The State of Off Broadway This Week

If Broadway’s biggest week belonged to the 79th Tony Awards — where Ragtime triumphed with Joshua Henry claiming the evening’s most emotional moment — Off Broadway is not far behind in the excitement stakes. The final days of June 2026 bring a cluster of openings and world premieres that together represent one of the most eclectic, ambitious and genuinely varied lineups the New York off-main-stem scene has produced in a single week in years.

Tonight, June 29, sees not one but two productions officially open their doors: a bold new musical adaptation of the 1999 Woodstock film A Walk on the Moon at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre, and a timely, provocative new play about identity and belonging called Birthright at MCC Theater. Tomorrow, June 30, The Potluck opens at Playwrights Horizons — a musical reckoning with the Greensboro Massacre of 1979, written by César Alvarez, directed by Sarah Benson, and already one of the summer’s most anticipated premieres. And at PAC NYC, previews are already underway for the most-talked-about Off Broadway world premiere of the summer: Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo, starring and written by Grammy Award winner Jennifer Nettles.

Meanwhile, the rumour mill is spinning on several fronts — most excitingly, Spring Awakening is officially returning to Off Broadway this fall, and a beloved star-studded La Cage aux Folles has audiences buzzing at New York City Center. Here is your complete briefing.

World Premiere: Giulia — The Poison Queen of Palermo

The most buzzed-about Off Broadway opening of the summer belongs to Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo, now in previews at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. Grammy Award winner Jennifer Nettles joins forces with Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman for this deadly new musical, having its world premiere at PAC NYC.

The power lies in her hands, one drop at a time. What began as a single act of self-defense ripples through Palermo, creating a cascade of casualties and inspiring a secret sisterhood. But the path to safety is never safe. The story is based on the true-life figure of Giulia Tofana, a 17th-century Italian apothecary whose name has become one of history’s most dangerous — and most fascinating.

The plot is loosely based on the true story of Italian apothecary Giulia Tofana who, after an act of self-defense, becomes embroiled in controversy. The production had a complicated road to the stage: Tony winner Mary Zimmerman has replaced the previously announced Rebecca Taichman as the musical’s director. Mandy Moore was announced to choreograph the musical originally, but has departed the project along with Taichman. Austin McCormick now handles choreography.

Nettles — best known as the lead vocalist of country duo Sugarland — first signalled her theatrical ambitions when she appeared in Waitress on Broadway, and she brings both star power and genuine songwriting credibility to this world premiere. With a contemporary score described as “laced with dangerous secrets and soulful” and a director in Mary Zimmerman whose stagecraft is among the most visually inventive in American theatre, this is one to watch closely — especially for any signs of a future Broadway transfer.

A Walk on the Moon Opens at Roundabout

Opening tonight at the Laura Pels Theatre, A Walk on the Moon is the musical adaptation of the beloved 1999 film — itself written by Pamela Gray, who also wrote the book for this stage version. It’s the Summer of 1969. Pearl Kantrowitz, a Brooklyn mother and housewife, takes the annual trip north to a Catskills bungalow colony just as the world begins to shift beneath her feet. The country is reaching for the moon. A new spirit of freedom is sweeping the nation. And an unexpected encounter leads her to a musical festival happening just around the corner. As the countercultural revolution begins, and music starts to change the world, Pearl awakens to a life beyond the one she’s always known.

The film starred Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen and Anna Paquin. For the stage, Roundabout has assembled an appealing cast led by Talia Suskauer alongside Broadway veterans Andréa Burns and Tovah Feldshuh. With music and lyrics by AnnMarie Milazzo and direction by Sheryl Kaller — who has a strong track record with female-centred drama — this Woodstock-era story of a woman awakening to her own desire feels perfectly calibrated for Roundabout’s intimate Off Broadway house. Keep an eye on this one for transfer conversations.

Birthright Opens at MCC Theater

Also opening tonight, at MCC Theater’s Newman Mills Theater, is Birthright — a new play from Jonathan Spector directed by Teddy Bergman that has generated significant pre-opening conversation for its willingness to tackle identity and political division head-on. What begins as a reunion among six young friends after a Birthright trip to Israel in 2006 becomes, over the span of 18 years, an exploration of identity, fracturing communities, and what it means to belong. As these friends grow up and the world around them shifts in seismic ways, they find themselves confronting essential questions: How do we carry the weight of history? How do we define who we are, and who we want to be? And what happens when the narratives we inherit no longer fit the lives we’re living?

The play’s subject matter — the fraught politics of Jewish identity, community fracture and the long arc of friendship tested by changing beliefs — is as timely as anything currently on a New York stage. With a strong ensemble cast including Hale Appleman, Molly Bernard, and Zoë Winters, and Teddy Bergman’s sensitive directorial touch, Birthright is one of the season’s most keenly watched new plays. MCC has a strong track record of nurturing work that finds its way uptown, and critics will be watching closely.

The Potluck Opens at Playwrights Horizons

Opening tomorrow night at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, The Potluck is perhaps the most formally adventurous of this week’s cluster of premieres. In 1979, five labor organizers were murdered at a protest in the streets of Greensboro, NC, by members of the KKK and the American Nazi Party. A year later, César James Alvarez was born into the survivor community and named for two of the victims. 37 years after that, César got a commission to write a musical about the Greensboro Massacre, but it turned into a show about ghosts… and capitalism… and how to recuperate from trauma that happened to you before you were even born.

