Why be a ghost when you can be glamorous, undead, painted, bewitched, bewigged, robotic, romantic, and delightfully theatrical? This year, skip the generic costumes and pull your Halloween inspiration straight from Broadway, where clothing becomes character and drama is the dress code.
From camp horror to high-gloss glamour, here is how to dress Broadway for Halloween using inspiration from this season and last.
Beetlejuice: The Demon’s in the Details
For the Halloween personality who thrives on chaos and eyeliner. Think black and white stripes, gravity-defying hair, corpse bride lace, and the unhinged smirk of someone who absolutely should not be trusted with ancient magic.
Carry a sandworm-striped bag for candy. Required line: “It’s showtime.”
The Queen of Versailles: Haunted Luxury
Sequins. Sky-high hair. Diamonds for days. A look that says “I built my empire” with undertones of “and now I haunt the foyer.”
Serve billionaire glam with a ghostly twist. Think undead Palm Beach royalty meets Broadway spotlight.
ART: A Walking Canvas
Minimalist but dramatic. Wear white from head to toe and add bold paint streaks as if you left a gallery fight or started one.
Carry a miniature blank canvas. Gaze at strangers like their taste in art disappoints you deeply.
The Rocky Horror Show: Time Warp Energy
Corsets, pearls, fishnets, platform heels, smoky eyeliner. This costume is about power, sensuality, camp confidence, and zero shame.
If you break into the Time Warp in the kitchen, you are doing it right.
Maybe Happy Ending: Romantic Retro Robots
A softer sci-fi look. Pastel tones, gentle wiring accents, subtle metallic glow, vintage headphones, and a record tucked gently under your arm.
You are a robot discovering love and vinyl. The most important accessory is sincerity.
Death Becomes Her: Immortal Glamour
Old Hollywood elegance with a supernatural glitch. Sleek satin, refined pearls, immaculate hair and makeup plus one tasteful sign of stylish demise.
Suggest eternal beauty with slightly cursed undertones. Just try not to lose an arm at the party.
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York): Sweet Meet-Cute Style
For those who prefer charm over fear. Effortlessly cool New York wardrobe, a bakery box, and rom-com energy.
A love story costume for people who arrive fashionably late but with dessert.
More Broadway Inspirations to Steal
Water for Elephants: vintage circus glamour and sawdust sparkle The Wiz: technicolor emerald chic with gold-power energy Back to the Future: 1980s denim, lab coat, messy genius hair, hoverboard prop Hadestown: industrial romance, deep colors, flower crown with edge Cabaret: Berlin club decadence, smoky eyes, suspenders, satin shorts Suffs: historical sashes, structured jackets, hats, determined purpose
A hilarious, side-splitting lesson on the power of subjectivity and personal conviction between friends.
Performing for only 17 weeks at The Music Box Theatre, ART on Broadway delivers laughs as big as the A-list cast. Set in Paris, present day, you can easily expect to be tickled by the dry quips shared between three best friends, as early as the opening act.
Bobby Cannavale’s character, Marc, finds himself utterly confused by the six-figure purchase of a painting acquired by his friend, Serge, played by Neil Patrick Harris. The tug of war between two strong opinions, where Marc sees a silly, expensive mistake while Serge sees a modern masterpiece, can only be won with a third player playing both sides. Enter their friend, Yvan, played by the delightfully dizzying James Corden, who’s too consumed with his own potentially expensive predicament to care about another’s art choice.
Corden is the angsty, high strung, high octane compliment to Cannavale’s confident swagger and Harris’ steady matter-of-factness. The chemistry and playful dynamics between the three friends are most convincing. The battle of differing opinions or the inability to commit to one at all, tests the loyalty between the friends, revealing the sneaky ways in which subjectivity can crack even long held bonds.
Will one painting ruin the friendships of three grown men? See ART on Broadway by December 21, 2025 at New York’s storied Music Box Theatre to find out. Playwright Yasmina Reza and Director Scott Ellis have executed a very fun and funny feat that’s only 100 minutes long.
It’s easy to expect critiques of fine art to be dramatic. But if you can make it hilarious as well, then why not go ahead and call it a masterpiece. Depending on who you ask, of course.
When quadruple threat (writer, composer, director, and producer) Eli Bauman began sketching out what would become 44: The Musical, he wasn’t in a writers’ room or a rehearsal hall; he was sitting alone in a Ramada Inn near the Charlotte airport.
