-26

Dec. 4--A Christmas Carol (Perelman Performing Arts Center)

Dec. 8--Marjorie Prime (Second Stage/Hayes)

Dec. 11--Anna Christie (St. Ann's Warehouse)

Dec. 12--All Out: Comedy About Ambition (Nederlander) (previews begins; opening TBA)

Dec. 16--Tartuffe (NYTW)

Dec. 18--Amahl and the Night Visitors (LCT/Mitzi Newhouse)

Jan. 8--Bug (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman)

Jan. 9--An Ark (The Shed)

Jan. 2026--Ulysses (Elevator Repair Service/Public)

Feb. 1--Coriolanus (TFANA) (previews begin; opening TBA)

Feb. 4--High Spirits (Encores!/City Center)

Feb. 11--Monsters (MTC/City Center)

Feb. 12--The Unknown (Studio Seaview)

Feb. 25--Meat Suit, or the shitshow of motherhood (Second Stage/Signature Theater)

February--Marcel on the Train (CSC)

February--Bigfoot! the Musical (MTC/City Center)

Antigone (This Play I Read in High School) (Public)

Chinese Republicans (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

The Dinosaurs (Playwrights Horizons)

Jesa (Public)

Public Charge (Public)

The Reservoir (Atlantic Theater Company)

Mother Russia (Signature Theater Company)

2026

Dolly: An Original Musical

Wanted (formerly Gun and Powder)

Spring 2026

March 5--What We Did Before Our Moth Days (Greenwich House Theater)

March 10--Cold War Choir Practice (MCC)

March 12--Every Brilliant Thing (Hudson)

March 18--The Wild Party (Encores!/City Center)

March 23--Giant (Music Box)

March 23--Hamlet (Teatro La Plaza/TFANA)

March 30--Dog Day Afternoon (August Wilson)

April 7--Cats: The Jellicle Ball (Broadhurst)

April 8--Becky Shaw (Second Stage/Hayes)

April 16--Proof (Booth)

April 20--Schmigadoon (Nederlander)

April 23--The Rocky Horror Show (Roundabout/Studio 54)

April 25--Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Barrymore)

April 26--The Lost Boys (Palace)

May 7--The Receptionist (Second Stage/Signature Center)

May--The Emporium (CSC)

: Girls : Chance : Music (Vineyard Theater)

Animal Wisdom (Signature Theater Company)

The Balusters (MTC/Friedman)

Fallen Angels (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

Indian Princesses (Atlantic Theater Co.)

Montauk

My Joy Is Heavy (NYTW)

No Singing in the Navy (Playwrights Horizons)

Rheology (Playwrights Horizons)

2026-27

Death of a Salesman

Let the Good Times Roll: A New Orleans Gumbo

Private Lives

Summer 2026

June 17--La Cage Aux Folles (Encores!/City Center)

June 24--Birthright (MCC)

July 14--The Whoopi Monologues (LCT/Mitzi Newhouse)

Bocking (New Group/Theater at St. Clements)

Fall 2026

Dreamgirls

Jackals (New Group/Theater at St. Clements)

Winter 2026

The Adding Machine (New Group/Theater at St. Clements)

Future--10 Things I Hate About You; 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; Waking Ned Devine; Working Girl.

2025-26 Broadway Season Breakdown

New Plays

All Out: Comedy About Ambition

The Balusters

Call Me Izzy

Cottonfield

Dog Day Afternoon

Giant

Liberation (transfer from Off-Broadway)

Little Bear Ridge Road

Montauk

Oedipus

Punch

New Musicals

Dolly: An Original Musical

The Lost Boys

Schmigadoon

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

The Queen of Versailles

Play Revivals

Art

Becky Shaw

Bug

Every Brilliant Thing

Fallen Angels

Joe Turner's Come and Gone

Marjorie Prime

Proof

Waiting for Godot

Musical Revivals

Beetlejuice

Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Chess

Mamma Mia!

Ragtime

The Rocky Horror Show

Solos/Specialties
Jeffrey Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride

Rob Lake Magic with Special Guests The Muppets