B'way Update: Annie; Princess Bride

Reid Shelton and Andrea McArdle 
in the original Broadway production on
Annie.
Credit: Martha Swope

The sun will come out tomorrow...or next fall. Tony-winning director Sam Pinkleton (Oh Mary!) will direct a 50th anniversary production of Annie, the beloved musical based on the long-running comic strip about the spunky, red-headed orphan who gets adopted by multi-millionaire Daddy Warbucks. 

“If you ask any of my closest friends what I love more than anything on the planet, everyone will have the same answer: Annie,” says Pinkleton in a statement. “Annie is everything I love about New York City: gutsy, fearless, and funny as hell. It’s a perfectly constructed musical comedy that my collaborators and I will run toward with joy and abandon—with open hearts and total adoration for this legendary show that has made generations fall in love with musicals.”

Annie opened on Broadway in 1977, won seven Tony Awards, and ran for 2, 377 performances. There have been Broadway revivals in 1997 and 2012 and a touring production played Madison Square Garden in 2024. Film versions were produced in 1982, 1999, and 2014, and a live TV version aired on NBC in 2021. No word on casting, but there is already speculation on who will play Miss Hannigan, the deliciously evil mistress of the orphanage. Some on social media predict Jinx Monsoon of RuPaul's Drag Race and the recent Pirates of Penzance revival. Others vote for Cole Escola, star and author of Oh Mary!

Cary Elwes and Robin Wright in 
The Princess Bride (1987).
Credit: MGM

In other news, a musical version of The Princess Bride has announced a pre-Broadway engagement at the Nederlander Theater in Chicago, set for July 19--Aug. 22, 2027. The score will be by the Oscar winning team of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen) with a book by Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone) and Rick Elice (Peter and the Starcatcher). Tony winner Alex Timbers (Moulin Rogue) directs and Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton) provides the choreography. The 1987 fantasy film has been in development as a musical since 2006. Adam Guettel and David Yazbeck have previously been attached as songwriters. The husband and wife team of the Lopezes joined the project in 2025.

2026-27 Broadway and Off-Broadway Calendar

Fall 2026

Sept. 20--The Invention of Love (Theater Lab)
Sept. 27--How Shakespeare Saved My Life (Public)
Spet. 27--Midnight (Daryl Roth)
Sept. 28--School Girls or The African Mean Girls Play (MTC/Friedman) 
Sept. 29--Degenerates (Playwrights Horizons)

Oct. 1--creation stories and all the important importants (LCT/Clara Tow) 
Oct. 4--The Hairy Ape (Irish Repertory Theater)
Oct. 4--Slam Frank (Orpheum)
Oct. 9--Good Time Charley (Public)
Oct. 11--Fish (Signature Theater Company/WP Theater)
Oct. 13--The Unbelievers (MTC/City Center)
Oct. 14--Anon--a tempest at our kitchen table (MCC)
Oct. 16--I Become We (Atlantic Theater Co.) (Previews begins; opening TBA)
Oct. 18--Other Desert Cities (Hudson)
Oct. 19--King of the Yees (Signature Theater Company)
Oct. 21--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Public)
Oct. 21--860 (Imperial)
Oct. 22--The Imaginary Invalid (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)
Oct. 22--Magic Mike Live New York 
Oct. 22--2:22: A Ghost Story (Lortel)
Oct. 29--A Few Good Men (LCT/Vivian Beaumont)
Nov. 1--Ms. Blakk for President (Vineyard)
Nov. 2--Waiting for Lefty (CSC)
Nov. 3--We'll See (Public)
Nov. 5--The Verge (Public)
Nov. 8--Wanted (James Earl Jones)
Nov. 9--Here There Are Blueberries (Barrymore)
Nov. 9--The Visitors (Second Stage/Signature Center)
Nov. 10--Elektra (Theater for a New Audience) (previews begin, opening TBA)
Nov. 12--The Good Thief (Irish Repertory Theater)

