With Tony Award nominations for the 2025-2026 season a week away (announcements are on Tuesday, May 5), now might be a good time to refresh your memory of what Deadline had to say about the fruits of a very busy Broadway spring. Every Brilliant Thing, the wonderful solo show (with a little help from the audience) starring Daniel Radcliffe shook off the brutal New York winter to kick things into gear, and the following two months saw, among other shows, an effervescent revival of a rarely seen Noël Coward comedy, a thrilling re-interpretation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, exemplary ensemble work in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Becky Shaw and Proof, joyous celebrations like Titaníque, Schmigadoon! and The Rocky Horror Show, a searing drama in Death of a Salesman and remarkable performances from Radcliffe, John Lithgow, Alden Ehrenreich, Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf, Ayo Edebiri, Luke Evans, Rachel Dratch, Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara.
And that’s just a sampling.
Check this page to see Deadline’s takes on all of Broadway’s latest spring offerings, beginning with Every Brilliant Thing (March 12), Giant (March 23), Dog Day Afternoon (March 30), Becky Shaw (April 6), Cats: The Jellicle Ball (April 7), Death of a Salesman (April 9), Titaníque (April 12), The Fear of 13 (April 15), Proof (April 16), Fallen Angels (April 19), Schmigadoon! (April 20), The Balusters (April 21), Beaches (April 22), The Rocky Horror Show (April 23), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (April 25) and The Lost Boys (April 26).
For Deadline’s takes on the fall portion of the current season, check out reviews of Call Me Izzy, Mamma Mia!, Art, Waiting For Godot, Punch, Ragtime, Liberation, Little Bear Ridge Road, The Queen of Versailles, Oedipus, Chess, Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), Marjorie Prime, and Bug.
Below is a compendium of our spring 2026 reviews. Click on the title to read the full versions. (Note: Due to a scheduling conflict, Deadline did not post a full opening-night review of Dog Day Afternoon.)
Every Brilliant Thing
Opening night: March 12
Venue: Broadway's Hudson Theatre
Written by: Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe
Director: Jeremy Herrin & Duncan Macmillan
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe
Running time: 1 hr 10 min (no intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: In the superb production of the solo play Every Brilliant Thing, Daniel Radcliffe’s unnamed narrator character begins a childhood project that will stretch throughout his life: He starts a list of all the things that make life worth living and gives this remarkable work its title. Few who see this production will begrudge the play and its star a spot on that list.
Giant
Opening night: March 23
Venue: Broadway's Music Box Theater
Written by: Mark Rosenblatt
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Cast: John Lithgow, Aya Cash, Elliot Levey, Rachael Stirling, Stella Everett, David Manis
Running time: 2 hrs 20 min (including intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: John Lithgow’s remarkable Olivier Award-winning performance — at this point in the far-from-over Broadway season he and Every Brilliant Thing‘s Daniel Radcliffe seem headed for a showdown — is a terrifically nuanced affair, as indeed are Mark Rosenblatt’s play and the note-perfect direction of Nicholas Hytner. Any cast of co-stars would be deemed successful merely for holding its own, and this one does so much more than that. Giant, thrilling and abrasive, is full of rewards.
Dog Day Afternoon
Opening night: March 30
Venue: Broadway's August Wilson Theatre
Written for the stage by: Stephen Adly Guirgis
Director: Rupert Goold
Cast: Jon Bernthal, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, John Ortiz, Jessica Hecht, Spencer Garrett, Michael Kostroff, Elizabeth Canavan, Brian D. Coats, Esteban Andres Cruz, Alex J. Gould, Danny Johnson, Paola Lázaro, Dom Martello, Wilemina Olivia-Garcia, Michael Puzzo, Christopher Sears, Michael Shayan, Jeff Still, Andrea Syglowski, Carmen Zilles.
Running time: 2 hrs 5 min (including intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: Though not nearly as off-the-mark as many reviews suggested, Stephen Adly Guirgis’ adaptation of the Sidney Lumet-directed 1975 film classic that starred Al Pacino can’t help but seeming diminished. While Bernthal impresses in his Broadway debut as the “Attica! Attica!”-yelling bank robber (Pacino in the film) who is in way over his head, playwright Guirgis and director Rupert Goold expand the gritty, claustrophobic caper tale to include some broad-stroke character narratives of the various bank-employee/hostages, a Key Largo-ish device welcome mostly in that it gives co-star Jessica Hecht (as the head bank teller) some fine moments. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, in the role originally played so indelibly by the idiosyncratic John Cazale, can’t do much to stand out from the play’s crowded crime scene.
Becky Shaw
Opening night: April 6
Venue: Broadway's Hayes Theatre
Written by: Gina Gionfriddo
Director: Trip Cullman
Cast: Patrick Ball, Madeline Brewer, Alden Ehrenreich, Linda Emond, Lauren Patten
Running time: 2 hrs 15 min (including intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: Seventeen years after being nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, Gina Gionfriddo’s dark, sometimes giddy comedy Becky Shaw finally arrives on Broadway, and noting that it was worth the wait is an understatement that none of its brutally honest anti-heroes would make. And if the nearly two-decades-in-the-making arrival meant we had to wait for this excellent cast to come together, all the better.
Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Opening night: April 7
Venue: Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre
Directors: Zhailon Levingston, Bill Rauch
Book & Lyrics: Based On Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats By T.S. Eliot
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Cast: André De Shields, Ken Ard, Kya Azeen, Bryson Battle, Sherrod T. Brown, Jonathan Burke, Baby Byrne, Tara Lashan Clinkscales, Bryce Farris, Sydney James Harcourt, Dava Huesca, Dudney Joseph, Jr., Junior LaBeija, Leiomy, Robert “Silk” Mason, “Tempress” Chasity Moore, Primo Thee Ballerino, Xavier Reyes, Nora Schell, Bebe Nicole Simpson, Emma Sofia, Phumzile Sojola, Kendall Grayson Stroud, B Noel Thomas, Kalyn West, Donté Nadir Wilder, Garnet Williams, Teddy Wilson Jr.
Running time: 2 hr 25 min (including intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: Cats: The Jellicle Ball is that rare thing: A classic stage property reimagined not as stark and gloomy minimalism (see Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma or Jamie Lloyd’s Sunset Blvd.) but as a big, joyous glitter bomb.
Death of a Salesman
Opening night: April 9
Venue: Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre
Title: Death of a Salesman
Written by: Arthur Miller
Director: Joe Mantello
Cast: Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf, Christopher Abbott, Ben Ahlers, Joaquin Consuelos, Jake Termine, Karl Green, Tasha Lawrence, K. Todd Freeman, Jonathan Cake, Michael Benjamin Washington, Jake Silbermann, Katherine Romans, Mary Neely
Running time: 2 hr 50 min (including intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: Nathan Lane takes his place among the best, his Willy Loman a powder keg of frustration and disappointment and deep, deep sadness. Lane uses his loud, outside voice to excellent effect, his shouts of exasperation and anger giving way to instant regret and recrimination. Watch, future Willys, and pay attention.
Titaníque
Opening night: April 12
Venue: Broadway's St. James Theatre
Director: Tye Blue
Book: Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli
Music: The hits of Céline Dion
Cast: Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli, Jim Parsons, Melissa Barrera, Deborah Cox, Frankie Grande, John Riddle, Layton Williams
Running time: 1 hr 40 min (no intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: Campier than the campy Cats: The Jellicle Ball but no less generous in its embrace of queer heritage’s seismic impact on American culture, Titaníque on Broadway is bigger than a mere hoot. It’s a riotous, high-cresting celebration just when we need it most.
The Fear of 13
Opening night: March 12
Venue: Broadway's James Earl Jones Theater
Written by: Lindsey Ferrentino (Based on the documentary directed by David Sington)
Director: David Cromer
Cast: Adrien Brody, Tessa Thompson, Ephraim Sykes, Michael Cavinder, Eddie Cooper, Victor Cruz, Eboni Flowers, Joel Marsh Garland, Jared Wayne Gladly, Joe Joseph, Jeb Kreager, Ben Thompson
Running time: 1 hr 50 min (no intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: Based on a 2015 British documentary about [falsely imprisoned Nick] Yarris by director David Sington, in which Yarris is the sole presence, relating his story to the camera, The Fear of 13 — more about the title later- – expands the story to include other inmates, some standard-issue sadistic prison guards and, most importantly, a jailhouse volunteer who falls in love with the charismatic Nick despite her protestations to the audience that, yes, she’s aware of how this all looks and no, she’s not one of those women who fetishize the imprisoned…. [A]s one judicial delay follows another, our very legitimate frustration with an inhumane legal system begins to feel like frustration with a narrative that mirrors Lucy, Charlie Brown and that ever-proffered football.
Proof
Opening night: April 16
Venue: Broadway's Booth Theatre
Written by: David Auburn
Director: Thomas Kail
Cast: Ayo Edebiri, Don Cheadle, Jin Ha, Kara Young
Running time: 2 hrs 15 min (including intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: With two of the most arresting first-act surprises this side of Becky Shaw‘s kinda-sorta pseudo-brother-sister kiss, Proof accomplishes the improbable though clearly not impossible: It makes mathematic equations and the eccentric geniuses who dream them up seem the stuff of mystery novels and family drama. Director Thomas Kail skillfully guides and paces his excellent cast through some heady stuff with big emotional stakes.
Fallen Angels
Opening night: April 19
Title: Fallen Angels
Venue: Broadway's Todd Haimes Theatre
Written by: Noël Coward
Director: Scott Ellis
Cast: Rose Byrne, Kelli O'Hara, Tracee Chimo, Mark Consuelos, Christopher Fitzgerald, Aasif Mandvi
Running time: 1 hr 30 min (no intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: Noël Coward's delightful, rarely produced 1925 comedy Fallen Angels is the sort of Broadway fare that gives critics ample reason to use descriptors like "fizzy" and "intoxicating" and "dizzying," all apt in capturing the pleasures of its airy sophistication and raucous, gutbucket smart, rich-ladies-get-drunk laughs. What was true in the Jazz Age remains so, as the Roundabout Theatre Company production starring the terrific Rose Byrne and Kelli O'Hara so bountifully proves.
