Welcome to Mashable’s first annual Greatest Theater Experiences of the 12 months checklist.
Whereas our leisure group’s important focus has lengthy been on movies and tv, we have many theater lovers in our ranks. And this 12 months, with all of the unbelievable reveals we have seen on stage, it appeared downright mistaken to not broaden our Better of 2025 lists to incorporate our favorites.
Now, there is a slight caveat right here in that we determined to do that checklist after some critically heralded reveals had already closed, and we had been subsequently unable to see them. (Apologies to Tony Award winner Objective and the much-buzzed-about West Finish manufacturing of Evita!) Then, there are some reveals which have gotten the web giddy, like Sundown Blvd. with its outside antics and Tony wins, or Ready for Godot for its most-excellent casting of Invoice & Ted‘s Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter within the lead roles. However when it got here all the way down to what we appreciated greatest, these revivals simply did not make the reduce.
So, what did? This checklist consists of productions which can be new, ongoing, and closed. Past that, we sorted our checklist by Off Broadway and Broadway, noting how one can see them (when you nonetheless can). Within the combine, we have got ingenious reinterpretations of basic reveals, musicals impressed by films, jaw-dropping new reveals, the Broadway sensation that retains us coming again, and the Broadway bomb that we thought deserved higher.
So, have a look for what tickets you should guide. And search for Mashable to tackle extra theater protection in 2026.
Better of Off Broadway 2025
The twenty fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The ensemble forged of “The twenty fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
Credit score: Joan Marcus
Off Broadway, new revival
Studying new phrases has by no means been extra enjoyable than in The twenty fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. William Finn, Rachel Sheinkin, and Rebecca Feldman’s beloved musical throws audiences right into a center faculty spelling showdown — typically actually, as 4 viewers members get to affix the spellers onstage. The high-stakes bee is not any peculiar competitors, although. It is also an invite into the younger spellers’ inside lives, as they take care of excessive strain, puberty, and household drama.
Danny Mefford’s Off Broadway revival of The twenty fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a continuous delight, brimming with relentless power and a stacked forged. It is undeniably enjoyable to observe a bunch of adults play center schoolers, however due to the actors’ dedication, your consciousness of the age discrepancy shortly disappears, changed by sheer funding in these youngsters’ success. Look no additional than when my complete viewers gasped every time somebody obtained a phrase mistaken. Like us, you may get sucked in very quickly, and go away with an entire host of musical bangers caught in your head. G-O S-E-E I-T! — Belen Edwards, Leisure Reporter
Starring: Philippe Arroyo, Autumn Greatest, Leana Rae Concepcion, Justin Cooley, Lilli Cooper, Jason Kravits, Matt Manuel, Kevin McHale, Jasmine Amy Rogers, Brandon L. Armstrong, Jahbril Prepare dinner, Emily N. Rudolph, and Cecilia Snow
Easy methods to watch: The twenty fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is now working till Apr. 12, 2026.
Critic’s Decide: Beau the Musical
Off Broadway, new
An Off-Broadway musical so profitable it bounced from one venue to a different and stored on rockin’, Beau the Musical unfurls the queer coming-of-age story of Ace Baker (Matt Rodin), a pop-country musician who discovered his love of music and himself by rising nearer to his estranged grandfather, Beau (Useless Outlaw‘s Jeb Brown).
Staged in a theater area/dive bar, Beau the Musical appears like wandering right into a live performance with the facility of flashbacks. Eight actor/musicians play each Baker’s band, after which additionally an array of characters, like his hard-as-nails mother, his greatest good friend, and the vicious bully on whom he had a complicated crush. Songs on this present run from rollicking to heartbreaking and again once more. 100 minutes with no intermission, it is a shifting and joyous celebration of affection, household, and music. And it is best loved with a beer (or arduous cider) in hand, so you can also really feel such as you’re on the porch with Beau and Ace, taking within the evening air and the guitar taking part in. — Kristy Puchko, Leisure Editor
Starring: Matt Rodin, Amelia Cormack, Luke Darnell, Seth Eliser, Andrea Goss, Ryan Halsaver, Tyler Donovan McCall, Miyuki Miyagi, Max Sangerman, Derek Stoltenberg, Lauren Jeanne Thomas, Rose Van Dyne, and Jeb Brown
Easy methods to watch: Beau the Musical is now taking part in at The Distillery at St. Luke’s Theatre by way of Jan. 4, 2026.