Nov. 15--Downstate (Booth)
Nov. 16--The Fantasticks (Revised Version) (Second Stage/Hayes)
Nov. 19--Much Ado About Nothing (Winter Garden)
Nov. 23--Seven Guitars (LCT/Mitzi Newhouse)
Nov. 24--Wild Rose (NYTW) (previews begin, opening TBA)
Nov. 24--The Dead, 1904 (IRT/American Irish Historical Society)
Dreamgirls
The Heart (Roundabout/Laura Pels)
HOLE! (Playwrights Horizons)
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. 3--Imitation of Life (The Shed/National Black Theater) 

Dec. 6--Galileo: A Rock Musical (Shubert) 

Dec. 7--A View from the Bridge (LaMaMa)

Dec. 13--Finn (Atlantic Theater Co.) (previews begin, opening TBA)

Dec. 14--Wild Rose (NYTW)

Jan. 9--Too Bad for Her (Atlatntic Theater Co. ) (previews begin, opening TBA)

Jan. 13--Honor, An Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra in Tandem with Lili Taylor (Theater for a New Audience) (previews begin, opening TBA)

Jan. 19--Dolly: A True Original Musical (St. James)

Jan. 21--Texas in Paris (Signature Center)

Jan. 27--Mix and Master (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

Jan. 28--Pretend It's Pretend (LCT/Clara Tow) (previews begin, opening TBA)

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

Jan. 2027--The Heart Sellers (MCC)

Feb. 11--The Grief Eater Near North Bender (Roundabout/NYTW/Laura Pels)

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

Feb. 25--Faydra (MTC/City Center Stage I)

Feb. 28--King Lear (Theater for a New Audience) (previews begin, opening TBA)

Feb. 29--Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (CSC)

Feb. 2027--Three Days of Rain (Shubert theater TBA)

Feb. 2027--Petra (Vineyard Theater)

Feb. 2027--Miles for Mary (Signature Theater Company)

Are the Bennett Girls OK? (Public)

Welcome Table (Public)

Wold Meteor (Playwrights Horizons)

Spring 2027

March 18--Small Mouth Sounds (Barrymore)

March 18--Old Actress (Atlantic Theater Co.) (previews begin, opening TBA)

March 25--Evita (Winter Garden)

April 5--Gloria (Second Stage/Hayes)

April 12--Purple Rain (Majestic)

April 15--The Sound of Music (LCT/Vivian Beaumont)

April 18--Paddington the Musical (Al Hirschfeld)

April 25--The Full Monty (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

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

April--Warriors (Lunt-Fontanne)

May 6--Born in the Dirt (LCT/Mitzi Newhouse)

May 24--Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret (CSC)

May 27--Push (Atlantic Theater Co.) (previews begin, opening TBA)

May 2027--Angela's Mixtape (Signature Theater Company)

The Annunciation (Playwrights Horizons)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Damn Yankees

Feast of Rabbits (Playwrights Horizons)

Montauk (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman)

The Vagina Monologues (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

Summer 2027

June 11--Beautiful Jolie Gabor (Transport Croup/Theater 555) (previews begin, opening TBA)

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

Aug. 17--10 Things I Hate About You (previews begin, opening TBA)

Fall 2027

Annie

Dates TBD

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

MISS STEP (Playwrights Horizons)

Narcissister (Playwrights Horizons)

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

Playing Burton (LCT/Mitzi Newhouse)

Future--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; The Princess Bride; 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

New Musicals

Dolly: A True Original Musical

Galileo, A Rock Musical

Let the Good Times Roll: A New Orleans Gumbo

Paddington The Musical

Purple Rain

Wanted

Warriors

Play Revivals

Awake and Sing

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Downstate

A Few Good Men

Gloria

Here There Are Blueberries

The Imaginary Invalid

Much Ado About Nothing

Other Desert Cities

Private Lives

School Girls or the African Mean Girls Play

Small Mouth Sounds

Three Days of Rain

Musical Revivals

Damn Yankees

Dreamgirls

Evita

The Fantasticks

The Full Monty

The Sound of Music

Solos/Specialties

860 (Billy Crystal)

Celebrity Autobiography