Off-B'way Update: MCC Season

Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp
in What's Eating Gilbert Grape

MCC Theater has announced it 40th anniversary 2026-27 season including two new American plays and a musical adaptation of a beloved film and novel. First up is Anon--a tempest at our kitchen table by Anne Washburn (Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play), directed by Anne Kaufman, previewing Sept. 25 for an Oct. 13 opening. When a gay pride flag is flown in their suburban Texas neighborhood, two families freak out. In January, Lloyd Suh's The Heart Sellers tells the story of two immigrant strangers sharing their first Thanksgiving in America. June brings the world premiere of a musical based on What's Eating Gilbert Grape? with a book by Peter Hedges based on his 1991 novel (the basis of the 1993 movie starring Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis). Music and lyrics are by Adrian Enscoe, Christopher Sears, Sydney Shepherd, and Regina Strayhorn. Anne Kaufman returns to MCC to direct.

"We've always sought to provoke conversations that don't happen anywhere else - and 40 years in, that energy feels stronger than ever. Our Anniversary Season features three very different, unabashedly American stories that share an urgency that is unmistakably of the moment," said Co-Artistic Director Bernie Telsey. "Will (Cantler, co-artistic director) and I are grateful to explore these worlds with the adventurous artists, audiences, and supporters who make MCC what it is. This season will be a celebration for everyone. Find us in the lobby, we can't wait to talk to you!"

2026-27 Broadway/Off-Broadway Schedule

Summer 2026
June 21--Henry VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts (NAATCO/Public)
June 24--Birthright (MCC)

June 29--A Walk on the Moon (Laura Pels)

July 10--Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo (Perelman Performing Arts Center)
July 14--The Whoopi Monologues (LCT/Mitzi Newhouse)

Aug. 11--An American Daughter (La Femme Prods./Signature Center)

Aug. 11--The Winter's Tale (Public Theater/Delacorte in Central Park)
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)

Sept. 15--Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway (August Wilson)

Sept. 27--How Shakespeare Saved My Life (Public)

Oct. 9--Good Time Charley (Public)

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

Oct. 13--Anon--a tempest at our kitchen table (MCC)

Oct. 18--Other Desert Cities (Hudson)

Oct. 21--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Public)

Oct. 21--860 (Imperial)

Oct. 22--Magic Mike Live New York 

Oct. 22--2:22: A Ghost Story (Lortel)

October--Ms. Blakk for President (Vineyard)

Nov. 3--We'll See (Public)

Nov. 5--The Verge (Public)

Nov. 8--Wanted (James Earl Jones)

Nov. 9--The Visitors (Second Stage/Signature Center)

Nov. 16--The Fantasticks (Revised Version) (Second Stage/Hayes)

Nov. 19--Much Ado About Nothing (Winter Garden)

Degenerates (Playwrights Horizons)

Dreamgirls

The Heart (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

HOLE! (Playwrights Horizons)

The Imaginary Invalid (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

Jackals (New Group/Theater at St. Clements)

the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Playwrights Horizons)

Winter 2026-27

Dec. 1--Inter Alia (Music Box)

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

Jan. 2027--Awake and Sing (MTC/Samuel Freidman)

Jan. 2027--The Heart Sellers (MCC)

Feb. 22--Work of Devotion (Second Stage/Signature Center)

Are the Bennett Girls OK? (Public)

Mix and Master (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

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

Welcome Table (Public)

Wold Meteor (Playwrights Horizons)

Spring 2027

March 25--Evita (Winter Garden)

April 5--Gloria (Second Stage/Hayes)

April 18--Paddington the Musical (Al Hirschfeld)

April 28--how to roll a blunt (Second Stage/Signature Center)

The Annunciation (Playwrights Horizons)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Damn Yankees

Feast of Rabbits (Playwrights Horizons)

The Full Monty (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

Montauk (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman)

The Vagina Monologues (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

Summer 2027

June--What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (MCC)

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

Dates TBD

MISS STEP (Playwrights Horizons)

Narcissister (Playwrights Horizons)

New work by Monica Bill Barnes and Robbie Saenz de Viteri (Playwright Horizons)

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; Dare To Be Stupid: The Weird Al Yankovic Musical; 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.

2026-27 Broadway Season Breakdown

New Plays

Inter Alia

Mix and Master

Montauk

Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway

New Musicals

Galileo, A Rock Musical

Let the Good Times Roll: A New Orleans Gumbo

Paddington The Musical

Wanted

Play Revivals

Awake and Sing

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Gloria

The Imaginary Invalid

Much Ado About Nothing

Other Desert Cities

Private Lives

School Girls or the African Mean Girls Play

Musical Revivals

Damn Yankees

Dreamgirls

Evita

The Fantasticks

The Full Monty

Solos/Specialties

860 (Billy Crystal)

Celebrity Autobiography