Gwyneth Goes Snowboarding
Off-Broadway, new
On a snowy day on the Deer Valley Ski Resort in Park Metropolis, Utah, a traditional optometrist by chance skied into a really well-known actor and wellness guru. The world could be modified ceaselessly.
Primarily based on the actual Gwyneth Paltrow trial and created by the dynamic duo behind impartial theater group Awkward Productions, Joseph Martin and Linus Karp, Gwyneth Goes Snowboarding has been a touring staple since 2023, with runs in London, Edinburgh Fringe, and Park Metropolis, Utah (the location of the now-infamous trial). This 12 months it took over NYC, too, with two separate Off-Broadway turns that introduced viewers members themselves to the stage. That is proper, the vast majority of the forged is solicited from the seats, like interactive dinner theater, who’re given their traces by way of a video monitor and audio cues. There are flying wigs, a sock puppet, props manned by what appears like a single overworked crew member. At one level, an viewers member stood up on prime of his seat to ship his line, and we threw wool snowballs on the stage. I made my Off-Broadway debut, too, as a totally-over-it resort shopkeeper. Congratulations to my fellow co-stars, Darren Criss (voice solely) and Trixie Mattel (video cameo as Blythe Danner).
The present’s fiercest critics think about it to be weighed down by the form of mind rot web humor that is changing into an increasing number of passé — the pre-show was only a slideshow of Paltrow’s filmography and Glee references. However I feel that is precisely the way you make near-cosmic ranges of self-referential humor and web memes work: with a pair bucks and nary a care on the planet. — Chase DiBenedetto, Social Good Reporter
Starring: Joseph Martin, Linus Karp, Darren Criss, Catherine Cohen, Trixie Mattel, the viewers
Easy methods to Watch: Gwyneth Goes Snowboarding closed off Broadway, however is doing limited-run reveals in Aspen, Colorado, and Los Angeles, California, in January.
Heathers: The Musical
Off Broadway, new revival
Earlier than there was Imply Ladies, there was Heathers. That is true of each the teenager comedies, and the stage musicals they impressed. This 2025 revival brings loads of snark, power, and camp.
Once I noticed it, Lorna Courtney starred as Veronica, the moody cool woman whose greatest buddies and worst enemies are the Heathers, a trio of vicious and widespread ladies. Recreating basic scenes from the 1988 film with songs that share its chunk, Heathers: The Musical is an outrageous evening on the theater. Positive, not all the massive film moments might be translated to the stage. However the guide and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy are good about the place they keep true and the place they broaden. Like, there’s a whole lot of catchy songs on this soundtrack. However for somebody who grew up quoting Heathers‘ darkest traces with buddies, the rousing quantity “My Useless Homosexual Son” had me rolling. — Okay.P.
Starring: Lorna Courtney, Casey Likes, McKenzie Kurtz, Kiara Michelle Lee, Elizabeth Teeter, Kerry Butler, Erin L. Morton, Xavier McKinnon, Cade Ostermeyer, Ben Davis, and Cameron Loyal
Easy methods to watch: Heathers: The Musical is now taking part in in New York by way of Mary 2026, plus reveals are supplied in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Messy White Gays
Derek Chadwick and Drew Droege in “Messy White Gays.”
Credit score: Marc J. Franklin
Off Broadway, new
Think about Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope minus the queer subtext, and simply scads and scads of queer textual content. American comic Drew Droege, whom millennials would possibly keep in mind as Chloë Sevigny for a sequence of scorching net movies, satirizes homosexual tradition and white privilege with Hitch’s acquainted framework.
Lights up on two younger males strangling a 3rd to dying. That is their throuple-mate, whom they’ve each grown to detest. However how will they disguise his physique — particularly when a gaggle of their get together friends are due for Sunday brunch any minute!? This deeply absurd premise is about in a high-rise residence with a view of Central Park, however the humor is determinedly and deliciously lowbrow. The kooky forged of characters gleefully skew archetypes of queer males, from the femme theater boy to the himbo gymnasium rat, the OnlyFans mannequin, and the twink with extra money than sense. Then, there’s Droege, who makes a grand entrance as a nosey neighbor who proceeds to learn everybody on stage like he is Dorothy from The Golden Ladies. Merely put, Messy White Gays is outlandish, hilarious, and unapologetically for homosexual folks by homosexual folks. — Okay.P.