What started as a moment of disbelief in 2016 has grown into one of Off-Broadway’s most surprising hits: a satirical pop-R&B musical about the Obama years, written, composed, directed, and produced by a man who freely admits he “had no idea what he was doing.”
Finding the spark
Jim Glaub: Was there a moment where you thought, I’ve got to make a musical?
Eli Bauman: Yeah, I can fairly pinpoint it. It was 2016. I want to say November 5th, right on Election Day of 2016. I worked on the Obama campaign in 2008. I spent a fairly frustrating two weeks working on the Hillary campaign [in 2012], which is about as much as I could do at that time. So the results came in. I was alone in a hotel room by the Charlotte airport and I thought back. I was like, “Wow, only eight years ago I was on the strip of Las Vegas celebrating. How did we get here?”
I just started laughing to myself as I do in moments of pain. And I just thought, you know, this is so absurd. And I had been thinking about taking a stab at writing a musical. I had no experience at all. But I was coming off of working on a show called Maya and Marty, and I ended up writing most of the music that appeared on that show basically out of sheer terror. I somewhat lied—well, it’s hard to say—I kind of lied to get that job. They were looking for a comedy writer who wrote music and they were like, “You can do that, right?” And I was like, “Sure, give me a weekend to just clean something up and send it to you.” There was nothing to clean up because there was nothing. So, in a panic, I went home over the weekend and plunked out something on the piano to write for Maya Rudolph because she did a Michelle Obama impression.
That song is actually in the show. I’m incredibly productive under immense amounts of pressure and entirely unproductive with anything short of an immense amount of pressure. I wrote the majority of the show during the pandemic because I couldn’t work. My wife and I had a three-year-old and then she was pregnant. So, my wife kept working and I took care of the kids and wrote this musical.
“The beauty of not knowing what you’re doing.”
JG: It’s such a dual thing—the politics and the theatre, both having the fake it till you make it energy. You said, “Well, yeah, I can do it,” and then you actually did it.
EB: I did. And it’s the beauty of not knowing what you’re doing—you also don’t know what you’re not supposed to do.
JG: Because you were fresh to the world of theatre, it freed you from the tropes?
EB: It helped creatively, too, because I couldn’t—and still can’t—write anything that’s particularly recognizable as musical theatre from a trophy standpoint. It’s just not in my wheelhouse. The whole show is just pop songs, R&B songs—they’re all very radio friendly. That turns out to be the thing I can do: write hooks. So I feel like this show works for people who have seen Wicked 25 times and also people who had never heard of Wicked until the movie came out.
Building the sound of satire
JG: You wouldn’t have called yourself a composer before this. How did you land on what kind of music it should be?
EB: There’s a song that I’m very proud of in the show called How Black Is Too Black… and obviously I am not Black—spoiler alert—so I suppose it is risky for me to take this on. But I thought, what is a style of music that rides the edge of something that is a traditionally Black musical form, but white people are able to digest it? And I thought, okay, Motown is kind of that sound. How Black Is Too Black is a very kind of Motown-feeling, evergreen type of sound.
In the show, Sarah Palin has a big opening number. I conceived of her as this big rock figure—knee-high leather boots, verging on dominatrix. I had this one kind of cool guitar line in my head that feels almost like Black Sabbath. That song, which is called Drill Me, is completely that style. To me it’s all about the hook. Once I have the hook, the rest falls into place.
Most of the songs have a pop-song structure, so the lyrics are the easy part for me. Once I have the hook, then I know what I’m building towards. The way I write comedy, the way our scenes are written, are very percussive and melodic and have their own flow to them.
I say to the guy who plays Mitch McConnell in our show—he’s hilarious—I have the most fun writing that character because in real life Mitch McConnell says everything in a drawl, so our Mitch McConnell says everything in a drawl. Larry Cedar, who’s played the role since the first reading, is a drummer, and so I write that character very percussively. All of the dialogue in that is musical. If I put a score to it, it would work.
Our music director Anthony Brewster, “Brew,” would get my demos and we’d flesh them out together. He’d say, “Oh, okay, I guess we learned gospel passing chords this weekend,” and I’d say, “That’s right, Brew.” Learning on the job is the best way to do it. Pressure is good—and fear of humiliation is a good motivation for me.
Campaigns, creativity, and connection
JG: It’s so rare that we in theatre get to engage with someone who’s actually worked in politics. Are there overlaps between that world and this one?
