B'way Update: John Krasinki, Private Lives, Beaches, James Taylor

SAG winner and Emmy nominee John Krasinski (The Office, A Quiet Place) will star in the debut production of Studio Seaview (formerly Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theater), Angry Alan, a solo play about a man diving into a digital rabbit hole. Penelope Skinner's dark comedy premiered during the 2018 Edinburgh Festival. Tony winner Sam Gold directs. Previews begin May 23 with an official opening of June 11 for a 10-week limited run. Krasinki last appeared Off-Broadway in Dry Powder at the Public Theater in 2016.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be returning to Off Broadway, and to be surrounded by such a force of talent in Penny and Sam is quite literally a dream scenario,” Krasinski said in a statement.

Private Lives: It's a bit early,  but we have our first production of the 2026-27 season. Jeffrey Richards, Playful Productions, Rebecca Gold, and M/B/P Productions have announced they will present a revival of Noel Coward's 1931 comedy Private Lives sometime two seasons ahead. No news of casting or creative personnel yet.

Gertrude Lawrence and Noel Coward
in Private Lives.

Coward's mannered comedy concerns divorced couple Elyot and Amanda who encounter each other while on their respective honeymoons with new spouses. This will be the ninth Broadway production of the play. Previous outings have earned Best Actress Tonys for Tammy Grimes and Lindsay Duncan and a nomination for Maggie Smith. There have also been stagings starring Coward, Gertrude Lawrence and Laurence Olivier, Tallullah Bankhead, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Joan Collins and Simon Jones, and Kim Catrall and Paul Gross. 

Beaches Launches Tour: The musical version of Beaches, based on Iris Rainer Dart's novel and the

Shoshana Bean and Whitney Bashor in
the Signature Theater, Wash. DC
production of Beaches the Musical.
Credit: Brett Beiner

1988 film starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey, will launch a pre-Broadway national tour in the fall of 2026. The show features music by Grammy winner Mike Stoller with lyrics by Dart and a book by Dart and Thom Thomas developed in collaboration with David Austin. Tony nominee Lonny Price (Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Sunset Boulevard revival) directs. Beaches had a production in Calgary in 2024 and developmental productions in Washington, DC and Chicago.

James Taylor Musical: Grammy winner James Taylor joins Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Carol King, Tina Turner, Cher,

James Taylor

Frankie Valle and the Four Seasons, the Beach Boys, and numerous other pop music stars to have his songbook serve as the basis of a musical. Fire and Rain will feature an original story by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracey Letts (August: Osage County) and direction by Tony winner David Cromer (The Band's Visit). Taylor's songs have previously appeared in the 1978 Broadway musical Working.