Starring: Drew Droege, Derek Chadwick, James Cusati-Moyer, Aaron Jackson, and Pete Zias
Easy methods to watch: Messy White Gays is ongoing till Jan. 11.
Critic’s Decide: A Streetcar Named Need
Off Broadway, new revival
Is that this a protected area to confess I by no means appreciated A Streetcar Named Need? My introduction to the Tennessee Williams basic, which debuted on Broadway in 1947, was the 1951 movie adaptation staring Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski. And I simply could not perceive this Stanley, who was such a crude brute but drew Stella towards him by screaming like a wounded animal. Effectively, this revival — which was borne on the West Finish with two sold-out runs — made me perceive Stanley and Streetcar as I by no means had earlier than.
Paul Mescal introduced his Unhappy Boy power to Kowalski, remodeling the character I solely knew by way of Brando. Mescal infused the character with a rage that not solely hurts these round him, however immolates himself. Reverse Patsy Ferran as Blanche, he was snarling beast and bully. However earlier than the 2 have their most climactic battle, Mescal exhibiting off Stanley’s silk pajamas hit totally different. He was exhibiting a tender facet to Blanche, pondering she’d perceive it — perceive him. However when she rejects him (due to every part earlier than), he turns violent and violating. He despises Blanche for the softness she has, as a result of his personal has been so lengthy denied. And in that, the tragedy of Streetcar hit me like — nicely, a streetcar. Earlier than, I felt sympathy for these girls, however Stanley felt such a caricature of poisonous masculinity I could not make sense of how they match. Now, right here, the place all are equally ferocious and punished for vulnerability, I used to be in awe and tears. I used to be actually on the ground. Okay, in order that final half was as a result of the BAM run bought out tickets so quick that added literal ground seats (a cushion actually on the ground earlier than the stage). However you recognize what, I’ve paid extra for method worse seats this 12 months. (Sorry, Vanya.) — Okay.P.
Starring: Paul Mescal, Patsy Ferran, and Anjana Vasan
Easy methods to watch: A Streetcar Named Need ran Feb.-April 2025, however is now closed.
Tartuffe
Bianca Del Rio in New York Theatre Workshop’s ‘Tartuffe.’
Credit score: Valerie Terranova
Off Broadway, new
In a wild little bit of symmetry, theater director Sarah Benson helmed the primary manufacturing I noticed in 2025, and the final! In January, I used to be delighted to see one of many remaining performances of Tooth, a chaotic and hilarious musical adaptation of the horror movie that imagined what would possibly occur if a teen woman had the notorious vagina dentata (aka, tooth in vagina)! And this month, I closed out every week of a lot theater-seeing with the newly debuted revival Tartuffe! And fortunate me, as a result of Benson is aware of how you can make a comedy really outrageous.
Initially written by Molière in 1664, Tartuffe facilities on the titular charlatan (Matthew Broderick) who claims to be Christian, whereas driving a rich French household to bickering, division, and shenanigans. However this Off-Broadway revival is not the farce I studied in faculty. Author Lucas Hnath leans into bawdiness and frank crassness, permitting his characters to learn one another to filth and curse all through — whereas rhyming! An ideal introduction to this take is RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Bianca Del Rio, who opens the present by strutting in, adorned in fierce Seventeenth-century vogue and spitting barbs in any respect in her view. From there, it is a no-bullshit housekeeper who will drag each prosperous idiot on this home. And the jibes are as hilarious because the bodily comedy. One other present with no intermission, Tartuffe is a terrifically entertaining evening on the theater, and star-studded as well. —Okay.P.
Starring: Matthew Broderick, David Cross, Bianca Del Rio, Amber Grey, Ryan J. Haddad, Emily Davis, Ikechukwu Ufomadu, Lisa Kron, and Francis Jue
Mashable High Tales
Easy methods to watch: Tartuffe is working by way of Jan. 24, 2026.