EB: It is very true. There’s a lot of overlap in skill set. Managerially you’re running a structure—similar to how campaigns operate. From a directing standpoint, our audience is very engaged in the show and we love that, and I pay a lot of attention to what strikes a chord with people. It’s very similar to campaign messaging. Ultimately, you throw a bunch of stuff at the wall, and you’re listening to feedback. I don’t listen to that much feedback from experts. I listen to feedback from the audience.
At the first show, I came out and addressed the audience and said, “Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen here at all. This could be a big mess. What I can promise you is that all of the noise out there… we’re going to leave that out there for the next couple hours. I want to invite everyone into a spirit of joy in this room. This is not going to be a typical musical theatre thing where everyone has to sit quietly. I want people to have fun.”
What I’ve stumbled upon is that our audience comes out feeling joyful and hopeful. It’s come all the way around and reflects what 2008 felt like. There’s something tragic in it too, but something beautiful about feeling like at one point we all felt hopeful and joyful, and we’ll get there again.
Nostalgia and now
JG: You’ve called it nostalgic, even though that era wasn’t that long ago.
EB: I think we’re nostalgic for a feeling, and our audience responds to that. These are all characters that exist in real time. The show lives both in the past and the present because all of these people are still doing stuff—good, bad, and in between. I didn’t set out to write a nostalgia piece, it’s just how our audience has taken it.
It started in that hotel room in 2016. I love studying history, it’s fascinating to me how nonlinear it is. There’s something instructive but also beautiful about being able to look back and feel both puzzled and wise. I try not to live in the past, but I do try to learn from it. This is somewhat my way of trying to make sense of how history has moved—and moved so quickly—over the last dozen years.
Breaking into Broadway’s “machine”
JG: Has it been eye-opening navigating Broadway and its red tape?
EB: Yes. Like any industry that you don’t belong to or have experience in, you’re like, “Wait, what’s that?” I’ve had some frustrations with how risk averse I sometimes find theatre. I’m somewhat of a renegade by nature and I don’t really like conventional wisdom. Sometimes it’s just how much machine you have to get through (and honestly how expensive that machine is) where I’m just like, come on guys, we’re trying real hard here to just put something up on its feet.
It’s Monica and I who make all of the decisions. We have more outsiders than insiders. Now we have insiders where we need to have insiders in the management level, and outsiders where we need to have outsiders, in the big decisions and in some of the creative. I don’t ever want to lose the original spirit of the show, which is a bunch of people who didn’t know what they were doing. There’s something beautiful and unique about that. But we definitely needed professionals in the managerial departments. I’m the first one to admit that I don’t know everything.
What’s next for 44’s accidental auteur
JG: Now that you’ve had a taste of the musical theatre bug, are you going to keep going?
EB: Yeah. I’m writing something that kind of combines things—a TV project that has a ton of music in it and basically a musical within it. I think I need a break. This was such a herculean effort to get up on its feet. Every venue is different, every city is different. [44 played in Los Angeles and Chicago prior to New York.] I need a break from the grind. But creatively, it feels like it’s right in my wheelhouse.
The writing is the easy part for me. The directing I basically got into just to avoid a director coming in over top. It was a practical decision more than a passion decision. Now I love it, but to some extent I just didn’t want someone coming in and—even if my voice is not perfect—it at least comes from one place. The producing is exhausting. I love it and I hate it. Everything lands on my desk… from the construction of a staircase to someone twisting their ankle. It never ends.
Unfortunately, I think the addiction has started. I am a control freak, so I can’t promise that I’ll stop. I just need a break. I also have a seven-year-old and a four-year-old, so I’m surrounded by chaos—but that’s for my therapist to figure out.
JG: You’re really choosing chaos.
EB: Well, I have chosen that path.
44: The Musical is playing at the Daryl Roth Theatre through December 7, 2025. For tickets and more information, visit 44theobamamusical.com.
Ben Lerner spoke with Vanessa Aurora Sierra, Beetlejuice The Musical’s new Miss Argentina for its current (third!) Broadway engagement. The scene-stealing role performs the popular Act II Netherworld anthem “What I Know Now,” complete with high notes and high kicks. Vanessa is brand new to the cast, fresh from the Broadway production and national tour of A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond musical. Below, she discusses her past and present work onstage, why performing in Latina roles is so important to her, dream roles, and more.
