Broadway is preparing for a season of homecomings. A parade of celebrated actors are returning to its stages, bringing new works, long‑delayed premieres and high‑profile revivals. The 2025 calendar shows why New York’s theatre scene remain a magnet for stars who could easily continue working in film or television. Many performers talk about the unique intimacy of the theatre and the chance to inhabit a character night after night, building energy with an audience. After pandemic disruptions and time spent in Hollywood, these artists are choosing to reconnect with their stage roots in a year that promises both nostalgia and novelty.

The season’s most talked‑about reunion pairs Kristin Chenoweth with F. Murray Abraham in The Queen of Versailles. Adapted from Lauren Greenfield’s documentary, the musical charts the saga of Jackie and David Siegel, time‑share moguls whose lavish dream home became a symbol of overreach. A Boston tryout confirmed that the show captures the couple’s ambition and downfall, and the Broadway production will begin previews at the St. James Theatre on October 8, 2025. Chenoweth will tackle Jackie while Abraham plays David.

Just down the block at the Booth Theatre, Laurie Metcalf will anchor the Broadway premiere of Little Bear Ridge Road. The one‑act, written by Samuel D. Hunter and directed by Joe Mantello, centers on a razor‑tongued aunt and the nephew who returns to help sell her crumbling Idaho home. Previews begin October 7, and the play’s combination of wry humor and emotional candour seems tailor‑made for Metcalf’s talents.

Comedy is taking center stage with Bobby Cannavale and James Corden team with Neil Patrick Harris in Yasmina Reza’s Art. The modern classic, which first opened in 1994, follows three friends whose relationship is threatened when one of them buys an expensive white painting. The new revival began previews August 28 and runs through December 21, 2025. Cannavale, Corden and Harris could make this a standout in a season full of drama.

Broadway fans are buzzing as Lea Michele and Aaron Tveit prepare to make their return to the stage in the first-ever Broadway revival of Chess. Set to play at the Imperial Theatre, the production begins previews on October 15 with an official opening on November 16.

Kelli O’Hara will headline Noël Coward’s Fallen Angels at Roundabout’s newly renovated Todd Haimes Theatre. The 1925 farce about two wives awaiting the return of an old flame has rarely been seen on Broadway, and this production pairs O’Hara with Emmy‑nominated Rose Byrne.

Carrie Coon, last seen on Broadway more than a decade ago, returns in Tracy Letts’s psychological thriller Bug. The Manhattan Theatre Club production, opening December 18, 2025 with an official opening  January 8, 2026, follows a waitress who becomes consumed by conspiracy theories and delusions after meeting a disturbed Gulf War veteran. Coon’s penchant for inhabiting complex characters should bring new life to Letts’s unsettling play.

Tragedy will not be neglected. Studio 54 will host the U.S. transfer of Robert Icke’s adaptation of Oedipus starring Mark Strong and Lesley Manville. Critics hailed the London production for turning Sophocles’ classic into a political thriller set on election night. The American engagement begins October 30, 2025 and will run for a limited fourteen‑week engagement.

Other notable comebacks include Leslie Odom, Jr.‘s return to his Tony winning role as Aaron Burr in Hamilton, Betsy Aidem as Margie in Liberation by Bess Wohl, and Broadway Stalwart Danny Burstein, who is set to take on the role of Jon in the upcoming production of Marjorie Prime at the Hayes Theater.

When The Book of Mormon opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in March 2011, it was an instant cultural earthquake—raucous, irreverent, and packed with a powerhouse cast. Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez’s satirical masterpiece took home nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and cemented its place in Broadway history. But what happened to the original cast after they bid farewell to Uganda? Let’s check in.

Andrew Rannells (Elder Price)

The breakout star of The Book of Mormon, Rannells earned a Tony nomination for his pristine comedic timing and powerhouse vocals. After leaving the show, he jumped to HBO’s Girls as Elijah, a role that made him a TV fan favorite. He’s also appeared in The New Normal, Black Monday, and the film adaptation of The Prom. On Broadway, he returned in Falsettos (another Tony nomination), The Boys in the Band, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He’s now an established multi-hyphenate—actor, singer, and author (Too Much Is Not Enough), and came back to Broadway most recently in 2023 in Gutenberg! The Musical! opposite Mormon castmate Josh Gad.

Josh Gad (Elder Cunningham)

Josh Gad left The Book of Mormon with a Tony nomination and a rocket strapped to his career. He became a household name as the voice of Olaf in Disney’s Frozen franchise, starred in films like Beauty and the Beast as LeFou, Artemis Fowl, and Murder on the Orient Express, and fronted series like Central Park and Avenue 5. Recently, he co-created and starred in the Apple TV+ series Wolf Like Me. He returned to the stage in Gutenberg! The Musical! in 2023 and Broadway fans are eagerly awaiting his next project.