Twelfth Night time
Off Broadway, new revival
There’s magic in publicly funded artwork. There’s love in a bunch of New Yorkers gathered collectively in a single place, lastly off their toes, to observe that magic be made, only a few months earlier than the town would rally collectively in one of many biggest political campaigns of the twenty first century. It is why this 12 months’s free Shakespeare within the Park manufacturing of Twelfth Night time — the primary in Central Park’s newly renovated Delacorte Theater — was maybe the very best to ever do it.
It is certainly one of Shakespeare’s basic comedies: a pair of separated twins, a girl pretending to be a person (whereas falling in love with one other man), pranks and miscommunication, a satisfying ending. However this model is a bit more queer, a bit extra musical, and even funnier than the unique, soundtracked by the sultry songs and guitar strums of Moses Sumney in a standout efficiency as Feste. I feel I communicate for everybody (even you, Tina Fey, who sat behind me) after I say Lupita Nyong’o’s gender-swapping efficiency, full with small mustache and expertly tailor-made Brooks Brothers go well with to match her real-life sibling and co-star Junior Nyong’o, stirred one thing carnal.
By the top, we had been enrapt. Town was uproarious. The forged strutted onto stage in glimmering festooned clothes and danced with the group for his or her bows. Stage lights mirrored off of sequins and up into the New York Metropolis sky to fill the area the place stars had been missed. A being floating above might have seemed down and noticed these celestial beings proper there, not up within the evening however sat across the Delacorte — a bunch of performers, of viewers members, of artists, of arduous employees. All equals, all there to take pleasure in somewhat Shakespeare funded by one another, constructed for one another, in love with one another. — C.D.
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, Peter Dinklage, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Moses Sumney, Khris Davis, Junior Nyong’o, b, John Ellison Conlee, and Kapil Talwalkar
Easy methods to Watch: Twelfth Night time ran the summer time of 2025, and has since closed, however a recorded efficiency is accessible on PBS.
Vanya
Off Broadway, new
One of many hardest tickets to get this 12 months was Vanya. A daring reinvention of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, this manufacturing — from author Simon Stephens, director Sam Yates, and designer Rosanna Vize — reimagined the 1897 drama a few household farm, ripe with heartache, right into a one-man present. And what one man might pull it off? It was Andrew Scott, who has awed audiences with Sherlock, Fleabag, and Ripley. First, he wowed the West Finish with a sold-out run. Then, he got here throughout the pond to Off Broadway, the place critics cheered and audiences clamored for tickets.
Scott was excellent, taking part in a cavalcade of roles. With a tilt of his head, or the selecting up of a prop, or the softening of his tone, he gracefully remodeled from a chic girl to a fumbling physician, or wizened professor, or sheepish woman. A easy stage with one set and easy props, he made use of all of it. Nonetheless, the seats on the mezzanine on the Lucille Lortel Theatre are removed from perfect for such a staging. Any time Scott went towards the very entrance of the stage, or obtained on his knees even halfway downstage, the entire of the mezzanine’s viewers would shift to search out him once more, inflicting a wave of motion as all of us blocked one another’s view. This frustration apart, the present itself was fascinating. The arguably gimmicky strategy basically erases the concept that we persons are all that totally different, or maybe reveals how all of us comprise multitudes. For Scott followers, it was a showcase of his vary and vulnerability. And you may stream it now. — Okay.P.
Starring: Andrew Scott
Easy methods to watch: Vanya ran from March 10 to Could 11 off Broadway. Although now, closed, a recorded efficiency of Vanya might be streamed by way of the Nationwide Theater.
Better of Broadway 2025
Loss of life Turns into Her
Broadway, ongoing
Loss of life Turns into Her is certainly one of my all-time favourite films. The comedy-noir is about two feuding besties whose battle over a mediocre man leads them to take a youth potion that offers them again their appears, however at a twisted value. And for Broadway, it now has comical songs added to the macabre slapstick.
I’ve seen the present twice, as soon as with Megan Hilty and as soon as along with her understudy, Kaleigh Cronin. And each instances, it is a terrifically humorous and rousing time — which is nice information, as Hilty exits the manufacturing in January. Props to author of the guide, Marco Pennette, with lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, for maintaining true to Martin Donovan and David Koepp’s sublimely foolish and surly script, whereas discovering new extremes to push Mad (Hilty) and Hel (Jennifer Simard). Props to the divas who introduced them to contemporary life, and cheers to the intelligent stunts and results group who turns falling down the steps into an epic comedian climax. No surprise TikTok’s been going wild for its soundbites. —Okay.P.