Q: How did you get involved with Beetlejuice for this third Broadway engagement of the show?
Vanessa: I actually was on the national tour of A Beautiful Noise before I found out about joining the Broadway company. I’d been in for Beetlejuice I think 10 times, at least, from like 2021, just over and over again. So this kind of came totally out of the blue — I was in LA on tour and they called me and were like, “Hey, we’re going back to Broadway. Would you want to be a part of that?” And I was just like, “Well yeah, I would!” [laughs]
Q: Before your Broadway debut in A Beautiful Noise and now Beetlejuice, what have your favorite past gigs been?
Vanessa: I worked at Paper Mill [Playhouse], which was like a dream for me, because I’m from New Jersey. So that was like my home theater. That was kind of like my Broadway growing up. It was always, “I want to work at Paper Mill!” I got to do On Your Feet there, which was a dream show. I’ve also worked in Chicago — I love Chicago so much. I did West Side Story at the Marriott Theatre and got to play Anita, which meant a lot to me, because I come from a really proud Puerto Rican family on both sides. Playing Latina roles means a lot to me, so I’m really glad I’ve gotten to do a bunch of that in my career so far.
Q: Oh wow, what was it like to play such an iconic role as Anita?
Vanessa: It was absolutely unreal. I was still in college — my second semester of senior year! I grew up doing the Paper Mill Summer Conservatory, and I saw someone that I had grown up with in those programs on the email chain. I was like, “Hey girl! I haven’t seen you in almost five years. Are you in this show?” And she said, “Yeah, I’m playing Maria!” I was like, “Well, I’m playing Anita!” Two New Jersey girls. They had no idea we knew each other. They cast us in these roles. We got super close throughout and formed this sisterhood. We got to do the show in the round, too, which I think is such a good way to do the show, because it feels like everything is in this microscope. Because its specifically a Puerto Rican character, it just meant the world to me to have my family in the audience — they lived through that time, so to talk about what their experience and just to feel that pride. I feel that pride today, too, in Beetlejuice. It means so much to bring that representation to the stage.
Q: When they called you on tour for Beetlejuice, did they have you audition yet again?
Vanessa: I had gone in like maybe a year [before], because when I was auditioning for the tour, they kept switching me around. Like, “Do we want you for Lydia? Do we want you for—?” So I was kind of bouncing around a little bit. But they had all these sessions on tape. From like 2021 — so long ago. I had gone in when I was doing Beautiful Noise on Broadway and did the Miss Argentina side and song —so that was it!
Q: How was the rehearsal process when much of the cast was returning?
Vanessa: Jenni Barber, the Delia, and I were kind of like the new girls in town. We had two weeks to learn it. It was funny because her and I were never in the same scenes, so it was kind of like a show-and-tell. I’d do the dance numbers by myself. She’d be watching and cheering from the sides. Then she’d go up and do the scene work and I’d be watching. It was really, really fun. Then we had a week with the full company — kind of a prolonged put-in [rehearsal], I would say. Michael Fatica taught me the show. He’s the associate choreographer and he’s just the best person to learn it from, and I felt super supported.
Q: Had you seen the show — and this role — performed before? If so, how did it inspire you?
Vanessa: Yes, I was able to see the original cast. I think it was pre-pandemic. I’m huge fan of Beetlejuice myself and grew up watching the movie. I remember seeing Leslie Kritzer do [Miss Argentina], and I was just like, “Oh my god. She’s a star.” It was back when she did both Delia and Miss Argentina at the same time, so that was crazy to watch! [Once cast,] I did do the thing where I don’t listen to the cast album and don’t watch videos of people who have done it, because you want to try to find your own way into it. Like, who my Miss Argentina is and how she speaks to me. But still, when I saw Leslie Kritzer do it, I was like, “I have some big shoes to fill.”
Q: If you could swap roles with anyone on Broadway right now, which would it be?
Vanessa: Ooh, that’s a great question. First that’s coming to mind is Little Shop of Horrors. I just saw my friend in it and I love that production. But also, Wicked. Being blue and having paint on my face [as Miss Argentina] has been giving me the Elphaba itch! A lot of my friends at the [Beetlejuice] stage door are like, “I see the green in your ears still!” [laughs] I think I’d have to say Elphaba. Such a dream role.
