B'way Update: Cat and Yankees, etc.

Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor in
Cat of a Hot Tin Roof.

A new production of Tennessee Williams' Cat of a Hot Tin Roof is headed for Broadway, scheduled to open sometime in the spring of 2027. Tony winner Sam Gold (Fun Home, A Doll's House, Part 2) will direct and Seaview will produce. Cat first opened on Broadway in 1955, winning the Pulitzer Prize. Barbara Bel Geddes, Ben Gazzara and Burl Ives starred as Maggie the Cat, her closeted husband Brick and Big Daddy. Ives repeated his performance in the 1958 movie version with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. Subsequent Broadway productions have starred Elizabeth Ashley and Keir Dullea (1974), Kathleen Turner and Daniel Hugh Kelly (1990), Ashley Judd and Jason Patric (2003), Anika Noni Rose and Terrence Howard (2008), and Scarlett Johanssen and Benjamin Walker (2013). TV versions have been headlined by Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, and Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones. I saw Sandy Dennis and David Selby play the leads in summer stock. Cast and creative staff will be announced at a later date.

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is the pinnacle of what the theatre can do," says Gold in a statement. "Two of the greatest roles for actors in the cannon, delivered to us by the world’s most original playwright, at the very height of his poetic powers, exploring themes that feel as shockingly honest and blood boiling today as they did 70 years ago. I couldn't be more excited to bring this masterpiece back to New York next season."

"It's been such a gift to be making work with Sam Gold over the last four years,” adds Seaview co-founder and CEO Greg Nobile. "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof will mark our fifth production together, and I am certain Sam's vision to bring Tennessee's extraordinary and timeless characters to life next season will once again thrill and delight audiences."

 

New Damn Yankees

Alysha Umphress and cast in the
Arena Stage production of Damn Yankees.
Credit: Matthew Murphy and
Evan Zimmerman

Equity principal auditions and chorus calls have been announced for a revised version of Damn Yankees, which opened the same year as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof--1955. This production is based on a 2025 edition at Arena Stage which featured a new book by Will Power and Doug Wright with additional lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. The time period is shifted from the 1950s to the early 2000s and the hero Joe Hardy is an African-American baseball player with a family legacy connected to the Negro Leagues. Tony winner Sergio Trujillo (Ain't Too Proud) directs and choreographs. According to the casting notices, a spring 2027 opening is targeted. The Arena Stage production starred Jordan Danica (Camelot, The Gilded Age), Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire, Chaplin), and Ana Villafane (On Your Feet).

Drama Desk Announcement

Raul Esparza and Helen J. Shen
will announce the Drama Desk nominees
next week.

Award season announcements and events continue to pour in as the 2025-26 Broadway and Off-Broadway season comes to a close. Nominations for The 70th Drama Desk Awards will be announced on Wed. April 29 at 10 AM by Raul Esparza (Law & Order, upcoming Galileo) and Helen J. Shen (Maybe Happy Ending) from the Lambs Club and streamed live on Broadway.com's YouTube channel.  The awards will be presented on May 17 at Town Hall. The Drama Desks are voted by about 100 theater critics, journalists and editors and include Broadway and Off-Broadway for equal consideration in all of its multiple categories.

Rumors
These are unofficial items based on rumors that are currently circulating: A new edition of Celebrity Autobiography, the Off-Broadway show which featured actors reading excerpts from the memoirs of the stars of past eras, may go into the Shubert which is vacant this summer after the closing of Hell's Kitchen and before performances of Galileo begin in December...Paddington, the musical based on the book series about the beloved stuffed bear, has won Olivier Awards in London and could be eying a Broadway transfer....Likewise Jamie Lloyd's West End revival of Evita.

2025-26 Broadway/Off-Broadway Calendar
Spring 2026
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 27--Outer Critics Nominees Reception (West Bank Cafe)
April 29--Drama Desk Nominations (Lambs Club/Broadway.com YouTube channel)
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 14--Rheology (Playwrights Horizons)
May 15--Drama League Awards (Ziegfeld Ballroom)
May 17--Drama Desk Awards (Town Hall)
May 18--Chita Rivera Awards (NYU Skirball)
May 18--The Emporium (CSC)
May 19--Animal Wisdom (Signature Theater Company)
May 19--Indian Princesses (Atlantic Theater Co.)
May 21--Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony (MMAC Theater)
May 28--: Girls : Chance : Music (Vineyard Theater)
No Singing in the Navy (Playwrights Horizons)

Summer 2026
June 2--Theater World Awards (Venue TBA)
June 4--Girl, Interrupted (Public)
June 7--Tony Awards (Radio City Music Hall/CBS)
June 11--Romeo and Juliet (Delacorte)
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

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)

860 (Shubert theater TBA)

Dreamgirls

The Heart (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

The Imaginary Invalid (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

Jackals (New Group/Theater at St. Clements)

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

Winter 2026-27

Dec. 1--Inter Alia (Music Box)

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

Mix and Master (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

The Grief Eater Near North Bender (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

Spring 2027

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Damn Yankees

The Full Monty (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

The Vagina Monologues (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

2026-27
Let the Good Times Roll: A New Orleans Gumbo
Private Lives

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