B'way/Off-B'way Update: MTC; Wanted Musical

School Girls or the African Mean Girls Play
at MCC Theater.
Credit: Craig Schwartz

Manhattan Theater Club has announced two productions for its 2026-27 season: The Broadway premiere of Jocelyn Bioh's School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play and the American premiere of Nick Payne's The Unbelievers. School Girls debuts Off-Broadway at MCC Theater in 2017 and focuses on an elite all-girls school in Ghana where the students are obsessed with an upcoming beauty pageant. Previews begin Sept. 8 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater. Whitney White who has staged Bioh's Jaja's African Hair Braiding for MTC at the Friedman directs. Casting and an opening date TBA.

Off-Broadway, MTC presents Nick Payne's The Unbelievers at City Center Stage I with preview performances beginning Oct. 13. Tony nominee Knud Adams (English) directs. MTC previously presented Payne's Constellations and Incognito. The play is about a family dealing with the disappearance of their teenaged son and how it impacts their faith. Additional MTC productions for the 2026-27 season will be announced soon.

Gun & Powder (now retitled Wanted)
at the Paper Mill Playhouse.
Credit: Jeremy Daniel

In other 2026-27 Broadway news, Wanted, the new musical formerly known as Gun and Powder, will arrive at the James Earl Jones Theater this fall. Previews begin Oct. 15 prior to a Nov. 8 opening. Solea Pfeiffer (Hadestown) and Liisi LaFontaine (Moulin Rouge in the West End) will star as Mary and Martha Clarke, African-American twin sisters who passed as white in 1893 Texas. Wanted features a book and lyrics by Angelica Cheri (descendant of the Sisters Clarke), music by Ross Baum, and choreography by Chelsey Arce  (Sweeney Todd revival, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child).  Obie winner Stevie Walker-Webb directs.

Under the title Gun & Powder, the musical played the Paper Mill Playhouse in Spring 2024 and then had a workshop in June 2025.

Also, two-time Tony winner Kara Young (Purlie Victorious, Purpose) will join the cast of the revival of Proof, replacing Samira Wiley who had to withdraw due to a treatable medical condition. Young joins Ayo Edebiri, Don Cheadle and Jin Ha at the Booth Theater where previews begin March 31, opening April 16.

2025-26 Broadway/Off-Broadway Calendar
Spring 2026
March 20--Jesa (Public/Ma-Yi)
March 23--Giant (Music Box)
March 23--Hamlet (Teatro La Plaza/TFANA)
March 25--Public Charge (Public)
March 29--Titus Andronicus (Red Bull/Pershing Signature Center)
March 30--Dog Day Afternoon (August Wilson)
March 30--Seagull: True Story (Public)
April 1--Lortel Award Nominations
April 7--Cats: The Jellicle Ball (Broadhurst)
April 8--Becky Shaw (Second Stage/Hayes)
April 9--Death of a Salesman (Winter Garden)
April 12--Titanique (St. James)
April 14--The Adding Machine (New Group/Theater at St. Clements)
April 15--The Fear of 13 (James Earl Jones)
April 16--Proof (Booth)
April 19--Hamlet (BAM)
April 19--Fallen Angels (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)
April 20--Schmigadoon (Nederlander)
April 20--Drama League Nominations (NYPL at Lincoln Center)
April 21--The Balusters (MTC/Friedman)
April 21-- Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations
April 22--Beaches, a New Musical (Majestic)
April 23--The Rocky Horror Show (Roundabout/Studio 54)
April 25--Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Barrymore)
April 26--The Lost Boys (Palace)
April 29--Drama Desk Nominations
May 3--Lortel Awards (NYU Skirball)
May 5--Tony Nominations
May 7--The Receptionist (Second Stage/Signature Center)
May 11--Outer Critics Circle Winners Announced
May 15--Drama League Awards (Ziegfeld Ballroom)
May 17--Drama Desk Awards (Town Hall)
May 18--Chita Rivera Awards (NYU Skirball)
May 21--Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony
May--The Emporium (CSC)
: Girls : Chance : Music (Vineyard Theater)
Animal Wisdom (Signature Theater Company)
Indian Princesses (Atlantic Theater Co.)
No Singing in the Navy (Playwrights Horizons)
Rheology (Playwrights Horizons)

2026-27

Let the Good Times Roll: A New Orleans Gumbo

Private Lives

Summer 2026

June 7--Tony Awards (Radio City Music Hall/CBS)

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/Winter 2026

Sept. 8--School Girls or The African Mean Girls Play (MTC/Friedman) (previews begin, opening TBA)

Oct. 13--The Unbelievers (MTC/City Center)

Nov. 8--Wanted (James Earl Jones)

Dec. 6--Galileo: A Rock Musical (Shubert) (previews begin, opening TBA)

Dreamgirls

Jackals (New Group/Theater at St. Clements)

Much Ado About Nothing (Shubert theater TBA; dates TBA)

Future--10 Things I Hate About You; Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death; 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; The Fantasticks (Revised Version); 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

Dog Day Afternoon

The Fear of 13

Giant

Liberation (transfer from Off-Broadway)

Little Bear Ridge Road

Oedipus

Punch

New Musicals

Beaches, A New Musical

The Lost Boys

Schmigadoon

Titanique (transfer from Off-Broadway)

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

The Queen of Versailles

Play Revivals

Art

Becky Shaw

Bug

Death of a Salesman

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 

Previously Announced to Open, but No Further Specific Details

Cottonfield

Dolly: An Original Musical

Montauk