Off-Broadway experiences -2025/2026

[Melissa25]

Posted: 12/20/25 at 11:35am

Here are my best Off-Broadway experiences for 2025. I have made an effort to support more regional theaters so I am including a section on that too along with what I am looking forward to in 2026.  

I would love to hear your best of Off-Broadway and Regional theater experiences of 2025 as well as what you are looking forward to the most in 2026.

Off-Broadway 2025

Excellent (4-5 Stars):

And Then We Were No More - LaMama

Gotta Dance - York Theater Company

Grangeville - Signature Theater

Meet the Cartozians - 2nd Stage

Wine in the Wilderness - Classic Stage Company

 

Enjoyable (3 Stars):

Ava:The Secret Conversations 

Deep Blue Sound - Clubbed Thumb

Liberation - Roundabout

Lunar Eclipse - 2nd Stage

The Seat of Our Pants - The Public

We Had a World - Manhattan Theater Company

 

Underwhelming / Not for Me (1-2 Stars):

This World of Tomorrow - The Shed 

 

Best Road-trip Theater Experiences:

A Case for the Existence of God – Chester Theater Company – Chester, MA

Anne of Green Gables – Stratford Festival – Ontario, Canada

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – Stratford Festival – Ontario, Canada

Frozen – Papermill

fuzzy – Barrington Stage – Pittsfield, MA

Hello Dolly – Lyric Stage – Boston, MA

Maltby & Shire’s revue About Time – Goodspeed Terris Theater – Chester, CT

Murder on the Links – Two River Theater – Red Bank, NJ

The Light in the Piazza – The Huntington – Boston, MA

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) – A.R.T. – Cambridge, MA

 

Looking forward to in 2026:

Musicals

1776 - Papermill

A Chorus Line - Barrington Stage

Black Swan - A.R.T. Cambridge, MA

Cold War Choir Practice - MCC / Clubbed Thumb (play with music)

Elephant Shoes - Deaf West / Two River Theater Company - Red Bank, NJ

Girl, Interrupted - The Public

Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo - PACNYC

Monte Cristo - York Theater Company

Spelling Bee - New World Stages

Starstruck - Buck’s County Playhouse

Sweeney Todd - Hartford Stage - Hartford, CT

The Snow Goose - Goodspeed - East Haddam, CT

West Side Story - Papermill

Young Frankenstein - Theater 3 - Port Jefferson, NY

Plays

A Woman Among Women - Lincoln Center Theater

Chinese Republicans - Roundabout

Eureka Day - The Huntington – Boston, MA

Marcel on the Train - Classic Stage

Mother Russia - Signature Theater

The Cannibals of McGower County - Theaterworks Hartford

The Dinosaurs - Playwrights Horizons

You Got Older - Cherry Lane

 

 

 

[Yessica Haircut]

Posted: 12/20/25 at 1:56pm

My personal Off-Broadway highlights:

• Liberation
• Ghosts at Lincoln Center
• We Had A World
• Eurydice
• Sexual Misconducts of the Middle Class (both for the play itself and the fact that it was one of those rare occasions where I won the lottery for tickets)
• Bat Boy (easily my favorite production at City Center this year)
• Gruesome Playground Injuries
• MasterVoices' Sweet Smell of Success
• The Baker's Wife
• NTLive broadcasts of Inter Alia and The Fifth Step

Honorable Mentions:

• Encores' Urinetown (which I found entertaining enough) and Love Life (if only for the experience)
• Kowalski (liked it, but didn't love it)
• Curse of the Starving Class (unpopular opinion, perhaps, but I thought it was a decent production)
• Lunar Eclipse (a sweet and simple 90 minutes)
• Archduke (the play itself was interesting, but Patrick Page and Kristine Nielsen made the whole experience)
• Tartuffe at NYTW (a flawed production, but still enjoyable)
• Anna Christie (not nearly as bad as I had been hearing; despite some unnecessary choreography and questionable design choices, the performances and overall aesthetic made up for it)

The only negative I will admit to: I have never wanted to walk out on a show as badly as I did with Reunions

My only Road-trip Theater Experience was Camino Real at Williamstown - my first time back there since 2018 - the production was a mixed bag, but I'm glad I got to see the play itself.

Updated On: 12/20/25 at 01:56 PM

[inception]

Posted: 12/20/25 at 8:19pm

I wrote about these at length back when I took my Spring trip, but seeing Ivo Van Hove's Dutch adaptation of Angels in America in Amsterdam was a highlight of the year for me.  As was the Dutch National Opera's modern setting production of Die Frau Ohne Schatten.

I really had a good time in the Summer at the San Francisco Playhouse's production of My Fair Lady.  Having Higgens and Pickering played by actors in their early 30's made so much more sense than what we often get with this show.

I didn't see Heathers I NYC because last Winter the student production at Vancouver's Langara College was so good it scratched any itch I had for that show.  (This coming February they're doing Something Rotten & I'm looking forward to that.)

Vancouver's outdoor Summer theatre companies had two great offerings in 2025 with a feminist take on Two Gentlemen of Verona at Bard on the Beach, and a young energetic cast that pulled off Charlie & the Chocolate Factory at Theatre Under the Stars.  (If you ever think about visiting Vancouver, Summer is the time to go as that's when we have our best weather.  We complain about heat waves here when we get to 90° - without the humidity you get out East.)

Updated On: 12/20/25 at 08:19 PM

[Melissa25]

Posted: 12/20/25 at 9:01pm

inception: If you ever think about visiting Vancouver, Summer is the time to go as that's when we have our best weather.

A Pacific Northwest trip is on the bucket list for 2027. You had also previously shared about the Ohio Light Opera Festival which I added to my travel list. I may take in their My Fair Lady this summer if I can work it out.

[inception]

Posted: 12/21/25 at 8:07am

I wrote a longer reply, but then it got lost before I could hit post.

There's so much to see out here, but it all depends on how much driving you want to do.  I recommend the Oregon Coast as a driving trip over Vancouver Island - which is also very popular with tourists.  Being in Oregon would get you closer to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  I've only gone once since it is a long drive from me (about 10 hours) but it was a great trip with lots of good memories.   

For city vacations when looking at how to spend time between Seattle & Vancouver - Vancouver has better beaches and parks & hiking right close to the city, but Seattle has better theatre and events.  

I had to do some googling when I wrote this up the first time to try & remember the year,  & figured out it was back in August of 2004 when I had one fantastic long weekend in Seattle where I saw Liza Minnelli do a big outdoor concert on the Pier (it might have been part of Seafair which is usually the first weekend in August) & then the next night saw Lohengrin at Seattle Opera.  In between, in the wee hours in the village, I also struck up a little romance with a hot Latino guy.

 Liza, Lohengrin, & a Latino would only ever happen in Seattle.

 

[CukorLover]

Posted: 12/21/25 at 10:57am

Just curious why more people haven't posted about BEAU The Musical here? I know it's been running for a bit and closes in two weeks. I've read a lot of positives on social media, other review outlets and Show Score. I'm considering going to see it, but wonder what others here have to say about it. Thanks.

[Ensemble1711444445]

Posted: 12/21/25 at 12:11pm

CukorLover said: "Just curious why more people haven't posted about BEAU The Musical here? I know it's been running for a bit and closes in two weeks. I've read a lot of positives on social media, other review outlets and Show Score. I'm considering going to see it,but wonderwhat others here have to say about it. Thanks."



 

 

Updated On: 12/22/25 at 12:11 PM