Ragtime has risen at Lincoln Center. The musical revival, based on E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 historical fiction novel, opened October 16 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater as a transfer of New York City Center’s hit Encores! production from last fall. The cast and direction are largely the same, but unlike City Center, with its huge capacity and sky-high balconies, this Ragtime feels intimate, performed in the round with stadium seating — so everyone can see the performers’ faces. The result is transcendent: a glorious revival of a musical masterpiece that is always timely, but remarkably so in 2025.
Set in NYC suburb New Rochelle during the early twentieth century in the years leading up to World War I, Ragtime blends the stories of real life personalities like Evelyn Nesbit, Emma Goldman, and Harry Houdini with the fictional tales of a wealthy white family, a poor immigrant family, and Coalhouse Walker Jr. and Sarah, a Black pianist and his lover. The stories intertwine over a decade, at times comically and often tragically, tackling racism, classism, xenophobia, and the unrealized American dream.
Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s score is breathtaking, spanning genres and gorgeously performed by a 28-piece orchestra. It’s elevated to new heights by the lead performances and large ensemble cast. As Coalhouse, Joshua Henry is a vocal and dramatic tour de force. The sheer power and range of his instrument is otherworldly, and the Tony for Best Actor should be locked. Nichelle Lewis devastates as Sarah, with a wholly different vocal performance from role originator Audra McDonald — Lewis and Henry’s “Wheels of a Dream” is sensational. Caissie Levy, Brandon Uranowitz, and Ben Levi Ross are in top form, giving nuanced and moving performances as Mother, Tateh, and Younger Brother, respectively.
Ragtime opens with a lone child actor on an empty stage. When the full ensemble rises from the back of the stage, it’s a chills-inducing moment — the first of many. And when Sarah’s Friend (the spectacular Allison Blackwell) belts “Till We Reach That Day” at the end of the first act, praying through grief for an America that is truly antiracist and finally free of discrimination, it’s palpable that day has still not been reached. Don’t miss the opportunity to witness this story, with this score, sung by this cast — at the Vivian Beaumont Theater until January 4, 2026. Tickets at: https://www.lct.org/shows/ragtime/
Broadway has always danced its way into history—one step, kick, and pirouette at a time. From Balanchine’s groundbreaking ballet in On Your Toes to Justin Peck’s haunting modern storytelling in Illinoise, choreography has been the heartbeat of the American musical. These are the numbers that stopped shows, broke rules, and redefined what movement could mean on stage.
1936 – “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” On Your Toes Choreography: George Balanchine This was the moment ballet crashed Broadway’s party. Balanchine’s “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” combined classical technique with the grit of gangsters and showgirls, turning a tongue-in-cheek story ballet into a thrilling, dramatic centerpiece. It was the first time a full-length ballet sequence was integrated into a musical’s plot. The number marked the arrival of serious dance on Broadway and opened the door for choreographers to become storytellers, not just decorators.
1943 – “Dream Ballet,” Oklahoma! Choreography: Agnes de Mille Broadway changed forever the moment Laurey fell asleep. Agnes de Mille’s “Dream Ballet” wasn’t just a dance, it was the first time choreography told a character’s subconscious story. Fifteen minutes of swirling tulle, heartbreak, and innovation that announced that dance could think instead of a shout, and Broadway never stopped listening.
1957 – “Cool,” West Side Story Choreography: Jerome Robbins Snaps, slides, and explosions barely contained. Robbins gave the American musical a new vocabulary: ballet laced with street tension. “Cool” is still studied as the moment dance became emotion’s twin.
1975 – “One,” A Chorus Line Choreography: Michael Bennett Gold hats, high kicks, heartbreak. “One” immortalized the chorus: uniform, dazzling, and unseen. The finale that turned dancers into myth and mirrors.
1975 – “All That Jazz,” Chicago Choreography: Bob Fosse Smoky, syncopated, and sinister. The opening of Chicago reintroduced Fosse’s aesthetic as cultural gospel: hips low, fingers alive, everything precise and dangerous. It’s Broadway stripped to attitude and anatomy.
1980 – “We’re in the Money,” 42nd Street Choreography: Gower Champion A tap extravaganza gleaming with Depression-era optimism. Champion’s staging turned tap into a glittering survival dance, resilience in rhythm.
1992 – “Slap That Bass,” Crazy for You Choreography: Susan Stroman A jazz fantasia where bodies become instruments. Stroman’s dancers pluck invisible strings and bounce like basslines, proving that dance is music made visible.