Starring: Megan Hilty, Christopher Sieber, Jennifer Simard, and Michelle Williams
Easy methods to watch: Loss of life Turns into Her is now on Broadway, with a North American Tour coming in 2026.
Critic’s Decide: John Proctor Is the Villain
Broadway, new revival
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible will get reframed in Kimberly Belflower’s revelatory John Proctor Is the Villain. The play takes place in a small Georgia city in 2018, when a spate of sexual harassment allegations pressure a classroom of highschool college students to rethink who the true villain of The Crucible is. Is it Abigail Williams, who spearheads the Salem witch hunt? Or might or not it’s John Proctor, the supposedly “good man” who started a relationship with the a lot youthful Abigail?
The reconsideration of an American basic turns John Proctor Is the Villain right into a considerate, thorny exploration of feminism and the #MeToo motion. Every of the present’s younger characters strategy the difficulty otherwise, from the rage-filled Shelby (Sadie Sink, later changed by Chiara Aurelia, whom I noticed within the position) to the conflicted Beth (Fina Strazza). The result’s an exquisitely layered ensemble, all delivered to life by an extremely gifted forged. As if that weren’t sufficient, the present’s remaining 5 minutes are essentially the most cathartic theatrical expertise I’ve ever had: a uncooked exorcism of a dance scene set to Lorde’s “Inexperienced Mild.” You may by no means hear the music the identical method once more. — B.E.
Starring: Sadie Sink, Chiara Aurelia, Nihar Duvvuri, Gabriel Ebert, Molly Griggs, Maggie Kuntz, Hagan Oliveras, Morgan Scott, Fina Strazza, Amalia Yoo, Noah Pacht, Fiona Robberson, Shian Tomlinson, Garrett Younger, and Victoria Vourkoutiotis
Easy methods to watch: John Proctor Is the Villain ran on Broadway from April 11 to Sept. 7. It’s now closed.
Critic’s Decide: Simply In Time
Broadway, new
Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff is within the position he was born as Bobby Darin. Look, I did not know something concerning the American singer earlier than seeing the jukebox musical Simply In Time. However a part of the brilliance of the guide by Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver is that it is written with fourth-wall breaks that permit the present to be not nearly Darin, but additionally about Groff.
The Circle within the Sq. Theatre, which Groff calls accurately “the basement of Depraved,” is lit to seem like a blinding evening membership. Curtains, levels, and central tables the place viewers members might be part of the motion, are all draped in attractive blue lighting. Groff explodes onto stage together with his beaming band and his sirens, an extremely gifted trio of dancers/singers. And he introduces himself, shares his enthusiasm after which dives into the story of Bobby Darin, with assist from an ensemble that’s audaciously gifted.
Once I went, Sarah Hyland and Sadie Dickerson performed the loves of Darin’s life, Connie Francis and Sandra Dee, respectively. And so they had been outstanding, shifting from bubbly romance to aching loss. (Hyland specifically had the viewers sobbing with a teary “Who’s Sorry Now.”) In the meantime, Valeria Yamin as Darin’s mom is a bawdy broad I fell for arduous. However even the smaller gamers like Joe Barbara, who performs Bobby’s gruff brother-in-law, supervisor, and cigarette-chomping digital camera operator, are charming. However after all, Groff is the headliner. And he is nearly as good as you’d anticipate, even higher.
He explodes on stage, singing and dancing (and sure, spitting) just like the residing Broadway legend he’s. It’s a very “moist” efficiency, and people aforementioned lights imply you’ll be able to see simply how a lot Groff is giving with each projection. However whereas followers would possibly lovingly joke concerning the wetness (as Groff does in a gap speech), it is that radiant ardour for performing that makes him a marvel. He shines, vibrant and dazzling, in each second of Simply In Time. And the staging, which runs from one stage to a different, up the steps of the viewers and again once more, makes the entire theater really feel part of the present. I can say with confidence that I’ve by no means seen something like this. Is it like seeing Darin on the Copa? I could not say. However I can say this present, nominated for six Tonys, together with Greatest Efficiency by a Lead Actor in a Musical, Simply In Time is completely excellent. Get tickets when you can. — Okay.P.