Nikki M. James (Nabulungi)

James earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her luminous performance as Nabulungi. Since then, she’s built a wide-ranging career spanning stage and screen. She appeared in Les Misérables (2014 revival), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and received a Tony Award nomination for playing Ida B. Wells in Suffs. On TV, she’s had recurring roles in BrainDead, The Good Wife, Severance, Daredevil: Born Again, and Proven Innocent. She continues to be a beloved Broadway presence and versatile performer.

Rory O’Malley (Elder McKinley)

O’Malley’s hilarious, scene-stealing “Turn It Off” won him a Tony nomination. After Mormon, he starred in Hamilton as King George III on Broadway and on the road, and has appeared in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and American Princess. Beyond acting, he co-founded Broadway Impact, an organization advocating for marriage equality. He remains a champion for social causes and LGBTQ+ rights within the theatre community.

Michael Potts (Mafala Hatimbi)

Potts has built a robust career in both theatre and television. He starred in the Tony-winning revival of The Iceman Cometh alongside Denzel Washington and earned acclaim for The Piano Lesson on Broadway. TV fans know him from The Wire (Brother Mouzone), True Detective, and Show Me a Hero. His career continues to balance powerful stage work with scene-stealing screen roles.

Lewis Cleale (Price’s Dad / Mission President)

A Broadway veteran before Mormon, Cleale has continued working steadily, appearing in The Book of Mormon for several years and in productions like The Fantasticks. He’s also lent his voice to recordings and is a respected name in the theatre community.

Brian Tyree Henry (The General)

An Emmy-nominated American actor best known for his role as Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles on Atlanta, Henry has appeared in acclaimed films including If Beale Street Could Talk, Widows, and Bullet Train, earning praise for his versatility and depth.

Broadway has always been a training ground for some of the world’s greatest performers. The discipline, stamina, and craft demanded by the stage often translate beautifully to the camera. Some actors find themselves moving seamlessly between the two worlds, carrying the essence of live performance into their screen roles. Here’s a look at a few who have successfully built careers in both Broadway and Hollywood.

Carrie Coon

Known for her searing stage work in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (for which she earned a Tony nomination), Carrie Coon quickly caught the attention of television and film audiences with The White Lotus, The Leftovers, Fargo, and The Gilded Age. Her ability to bring quiet intensity to both stage and screen has made her one of the most versatile actors of her generation.

Cynthia Nixon

Long before Sex and the City made her a household name, Cynthia Nixon was a Broadway regular—making her debut at age 14 in The Philadelphia Story and famously performing in two Broadway shows simultaneously at age 18 (Hurlyburly and The Real Thing). She later won a Tony Award for Rabbit Hole and continues to balance stage roles with a thriving screen career, most recently on The Gilded Age and reprising Miranda in And Just Like That.

Natalie Portman

Portman made her stage debut in The Diary of Anne Frank on Broadway as a teenager, showcasing early on the depth that would define her film work. While she’s best known for Black Swan (for which she won an Oscar), Jackie, and Star Wars, her theatre roots reflect the training and presence that ground her screen career.

Sarah Jessica Parker

Before she became Carrie Bradshaw, Parker was a Broadway baby, starring in Annie at age 14 and later in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Once Upon a Mattress. Though television cemented her pop-culture status, she frequently returns to the stage, most recently co-starring with Matthew Broderick in Plaza Suite—a reminder that her stage chops remain as sharp as ever.

Meryl Streep

Often hailed as the greatest living actress, Streep began her career in the theatre, including Shakespeare in the Park and Broadway roles before her meteoric rise in film. She has periodically returned to the stage while dominating cinema with performances in Sophie’s Choice, Doubt, The Devil Wears Prada, and August: Osage County—all roles that draw heavily from her stage training.

Denzel Washington

Washington’s towering presence on screen (Training Day, The Book of Eli, Glory) has always been matched by his stage work. He’s taken on some of theatre’s most iconic roles, including Julius Caesar, A Raisin in the Sun, and The Iceman Cometh, and most recently Othello in 2025. His Tony-winning turn in Fences exemplifies how he bridges the worlds of Broadway and Hollywood with equal force.

Kerry Washington

Kerry Washington, who appeared on Broadway in Race before her breakout television role on Scandal, is set to return to Off-Broadway in The Whoopi Monologues, a production by Whoopi Goldberg at Lincoln Center Theater’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in July 2026.