Schmigadoon!
Opening night: April 20
Venue: Broadway's Nederlander Theatre
Director: Christopher Gattelli
Book & Music: Cinco Paul (based on the Apple Original series co-created by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio)
Cast: Alex Brightman, Sarah Chase, Ana Gasteyer, Ann Harada, Brad Oscar, Isabelle McCalla, Ivan Hernandez, Maulik Pancholy, Max Clayton, McKenzie Kurtz, Ayaan Diop
Running time: 2 hrs 30 min (including intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: Titaníque is more outlandish (and funnier), Something Rotten! was sharper (and funnier) and Smash, well, Smash was none of those… [But] Schmigadoon!, based on the first season of the Apple Original series, is a bright, pleasant diversion from whatever real world villainy is bedeviling you at the moment.
The Balusters
Opening night: April 21
Venue: Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Written by: David Lindsay-Abaire
Director Kenny Leon
Cast: Marylouise Burke, Kayli Carter, Ricardo Chavira, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Margaret Colin, Michael Esper, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Anika Noni Rose, Richard Thomas, Jeena Yi
Running time: 1 hr 40 min (no intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: We've seen this group dynamic before – in real life possibly, but on stage definitely, most recently in the brilliant Eureka Day and surreal The Minutes – and if the excellently cast The Balusters doesn't add significantly to the committee-implosion genre it certainly has its fun along the way to its comeuppances.
Beaches
Opening night: April 22
Venue: Broadway's Majestic Theatre
Director: Lonny Price and Matt Cowart
Book: Iris Rainer Dart & Thom Thomas
Music: Mike Stoller, with Lyrics by Dart
Cast: Jessica Vosk, Kelli Barrett, Samantha Schwartz, Zeya Grace, Bailey Ryon, Emma Ogea, Ben Jacoby, Brent Thiessen, Sarah Bockel, Lael Van Keuren, Zurin Villanueva, Harper Burns
Running time: 2 hrs 30 min (including intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: Beaches, A New Musical, as the full title has it, is a mostly forgettable endeavor, and that, sadly, includes a score that likely will not take its place in the treasured legacy of its composer, the great rock ‘n’ roll songwriter Mike Stoller.
The Rocky Horror Show
Opening night: April 23
Venue: Broadway's Studio 54
Director: Sam Pinkleton
Book, music & lyrics: Richard O'Brien
Cast: Luke Evans, Rachel Dratch, Andrew Durand, Amber Gray, Harvey Guillén, Stephanie Hsu, Juliette Lewis, Josh Rivera, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Renée Albulario, Anania, Boy Radio, Caleb Quezon, Andres Quintero, Larkin Reilly, Paul Soileau, John Yi
Running time: 1 hr 50 min (including intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: With immensely appealing performances from Luke Evans (yes, he most certainly can sing) as the sinister Frank-N-Furter, Rachel Dratch as the droll narrator quick with the audience repartee, the always excellent Andrew Durand as uptight (until he's not) Brad and Stephanie Hsu as timid (until she's not) Janet, this Roundabout-produced Rocky Horror revival is a first-rate presentation of a property that, along with John Waters' early work, pretty much defined a certain strain of '70s counter-culture fare.
Joe Turner's Come and Gone
Opening night: April 25
Venue: Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theater
Written by: August Wilson
Director: Debbie Allen
Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Cedric The Entertainer, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Joshua Boone, Maya Boyd, Savannah Commodore/Dominique Skye Turner, Abigail Onwunali, Bradley Stryker, Tripp Taylor, Christopher Woodley/Jackson Edward Davis, Nimene Sierra Wureh
Running time: 2 Hrs 20 min (including intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: Rare is the Broadway season that hasn't been bettered by an August Wilson revival, and this very busy spring is no exception. Joe Turner's Come and Gone, lovingly and astutely directed by Debbie Allen with a no-weak-link cast headed by Taraji P. Henson (in a superb Broadway debut), Cedric the Entertainer and Ruben Santiago-Hudson, is nothing less than a full-on reminder of Wilson's singular genius for that signature blend of compelling naturalism and more-things-in-heaven-and-earth marvels that situate the great author's 10-play Century Cycle in both Pittsburgh, the Africa and The South of collective memory and some ancient, still-felt netherworld.
The Lost Boys
Opening night: April 26
Venue: Broadway's Palace Theatre
Director: Michael Arden
Book: David Hornsby & Chris Hoch (Based on the Warner Bros film The Lost Boys, Original Story by Janice Fischer & James Jeremias)
Music & lyrics: The Rescues
Cast: LJ Benet, Shoshana Bean, Ali Louis Bourzgui, Benjamin Pajak, Maria Wirries, Paul Alexander Nolan, Jennifer Duka, Miguel Gil, Brian Flores, Sean Grandillo, Dean Maupin
Running time: 2 hr 30 min (including intermission)
Deadline’s takeaway: Broadway’s Curse of the Vampire Musicals might be taking a stake through the heart right about now. The Lost Boys, the Michael Arden-directed stage adaptation of the 1987 movie about teenage bloodsuckers, is a killer.