Starring: Jonathan Groff, Sarah Hyland, Sadie Dickerson, Valeria Yamin, Claire Camp, Julia Grondin, Michele Pawk, Emily Bergl, Caesar Samayoa, and Lance Roberts
Easy methods to watch: Simply In Time is now taking part in on Broadway by way of March 2026.
Critic’s Decide: Liberation
Broadway, new
What on the planet occurred between the activism of ’70s-era feminism and right this moment, when the federal government is revoking hard-won wins like the appropriate to an abortion? That is the daunting query playwright Bess Wohl wrestles with in her staggering play Liberation, which alternates between the ’70s and current. Previously, aspiring reporter Lizzie (Susannah Flood) begins a girls’s group in a highschool gymnasium. Many years later, her daughter (additionally performed by Flood) reconnects with the remaining group members to raised perceive not simply the motion, however her mom as nicely.
Liberation‘s folding of time makes for a robust reminder of how lots of the similar points girls confronted 50 years in the past nonetheless echo right this moment, in addition to a shifting mother-daughter story. (See it together with your mother for the Liberation 4D expertise.) Elsewhere, the group assembly scenes present highly effective moments of catharsis, as Lizzie’s group — all girls from totally different walks of life — commiserate over sexism they face at work and at dwelling. Nonetheless, Liberation additionally acknowledges the failings of second-wave feminism, together with its failure to create space for Black girls. Right here, Wohl reckons along with her personal position as a white playwright. Who will get to inform whose story, and the way? The play does not attain any tidy solutions on this, or on its central questions on feminism. However given such a sprawling subject, who might? As a substitute, it is Liberation‘s personal acknowledgement of its limits that turns it into such an astounding work. — B.E.
Starring: Betsy Aidem, Audrey Corsa, Kayla Davion, Susannah Flood, Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sofia Lucio, Charlie Thurston, Adina Verson, Britt Faulkner, Leeanne Hutchison, Matt E. Russell, and Kedren Spencer
Easy methods to watch: Liberation runs on Broadway till Feb. 1.
Oedipus
Broadway, new
Although Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex dates again to about 428 BC, you do not must be a classics fanatic to know this story is about an actual motherfucker. The Greek tragedy facilities on the eponymous man, who’s undone by discovering he is killed his father and bedded his mom.
Mark Robust stars because the eponymous politician, who’s run his election marketing campaign on a coverage of reality — all the time. On election evening, he gathers together with his household on the marketing campaign HQ, seeking to have a good time. The long run is vibrant. He appears sure to win the election, and as soon as he does, he’ll do as he is promised, revealing his delivery certificates to the general public, and discovering the actual killer of the long-dead ruler Elis [Laius?]. However the go to from a blind soothsayer (Samuel Brewer) sours issues with a disturbing prediction.
Author/director Robert Icke updates Oedipus with a contemporary setting and a agency consciousness that his viewers is aware of what’s coming. So, there’s a whole lot of ironic traces about Oedipus and his spouse/mom that the characters on stage don’t notice are jokes, however we do. However this similar certainty from the viewers ramps up stress as Oedipus doggedly pursues the reality. Onstage, a literal timer counts down because the play rolls on, however counting all the way down to what? You understand. It is likely to be gimmicky, particularly as scene transitions occur with the clock audibly ticking away the seconds. However when the massive reveal hits, and the timer hits zero — I felt it hit arduous in my intestine.
Admittedly, the staging of the present — set totally in a minimalistic workplace — is a bit boring, seeming an excessive amount of like an office TV present than a Broadway spectacle. However Lesley Manville turned me round on the present, which has no intermission to interrupt its stress. As Jocasta, mom and lover of Oedipus, she goes from breezy to tormented as darkish truths are unearthed. She delivers monologues that radiate with rage and ache, and nonetheless rattle in my head days later. When she declares, “Cowardice is usually the price of survival,” I felt my coronary heart crumble for her. And I might see by the counter, we nonetheless had a methods to go earlier than the horrible, tragic finish. A nail-biter, certainly. — Okay.P.