2002 – “Movin’ Out,” Movin’ Out Choreography: Twyla Tharp Billy Joel’s music meets Tharp’s muscular modern dance in a show that tells its story entirely through motion. Jazz, ballet, and rock collide in a piece that made Broadway feel brand new.
2005 – “Electricity,” Billy Elliot Choreography: Peter Darling A working-class boy discovers his power through motion. The number builds from confusion to catharsis, part tap, part rebellion. A child discovering freedom mid-air.
2014 – “An American in Paris Ballet,” An American in Paris Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon Wheeldon’s luminous dream ballet brought Gershwin’s score to life with balletic sweep and cinematic grace. The sequence blurs realism and reverie, transforming post-war Paris into living art. It reignited Broadway’s love affair with classical form.
2019 – “El Tango de Roxanne,” Moulin Rouge! The Musical Choreography: Sonya Tayeh Raw, sensual, and explosive. Tayeh’s fusion of contemporary and ballroom forms turns desire into violence and heartbreak into art. It’s a masterclass in emotional choreography.
2024 – “Illinoise Ballet,” Illinoise Choreography: Justin Peck No words, no dialogue, just bodies and Sufjan Stevens’ music translating memory and loss into dance. Illinoise is the latest reminder that Broadway choreography can still astonish without uttering a line. If Agnes de Mille invented narrative dance, Justin Peck made it human again.
Across decades, Broadway has proven that the stage can be a powerful place for protest. From groundbreaking musicals to provocative plays, these productions turned resistance into art, reminding audiences that theatre has always had the power to challenge, inspire, and spark change.
Hair: Flower Power, Anti-War, and Social Revolution From its opening, Hair broke the mold. Against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and a rapidly changing America, Hair brought anti-war sentiment, sexual freedom, and racial integration into Broadway’s spotlight. Songs like “Aquarius” and “Let the Sunshine In” became anthems for a generation disenchanted with traditional norms. It wasn’t just a show, it was a movement, embodied night after night in public protest, civil disobedience, and counterculture style.
Les Misérables: Barricades That Resonate Across Time Set in 19th-century France but speaking to so many modern struggles, Les Misérables became a perennial symbol of revolution and unity. The iconic moments, including the barricade scenes into “Do You Hear the People Sing?”, transforms political despair into collective hope. It deepened with every revival, every global protest, carrying forward the message that when the few oppress the many, resistance is inevitable.
Parade: Unearthing Injustice, Out in the Open Parade tells the true story of Leo Frank, a Jewish industrialist in the early 1900s who was wrongly accused, tried, and lynched in Georgia. The musical forces audiences to confront racism, antisemitism, and miscarriage of justice, not through allegory, but through character, testimony, and heartbreak. The 2023 Broadway revival brought even more urgency, with protesters outside the theater echoing the very biases Parade indicts, proving that the past is never as far behind us as we might like to think.
John Proctor Is the Villain: Rewriting the Myth for Today’s Reckonings Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is the Villain reframes The Crucible’s Salem mythos in a rural Georgia high school, between teenage girls and their complicity, accusations, and silences. The play becomes protest theatre. It interrogates gender, power, and the legacy of witch hunts, literal and metaphorical. It’s a sharp reminder that the stories we’ve inherited aren’t neutral; they shape what we accept or fight against.
Liberation: Reclaiming Feminist Voices In Bess Wohl’s Liberation, six women convene in a 1970s Ohio rec center to form a consciousness-raising group. Through candid conversations about their lives, the play delves into the complexities of second-wave feminism, memory, and generational change. Praised as “the best play I’ve seen this season” by Vulture, Liberation intertwines personal narratives with broader social movements, highlighting the enduring relevance of feminist activism. Liberation is in performances at the James Earl Jones Theatre through January 11, 2026: https://liberationbway.com/
These Broadway moments remind us that protest takes many forms, and that art, at its most fearless, can move hearts and minds.
There’s nothing quite like the lights, music, and energy of Broadway, but those ticket prices can dim the excitement fast. The good news is that scoring affordable seats isn’t a secret art. It’s a mix of timing, flexibility, and knowing where to look. Whether you’re a local theatre fan or visiting the city for the first time, here are the best ways to land a great deal and still get swept up in the magic of Broadway.