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For these performers, the theatre is more than just a career stepping stone—it’s an artistic home. The immediacy of a live audience, the rigor of nightly performance, and the intimacy of the stage all inform their film and television work. As Broadway and Hollywood continue to overlap, these actors prove that great storytelling transcends medium.

There’s something about a Broadway heartbreak song that hits differently than any other kind of musical theatre moment. Maybe it’s the way the orchestra swells just as your heart breaks, or how a single spotlight can make an entire theatre feel like the most intimate space in the world. Whatever it is, these songs don’t just tell us about love ending; they make us feel every agonizing moment of it.

I’ve been thinking about the breakup songs that have stayed with me long after the curtain falls, the ones that make you sit on the train or the walk home afterward and just… breathe (or cry again.) Here are the most devastating goodbye songs in Broadway history, plus a few more that deserve their moment in the spotlight.

The Essential Heartbreakers

1. Then I Can Let You Go – Maybe Happy Ending

This Broadway gem gave us one of the most unexpectedly moving breakup duets in recent memory. Two obsolete helper robots learning to love and let go? It shouldn’t work, but it absolutely destroys you. There’s something about mechanical beings discovering the most human emotion of all—the pain of saying goodbye—that cuts right to the core.

2. Still Hurting – The Last Five Years

Jason Robert Brown opens his musical with a gut punch, and honestly, some of us never recover. Cathy’s quiet devastation in “Still Hurting” is so real it’s almost uncomfortable to watch. The way Brown uses simple melody to amplify crushing lyrics is pure genius—and pure torture.

3. Without You – Rent

Jonathan Larson knew how to write pain, and “Without You” might be his masterpiece of heartbreak. Mimi’s raw, desperate plea captures that moment when you realize the person you love is slipping away, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Every time I hear it, I’m right back in that East Village apartment, feeling every note.

4. I Know Him So Well – Chess

Two women, one man, and a duet that somehow manages to be both civilized and devastating. There’s no screaming, no accusations—just two people who understand each other perfectly, which somehow makes the whole thing even more tragic. It’s the kind of song that makes you call your ex just to make sure you’re both okay.

5. I’d Give My Life for You (Reprise) – Miss Saigon

The original is a mother’s promise; the reprise is a mother’s goodbye. Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil took the most beautiful expression of love and twisted it into the most heartbreaking sacrifice. It’s the kind of moment that reminds you why musical theater exists—to make us feel things we didn’t know we could feel.

6. You Don’t Know This Man – Parade

Lucille Frank’s desperate defense of her husband becomes something much more complex—a woman realizing that love sometimes means accepting how little you really know someone. It’s not technically a breakup song, but it carries the same weight of love disappearing before your eyes.

7. For Good – Wicked

Stephen Schwartz gave us the ultimate friendship breakup, and honestly, it might hurt more than any romantic goodbye on this list. Elphaba and Glinda’s farewell reminds us that some relationships change us so fundamentally that losing them feels like losing a piece of ourselves.

8. All You Wanna Do – Six

Katherine Howard’s solo might be the most devastating example of a song that tricks you. What starts as a bouncy pop anthem slowly reveals itself as the story of a young woman who was manipulated and abused by every man in her life. The contrast between the upbeat music and the increasingly dark lyrics is absolutely gut-wrenching.

9. Far From the Home I Love – Fiddler on the Roof

Hodel’s quiet goodbye to her family is devastating in its acceptance. She’s choosing love over everything familiar, and you can feel the weight of knowing some distances can never be crossed again. It’s one of those songs that makes you call your parents afterward.

10. Burn – Hamilton

Lin-Manuel Miranda gives Eliza the ultimate revenge song, and it’s terrifying in the best way. The way it builds from quiet devastation to blazing fury is breathtaking. Sometimes the most devastating thing you can do is erase someone completely—and Eliza knows it.

11. Not a Day Goes By – Merrily We Roll Along

Classic Sondheim genius: the same song appears twice with completely different meanings. Whether it’s about the beginning of love or the end depends on where you are in the timeline, which makes it heartbreaking in the most sophisticated way possible.

12. I Don’t Remember You – Happy Time

This Kander and Ebb gem sneaks up on you. Claiming not to remember someone while singing an entire song about not remembering them? It’s emotional gaslighting set to a beautiful melody, which somehow makes it even more devastating.

Why we love them?

The truth is, we don’t go to the theater to feel comfortable. We go to feel everything: the joy, the pain, the messy complicated middle of being human. These breakup songs remind us that endings, however painful, are part of every story worth telling.

They’re also proof that musical theater, at its best, doesn’t just entertain us…it helps us process our own experiences. Every time someone on stage says goodbye, they’re giving voice to all the goodbyes we’ve struggled to say ourselves.

Some heartbreak is worth carrying with you.