Starring: Mark Robust, Lesley Manville, Anne Reid, John Carroll Lynch, Teagle F. Bougere, Samuel Brewer, Ani Mesa-Perez, Bhasker Patel, Olivia Reis, Jordan Scowen, and James Wilbraham
Easy methods to watch: Oedipus is now taking part in by way of Feb. 8.
Critic’s Decide: Oh, Mary!
Broadway, ongoing
Famously, Cole Escola wrote a juicy position for themselves by making a historic comedy about Mary Todd Lincoln that cares much more about “bratty curls” and unhealthy attitudes than precise historical past. And thank the theater gods. From its 2024 to 2025, Oh, Mary! went from buzzy Off-Broadway hit to a Tony Award–profitable Broadway smash.
Originating the position, Escola scored the Tony for taking part in Mary Todd Lincoln as a booze-swilling, cabaret-obsessed maniac. However as new leads stepped into these character sneakers, Oh, Mary! proved it might survive with out Escola’s distinctive star energy. Betty Gilpin, Tituss Burgess, Jinkx Monsoon, and Jane Krakowski all adopted. Between the Mashable employees, we have seen each incarnation of the present to date. And with its outrageous humor, twisted turns, and crackling comedic timing, it is a reliably sensational evening on the theater. (For everybody however Abe).
30 Rock‘s Jane Krakowski is at present within the position on the Nice White Means. Enjoying it like Jenna Maroney, she’s completely hilarious in her dedication to each bit, whereas Cheyenne Jackson is stealthily hysterical as Mary’s surprising good friend. Jinkx Monsoon, who took the position this summer time, will return in January for one more stint, adopted by John Cameron Mitchell. And throughout the pond, Oh, Mary! has opened with Mason Alexander Park tossing the bratty curls. So select your fighter, and have some fucked-up enjoyable. — Okay.P.
Starring: Cole Escola, Betty Gilpin, Tituss Burgess, Jinkx Monsoon, Jane Krakowski, and Mason Alexander Park
Easy methods to watch: Oh, Mary! is now taking part in on Broadway by way of July 2026 and on the West Finish.
The Queen of Versailles
Broadway, new
See it when you can! Depraved‘s composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz and first Galinda Kristin Chenoweth reunited for this wild musical based mostly on a critically heralded 2012 documentary. However critics met this musical adaptation with brutal opinions.
And but, I appreciated it! This musical interpretation reimagines the lifetime of Jackie Siegel, a trophy spouse who dreamed of constructing the citadel of Versailles in Florida, right into a darkly comedian — and positively campy — parable. As I wrote in my assessment, “Jackie turns into a tragic determine, like King Lear or Anna Nicole Smith.” And her obsession with extra, extra, extra will value her dearly.
Plus, “Like she did as Glinda with ‘In style,’ Chenoweth is a pressure of unrepentant whimsy as she trots and glides across the stage in furiously sequined mini-dresses and heels.” She’s a legend of Broadway for a motive, and he or she reminds us all why with Queen of Versailles. — Okay.P.
Starring: Kristin Chenoweth, F. Murray Abraham, Tatum Grace Hopkins, and Nina White
Easy methods to watch: Queen of Versailles is now on Broadway till Dec. 21.
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Throughout New York)
Broadway, new
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Throughout New York) is precisely what it appears like, and a lot extra. This charming two-person present sees Robin (Christiani Pitts), a jaded Brooklynite, cross paths with Dougal (Sam Tutty), an Englishman in New York Metropolis for the very first time. They’re headed to the identical marriage ceremony, however first, they have to usher the cake from Brooklyn to Manhattan. It isn’t lengthy earlier than their errand morphs into an opportunity at deeper connection.
Robin and Dougal’s ensuing journey is an lovable New York odyssey that’ll go away you fizzing. Whereas its songs by no means fairly attain the highs of opening quantity “New York,” Two Strangers runs on Pitts’ and Tutty’s charming performances. She’s an everlasting bundle of cool, he is an excitable Golden Retriever, and collectively, they each have a lot of luggage to unpack — a truth made literal by the set made up of large items of baggage. Unique and inventively staged, Two Strangers is an endearing deal with. — B.E.
Starring: Christiani Pitts, Sam Tutty, Phoenix Greatest, and Vincent Michael
Easy methods to watch: Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Throughout New York) is now taking part in on Broadway by way of July 6.