Top Ways to Get Discount Broadway Tickets
TKTS Booths (by TDF) Classic same-day deals, often up to 50% off. Visit the red-steps booth in Times Square or Lincoln Center. Check the TKTS app first to preview what’s available.
Digital Lotteries Many shows offer $10–$40 tickets through daily online lotteries. Enter early, and act fast if you win since claims close quickly.
Rush and Student Rush Tickets Day-of bargains, usually $30–$60, sold when the box office opens. Some are open to everyone, others require a student ID.
Standing Room Only When shows sell out, a few standing spots open for cheap. Ask at the box office; these go fast for popular productions.
Promo Codes and Discount Sites Websites like BroadwayBox, TheaterMania, and Playbill Deals regularly post limited-time codes for 20–50% off.
Membership Discounts Join programs like TDF or industry groups for exclusive early access to discounted tickets.
Special Promotions Keep an eye on seasonal events like Broadway Week or Kids’ Night on Broadway, which offer two-for-one or free youth tickets.
Group Sales If you’re seeing a show with ten or more friends or coworkers, call the theater’s group sales office. Bulk bookings often mean built-in discounts.
Papering Lists Some organizations quietly “paper the house” with free or ultra-cheap tickets for members. Try Club Free Time or local arts newsletters.
Affordable Broadway seats do exist; you just have to know where and when to look. With a bit of planning, patience, and the right mix of apps, booths, and insider programs, you can see world-class theatre without emptying your wallet.
Based on the book, Right from Wrong, by Jacob Dunne, Punch on Broadway tells the story of a young man battling himself and everyone else in Nottingham, England. Adapted for the stage by British playwright, James Graham, and directed by Adam Penford, Punch hits every reservoir of emotion between the opening and final act.
Jacob, played flawlessly by Will Harrison as the lead antagonist turned protagonist, takes the audience along with him as he grapples with cause and effect of his environment versus his life choices. Jacob found understanding and community in the Nottingham streets while his single mother worked long hours to build a respectable life for her son. Jacob is also plagued with a spectrum of disabilities which only add fuel to his internal fire to snuff out a modicum of meaning or purpose to his life. Punching back at everyone and thing that have taunted or dismissed, Jacob becomes a habit that ultimately knocks him onto his most painful, but inspired trajectory yet.
The Punch cast is small and mighty, with many actors playing multiple characters within Jacob’s scarred reality. Costumes and set changes are minimal too, because in this story, it’s the characters’ rollercoaster of raw emotions that need no filler or color. As an audience member, you’ll revisit loss and grief, the anxiety of self-doubt, the rush of a new flirty crush, the weight of societal and familial pressures. You may laugh at times or cry at others, but you’ll easily leave humbled by your own life choices, and the idea of real second chances.
Harrison lends buckets of dialed-in energy to his portrayal of Jacob, amongst many other standout performances. Lucy Taylor as Jacob’s “mum” will leave you breathless as she reckons with the fate of the boy she raised. And then you meet another mum, played by Judith Lightfoot Clarke, whose grief is most palpable after the one punch that would change all.
This October, Broadway offers a striking mix of revivals and premieres. From a cult-favorite musical rising again to an intimate family drama, the fall season promises variety and impact. Here are the four productions opening this month.
Beetlejuice
Palace Theatre | October 8, 2025 Broadway’s favorite ghost makes his return in Alex Timbers’ high-octane staging. With its blend of outrageous humor, eye-popping design, and devoted fan following, Beetlejuice reclaims the spotlight at the newly reopened Palace Theatre.
Ragtime
Lincoln Center Theater | October 16, 2025 One of Broadway’s most sweeping and powerful musicals comes back in a revival directed by Lear deBessonet. Starring Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, and Brandon Uranowitz, Ragtime offers a timely reflection on identity, change, and the American dream.
Liberation
Broadway Theatre | October 22, 2025 Set in 1970s Ohio, Liberation follows Lizzie as she gathers a circle of women determined to reshape their lives and their world. Decades later, her daughter steps back into that unfinished revolution and confronts what it means to inherit a movement. Written by Bess Wohl and directed by Whitney White, this new play examines freedom, legacy, and the fight to carry change forward.
Little Bear Ridge Road
Booth Theatre | October 30, 2025 Playwright Samuel D. Hunter and director Joe Mantello bring a quiet intensity to this new drama starring Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock. Set in rural Idaho, Little Bear Ridge Road explores grief, family, and endurance with Hunter’s trademark emotional precision.
