Perhaps the most hotly anticipated production of the entire fall 2026 season, Dreamgirls is returning to Broadway for its first-ever revival — more than four decades after Jennifer Holliday stopped the show nightly with “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” at the Imperial Theatre in 1981. The original production ran for 1,522 performances and won six Tony Awards including Best Musical. It has never been revived on Broadway. Until now.

The production is directed and choreographed by Camille A. Brown — the five-time Tony-nominated director and choreographer whose recent work has included the Tony-winning revival of Gypsy and Hell’s Kitchen. Brown is one of the most artistically distinctive and culturally specific theatre-makers working on Broadway today, and her vision for the material — which follows a Supremes-inspired girl group’s rise through the corrupt machinery of the American music industry — is already generating enormous interest. Producers have launched a nationwide casting search for “the Dreams,” suggesting that the production may be taking the bold step of casting relatively unknown performers in the central roles rather than reaching for an established star.

Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson — who played Effie White in the 2006 film adaptation and won the Oscar for the role — has joined the producing team. Her involvement adds a layer of emotional legitimacy to the project, and has generated considerable media attention. Full venue, dates, and casting are expected imminently. There is simply nothing on Broadway’s horizon that carries more cultural weight than this revival.

One of the most compelling new American musicals arriving on Broadway this fall, Wanted tells the mostly true story of Mary and Martha Clarke, African-American twin sisters who took extraordinary measures in the early twentieth century to settle their mother’s sharecropper debt and save her family home — going from farmgirls to outlaws to legends in the process. The musical premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2024 under the title Gun & Powder and received strong reviews for its blend of dramatic urgency and inventive musicality.

The Broadway production stars Solea Pfeiffer — one of the most exciting musical theatre voices of her generation, known for her acclaimed work in Almost Famous on Broadway — alongside Liisi LaFontaine and Grammy Award-winning singer Ledisi in what promises to be one of the season’s outstanding vocal ensembles. Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, the show arrives at the James Earl Jones Theatre with significant creative ambition and an important story of Black female agency and survival that feels urgently, specifically American. This is the kind of new musical that Broadway needs and that audiences will find both entertaining and genuinely moving.

One of the most creatively ambitious new musicals to arrive on Broadway in years, Galileo tells the story of the Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei — the maverick scientist whose heliocentric discoveries challenged the Catholic Church, changed humanity’s understanding of the cosmos, and nearly cost him his life. The production premiered at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2024 to enthusiastic reviews, and its Broadway transfer at the Shubert Theatre is one of the season’s most eagerly anticipated musical arrivals.

Four-time Tony-nominated Raúl Esparza — one of Broadway’s most thrillingly versatile performer-singers, who has not appeared on Broadway since 2012 — returns in the title role. His casting is itself a major theatrical event. Joy Woods, Tony-nominated for her work this season, and Jeremy Kushnier complete the lead cast. The music is by Zoe Sarnak and Michael Weiner, with a book by Danny Strong (Emmy winner for Empire, book writer of this season’s Chess revival), and direction by Tony winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, American Idiot). The creative team alone is one of the most distinguished assembled for any new musical this decade.

One of Broadway’s most anticipated new productions for years is finally taking shape: Dolly: A True Original Musical, a biographical musical following the life of Dolly Parton from her barefoot beginnings in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee all the way to performing in platform heels under the bright lights of Hollywood. The show features all of Parton’s biggest hits — Jolene, 9 to 5, I Will Always Love You, Coat of Many Colors, and many more — in what promises to be one of the most crowd-pleasing theatrical events in recent memory.

Parton, who is famously enthusiastic about the project, has been involved in its development, and her endorsement and participation give the production an authenticity and energy that purely posthumous biographical jukebox musicals often struggle to achieve. Full details — director, casting, theatre, and specific dates — are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. This will be one of the biggest ticket-selling events of the Broadway season the moment bookings open.

The stage musical adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s iconic novel — and the even more iconic 2006 film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway — had its world premiere in London’s West End in 2024, where it played a sold-out run at the Dominion Theatre. Now the Broadway transfer is being developed, with Elton John’s score and Kate Wetherhead’s book being refined for the American market. The show’s central creative challenge has always been the shadow of Meryl Streep’s inimitable Miranda Priestly — finding an actress for the Broadway production who can define the role on her own terms rather than imitate the film. Casting of the Miranda role is the most hotly anticipated Broadway announcement of the current season. Stay tuned.

A new biographical jukebox musical about the life of Roy Orbison — the Texan rock and roll legend whose extraordinary falsetto voice and emotionally devastating ballads made him one of the most distinctive voices in the history of popular music — has been announced for Broadway in 2026. Orbison’s catalogue includes Oh, Pretty Woman, Crying, In Dreams, You Got It, and I Drove All Night — a body of work with enormous emotional range and considerable theatrical possibility. Full details, including director, book writer, and casting, are expected in the coming months.

Another new musical in development for the 2026-27 Broadway season, Let Me Fly has been listed on multiple Broadway production trackers for a 2026 opening, though full creative and casting details have not yet been announced. The show is among several projects moving through final development stages ahead of Broadway commitments. Watch this space for full announcements in the weeks ahead.