The work is a deeply personal and formally unusual piece of theatre — at once a musical, a ghost story, a political reckoning, and an autobiographical meditation. Director Sarah Benson, one of downtown theatre’s most inventive minds, is the ideal collaborator for this kind of material. Playwrights Horizons has a long history of championing ambitious new work that re-draws what musical theatre can be, and The Potluck fits that lineage perfectly. Expect this to be the critics’ darling of the week.

La Cage aux Folles — Star-Studded Encores! Revival

Already in performances at New York City Center, the Encores! production of La Cage aux Folles has swiftly become one of the most talked-about shows in town — and for good reason. The cast includes Wayne Brady, Tonya Pinkins, Billy Porter, Alaman Diadhiou, James Jackson Jr., Michael McElroy, Sharon Washington, and Lance Coadie Williams. Performances began June 17 at New York City Center.

This is, on paper, one of the most spectacular casting coups Off Broadway has seen in some time. Wayne Brady and Billy Porter as the central couple in Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman’s musical is a combination that practically writes its own Broadway transfer pitch. New York City Center’s Encores! series has a long track record of launching productions that find their way to the main stem — the excitement surrounding this particular cast ensures that transfer rumours are already circulating loudly in the industry.

The production is running for a limited engagement at City Center, so those who want to experience what many are already calling the most joyful and emotionally generous musical theatre production of the summer should move quickly on tickets.

Rumour & Announcement: Spring Awakening Returns This Fall

In the most exciting piece of Off Broadway news to break this fortnight, Spring Awakening — Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s Tony Award-winning musical about teenage sexuality and repression set in 19th-century Germany — is officially returning to New York. Tony winner Danya Taymor will direct a new Off Broadway revival of Duncan Sheik and Seven Sater’s Spring Awakening this fall at Studio Seaview. Celia Rowlson-Hall will choreograph and Or Maias will serve as music supervisor. Open call auditions for the production will take place July 10 and 11.

Based on the 1891 Frank Wedekind play and set against the backdrop of a repressive and provincial late-19th-century Germany, Spring Awakening tells the timeless story of teenage self-discovery and budding sexuality as seen through the eyes of three teenagers. Spring Awakening was originally produced by the Atlantic Theater Company, before transferring to Broadway in the winter of 2006. The original Broadway production starred Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff and won the Tony triple-crown — Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score. A Deaf West Broadway revival followed in 2015.

Danya Taymor is a galvanising choice of director, with a track record of formally inventive, emotionally risky work. No casting has been announced yet — open call auditions on July 10 and 11 suggest the production may be looking beyond the usual suspect pool — and the Off Broadway setting at Studio Seaview suggests an intimate, reimagined staging rather than a traditional revival. This is one of the most eagerly anticipated Off Broadway announcements of the year.

Coming Soon: The Whoopi Monologues at Lincoln Center

Just around the corner from this week’s openings is one of the most anticipated Off Broadway productions of the summer. In 1984, up-and-coming monologist Whoopi Goldberg premiered her one-woman show on Broadway, torching the rulebook of traditional solo performance in one of the most electrifying debuts of the era. Now, the trailblazing work returns — but for a new generation. A remarkable ensemble of five women bring Goldberg’s unforgettable characters back to the stage. Funny, vivid, and deeply human, these nuanced portraits feel as fresh and irresistible today as they were over 40 years ago.

The casting alone makes this unmissable. Kerry Washington, Dominique Fishback, Kecia Lewis, Danielle Pinnock, and Kara Young — who all appeared together on The View on June 25 — form one of the most exciting ensembles Lincoln Center has assembled in years. Director Whitney White is fresh off her Tony-nominated work on School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, making her one of the most in-demand directors currently working in New York theatre. Previews begin July 6 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.

The Off Broadway Pipeline — What’s Coming Next

Beyond this week’s cluster of openings, the Off Broadway calendar for the rest of summer and early fall 2026 is already shaping up to be one of the most varied and ambitious in recent memory. Here’s a quick guide to what’s in the pipeline.

Particular attention is also being paid to Broad Strokes at the Lucille Lortel — comedian Cat Cohen’s one-woman musical show about surviving a stroke at 30, directed by Alex Timbers, which arrives July 27 and is already generating the kind of word-of-mouth buzz that tends to translate into extended runs and awards recognition. And Shifters at the Cherry Lane, a West End transfer starring Heather Agyepong and Daniel Ezra in Benedict Lombe’s epic love story, is one of the most exciting international imports of the summer.

Meanwhile, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play — Jocelyn Bioh’s beloved Off Broadway comedy — moves to Broadway’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in September, reuniting playwright Bioh with director Whitney White and featuring a cast that includes Patina Miller, Denée Benton, and Jasmine Amy Rogers. It is one of the most anticipated main-stem transfers of the fall season.

The overall picture is of an Off Broadway ecosystem that, despite the economic pressures facing the broader theatre industry — visible in this week’s news about Waitress and Beetlejuice cancelling their Australian tours — continues to punch well above its weight as a crucible for new American work and a launching pad for the shows that will define Broadway seasons to come.

Frequently Asked Questions