A Downtown Vibe Comes to Broadway This Spring

This spring Broadway is not following the usual new-musical rush ahead of the Tony Awards. Instead the season has tilted toward plays: in the first third of 2026 the schedule lists 11 plays and six musicals, reversing last year’s balance when January–April included eight plays and 12 musicals.

Many of the musicals opening have a downtown sensibility rather than big commercial gloss. The slate is dominated by the return of Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show, parodic offerings such as Titaníque and Cinco Paul’s Schmigadoon, and Bill Rauch and Zhailon Levingston’s refashioning of Cats into the queer ballroom extravaganza Cats: The Jellicle Ball.

Other entries lean on diva power or camp—an adaptation of Beaches nods to Bette Midler’s legacy, Bob the Drag Queen has taken over as emcee at Moulin Rouge!, and The Lost Boys arrives without divas, relying on boy-band vampires and shadowy eroticism. The season feels geared toward the theater-obsessive local audience as much as tourists.

United States, New York City

broadway, plays, musicals, tony awards, rocky horror, titaníque, schmigadoon, jellicle ball, moulin rouge, queer ballroom